2012 — 13 September: Thursday
The only fly in this morning's ointment — and what a curious phrase that is — was the need to power cycle my router / modem gubbins before it would stop sulking and finally start accepting bits from the big wide non-stop digital world out there. I suppose I could always try leaving it switched off overnight; after all, I no longer run my own external mail or web servers.
A better (indeed, full) night's sleep, begun long before midnight for a change, always does wonders for my sense of well-being. Though the cuppa helps, of course. It's just that I've for a long time mildly resented1 time "lost" to sleep. And by "long time" I mean well over half a century.
Sunny, but cool. Ideal conditions for our walk. Or should I say "moleskin test"?
If we're clever enough...
... to build and deploy lethal autonomous robots, then — as a species — we're also plenty stupid enough to deserve whatever they choose to do to us. (Link.)
Mid-afternoon? Already??
I realise I shall curse myself half-way through the prep, but I've treated myself to two small punnets of Shropshire Prunes (aka damsons). And Mike, meanwhile, gave me a taste of some cherry juice which is potentially going to prove addictive. Simple pleasures, but no less delightful for that. The moleskin passed its acceptance trials, though it came off during the shower. Fair enough, I'd say. And I bumped into Alan D long enough to exchange views on how much better retirement is than work :-)
Time for the cuppa I had to miss earlier as a certain chap had forgotten to renew his parking permit... and I've been caught once by that lapse.
I'm probably the...
... last person in the UK to realise this, but you can download BBC audiobooks from here (after paying for them, of course). And it was the BBC that told me this, too. So I've just grabbed the "Museum of Curiosity, Gallery #3" having given up hope of it ever appearing on CD like its two earlier cousins.
An "Audible" download was also available but, after my recent ghastly experience with the Keith Roberts "Anita" book, and all the faffing around with their cocktail of a proprietary format, a customised variant of some horrible MP3 player based on the Windows MediaPlayer horrorshow, and a DRM system to boot, I've written off "Audible" as a pile of the proverbial. And deleted all traces of the book (which was read by someone with a horribly twee voice, too, that would have driven me nuts long before the end). Your mileage may vary, of course, and I'm sure "Audible" has many well-satisfied users.
I'm just not one of them.
I've no reason...
... to doubt Dr. Haldane's well-considered opinion about beetles but, as I note (with irritation) the itchy bump that's now popped up behind my right knee — directly over a vein — I can also opine about the "creator's" equally inordinate fondness for insects that feast on us. I wasn't even wearing shorts, either. (That's to say, my legs were covered... primarily to avoid the nettles.)
I hope my son will remember to tell me his arrival time and "residence" plans for the coming weekend. There's such a thing as "too casual".