Sat Nav Idiots

Oft' times I read about idiots who blindly follow their sat-nav into a river...Or get wedged in a street...or kill somebody.

Sat-nav's should have options to tailor them to your vehicle e.g. Type in the dimensions and weights, even turning circle if known, and it will check this against it's tables. Rather like the FMC in aviation.

I'm sure they have basics already (don't know, never needed to use them) such as HGV or Bus mode? If not, why not?

Perhaps even include a 2 minute chat in driving lessons that covers the main point.

"A sat nav will get you to a destination, but it will not think for you. If the road looks unsuitable, the sat nav will still point you at your destination if you ignore it and keep on the wide, tarmac road through the village...not the 2 foot wide cobbled path that leads down a rollercoaster hill to an antiques market at the bottom."

But what always bothers me about these kinds of stories is the simple fact that so many human beings lack critical thinking. At what point do you look at what the sat-nav is telling you and think "Hmmmm, that street looks like it's made of water. I think I'll go around." or "Hmmmm that road is about 4 pedestrians wide and blocked with tables and chairs, and sandwich boards. Perhaps the company who provides the mapping data would benefit from a correction email?" or "Hmmm watching the road is better than watching a 6 inch screen and ploughing into a cyclist." I wouldn't trust these people with cars if they lack the ability to question environmental inputs and make the correct decisions.

I don't get it. I always think "Sod that!" and go around if the road looks dodgy. I also use street-view and satellite maps to get an impression of my destination so I am familiar with the difficult bits at the end. Saves so much stress and worry.

HS2 Again

So, the government has published the first details of the northern extension of HS2, and the predictable arsehole NIMBYs are already out trying to overturn something they know nothing about.

Now, the BBC as an unbiased and balanced broadcaster, is duty bound to present both sides of the fence...However, this approach means that no nothing idiots and their baseless ideas are given an air of credibility because they have been on the BBC. What should happen is, if your point of view differs, but is factually incorrect and/or mislead, you should be laughed off of the BBC...And shot (under my regime).

Let us have a look at the anti-HS2 bullshit claims postulated by these absolute morons. Now, I know people are supposed to have reasoned debate and agree to disagree, but I disagree with that sentiment. I feel that by allowing everybody believe their opinion is of equal weight and merit, you encourage dickheads to open their mouth and cost the taxpayer billions in wasted effort and legal battles. You also have to listen to these people without having the right to demand they be vanned into the fens and disposed of in a ditch. I digress...time to direct my disbelief and venom at the airheads of Stop HS2 et al.

Many of these *cough* bullshit *cough* facts can be viewed here. 

We operate a hundred+ year old railway network, that has been botched and cobbled together...It works, but is approaching capacity. Apparently, you can improve the network today for £2bn...Really? Do you remember the recent upgrade of the WCML that failed to deliver, and disrupted travel for about 10 years? Imagine this happening again....Go on...Years of disruption, service stoppages, weekend possessions  a bodge job, a half measure. HS2 would be a new build, allowing the WCML to run freely in the interim construction period. Plus there would be a new diversion route for maintenance, redundancy in the network is always good...Witness what happens when somebody tops themselves on the line, and everybody is stuck in London for hours. With two routes, duplicating the ECML and WCML, you're sorted for alternatives.

What 'stop HS2' (no caps, fuck 'em) fail to realise when they come out with their tired old socialist shit about the line only benefiting businessmen etc, is that building HS2 frees up oodles of space on the WCML (and to a lesser extent the MML and ECML) to provide for slower freight and stopping passenger services. These will benefit local communities AND take trucks off of the motorways, an environmental benefit surely since slow moving freight is a pain in the ass on the motorways what with trucks elephant racing. The DfT's rail package 2 does not deliver all the benefits of HS2...It just doesn't, stop deluding yourselves.

The benefits will also flow to London, according to stop HS2...Really? Ever heard of the suburbs? They are large areas of land that were covered in houses and shops (I'll talk to you like an idiot if you think like one), mainly in the 30s, as a result in the growth  of rapid transport connecting those places to London. Compare Watford in the 30s with Watford today (there are numerous other examples)...You'll find that Watford is much bigger and more prosperous than it was in the 30s because its population can travel into London for work. If people choose to live in Birmingham and commute to London then great, those people who live in Birmingham will have more pennies in their pocket to spend IN Birmingham, hence leading to a growth in the commercial and services sector that provide for those people. There will be benefit. Likewise connecting cities to Birmingham will open further opportunities for the regional hinterland to trade together...Not to mention the increased ability to pump railfreight back and forth down the traditional network.

It is pointed out that more people will travel if HS2 is built = bad for the environment m'kay...You know what? Fuck you. People need to travel to work, in order to grow and prosper...If you're a comfortably well off middle class NIMBY who has achieved a certain level of success in your life, then who are you to deny millions of other people the chance to climb the ladder like you have. Fuck you you selfish dicks. I hope you choke in your retirement and stop draining the tax pot for the rest of us.

NIMBYs also like to point to HS1 as an example of a failed project...Any system can be considered a failure if only part of it is built. HS1 will become more valuable once plumbed into Crossrail, HS2, (potential CR2 and HS3)...I am reminded of how anti-roads dickbags fuck up road improvement schemes, and then use the resultant over budget half measure as 'proof' that road building is flawed and expensive. It is, if you sabotage it...If you bump the cost up by using the tactics published in your road protest handbook, to enforce expensive judicial reviews (lots of money for you NIMBY dickbags parents i.e. lawyers) and then make it miss its planning window so the work has to be repeated and incorporate new standards at extra cost to the taxpayer etc then of course it will be seen as a waste of money. The cost is the fault of the protesters  not the engineers and professionals or government.

Frankly, I am sick of interest groups holding the taxpayer to ransom. Interest groups that exploit the inability of people who are 'pro' something to get off their arse and protest 'for' something. It's human nature to scream and shout against something, but do nothing if you support something. Dickbag protestors shouldn't take this silence as support, because it isn't. I imagine millions of people are chuffed to see the government getting of their backsides and planning long term. In cohorts with the electric spine and the Great Western Mainline being improved etc, I am happy to see progress...And I dislike people who intend to fuck it up on the basis of half truths and prejudice.

You are welcome to disagree, but I'll just 'know' you are a prick if you do, and not worth my energy. You are not entitled to your opinion you arse goblin.

Fuel Rage

Why is it that the rest of the human race are such simpletons?

ASDA petrol station near me has its entrance placed in such a way that if muppets make a queue above a certain length, then the whole entrance to the retail park is blocked AND this blockage then spreads miles across town.

So, strolling past today, there was a queue of f-ing simpletons all lined up indicating to go into the petrol station and blocking the place solid again.

Why the f**k don't they just think..."You know what, since I'm not an inconsiderate C word, I think I'll come back another time rather than sit here with the arse of my car blocking the entrance to the retail park this close to Christmas."

These same f-ing simpletons then lazily fill their cars with zero sense of urgency, and/or fight with the card payment machine...And go and get somebody out of the superstore to fill the receipt machine because they can't read the f-ing instructions that say you can insert your card into another machine at a later date to get the receipt you so desperately need in order to claim your VAT back from the British taxpayer.

I watched them today...Oh yes I watched them...and I plotted to hang them with rope darts Assassins Creed 3 style. But seriously, having observed the simple lack of ability that people have regards thinking about the wider consequences of their actions...I wish for a great cleansing. A cull of the stupid, a slaughter of the blinkered and a mass burial of the great fuckwittery that infests my nation.