2013 — 21 July: Sunday
Is it time to switch on the central heating?1 It's certainly time for a cuppa. And (it occurs to me) mobile phone shops probably open on a Sunday, which is an interesting thought (for a change).
Meanwhile, the rest of the day awaits. I can't currently be bothered to investigate the near 100% busy-ness of my main data drive; I have full confidence in a bit of Microsoft process gubbins labelled simply "System". Who wouldn't?
Donkey Kong...
... (whoever or whatever that is) meets Maurits Escher (him, I know). Indeed, I have three Escher posters up on the wall directly behind where I'm sitting right now.
What would we do without Roger Penrose and his impossible staircase?
Anti-Vaxxer?
Meanwhile, I heard about this lady for the first time just yesterday on NPR. She's a weird one, and no mistake... There are some interesting links to be found. This struck me as a calmly-sane one by Michael Specter in the New Yorker.
Back from Eastleigh...
... from where I shall be able to pick up my new toy in a little under 48 hours. Trust me to pick a model that's currently supply-constrained. I must simply "contain my soul in patience" and console myself with the deferred gratification offered by a bag containing the receipts, the contract, the direct debit agreement, its battery charger, SIM card and case. And a bite of lunch, of course. It will give me time to immerse myself in the user manual. (Yeah, right.)
Meanwhile, is there anything quite as unedifying as the sight and sound of a headline-chasing UK politician or (gawd help us) a supposedly tech-savvy media pundit banging on about Interwebby porn and how to block it? I could wish for better moral leadership, too, than that in seemingly endless supply from the likes (and dislikes) of the hateful Daily Mail. Back to music for me. I shall have to give up what's presented to me as "news" completely, I suspect.
Unless I misheard...
... Max Reinhardt, he's just played2 the "all-purpose bedtime story" attributed to Brion Gysin — a name I've not heard for many, many years. [Pause] Yes it was, though I had to dig a little:
I confess I found his novel "The Process" more than tedious, though it did help spark my passing interest in Sufi culture at the time. The time then being BC (Before Christa)... As for the bedtime story :-)
Some trillions of years ago, a sloppy, dirty, giant flicked grease from his fingers. One of those gobs of grease is our Universe, on its way to the floor... Splat!
Sounds about right. [Pause] I must say I'm finding the continuing hot weather very wearisome. The slight (but steady) downwards twitching of my barometer gives me a little hope. Even so, it's still over 27C in the living room at 20:25. How on earth the noisy Proms audience copes in the heat of the Albert Hall I do not begin to fathom. Nice though the Tchaikovsky was.
To my (chronological) amusement...
... as it's still currently the 21st of July hereabouts, my new great-nephew popped into the light of a brand-new NZ day at 06:30 local time... tomorrow! Welcome, Ethan John Lennox. (Remind me to re-read that Asimov lab report on the endochronic properties of re-sublimated Thiotimoline.)
I could be wrong...
... but I suspect young Ethan is the chap in the middle. 56cm short, and 8lb 6oz (including bones).