2009 — 14 July: Tuesday
It's the best part of a year since my previous picture of this happy trio plus a certain new arrival. So tonight's picture shows Christa with her Mum and Dad and young Peter just a few months after he'd joined the family. It's a very strange thought that the three adults shown here are now all dead, believe me. Very strange, no matter how natural:
Christa and her parents, plus Peter, in Old Windsor, summer 1980
I think it's time for some more sleep, what with it being 00:45 or so. Once again. G'night.
Sunshine and showers...
... seems to cover it at 08:49. But I have my first cuppa in hand, so I'm fire-proof (as it were). I await Mr Parcel Force — not any more, I don't. He knocked on the door literally in mid-sentence. Goodo. Now, all I need to do is upload a series of firmware changes and I should be in multi-region (DVD) and multi-zone (Blu-ray) bliss. Or something. Watch this (video) space.
There's an interesting piece by Steven Pinker that suggests we're becoming more peaceable. Those crazy Californians. Can it be true? Source and snippet:
Ancient texts reveal a stunning lack of regard for human life. In the Bible, the supposed source of all our moral values, the Hebrews are urged by God to slaughter every last resident of an invaded city. "Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites," reads a typical passage in the book of Samuel. "Make war on them until you have wiped them out." The Bible also prescribes death by stoning as the penalty for a long list of nonviolent infractions, including idolatry, blasphemy, homosexuality, adultery, disrespecting one's parents, and picking up sticks on the Sabbath. The Hebrews, of course, were no more murderous than other tribes; one also finds frequent boasts of torture and genocide in the early histories of the Hindus, Christians, Muslims, and Chinese.
I'd forgotten about picking up sticks. Does that get me out of gardening on Sundays? As for that "disrespecting parents" line. Well, Somerset Maugham had something to say about this, didn't he?
Set logic guns to "stun", Mr Spock
Thanks, Tom. This is just wonderful. In fact, it's worthy of that lovely Eric Frank Russell SF 1958 short story "Diabologic". Goodness me, haven't read that for a while.
Curiously anti-climactic... dept.
You plumb in the replacement Oppo BD/DVD player. Power it up. Quickly zip through the setup for the screen you're using. Load the official back-level firmware to replace the later Beta it was supplied with. Power cycle. Now load the hacked version of one of these three files. Power cycle. Key in the magic code from the remote control ("7892"; how hard is that?) Load a Region B Blu-ray. Perfect. Load a Region 1 DVD. Perfect. Load a Region 2 DVD. Perfect. Try setting "Source direct" rather than 1080p — can't tell the difference. If I actually had any region-locked Blu-rays I just have to key in 7891 or 7893 for zones "A" and "C" respectively. The hack retains its multi-regionality (if that word exists) for DVDs. Very neat. Did I mention it's black, and has a much-improved remote control, too? And the on-screen setup displays are all hi-def? Now that makes a very nice change.
The only thing left to try is 1080p/24 from a standard definition DVD, but (the need for some) lunch is now (13:58) distracting me. Oh? Did I mention video and audio quality are perfect? And speediness / responsiveness puts the Pioneer BD player to shame? There is, I admit, a distant grumbling sound. It's either my battered credit card account or my tum...
What's next, Mrs Landingham? Well, the distinctive sound of a "Chinook" helicopter has just tracked by overhead. It's 16:11 and the rain's holding off nicely. In fact, I could almost describe it as summery. Time for a cuppa.
144,112 seconds...
... since the last iMac "panic attack". Now, was it because I'd just loaded the updates to Safari 4.0.2, or was it because I'd just inserted the freebie USB stick that came with the new toy, or was it both, or was it merely the much-vaunted "industrial strength" OS X software? I think I shall have my evening meal before I start unpicking this puzzle. It's 19:07, rather warm, and trying to rain.
It's 20:38, the tum is nicely full, Nick Lowe's Sound of breaking glass has just finished, and this paragraph, if it gets as far as my web server, is proof that the iMac is once again a happy bunny. Let's run it up the virtual flagpole and see if I get a salute.
Bingo! Thanks, Cyberduck. But now, it's time to fire up a few pixels and watch them dance around the screen downstairs. No point having a new toy if you don't play with it, is there?