2014 — 2 September: Tuesday

There was a time1 when the things that Jacques Loussier and his Trio did to Bach were actually banned by the BBC. Not today, though. Meanwhile, I now find myself regretting my recent decision to register with the New York Times as the email branch of their marketing arm could easily give lessons in persistent rapacity to their colleagues in the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation that Douglas Adams first described a staggering 35 years ago.

They also serve...

... (breakfast, in my case) to those who only sit and wait — in this case, for their little blue car to be taken away for its annual check-up. I've remembered to submit both keys to the ritual of the new battery this time. Meanwhile, I shall sort out dear Mama's next care-home fee. Wouldn't want her rendered homeless given the distinctly autumnalistic feel out there this morning. Despite the bright, but low, sunshine.

Just back from...

... a quick "once round the block to warm up the engine" tour of the neighbourhood. It was bright sunshine when I set off, but had become quite gloomily cloudy by the time I'd returned... and then given the interior its final sucking with the dinky Dyson. That will be the kicking-in of the same genes that impelled dear Mama to clean the house before the cleaning lady's weekly arrival, I guess. Said lady's efficiency and thoroughness was always later moaned about. At least I don't do that.

Oh good grief

He was bad enough as a Chancellor of the Exchequer, surely?

Lawson did not respond to a request for comment. In October 2012, he said his fundraising for the GWPF [Global Warming Policy Foundation] had started with his friends: "They tend to be richer than the average person and much more intelligent than the average person; that's why they can see the flaws in the conventional wisdom."

Damian Carrington in Grauniad


I can confirm it's still an odd sensation, watching my car being driven away...

The physics...

... I was taught in school in the late 1960s bears little resemblance to the physics I read about these days:

According to quantum mechanics, the electric and magnetic field of the vacuum is constantly producing short-lived pairs of electrons and positrons. These ghostlike particles pop out of the vacuum into being, enjoy their lives for about one-billionth of one-billionth of a second, and then disappear again.
In an isolated hydrogen atom, surrounded by seemingly empty space, the proton at the center of the atom draws the fleeting vacuum electrons toward it and repulses the vacuum positrons, causing its electrical charge to be slightly reduced. This reduction of the proton's charge, in turn, slightly modifies the energy of the orbiting (non vacuum) electrons in a process called the Lamb shift, named after physicist Willis Lamb and first measured in 1947. The measured shift in energy is quite small, only three parts in 100 million. But it agrees very closely with the complex equations of the theory — a fantastic validation of the quantum theory of the vacuum. It is a triumph of the human mind to understand so much about empty space.

Alan Lightman in Nautilus


"Say it ain't so."

The more I use...

... my new Tablet PC, the more impressive I find it to be. In fact, it feels, on some tasks, actually faster than my venerable BlackBeast PC, which is probably impossible according to quantum mechanics. Bite me.

Money gushing out

As I mentioned recently, I ordered a Blu-ray of that amusing little David E Kelley comedy horror "Lake Placid" to supplant my original frankly-terrible NTSC DVD. My patience gave out last night and I fired off a gentle inquiry to 'Books2anywhereUS'. I was promptly thanked for my patience, apologised to, told to assume it's gone astray — I think I'd worked that out for myself — and a free replacement is now about to try the same transatlantic voyage. This is only the second time I've ever "lost" an Amazon order in what? 17 years? Not bad at all.

Meanwhile, a call from Mrs Toyota notifies me of "Nothing too major on the car, sir" (its air filter was pretty well pollen-filled [I was going to say "pollinated" but that didn't seem quite le mot juste] and the two rear tyres are "a bit low" on tread). Bearing in mind the rapidly approaching prospect of wetter, slippier roads in the coming months, I've opted for a new pair for the ones2 attached to the engine gubbins at the front, and to move the present front pair to the rear. The rear pair currently on there are actually still original to the vehicle which, after 44,000+ miles, is apparently pretty good.

I spoil my toys. Good job it's only money.

Having also just brushed off a Third World caller (who was trying to tell me his survey had revealed "problems with my computer" that he wished to fix) by the simple tactic of denying that I had "a computer" I shall now toddle over to help my bungalow chum get through some of his coffee.

My car is...

... back on its nest sporting two new tyres and a very clean external skin. It passed the M.O.T. with flying colours. I've just celebrated by ordering a Spanish Blu-ray of the wonderful film "Playing by Heart" — after all, I've only been waiting patiently to replace my NTSC DVD for nearly 15 years.

Meanwhile, my Android guru expressed himself 'very impressed' by the SHIELD Tablet's performance. Amusingly, it picked up his Wi-Fi credentials without any fuss (having, we deduce, transferred them from either my Smartphone or, more likely, the Asus Transformer, when I had one of those items with me on one of my previous visits). I admit I was a little taken aback, but Brian was perfectly cool about it. I was returning an array of "corroded battery removal" tools and passing along a surplus BD of "Transcendence" (which I re-watched last night, by the way, and still enjoyed) following my earlier failure to cancel my stupid duplicate order in time.

How's this for a...

... ridiculously cute lo-tech rubbery "stand" for the SHIELD? Brian saw it in 'Poundland' and thought of me:

SHIELD stand

It will certainly tide me over until the official cover / stand becomes available later this month.

  

Footnotes

1  Before my time, happily.
2  Both of which were themselves replacements after unfortunate nail ingress issues at 10,000 and 20,000 miles.