2014 — 5 February: Wednesday

I live in hope1 that the reasonably-priced Blu-ray I've just ordered from Amazon in Germany of a favourite film from 1986 will contain the funny 'proposal in the hospital' scene right at the end that (for completely unfathomable reasons probably not unrelated to Hollywood stupidity) was present on the low-quality VHS print I originally bought, but on neither the subsequent LaserDisc nor the later NTSC DVD.

Last time I checked, YouTube still had a copy of it.

I find it...

... somewhat ironic to learn that chaps with their fingers on the triggers of 'nukuler' missiles cheat on their proficiency tests in their "culture of fear". If a launch officer who can obliterate life on a massive scale is afraid and worried about job security perhaps it's time to send for Dr Strangelove? (Link.)

Meanwhile...

... the winter wind is sufficiently uppity this morning that it's been blowing my by-no-means-full green bin around now that it's temporarily beyond the shelter of my back garden wall. I'm just back from a Mother Hubbard's cupboard-filling mission but have put the car straight back onto its nest. I have no wish to venture out in what looks likely to be the vile weather heading our way later today.

I'm delighted to see that I'm back in Uncle ERNIE's good books, to the tune of £25 at some point later this month. Though not as much later these days (now that I've told him how to stow his all-too-rare lumps of benison directly into my account). I'm celebrating with my first cup of Keemun tea here in Technology Towers. No cow juice required.

Having just failed...

... to sort out (by phone) my chum Christopher's arcane RF signal generation and distribution requirement (made necessary as he attempts to continue to avoid paying Mr Murdoch too much money on a room-by-room basis just because his latest generation Sky digibox no longer has an RF output to feed into his in-house network) I've now been invited to fail to sort out my chum Iris and her new printer / scanner / copier which doesn't yet seem to wish to scan to where she wants it to (or some such).

There is the potential of a free lunch... contingent upon my success.

Rather later

I've been re-acquainting myself with Season #1 of "Joan of Arcadia" before embarking on the next voyage. Its creator, Barbara Hall, wrote four episodes of "Northern Exposure" — a fact that doesn't surprise me.

  

Footnote

1  Doesn't everyone?