2008 — 16 August: Saturday
It's apparent that yesterday's late night has been catching up with me. Not surprising, as I'm not quite as young as I feel! I got a lovely email from Junior's honorary grandmother Val in Old Windsor a few minutes ago. She was telling me about a few of the letters she had from Christa over the years. Before signing off for some urgently-needed shut-eye, I shall offer this "family" shot from 1999. Left to right, we have Big Bro, Junior, sister-in-law Lis, and Christa. I got them all to smile; wonder how on earth I managed that...
Anyone know what the mysterious black thing in the centre is? (I do, of course.) Clue: they used to cost around $5,000 when they first became available.
Off we go...
... stuffing the crockpot to the accompaniment of Brian Matthew as usual. There are some rather grey clouds, and the barometer is again coming down from its high point yesterday. But no rain (yet). It's 08:40. And, fifty five minutes later, things are starting to simmer nicely. I've daringly added a red plum to the mixture. Soon be time for breakfast, but I need the appetite to recover first (as usual).
Now here's a robust concluding opinion from the Guardian's Bad Science chap:
Once again, the decisions we make, the attitudes we have, and the prejudices we express are all entirely rational, when analysed in terms of the flawed information we are fed, only half chewed, from the mouths of morons.
While reading about a "turbo-charged" biofuel bug I see an amazing discrepancy: "According to a World Bank [unpublished] report ... the extra demand for agricultural produce and land from biofuels has pushed food prices up by 75%. The US government claims the figure is 3%." (Source.)
What to believe? Who to believe??
Chestnuts roasting... dept.
I'm aware of Dutch Elm disease. I was completely unaware of the chestnut blight afflicting "billions" of trees in North America and rendering the American chestnut tree functionally extinct in the first half of the 20th century. Can that "billions" really be accurate?
The chestnut can be considered an iconic American tree for many reasons, not the least of which is the reference to chestnuts roasting on an open fire1 in "The Christmas Song," by Mel Tormé and Bob Wells. Ironically, the song was written in 1944, just as the last wild American chestnuts were succumbing to the blight. By 1946, at the peak of the song's popularity, it would have been hard to find any American chestnuts to roast.
As for trekking for up to five days to worship an ice "lingam" in a remote cave. Include me out. I shall, however, listen to "Five children and It" on BBC7.
Database is as database does... dept.
I'm slowly being forced to conclude that PCs make it possible to do all sorts of things, many of which are entirely unnecessary. It's 15:50 and still not raining. If Christa were still here, she'd probably be chasing me out into the fresh air, albeit with a large smile on her face. How I miss her! I've just been contemplating a PG Wodehouse book I bought with her in Guernsey eleven years ago almost to the day. (His collection of articles "Louder and Funnier" from Vanity Fair dating back to 1932.)
Success...
... in the crockpot (though not a trace of the plum, oddly). Concluding part of Sleepers enjoyed. The DVD is en route as I type — it's only available as a Region 1 pressing. Now I'm continuing the database skylark, enjoying a cuppa, and listening (with some puzzlement) to the strange sounds on BBC Radio 3. Still, they require little or no cranial processing, which is just as well. And besides, I can now (23:03) switch over to whispering Bob Harris on Radio 2.