2009 — 19 October: Monday
I live in hope that I will feel better today than I did yesterday. Mind you, if this is "swine flu" then I can so far say that I've had worse. Tonight's smile from Christa is (again) courtesy of Big Bro back in November 1985:
Fingers crossed for a better night's sleep. (Mike predicted that I'd hit the lowest point today.) Sniffle. Splutter. G'night.
Who would'a thought it?
There are economics fundamentalists just as fervently unshiftable in their zany beliefs as the even more unpleasant religious bigots. Catch them shouting at one another here.
Meanwhile, it's a grey morning. At +7C outside and +38C inside (me) I'd be an easy target for thermal imaging systems right now. But I have a fresh cuppa at hand, a plentiful supply of paper hankies, and I can moan and groan to myself just as loudly and as often as I like. Is there any more pitiful sight than a chap with "man flu"?
The madness, the madness...
I've mentioned (here) the battle Simon Singh has been fighting with the (perhaps ill-advised, perhaps cerebrally-challenged?) British Chiropractic Association. There's an interesting "catch-up" here. I wonder if the BCA can fix what ails me? Doubt it, somehow. I may have to retire to my bedchamber, methinks. It's only 08:50, too. Germs? Who needs 'em?
Even longer ago (here) I was amused by the attempt to get a right-leaning version of Wikipedia off the ground. Sadly, they are still at it. But this time they're rewriting the Bible (which — forgive my naïvety — was supposed to be the undiluted word of God, was it not?) Must be the flu scrambling my thought processes. But that would mean the viruses are unintelligently designed, wouldn't it?
I keep confusing "Halliburton" with the "Haliborange" (Vitamin C) tablets I remember from my childhood. This article makes it abundantly clear which of the two items is the more benevolent.
Time (11:35) for "lemonses". At least it's stopped raining. And my nose is somewhat drier, too!
Got it all Trafigured out?
The wonderful kerfuffle last week about "super injunctions" reminds me irresistibly of that ancient definition of "virtual, case 3" — it's there, you can't see it: transparent.
The full version can be found in Mike Cowlishaw's Dictionary of IBM Jargon where he defines "virtual":
Case 1: it's there; you can see it: real Case 2: it's not there; you can see it: virtual Case 3: it's there; you can't see it: transparent Case 4: it's not there; you can't see it: gone! Example: "What happened to that file I worked all night on?" "Case 4, my man, case 4."
Alas. I never did find the round tuit I needed to work on an update before I retired from IBM. Sorry, Mike!
Out-bloody-rageous
In IBM? Surely not! (Tee-hee.) Meanwhile, in Microsoft... this chap is digitising his life, it seems. 300 GB so far, and counting. (Source.)
In 2007, 49% of new mortgages in the UK were obtained without showing proof of income. How criminally crazy was that? (More.)
Come back, Antony Jay
Priceless: the Gervais Principle. (More.)
Suddenly, it's 19:44 — when did that happen? My appetite is happily undiminished by the bug (I can never remember whether it was 'starve a fever, feed a cold' or the other way round. See here. Basically, I eat when I'm hungry and drink plenty. Seems to work.)