2011 — 21 July: Thursday
From time to time I keep a gentle eye on the progress of Scrivener on Windows1 and I note that it's now inched towards a Version 1 release next month. Cool. There's also a version under preparation for Linux. Cooler still.
So, too, is today's weather — a mere 19C here in the living room. And there's me thinking it was midsummer.
Fascinating...
... though some of the modern variations on a quill pen are, the process of writing has also always interested me. So I'm pleased to find an extract from a biography of Joseph Heller. Source and snippet:
The Czech writer Arnost Lustig claimed that Heller had told him at a New York party for Milos Forman in the late 1960s that he couldn't have written Catch-22 without first reading Jaroslav Hasek's unfinished World War I satire, The Good Soldier Schweik. In Hasek's novel, a mad state bureaucracy traps a hapless man. Among other things, he stays in a hospital for malingerers and serves as an orderly for an army chaplain.
I was also delighted to learn Evelyn Waugh's response in September 1961 to a pre-publication proof:
Thank you for sending me Catch-22. I am sorry that the book fascinates you so much. It has many passages quite unsuitable to a lady's reading You are mistaken in calling it a novel. It is a collection of sketches — often repetitious — totally without structure. Much of the dialogue is funny. You may quote me as saying: "This exposure of corruption, cowardice and incivility of American officers will outrage all friends of your country (such as myself) and greatly comfort your enemies."
Until I finally read the divine Jane, of course, Joseph was my Desert Island Discs writer.
Speedier Gonzales
It's less than a week since I first discovered PCI-E SSDs even existed. This one is just insanely fast. Now, if only I had a use for it.
As a post-lunch...
... expotition, I chose a gentle mooch around the shelves of "Best Buy" at the End of the Hedge. Though I lingered over some of the graphics cards I can't pretend I was seriously tempted. On the way there I was followed for a while by a "B"-reg Daimler limousine; the sort often chosen by self-aggrandising mayors to go with their vital gold chains. When I let him overtake I was amazed at the ungainly wide body atop wheels that looked altogether too close for secure cornering. Now I'm back in time to catch the last few chords of "The Rite" with my mid-afternoon cuppa.
Oops #1
By a process I prefer to leave unexplored2, I'd somehow managed to miss the fact that the chap (Alan Pakula) who — many years ago — made the best film Jane Fonda ever appeared in (with the debatable exception of "Barbarella", of course!) also turned one of John Grisham's overweight thrillers into celluloid. What's worse, given that Julia Roberts is in it, is that I don't think I ever saw it...
Tonight's treat, thanks, Mr Postie.
Oops #2
I needed to unpack some .RAR files recently. Having been warned that the official WinRAR program "installs hooks all over the place" I went instead for the 7Zip option. I installed that from its location on SourceForge, and briefly used it, on Tuesday afternoon. Now I've suddenly been tipped off by my anti-nasties defences that something has deposited quite a well-hidden lump of adware (Win32/Hotbar) that I've just ushered politely but firmly into quarantine. Given the paranoid care with which I generally allow anything executable near my PC, I think the two most likely culprits are this 7Zip code, or (horror!) something on my chum Len's USB stick (which I did not scan) and via which he passed me a few old radio plays about an hour ago. Grrr.
In another rare example of being ahead of the curve, I've actually remembered to put out my now half-full glass recycling collection crate. It's probably six months since I last did this. On with the show.
Oops #2, continued later
The .RAR files arrived on Brian's USB stick, which I know will have been formatted on his Linux system. It's possible that the stick was infected. I've deleted all but the one file I actually wanted, which is definitely clean. Meanwhile, when my weekly run of Secunia PSI warned me that my installation of VLC (the open source media player) was now back-level and insecure (and, incidentally thereby threatening my hitherto 100% secure score) I thought little of it until I clicked on the link offered (by Secunia) to fix it. However, when this took me to SourceForge but promptly seemed intent on downloading not a fresh VLC but, rather, another 7Zip I fear I smelled a rat.
So I got my update from the VLC page itself. Now it may just have been that my system was reporting the presence of 7Zip and that the download therefore was actually trying to be helpful by downloading an updated VLC package in 7Zip format. But it didn't look quite that innocent.
A deeper inspection of my system — two hours plus of scanning and snooping — is now complete and all still seems to be well. But I have no reason to change my already low opinion of malware authors, whom I regard as a form of pond life, somewhat below scum on the evolutionary ladder. Len has assured me his USB stick contains no executables (and I don't permit "autoplay" in any case). I'm left wondering about SourceForge, Brian's USB stick, and 7Zip itself. The latter is now also thoroughly expunged. I can do nothing about the other two potential vectors!
It's 20:00 and I need a cuppa.
I find it a little curious that the Microsoft Malware encyclopedia entry for the Win32/Hotbar crap was updated just today, and my system detected the malware just today, when the nasties signature file was supposedly capable of finding it many moons ago. Who can fathom the inner workings of such things? No matter.
I've been experimenting with BlackBeast's built-in graphics capabilities on the motherboard (which I'd not actually ever tried before, since I bought myself a silent ATI Radeon 4350 as part of the original barebones package). It turns out the motherboard's graphics chip doesn't even permit me to drive my Dell 24" screen at its native resolution, so how they can claim it's a hi-def system is beyond me. The maximum resolution available is only 1440x1280 (technically enough for 720p, I grant you) instead of 1920x1200. Pathetic.
Since there's a much wider range of cards available in cyberspace than in Hedge End, I have in mind a minor-league upgrade in this area. Watch this space. Now, if I'm to watch the film I'd better start, I guess. Somehow it's already 22:20 — I've been engrossed in some lovely old SF (the Julian May sagas).