2008 — 10 April: Thursday
Soon be time for our next perambulation. But, as it's 01:13, and as I've just re-installed XP on one of my PCs, and as bits of it are irritatingly not yet fully functional, that's going to have to be it for the moment. G'night.
Back, sort of... dept.
There are times when I wonder if Life would be simpler if I became, and remained, permanently sozzled. Breakfast, for example, could be taken through a straw, while I wouldn't have to worry about the apparent trashing of my sound card because I wouldn't be wasting my time doing battle with hardware and software but instead (like Dumbo) watching all those pink elephants on parade up in the sky. To an internal soundtrack, no doubt.
I have currently reduced the number of working PCs in my immediate vicinity by one but will be going out shortly on a walk before deciding what to do about it. (I also need to prep a packed lunch and get myself over to Winchester, both of which activities are a lot more enjoyable than watching a variety of error messages (if I'm lucky) or sullen non-communication from a PC that obviously doesn't know either what's hit it or which end is up.) I think it's safe to say we're talking "castors-up" at the moment.
Ironically, Big Bro just sent me an email detailing several very hoary old "support desk" phone calls from blessed users. Good timing. <Sigh>
Back again, too
It's now 18:00 and the walk up Butser Hill has (puff, puff) been completed. Just look at the contour lines:
As has the bit near the source of the Meon river, though that is rather nearer the "inner core" that tripped up the distinguished team of "Engineers" on University Challenge a couple of days ago (Geoff, youse wuz robbed!). We walked nearly seven miles (quite a lot of which seemed to be uphill). It was mostly quite bright, but windy and (at times) rather chilly. En route I've also been given a powerful hint or two about restoring sound to both the XP machines, though the restoration of email to the fresh XP system remains a conundrum. I have a few tricks to try before I give up...
New sins
PJ O'Rourke is generally provocative with his opinions, and is "off on one" here. I note The 11th Commandment is, "Thou shalt not blog." Good job this is a diary, I suppose.
Actually, I don't get, or buy into, the idea of sin at all. I accept the existence of malevolent behaviour in our species, but basically agree with AC Grayling about "evil" being the various things "the church wished people to stop liking and doing". People are self-interested more than anything else, I guess. My father used to say that the golden1 rule was do unto others as you would be done by which strikes me as a pretty effective principle by which to live. Indeed, simulations have shown that it's a generally effective strategy (in the machine world, at least) as very nicely discussed here.
Winsome, lose some... dept.
Not only did the Postie deliver my best girl's latest posthumous ERNIE prize (re-issued to be payable to me) but
I've just found my Photoshop Elements 5.0 CD but seem to have misplaced the printed sheet containing my Network Magic activation code. Does that mean entropy is
running neck and neck with chaos in this part of the woods? There are (so I would think) only a limited number of hiding places up here in the study of Technology
Towers but I evidently have yet to stumble across the portal to the Bizarro dimension through which all the important stuff drifts whenever I take my eye off
it for a moment.
Recent update: found it, too, (two minutes later), right where it should have been. But why didn't I look there first?!
I shall now attack the ailing PC2 with renewed vigour... or shall I go downstairs and watch a DVD instead? Decisions, decisions. Trouble is, there's just so much good stuff on the radio.