CSA

CSA worker leaves baby in car

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The Manchester Evening News reported on Tuesday how a woman left her baby in her car for a few hours while she got pissed up in a bar. What’s worse is that the car had the keys in the ignition with the engine running. You wouldn’t leave a dog in that condition, let alone a small child.

What’s even worse is the woman worked for the Child Support Agency. You know, the corrupt incompetent bunch of retards who excel at being useless.

The woman’s name was Gemma Train and she was 23. Even worse was she was let off with a suspended sentence. She should have been locked up for at least a year and had her child taken from her. What a scum bag.

This led me to search on the MEN website for other CSA related stories, and I came across a great many. You can read them all here.

Leigh EglonThe most harrowing was this one where a father killed himself after the CSA left him with just £10 to live on. He was forced to pay whatever the CSA calculated he owed for his 3 children leaving him with a tenner for the week. Not enough to pay the bus fair to work, let alone the food, bills and mortgage. Leigh Eglon is dead now, so the CSA can’t get any more money from him. Notice though from their response that they don’t actually care that they’ve driven someone to suicide:

A spokesman said: “We cannot comment on individual cases. The Child Support Agency has a responsibility to ensure both parents support their children financially.”

I wonder if I should go to the Manchester Evening News? You know, I think I will.

Football

I’ll love it if we beat them

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For those who like their football laced with comedy and a topped with a liberal sprinkling of irony, Special K is back at Newcastle. This means more emotional, firey outbursts like this one without the restrictions of things like tactics to get in the way.

Expect Newcastle to be involved in more 4-3 losses and to entertain us all while still coming out empty handed at the end of the season. Can’t wait.

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ReviewMe

Stick that Sucka!

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Recently I had a batch of custom stickers made up for the Chav Car website YourCarIsShit.com. I got these stickers at a knockdown price (read free) because I knew a nice chap in the print industry. If however you don’t know someone who can help you out like this and you require some good quality Labels, you can always try one of the many online print companies such as Frontier Label, Inc.

Frontier Label

As with most companies offering a printing service online they have a quoting system where you can enter your detailed requirements in order to get a price.

One of the difficult things about dealing with printers is knowing all of the specific details with regards to preparing your files for printing. How to package them properly, embedded fonts, bleed areas etc. Luckily this site has a help section to advise you on how to get your artwork ready for them to work on.

Frontier Label also offers instant online tracking of your order, meaning you’ll always know the status of your order… so long as you have an Internet connection. I always do of course!

Of course the proof with any printers isn’t in the price, it’s in the quality of the printing. There’s no point saving money on a cheaper printer or using cheaper stock if the quality lets your company’s image down. Frontier Label have a section of the site where you can order a free sample pack to see just what sort of quality you’ll get from them.

Movies

Play the movie quiz

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Every time I go into the Hogs Head in Didsbury I’m forced into playing this damn movie quiz game with my flatmate, who insists he always wins on it. I’ve yet to see any of this winning action, even when there’s three of us, all with film degrees, we go away empty handed.

Now there’s a bloody film quiz on the Internet for him to challenge others at. Check it out if you’re into movies.

General

eee PC

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Just before Christmas I ordered one of the new Asus Eee PCs from Amazon.co.uk, through a marketplace seller called BUG Computer Components – who are based in Germany.

Some weeks went by and I never received anything. My efforts to contact Bug proved fruitless as they never replied. Naturally I was concerned as I’d ordered something in excess of £200 and had received no contact from the seller. I emailed Amazon about it and they sent me a stock reply saying to contact Bug.

Not good enough.

I replied to Amazon and stated how Bug had not replied to me and that I wanted my order cancelled immediately so I could order it from somewhere else. Amazon did so this time, insisting I would get confirmation of this from Bug. Naturally I didn’t receive anything from Bug, and still haven’t to this day. I’d advise anyone to stay away from them when ordering items on Amazon’s marketplace.

I then ordered the same Eee PC from Aria.co.uk, based down the road in Manchester. Within one hour of ordering I received an email stating my order had been dispatched. Now that’s better, but let’s not count those chickens.

The package arrived before 9:00am on Monday morning, the next working day. Superb! When I plugged it in however the Eee PC asked me for a password for Natalie Coward.

Ummmm?

That’s right, they’d sent me a returned stock item instead of a new one. One that I couldn’t use because it was password protected. This was someone else’s computer!

Luckily they were very fast at rectifying their mistake and turned up later that afternoon to make the switch. So, what about the Eee PC itself?

I’ll review that little sucker in the next few days after I’ve had a chance to use it some more, and I’ll even write the review with it… unless it annoys me too much.

Affiliate Marketing

Pepperjam Network launches

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You’ve probably seen the Pepperjam Network splashed all over the affiliate and money making blogs today. The reason is they’ve just launched their new Affiliate Network and are promoting it with a massive web blitz, that’s why they’ve ordered this ReviewMe review.

As affiliate networks go Pepperjam is one of the sleekest, sexiest designs around. I didn’t need to be asked twice to sign up, I mean, mentioning Star Trek on the front page made me leap right in 😉

Pepperjam

One of the most important things with any affiliate network that wants to be successful is transparency with the affiliates. Pepperjam have made giant steps towards this by detailing every aspect of their business on their own network blog.

The network already has some fairly big merchants on board, including Blockbuster and the bloggers’ favourite ReviewMe.

When I signed up for the network as a publisher I was presented with the all too familiar US focused sign up forms. This is a pet hate of mine, but at least Pepperjam’s did have a stab at making it easier for non US based affiliates. The problem was though is that it forced me to enter a VAT number, which is apparently essential for EU based affiliates.

I’m not VAT registered, never have been. I don’t have a VAT number. However I couldn’t proceed without adding one, so I had to make one up. I’m sure there’s an element of illegality in doing that, but hey ho.

Pepperjam Signup

I’ll certainly give the network a chance, but at the moment it is very US focused. If it starts to creep into my site network and oust networks such as CJ and Affiliate Window I’ll let you know.

About Pepperjam:
Pepperjam is an industry leading full-service internet marketing agency offering marketing services and advanced technology in the areas of pay-per-click, search-engine optimization, affiliate marketing, and online media planning and buying.  The company was founded in 1999 by internet marketing expert, conference speaker, and published author Kristopher B. Jones. Pepperjam has received numerous awards and achievements, including recognition by Inc. Magazine for two consecutive years as one of the fastest growing privately-held businesses in the United States. Learn more at www.pepperjam.com.

Humour, Movies

Get women to want you

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I’ve just had a shot of the new Lynx Dark Temptation sprayed directly into my face when my flatmate bought it and said “smell this, it’s like the old Brut aftershave”.

When it’s sprayed into your face you can’t really smell the similarities to Brut, nor can you see for several minutes afterwards.

However if I get half the luck with women the guy in the advert is getting I’ll be happy, though I wouldn’t one of my arms torn of. It’d halve my sex life.

So much anger, so little time