2008 — 20 April: Sunday
I must say (or do I mean "observe"?) that there seems to be a discrepancy between a) the BBC weather forecast, b) the Met Office ditto, and c) what's going on as I look out of various windows. No change there, then. It's just after 09:11 and another day has obviously been dawning for quite some time by now!
My personal forecast (100% reliable) is for a cup of tea any minute now. Followed by a drink for the car, I suspect. And a few foodstuffs. The endless round, heh? But there's Julie Andrews to be listened to on NPR first. ("Was it difficult to not be able to sing anymore?" Erm, what do you think, Terry? But it gave her time to write her autobiography. She's a class act.)
King Midas in reverse... dept.
According to the Guardian "Indian politicians are beginning to highlight, approvingly, the emerging phenomenon of 'brain gain', as large numbers of Indian-born executives decide that job opportunities and living conditions are as good, if not better, in India and make their way home". Meanwhile, the Torygraph assures me that "Britain has now lost more than one in 10 of its most skilled citizens, while overall only Mexico has had more people emigrate."
Where shall I go, I wonder?
Catch(22)ing up... dept.
I missed this when it appeared in the Telegraph back on the 18th of November:
[Heller] even described receiving a letter from a Finnish translator, which said (in Heller's paraphrase): 'I am translating your novel Catch-22 into Finnish. Would you please explain me one thing: what means Catch-22? I didn't find it in any vocabulary. Even assistant air attaché of the USA here in Helsinki could not explain exactly.' Heller added: 'I suspect the book lost a great deal in its Finnish translation.'
Until very recently, I would have said "Catch 22" was my Desert Island Discs "book". Now I'm veering more towards "Pride and Prejudice". But it's time (noon) to listen to someone else's Private Passions — Polly (PJ) Harvey... And vaguely contemplate lunch while the washing machine does its best to cope with the fallout from a minor breakfast cereal spillage. An endless round indeed.
Of course, had I been using the Newseum... If the world ever strikes you as too noisy, though, you can take a quiet break here.
Something triggered my recollection that, back in 1973 (or thenabouts), I bought an lp by the John Dummer Blues Band called "Ooblee Dooblee Jubilee", mostly for its title track. I no longer have this music in my collection.1 So it was out onto the Interweb thingy where I'm staggered to find that vinyl copies of this album are now being offered at more than £100! And (I confess) it took me less than two minutes to order a copy on CD from lpcdreissues which seems to be based in Athens. (This site is today's disc-overy, if you get my drift.) Fingers crossed! They have already emailed an acknowledgement.
Nor any drop to drink...
Meanwhile, a card has just been popped through the front door telling me that Southern Water "have today completed a survey of your water supply arrangements" (a process which seemingly involved painting the cover of my street stop-cock red) and when I popped out for a word with the two lads in their van, they said the water meter installation would be done sometime in the next three weeks (and I don't even have to be there while it's done).
Cooking for Engineers?
Amazing what you can find in cyberspace, isn't it? This is pretty interesting, too. Plus, there's nothing like a good euphemism, is there? But this is just peerless:
We felt it would be better for these individuals if they were free to pursue their wholeness unimpeded by their continued employment here.
Perhaps, one day...
I'll invite this lady to do one of her "sorted books" projects for me? I might get the shelves dusted, at least! See how long it takes you to find this part of her wonderful site:
Meanwhile, having long been intrigued by visualisations and graphics that clarify things, I happily recommend the MegaPenny Project. In for a penny, as they say... Oh God! Johnnie Walker has just mentioned a Waitrose product called "Baby bottom butter". Waitrose's baby care buyer Jo Maclaine said: "It seems that the botty butter gives softer cheeks wherever they are." I can't keep up with the modern world.
Help is at hand!
Fonts
Many (most?) free fonts are worth what they cost. These are a different kettle of fish, gathered by a youngster based in the city where Christa began her university "career"...