Messages

:: I've worn glasses all my adult life. Has this led to a
:: downward spiral. Errr no. Same prescription since I
:: came out of my teens.

Which is very, very rare. Pretty much every short-sighted person I know has had increasingly stronger lenses as time passes. Partly, this is down to incompetence in the industry: I have an astigmatism in one eye, due to my first optician giving me a prescription that, according to my second optician, wasn't even remotely accurate. Because of my eyes being "forced" to make further errors, they became used to seeing through the "bad" glasses, and my eyes suffered for it. In a smaller way, a slightly too strong prescription does the same thing, if you wear glasses all day.

The problem with the Bates method is that too many people see it as a "cure", when in fact it's a set of exercises that may improve your sight due to relaxing your eyes and being more aware of your surroundings (the *brain* has a lot to do with how good or bad your eyesight is, not just your eyes).

As for Bates and the industry, I just find it amazing how quick opticians generally are to dismiss an alternate way of thinking (several, in fact, have almost shouted at me, as though my bringing the subject up was the rough equivalent of me shitting on their desks); one, however, had a fairly in-depth discussion with me about it, confirming my thoughts (that it's unlikely to do you any harm, and is probably beneficial in *some* ways, such as relaxing eyes in people who tend to work with computers).

I'm pretty sceptical about the Bates Method being able to entirely free someone of wearing glasses, but he does make one VERY good point, which few opticians admit to: while wearing corrective lenses of any type, the eye has to continually make the same "mistake"/"error", in order to see through them properly. Therefore, you end up on a downward spiral, which cannot be reversed.

I used to do the Bates exercises every day, religiously, and it's a habit I want to get back into. While, as I said, I doubt they'd ever enable me to ditch glasses entirely, they definitely helped reduce eye strain, made my eyes "feel" better, and improved my perception of the world around me (which is a large part of how well you "see").

As for "how come so many people still wear glasses?", the medical profession mostly regards Bates as something of a crackpot?hardly surprising when you look at the profits to be made in the eye-care industry...

:: If the packages had been there untouched for so long,
:: surely the risk of robbery in your street isn't as bad as
:: you think?

Not the point, really, though, is it? Just because some scumbag isn't checking out houses 364 days of the year, that doesn't mean they won't be for one day. And leaving a pile of Amazon boxes on our doorstep (and, frankly, everyone knows Amazon ships books, DVDs, CDs, and so on) was just taking the piss.

:: That said, were they packaged properly, the postie
:: wouldn't be able to fold 'em! ;)

One of our posties had a habit of folding magazines lengthways and then leaving it in the letterbox, so it had a lovely fold when you managed to free it from its trap. Pissed me off no-end, which (along with the aforementioned issue of stuff sticking out of the letterbox while we're away) is why I ended up putting a small sign on the front door, saying "please ensure all deliveries are pushed right though the letterbox". Amazingly, I heard the doorbell one day and answered to find a Royal Mail postie standing there, who then grumpily exclaimed (while pointing at my sign): "I suppose we can't just leave stuff on your doorstep, then?" My retort that he wasn't supposed to do that anyway was met with a grumpy "hmph!" and he stomped off after practically throwing my mail at me.

:: Many Amazon packages [are delivered by] private couriers

Without exception, Amazon packages in this area that have arrived when I'm in have been delivered by Royal Mail *if* you chose the "first class" option. The "free delivery" ones are delivered by private courier. It's not like this is the first time this has happened anyway. One of my "favourite" occasions was hearing the doorbell and then running down the stairs to see the Royal Mail chap already walking down our path (meaning he had to literally have started walking away after ringing the bell); as soon as he heard me, he turned and ran(!) back to the door and then picked up the package to give it to me, with a sheepish expression on his face. And that's the thing: the staff that aren't doing things right in this area mostly know that's the case -- they just don't seem to give a shit. (To be fair, we have one fantastic postie, but, sadly, he's not on every day.)

:: If however it is a Royal Mail delivery, then they should
:: not be left outside your door/in a bin etc under
:: any circumstances and you should report any cases of
:: this to your local PDO.

So far: two direct complaints to the PO, two to "head office" and one to my local councillor. In return, two form letters and two books of free stamps. No direct correspondence from the depot itself. To some extent, the letters have made a difference, thankfully. Apparently, when the Royal Mail person trespassed and placed our package between our bins, and when another left it by our back door (without leaving a note), it was "due to poor training". I suggested that, in reality, there are surely only really two rules: 1) all deliveries should be pushed right through the letterbox, and; 2) if a delivery doesn't fit through the letterbox, alert the house owner and wait for an answer?if they don't show up, bung a card through the door and get them to pick up their mail from the depot. Since then, nothing's been left out back, but we still get the odd package just left on the doorstep (sometimes after the bell has been rung, sometimes not).

ANYWAY, as for the PROG(!), I quite enjoyed it this week. VCs still leaves me utterly cold, but Dredd's decent enough; Lob's enjoyable and suitably different to other fare; Low Life's readable, if unremarkable; and Dante could be a return to form. One thing Dante has sparked in my head is a hope that Tharg will perhaps start commissioning fewer strips, or at least enable those that are ongoing to show up more regularly. I remember "back in the day" that strips with long arcs (Stronty Dog, Nemesis, etc.) were semi-permanent fixtures, but these days the momentum is lost. (Of course, this isn't entirely down to Tharg?some of those creators take extended breaks *cough*Rennie/Cabs/just write some more, dammit!*cough*, but it'd be good if he could persuade those who are willing to keep the momentum going to do so, and then bend the schedule to suit.)

:: C'mon... be fair. Don't blame us (i'm a postie).

I'm not blaming you specifically, but Royal Mail in this area is appalling, in terms of its service. The reason my sub was soaked is because the delivery people here wander around the entire street with "bundles" of post for a number of addresses, and if it's raining, everything gets wet.

However, it's probably worth noting that over the past year, I've had to make formal complaints about the service from our local depot several times (including complaining to my local councillor), because it's been so bad. The main issue I have is that the posties here were leaving mail in the letterbox (against company policy), which is a danger when you're away from home (in terms of saying "HEY! Rob this house!"); also, they got into the habit of ringing the doorbell and then immediately buggering off (and sometimes not ringing the doorbell at all) if large packages were being delivered. As someone who reviews software for a living, I've often ended up opening the front door at 2pm to find several hundred pounds' worth of software sitting on the doorstep. At Christmas, this was worse: I found seven large Amazon packages just sitting on the doorstep (and seeing as they were wet, they'd clearly been there -- in plain view of the entire street -- for hours). We've also had packages "delivered" by leaving them between our wheelie bins and at our back door (both areas of which require the postie to trespass on our property; and, of course, no notes were ever left to tell us where the packages had been left).

This may not be typical of Royal Mail service, but you can understand why I blame the post in this area, rather than Rebellion.

Likewise, annoyingly. Well done, Royal Mail! Idiots.

:: Subscribers kill publications. There. I said it.

I'm guessing you've never worked in publishing, then. Essentially, if a mag doesn't have a strong subscriber base and then has a drop in sales, it's far more likely to be axed.

As for 2000 AD, if memory serves, only about 10?15 per cent of sales are done by subscription anyway (which is fairly typical).

::  Now she doesn't even seem to be afraid of anything

Rumours suggest that the Doctor and Rose's over-confidence is there on purpose and will have repercussions later on in the series.

:: no particularly annoying deus ex machina, unless
:: you count the horse, which I liked

It was a decent element; and as my other half pointed out, it probably just wandered in from the "door" that led to the gardens. It certainly seemed happy to find itself in the company of a "human" (well, humanoid).

:: Again, I just don't get some of the negativity I'm
:: seeing here

Likewise, but then I haven't watched old Who since I was a child (Baker/Davison, giving up sometime during Colin Baker's run). Perhaps the new Who is or isn't very comparable to old Who. However, compared to other current television, it's one of the very few things on my "must see" list each week (along with the likes of House and My Name is Earl). Also, it's British and quirky: you certainly wouldn't have gotten an ending like this week's from an American series?she'd have been allowed to see the stars at least once.

:: And How many of us screamed "CGIIIIII!!" at the Doctor
:: bounding through on a pony eh?

Well, it's not like they could have done that "live". Mind you, despite this series having a lower budget than the last (reports suggesting by around a third), I think the special effects have *generally* been superior, which is quite a feat.

:: So, yeah, he may not be the best Writer, Director or
:: Editor in the world, but he's certainly got a great
:: talent for making cash.

He certainly has a great sense of timing, too, and the level of imagination on display in Star Wars is pretty astonishing. Although they really are Sunday morning pictures for the big screen, and I really don't understand why so many go quite so ape for the original trilogy, I do think they're mostly decent films. However, Lucas was clearly winging it, and there's a massive element of "soap" with the father/siblings thing in the final two films (Return of the Jedi being the most clearly commercial and, frankly, the shape of things to come).

However, the three '90s/'00s Star Wars films are terrible, lacking the character, quirkiness and reasonable solid scripting of the originals. If anything, they prove that if Lucas did have something once, he's clearly lost it, and even if he did once have something, it worked best when he worked with others.

"NOOOOooooooo!"

Indeed.

:: It's one man, albeit one MILDLY talented man

Fixed.

Seriously, Lucas really isn't a great talent, as the three recent Star Wars efforts showed. When he takes something on alone, the plot, dialogue and direction are all pretty piss-poor. The original three somewhat stand the test of time, because they are more collaborative efforts (and you had actors willing to say "George, my character wouldn't say this shit" and just deliver different lines).

As for these reissues, I suspect the only thing that people will be happy with is the originals, rather than slightly cleaned up versions (i.e. versions where the shots and stories aren't changed, but where intrusive effects issues, such as matte lines, are removed).

You know, I don't know what's worse: someone charging $9,500.00  for a piece of art like this, or someone bidding on it. (That's not to say that this isn't a fine piece?because it is?but TEN GRAND?)

:: I can only speak for myself, but If I were representing
:: Tharg, I would want to make sure that all lettering was
:: of a 'pro' standard.

I'd also make sure I knew the difference between "it's" and "its" prior to doing so...

Yeehaaaaaa!

Gah! Fingers crossed that this book has the complete Abelard Snazz! Please, please, please, please, please...

:: Somehow, I don't see her and Mickey walking off into the
:: sunset together...

Likewise. Of course, there's the distinct possibility that Mickey comes a cropper on their travels at some point.