2010 — 6 January: Wednesday

Now, how did it suddenly get to be 00:47? Beats me, chief. I must say, "Nurse Jackie" is shaping up nicely. And it's distinctly white out there tonight, too. Brrr.

Been a long day... G'night.

Woken by the sound...

... of that urban winter sport, the spinning of the neighbours' off-to-work wheels.1 It's 08:26 and there's a crockpot to be stuffed in a little while. About an inch of snow appears to have settled hereabouts, and small flakes2 are still falling. The porch thermo reckons it's -1C, which seems positively balmy these days. It seems hundreds of people have been trapped overnight in their cars in this normally most mild of counties.

Hardly news, surely?

From a filler piece in the once-prestigious organ now owned by Dow Jones which is, recall, a "News Corporation" company; that is, owned by that nice Mr Murdoch with his seemingly insatiable appetite for all sorts of stuff:

University of Wisconsin sociologists Gerald Marwell and Ruth Ames, in a 1981 paper, found that in experiments, economics students showed a much higher propensity to free ride than other students. In questioning after the experiment, the sociologists found that for many of the economics students, the concept of investing fairly "was somewhat alien."

"You might be an economist if you refuse to sell your children because they might be worth more later."

Justin Lahart in The WSJ


It's enough to put you off your morning cereal. As is this story. I was blissfully unaware of the existence of "Metro", which is part of the Daily Mail empire, claiming to "reach" 30% of the UK internet population. Perfectly dreadful, if you ask me.)

Right. Time to stuff that crockpot and sup another cuppa.

You'd think that, the first time I ever do one of the breakfast cereal competitions, I'd win, right? Pah! A "Flash" animation took me to a page with four pop-ups, one of which (purportedly) signified a cash prize. You had only one opportunity to "click". So much for the entertainment prospects of my empty Oatibix pack. Meanwhile a neighbour has chosen today to get some double-glazing replaced. Brrr.

The inner man...

... having been fed, I think a case could now be made for a little fresh air and exercise of the gentle snow-clearing variety. I wonder where Christa kept the handy wooden gadget we used for that task? I shall also do all I can to avoid bruising3 contact with the ground this time. But first (of course) a nice, hot cuppa. It's just gone 14:12 and I was listening to the Media Show item about 3D TV systems.

Aah, memories! Still, at least they're moving on from anaglyphic systems to polarising ones. I was quite impressed by slide and cinema projection systems using that method back in my Hatfield days (that is, before 1974). I'm still not going to be paying that nice Mr Murdoch a bean, however.

Spot removal?

Mercy me. It's 17:02, and I'm recently back in from the snow removal task (such good fun) to the news that something I haven't mentioned for ages no longer even exists. (Source.)

Funny old world. I've been listening to an item about TB which, of course, brings back memories of Betty MacDonald's The plague and I. I reacted very much more mildly than Big Bro to the "TB jab" (BCG) which has now (I learn) been largely phased out. But then I had a school chum who'd had a tubercular parent.

Why do I even bother? dept.

Just made the rounds, drawing curtains. To my irritation the front drive is once again white all over. Grrr. An evening of tele-vegetating looms, I suspect. My chum Val over in unsunny Stockholm is contending with a lot more snow and far lower temperatures, she tells me. There's always one, isn't there?

Just watched Richard E Grant and the Dear Diary programme. Simply stunning and, at times, very moving (as well as hilarious). But now, alas, it's time to do the dishes...

Then, just time to "watch again" the Portillo dinner conversation with a bunch of political diarists, etc. Most entertaining.

  

Footnotes

1  I can think of one immediate benefit to retirement!
2  Nope, make that large flakes mere minutes later.
3  My Technicolor® patch has faded quite well, some two weeks later.