2014 — 24 October: Friday
It looks a bit damp out there at the moment1 so I shall equalise that by sinking my first cuppa of the day. A day whose major adventure is likely to be the lunch I had to postpone for the sake of the central heating annual service yesterday. Actually, it seems more than a little dark out there too — that's only going to get worse when the clocks change in a week. It would appear I'm rapidly approaching the end of my seventh year, and my next winter, all without Christa. Though how that can be, I still have not the faintest idea. (It's quite weird enough my now being older than she was when she died.)
Meanwhile...
... the radiators are all hot. Delicious. (As is the latest series of "The Mentalist". I can no longer imagine having to wait for a week between episodes, but that's what DVD box sets are for, isn't it?)
Sadly...
... I have a failure to report. My remote diagnosis skills failed me yesterday when trying to navigate Iris by phone through the Firefox-unfriendly minefield that is BT's web site. Something in NoScript was obviously fighting with the login credentials processing on a site seemingly designed to run smoothly only under IE, which is what I ended up talking her through. First time she's had to find, and run, that. Most annoying. Still, user acceptance testing continues. She seems mostly very happy with Win8.1 on her swish, red, All-in-one PC.
The name's Bondage,...
... James Bondage. I finished this piece on why chaps don't read romance novels (actually chaps don't read all that much fiction, full stop — they don't even read as much SF as the ladies, which is a bit of a turn-up for the, erm, books) before learning that its author, Noah Berlatsky, has a book coming out that aligns with what I saw just yesterday about Wonder Woman's creator. What have I been missing, I wonder? And I'm not just thinking of the "giant, multi-lunged space kangaroos" :-)
Perhaps it wasn't just Kemlo who thrived on the vacuum of space? Meanwhile, my next batch of fresh comestibles is safely gathered-in. If you're going to shop on a Friday it's a jolly good idea to do so as early as you can in these here parts. Now, what about that next cuppa? And maybe even a spot of breakfast? Sounds like a plan to me. [Pause] I've just been told the clocks change this very weekend, dagnabbit. Thanks, Tom.
Of course, you know what this means? Yep. The clock in my little Yaris is now going to be wrong for the next six months...
Safer not to comment
Even though I've long been interested in the topic:
Such healthy pluralism can have its absurdities, of course, suggesting a world not unlike Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon, "where all children are above average," replete with "Baby Einsteins and Baby Mozarts." A thriving self-help literature purrs comfortingly about the hidden "genius within" and instructs readers How to Be a Genius and How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, providing Seven Steps to Genius Every Day. Apparently, there is genius in everyone now, at all times, and in all things. The title of a recently published sex-guide for women sums up the situation: Penis Genius.
Mind you, there's a bit here that explains things a lot more effectively than I remember Hans Eysenck managing at the one Mensa lecture I attended with Christa (as guests, I hasten to add) back in the mid-1970s. Though it's not the bit I've chosen for my snippet, as it happens:
Almost certainly, some countries will allow genetic engineering, thereby opening the door for global elites who can afford to travel for access to reproductive technology. As with most technologies, the rich and powerful will be the first beneficiaries. Eventually, though, I believe many countries will not only legalize human genetic engineering, but even make it a (voluntary) part of their national healthcare systems.
Just don't repeat my mistake and read too far down through the comments.
Today's evidence...
... of my non-completeist tendencies was waiting patiently on my doorstep. It's a whole album of cover versions by Siouxsie, including the strangest "Strange Fruit" I've yet heard:
It came out in 1987, which shows how unclosely I have my finger on the pulse of these popular beat combos, don't you agree?
Silent, but deadly
This strikes me as either (or both) criminal and stupid. (Link.)