2010 — 1 February: Monday — rabbits!
Just a placeholder for tonight. I'm too tired for more.1
G'night...
Breakfast reading
How about the elegant summary of the IBM UK pension position? Source and snippet:
On a broader front, it is natural that some companies fail, and some come close to insolvency. When this happens the workforce usually knows how bad the situation is, and can take a sensible view of when degrading the pension scheme is the appropriate salvation. But this has never been the situation with IBM. Degrading the schemes has been a move to free up money to spend on buying back IBM shares. Some $100 billion spent that way has just about kept the share price unchanged (after allowing for inflation). It is impossible to be certain whether different spending would have had better results, but we can say that for the US executives who judge their own merits by the amount they can take from the Company, the buybacks have been a success. We can also see that the final salary schemes have been sacrificed to the policy.
My emphasis, by the way.
It's a fine, sunny, chilly morning with the gentle sounds of breaking glass almost drowning out my (Kenneth Gilbert) Bach harpsichord CD throughout2 the house as my crate of empties is finally snaffled. But, alas, they have turned up their noses at my beautifully-bagged collection of dead batteries3 so it seems I have to truck these along to Asda later on. Not before breakfast and a second cuppa. It's still (10:39) just on freezing out there.
Is there a bigot in the church?
Our local bish (one Rt Revd Michael Scott-Joynt) and his fellow chaps with the same super-powerful imaginary friend (Messrs Langrish and Forster — praying for Exeter and Chester respectively) isn't too keen on the current Equality Bill that's snailing its way through the legislative process. Ophelia Benson neatly summarised the attitude of the church (of England) as "We support fairness but we want to go on excluding women and gays. Surely you understand." (I don't make this stuff up, you know! It's far too bizarre.)
Thanks, Mr Postie
As predicted, my "Used — just like new" Blu-ray copy of the Ang Lee film Taking Woodstock has indeed turned out to be a DVD...
... but, given the price, it's still a bargain, and the scaling technology in my Oppo Blu-ray player usually renders the difference between SD and HD relatively minor.
Tonight's cinematic treat was (last time I looked) only available on DVD from Germany, and none too cheaply, either. I'm too mean to pay nearly £40 from a seller on Amazon UK (or $30 or so plus import duty and the Post Office fee of £8 for collecting same from Amazon in the US). However, since my present recording4 is on an elderly DVD+R I shall make myself a new one using the DVD-R brand that seems less susceptible to long-term laser rot. The running time suggested by Wikipedia (107 minutes) is at odds with that suggested by the BBC (100 minutes) but then, the BBC also gets wrong the link to Wikipedia!
Good job I'm not obsessive about these things, isn't it? :-)
Meanwhile, today's lunch is now getting agitated in the oven. The sun is still shining, some Haydn is tinkling away, the outside temperature has crept up to +3C, and I'm still not sure if I like the music of William Walton. Though I did learn a few things about the man and, shall we say, his propensity to avail himself of female comfort. No big deal. On with the show.
Oops. Time to switch off the oven and prep the rest of the veggies.
Fiddlesticks!
Someone (probably me) appears to have eaten everything not actually nailed down. Supplies trail here I go, yet again. How tedious. Still, the forecast is for rain tomorrow, and that's even less fun. <Sigh>
Good God, Christa! When did it become possible to buy ready-made pancakes?5 Though how I'm going to manage to force down eight of the little beauties within the two-day window (once said window is open) is an as-yet untackled problem. I'm sure I'll find a way. They're supposed to be suitable for both sweet and savoury, so I may even try them with my next pâté. It's 16:48 and more or less cloudless out there, but still pretty cool.
The ridiculous "Beyond Belief" programme remains exactly that. I currently have 20 minutes or so left to catch last week's discussion on whether self-inflicted pain is a valid or offensive form of discipline. I don't think I'll bother! Zero out of ten, BBC.
Long live Langford
There's always at least one good laugh in the monthly "Ansible". Try this, from Thog's Masterclass section:
"Just a minute, Mr. Todd, you're a shilling short here."
"Ah, terribly sorry, I must a dropped it." He laboriously counted out three pennies, a ha'penny, and six farthings.
There's a neat one from Stephen King, too.
Later
I thought Terry Pratchett's "Dimbleby lecture" on assisted dying was eminently sensible throughout.