2011 — 14 October: Friday
This is my fifth birthday since I retired1 but it's the first time I've ever been been 60. At this rate, I shall soon catch Christa up :-)
Wonder what that's going to feel like? According to my chum Chris2 I should now get into the cinema for less, the guvmint offers me help with my heating bills, and starts monitoring my poo. Of course, Hollywood execs only tend to make films for the teen male demographic, I like things cool, and I've had my fill of poo from the guvmint over the years.
Neat karma.
I just saw...
... the lady who currently has the Amazon Home Delivery gig drive past (though not in a gig). Here's hoping. It's 10:26 and I haven't even had breakfast. Shocking!
Who needs SF when...
... you have stuff like this prize-winning essay?
Enter the Vibrio fischeri. These live in a sac in the squids' mantles and, when there are enough of them, they switch on a light. Their bioluminescence disguises the squid's silhouette on the sea bed. To
get it just right, sensors on the squid's back gauge the strength of moonlight, with filters adjusting the light emitted from the sacs.
In return for all this handy illumination, the bacteria are kept well-fed. In the morning, the squid purges itself of its visitors and, as the bacteria's numbers drop below the quorum threshold, they turn off
their light. The remaining population then do what they do best and multiply throughout the day, reaching sufficient numbers by nightfall to start glowing all over again.
Getting back...
... from a quick supplies run just in time to catch a phone call from Peter regarding his arrival with Peter's g/f later tonight, but not quite in time to intercept some postal stuff (for which I now have to wait the obligatory four hours before I call at their local depot to do their job for them) I can observe that it's a very nice day, even if I am now an indisputably elderly codger. I have a small but select pile of cards and email greetings to prove it. I am a lucky chap, poor in cash, but rich in Time and chums.
Pylons
These designs sparked my interest. I have to admit that the right one won (for once):
Though these would both have been fun alternatives:
(Gallery.)
Were I of a...
... satirical bent at all, then contemplating just two of the extraordinary stories around guvmint ministers today (for random example) might possibly trigger recall of a remark attributed to Plutarch quite some time ago:
Having been advised...
... that the youngsters won't arrive in time to whisk me out for an evening meal (and I don't much care for late dining in any case) I've just wrapped myself around a delicious king prawn curry with added prawns and pilau rice to the musical choices of young Desmond Carrington. Dishes done, I can now turn my attention to the items held for me at the postal depot. These were the 1987 CD by Keith Jarrett — the clavichord improvisations I mentioned yesterday, but a very boring cover not worth scanning — and these two lumps of DVD goodness:
But now I intend to resume watching "Castle", kindly lent to me by Len. Very amiable tosh. (IMDB.)