Perl, MySQL, Money and Food
Posted by robbiebow on 27 October, 2007 under eating out | 
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Good little cafe this one. Does a hearty full breakfast as well as light Mediterranean dishes. Friendly staff and reasonably priced too. Sometimes the music is a bit loud for a hangover, but other than that it is a good choice.
Posted by robbiebow on 24 October, 2007 under stuff | Be the First to Comment
Problematic stuff, oil. So precious, so harmful, so useful, so sparsely distributed around the globe. We are addicted to it, and through being so give billions of our hard-earned to people who would rather see us dead or enslaved, and to dictators and other tyrants. One thing is for sure and that is it is going to run out. From that, we can also conclude we are going to use it all. And seeing as we are going to use it all, setting up mechanisms to reduce our usage is not necessary – does it matter to the environment who used it? Does it matter in the great scheme of things at all? Not really. One man reducing his consumption means another has more to use, and he will.
However, as the price rises because demand rises whilst supply declines (commodity markets behave how economists expect us all to behave) other fuel sources will become more commercially viable. Cost will, however, most probably rise overall. Cost of transportation; cost of heating; cost of living. But think of the immense slack in our economies that we can use up to cover these costs: we could probably reduce power consumption by 20% without breaking a sweat. Aircon is unnecessary in Britain (open the window) and getting a job closer to home or home closer to work is possible for a lot more people that let on. Using infra-red detectors to switch off TVs and gadgets when no-one is in the room. Walk to the post box instead of drive. Simple things. No detriment to us individually. If I reach my 60s I’ll look back at the late 20th Century as the gloriously, uniquely, indulgent period it was, where frugality and modesty in our wants were thrown aside for a brief moment in history. Our future, I think, won’t be worse for lack of fuel. Other things might make it worse, but excessive consumption and inefficiency as a mode de jour are not the be all and end all of a happy life.
Oil will run out. Let’s not get too wound up about it. As Buddha said when asked, “how should I get out of the burning sun?” just “step into the furnace”.
Posted by robbiebow on under eating out | Be the First to Comment
Now this is a friendly and pretty good all round pizza cum spicy potatoes cum kebab cum chips n burgers joint. Sometimes open incredibly late (have seen it open at 4am) and actually does a garlic sauce. Nothing amazing but nothing too bad either. Average in the world of kebabs (no way near a Dennis’ of High Wycombe or “Restaurant” on Cowley Road, Oxford, back in the 20th Century, but okay nonetheless). A drunkard’s choice of late night trans-fats.
