February Round Up.

Where does the time go?

Already I am making my final post of the month and it feel like I just began.

There is no doubt at all that as you get older the clock seems to be ticking just that little bit faster. Days go by in a blur and everything around you changes.

February has been a very bleak month for most of us with the financial crisis and one disaster after another. On a personal level, it's not been the best. Burning the candles at both ends has resulted in me getting the Flu, but at least I am on the mend. The girls have been sick too and work is in decline.

I am a great believer in the saying 'what doesn't kill us makes us stronger', and at the moment I just have to keep on believing that our fortunes will change. When I say our, I mean every ones; the worlds.

As we move on into a new month, I intend to go into it with more vigour and determination than ever before. We all have our bad days of course we do, but we do not have to let those days get on top of us, nor do we have to let them hinder our personal advancements and goals. After all we cannot change the past, but we are all in control of what happens in the future.

Playboy And Kate Winslet

Now there are four words that I would never have thought possible to put together!

It seems while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been praising our Kate for her Oscar win, the likes of Hugh Hefner have been admiring her for a whole lot of other reasons.

The Oscar winning actress is well known for stripping off in her films, but has vowed to never do it again on the silver screen. The big question is will she do it for Playboy?

Hefner is still hoping to convince Kate to appear as a centrefold in his magazine stating she would be a 'most welcome addition to our pages.'

So, do you think she should do it?

Me thinks not! Kate Winslet basically has the world at her feet now she has won an Oscar, she does not need the money either, and to be quite honest with you, I think doing something like this could do more harm than good to her untarnished reputation and take the spotlight away from her acting career and future achievements.

So Kate, if you are out there...please don't do it. Use your Oscar winning status wisely, because you already know that the media (or the British press in particular) will be more than happy to knock you down from the high that you are on now.

What Would You Do?

Recent events (with Jade Goody) have made me think a lot more about what I would do if the doctors told me I only had a short while left to live...perhaps a couple of months.

I suppose it is one of those questions you could not answer sincerely, as you have to actually be in that position for real to be able to associate it with your life.

Me? Well I am already married, so I wouldn't be able to do that. To be honest with you, I know I would waste a lot of my time in despair about leaving behind my two children, and with those in mind, I would probably move back to the UK pretty quick sharp. That way I would know that they had extra love and support from aunts, uncles, granny's, and grandads.

This is not turning out to be a very pleasant post is it? but I do think it has to be something that one must think about. Too many of us are of the mind that it will never happen to me/us/them, and I am often left wondering if my dad, who was in a similar position to dear Jade Goody, ever thought he would be leaving behind a young wife with two young-ish children.

I read a blog the other day that said life was too short for working hard, and I agree it is. On the other hand I had to disagree (as an adult) because in this life we are not able to live without earning an income, without putting in a lot of work to get something out of the rat race.

One thing is for sure; no matter what you think about Jade Goody, you must have sympathy for her and her children. If I were in her shoes I would be selling my story too, she is doing what every mother would, she is trying to create a stable financial future for her two young sons.

Congrats Helen!

I just wanted to say congratulations to my friend Helen who won 250 pounds worth of shopping vouchers with Get Me A Ticket. Usually you see a free to enter website like this and you think 'okay, whats the catch', but with these guys, there isn't one.

You can enter as many competitions as you like and the only personal information they ask of you is your email address. Another thing they don't do is send junk mail to your inbox. I know everybody likes something for nothing so I thought I would tell you about them, especially as I now know someone who has won.

If you visit the Get Me a Ticket site, you will see that they are currently giving away all sorts of goodies; ranging from a weekend trip to Paris, a VW Golf GTI, Cash, Vouchers, and much much more.

By the way Helen, if you are reading this I don't expect anything in return for telling you about Get Me A Ticket ;)

Missing Boy Remains Found

Five year old Jeremy Doble went missing whilst playing with his big brother Ryan, behind their home by a mangrove swamp in Australia.

Police have today confirmed that the remains of the young boy have been found inside the stomach of a 14ft crocodile.

Older brother Ryan (7) told police that he did see a crocodile after he realised his brother had gone missing, but did not see any signs of an attack or struggle.

At this stage police are unable to confirm what will happen to the crocodile, who was trapped in the flooded Daintree River in north Queensland.

Crocodiles have been a protected species in Australia since 1971, which has given rise to a steady increase in the crocodile population ever since.

Authorities do have the power to destroy any croc that poses a threat to human life, but what do you think should happen to the croc?

In all honesty I don't think the offending crocodile should be let back into the wild again, even though that is where it belongs, and it was only following it's natural instinct to eat. Destroying the animal isn't the way to go for me either, it had as much right to be there as that poor little boy did, and deaths like this are very rare.

I am even wondering if little Jeremy could have perhaps fallen into the water, drown, and was later picked up by the croc. Perhaps this could explain why Ryan never saw any kind of attack take place..But what do I know? Anything could be posssible.

Alphainventions

Hi, back again and this time I do have something that you may be interested in.
A few days ago I came across a site called alphainventions.com . If you are a blogger and want your gripes/opinions/products/whatever to be seen by people who are actually interested in what you have to say, then this is the must visit place for you.

You get real people in real time looking at your blog, reading your blog, and commenting on your blog. It's also FREE, but if you don't have the time to sit and work the system you can be a paid subscriber or make a donation and the site owner will 'do something special for you'. (yes that is a quote taken from the site).

What are you waiting for?...Go to alphainventions.com now and get the traffic that your blog deserves.

Help Me.....Please

I have totally lost the will to live!

I think the bad weather here has blown away my direction and focus. I know what I want to do, I know what I should do, but I just cannot seem to do it.

Do you know what my trouble is? I think too much and I can talk myself into feeling like this.

Considering I have not had much sleep lately, due to two poorly children, it's hardly surprising I am exhausted, deflated and just generally pooped out.

I am sure to be back later when I have something a little more interesting for you to read.

Who is the Daddy?

Nobody was more shocked than I to see the front page of The Sun on Friday morning declaring that Alfie Patten - aged just 13 had become a father.

Not surprisingly this has sparked a huge and fierce political debate over the fact that Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe.

Every politician in town has jumped on the wagon throwing their political mud at each other, pointing the finger, delegating the blame.

My worry is that the degree of politics that has now developed will end up masking the facts and creating some sort of resolution, while individuals voice there own political agenda at the expense of society (nothing new there then)!

This morning I tuned into Sky News, and read the ticker along the bottom of my screen which suggested that another boy - aged 16, has put himself forward as the real father, and is demanding a DNA test. This new revelation has done little to deflate the situation, and indeed my shock, at the fact that there are three children here arguing about the paternity of a baby.

I may be old fashioned in my ways, but why children are indulging, and even thinking about sex at such a young age just makes me want to question the morality of what I would call a 'lost' generation. Why does it seem that a whole generation of the UK seem to think that this sort of behaviour is acceptable, and how long will it be before stories like this become the norm?

The current way of thinking in the UK is to bring sex education into primary schools, but is this just adding fuel to the fire?

I do have a lot more to say on the issue, but it could turn into a 1000 word rant so I will leave it there for now...over to you!

Whats In A Name?

I just had to get on my high horse about this one today.

Firstly I would like to offer my congratulations to Sophie Ellis-Bexter, who reportedly gave birth to her beautiful baby boy last week. He was delivered by emergency Cesarean, two months premature, at the London's Portland Hospital.

The next thing you will want to know is his name right? So, ladies and gentlemen, we have now reached the topic of my gripe for today-stupid baby names! Sophie Ellis-Bexters new little bundle of joy has been blessed, from here until eternity, with the name Kit Valentine.

This sent me off in all directions yesterday in search of some other, shall we say, highly unconventional names. One would assume that this sort of baby naming was reserved for the world of celebrity, but oh no. I have found a couple of ordinary civilians who grace this earth with some of the strangest names around.

On February 15th 2003, a little girl was born and her loving parent gave her the name Urhines (pronounced your highness) Kendal Icy Eight Special K.

In Singapore a Javanese couple named their precious son, born in May 1990, Batman Bin Suparman.

It seems as though this culture of bestowing your children with bizarre names is not a modern phenomenon at all, with Dick Assman being the oldest person with a strange name that I could find.

It really begs the question as to what these parents are thinking; Okay I have had children, your tired, cranky, and hormonal, but is that really a good enough excuse?

Listed below are some of the most ludicrous names from the world of celebrity

Bluebell Madonna - Gerri Halliwell
Kal-El - Nicholas Cage (Kal-El is Superman's original birth name)
Lark Song - Mia Farrow
Luna Coco - Frank Lampard

And finally we have to take our hats off to Frank Zappa for blessing all three of his children with the names, Moon Unit, Dweezil and Diva Muffin.

Making Money

With the ever decreasing decline in the value of the money in our pockets, it seems more and more of us Internet lovers are turning to the Wild Web to help us create an extra income.

Now, I have been earning money on line for almost a year now as a writer, but I have yet to make any progress in seriously monetizing my blog.

With this in mind I pulled up Google, did a search, and found what I think is one of the best ways to get some revenue from my blogging activities.

The site is called blogsvertise.com and they can help both old and new bloggers get some advertising revenue from your opinions on anything from products, services and websites.

Blogsvertise do have a few requirement that you need to meet, so be sure to check out the FAQs before submitting your blog for approval. Once your blog has been reviewed and approved, you will then be assigned specific writing tasks. You don't even have to endorse the products or services that are up for review, just simply comment on them and most importantly, get the links in your post!

I put my blog up for approval today, so hopefully I will be hearing back from blogsvertise.com within the next twenty four hours....Wish me luck!!

The Giant White Horse Tale

Boy am I on a roll today!

Everyone and everything is really getting me riled, (it probably has something to do with PMT). I decided to pick on the white horse story this morning just to outline what an utter waste of money this piece of 'public art' actually is.

Yesterday a giant white horse was announced as a two million pound public art commission in the South East of England. The structure itself will see the white horse standing on all fours at the scale of 33 times life size. Once built, the landscape of north Kent will be dominated by the 'artwork' at a staggering height of around 164ft.

It honestly makes me wonder if the people involved are aware that we are in the midst of an economic slump. By the end of today, figures are expected to reveal that unemployment has exceeded the two million mark.

Do the government, local councils, or anyone else with a bit of common sense not think that the money involved in creating this monster of a structure could be put to better use elsewhere?

And The Rihanna Stories Continue

Rihanna has blamed her no-show at the Grammy Awards on a traffic mishap, according to the latest reports.

The Umbrella hit maker was due to perform at the Grammys annual awards show in Los Angeles on Sunday night,but she cancelled after her R&B singer boyfriend Chris Brown was arrested over an alleged domestic violence felony.

Some reports in the US are now suggesting Rihanna was involved in the alleged incident - but her spokeswoman insists the singer was caught up in an unspecified traffic problem, according to E Online.

Brown, 19, was booked for making criminal threats and freed on a £34,250 bail after Los Angeles police received a 911 call in the early hours of Sunday morning. It followed an incident in which Brown and an unidentified woman were involved in a heated row in a vehicle in Los Angeles following music mogul Clive Davis' pre-Grammy Awards party on Saturday.

If you believe everything you read, then Rihanna must be in a real mess. Reports that Chris Brown has bitten and bruised her are working there way around the web as we speak, but my cynical mind needs to ask if this is all part of some elaborate publicity stunt.

I am sure there are some paparazzi types sitting outside Rihannas front door right now just waiting to take some snap shots of her alleged injuries.

How Many Times Did It Take You?

Here is a lady I can completely sympathise with how about you?

A South Korean grandmother has failed her driving test 771 times, police said Thursday, but a local newspaper reported she will keep trying.

The 68-year-old, identified only by her last name Cha, has taken the test almost every working day since 2005 in the southwestern city of Jeonju. She failed again on Monday for the 771st time.

"It was a record-breaking number here," Choi Yong-Cheol, a police sergeant supervising the test in the city's Deokjingu district, told AFP.

"I wonder if she will try it again for a 772nd time."

The Korea Times said Cha will in fact be back for another attempt.

Choi said that Cha cannot pass the preliminary written section of the test, averaging scores of 30-50 whereas the pass mark is 60 out of 100.

Local media said that Cha sells food and household items door to door at apartment complexes, carrying the items in a handcart, but wants to get a car for her business.

Police estimate she has spent almost five million won (3,600 dollars) to take the written test, with each test costing 6,000 won in addition to other expenses.

"I feel sorry every time I see Cha fail. When she passes, I'll make a commemorative tablet myself and give it to her," one officer was quoted as saying.

In one respect you have to admire the lady for not giving up, but then you also have to ask why she would continue to put herself through it all time after time, and at such a huge expense.

Lost Thief Finds Himself In The Toilet.

If there is one thing I really hate it is thieves. What gives them the right to assume that they don't have to go out there and earn a respectable living like the rest of us? Why do they think it is okay to steal someones hard earned money and sentimental valuables?

Imagine my jubilation when I found this story today about one thief who got himself a little lost.

A hapless thief drilled his way into a French bank at the weekend, but missed the safe and instead found himself in a lavatory where he was promptly arrested, a French newspaper reveal.

The 21-year-old broke into a building adjoining a branch of Banque Populaire in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille in the early hours of Saturday morning, La Provence newspaper said.

The paper said the man, who came from Belgium and was not named, thought that he was going to end up in a room housing safe deposit boxes but instead drilled into the lavatories.

Alarms were triggered when he broke through the wall and police caught the man when they arrived on the scene.

You just have to laugh don't you?

Charity Donations

Since 1985, Comic relief has been striving to end poverty by raising cash to change the lives of those people who are most in need.

Here at The Daily Gripe, I am also going to help various charities by asking you all to express kindness and support for many of our featured charities. From now until the arrival of Red Nose Day on March 13th, we will be collecting for this very worthy cause.

The money you raise gets spent by Comic relief to help poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged people turn their lives around across Africa, throughout the world's poorest countries and in the UK.

I know that the economic downturn is leaving us all with very little extra cash in our pockets, but there are still people in the world who are less fortunate than you. Please look for our donations button on the left hand side of this page and make a contribution today. It doesn't matter how small your donation is, every little helps.

Thank you

Hello And Welcome

Hi everyone!

Welcome to my very first blog post on The Daily Gripe.

As I have gotten older, I seem to have become slightly more cynical, not very much wiser, and certainly more opinionated. Before today I was always know as one of those people that just sat on the fence and didn't really have an opinion about everyday events.

I have never really been one for gossip either, but lately something must have happened to me. At last I have found my voice! I get emotional about stories in the news, I get dismayed at the stupidity of some individuals, and I get angry about governments and leadership policies.

Another bonus is that I have now found a place (here) where I can air my concerns and create material to open up debates in which you can all contribute.

If you do happen to come across this weblog on your Internet travels, please make sure you put forward your comments, suggestions, and opinions then at least I know I am not just talking to myself!