2011 — 8 December: Thursday
Guess which non-Novatech technician1 found a lead that disappeared in the general direction of the two USB ports on the front of BlackBeast and, just as crucially, sported a nine-pin plug labelled "USB" on the other end that was obviously intended to push on to a corresponding socket on the bottom edge of the motherboard? A reboot or two later and the two ports were once again live. Who knows? If I plug that lead into one of the USB 3 sockets I may even find I would then have two USB 3 ports on the front...
I think that will have to do for today (or yesterday, at least) as it's 00:51 and I could use some sleep. G'night.
The King and I
It seems the world's toughest laws on lèse-majesté are currently found in Thailand. Just as well for the panellists on HIGNFY that they don't seem to apply here in the Untied (sic) Kingdom :-)
People found guilty of insulting the king, queen or heir to the throne face three to 15 years behind bars. The nation's 2007 Computer Crimes Act contains provisions that have enabled prosecutors to increase sentences... The Thai information minister, Anudith Nakornthap, has warned that Facebook users who click the "share" or "like" button on content that insults the Thai monarchy are committing a crime.
Personally, I'm with dear ol' Dad on this one. Line them up against the walls of their palaces and shoot them. Recall Diderot: "Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest." Mind you, there's a surplus of priests relative to kings, I guess. Things could get messy.
Glancing back at my diary jottings for this day in previous years, I'm fairly sure I'm no more mad than I used to be. It's time (08:39) for some breakfast, methinks.
Moving right along
Supplies gathered in. New Private Eye received. It's nastily grey weather out there, and only 9C, too. I shall be picking up Len for lunch somewhere in an hour or so. Meanwhile, there remain a fair few bits'n'pieces to tidy up on BlackBeast. Not the least of which was this little charmer when I tried to re-install my Home Accountz 'money' management program yesterday:
When I last had this problem — and complained — I had to go through the rigmarole of getting them to send me another activation key. But they've had six months to clean up the Java componentry in their product and (it seems) they have still yet to do so. Oh well, yet another reboot, just 'cos I removed "Bing Bar". Plus I haven't worked out (yet) how to remove the NVidia control panel gorp that (for some reason) Win7 has decided I have despite the fact that it can't find any NVidia hardware on my system (probably because I don't have any).
Lunch and chatting was delightful, but I could have done without another call from the care-home. When I got home and called back to see what was going on I learned of another 'tumble' and a second set of antibiotics. Still, at least a GP has checked her over — all breakages must be paid for — and listened to her breathing. Nor did the matron sound particularly worried. Beyond that, what can a chap do? Well, another cuppa while I contemplate my scratched knuckles (thank you, Ivan) and I should be fine. Thanks, Len!
Hearing rain...
... being battered against my living room window (at 19:23) reminds me — as did one of my 'regulars' at the Waitrose deli counter this morning — that it is indeed getting towards full-on winter. Brrr.
[Pause]
Well there may not be any 'chess nuts boasting in an open foyer' (think about it) but there are worse ways to spend a nasty winter's evening than watching a neat little Philip K Dick story I don't ever recall reading that's been turned into an equally neat film: The Adjustment Bureau (though I have to admit there are parallels with a 1954 James Blish story: Beep). I've just ordered a Blu-ray copy. G'night.