2015 — 3 February: Tuesday
The light dusting of snow out there this morning bodes unwell for today's tentatively-planned walk.1 Brrr. That will teach me not to look at a weather forecast. However, there's always tomorrow.
I diverted from...
... my current video diet of "Suits" last night to re-make the acquaintance of "My cousin Vinny". Excellent choice. Today I may yet tackle the book of Oliver Stone's "untold history", providing I can find a fire to curl up in an armchair by. Unless things thaw very quickly.
Having just heard...
... a news summary, I'm now very curious. Just when did the UK's supply of massed brain-power (and its no-doubt deep knowledge of defective mitochondrial DNA) as represented by a few hundred part-time over-expensed workers in the House of Commons — very few of whom are medically qualified, and many of whom strike me as ethically-challenged sociopaths — develop the expertise to decide on the various issues posed by "three parent" children? I'm sure many of them would rather be rehearsing their stump speeches and polishing up their electoral anecdotes; it seems more in line with their key skills.
I like to think I have a reasonably open mind, and I know I'm keen on SF in general, but I'm less sure about how well Frankenstein's fictional monster actually turned out. Nor am I sure that mitochondria would normally be able to take (seize?) this particular evolutionary pathway. A chicken is merely an egg's over-complex way of making another egg, after all. (Link.)
I'm nearly...
... used to my new 40" 4K screen (and like it very much). It sits approximately 30" away from me as I type. I've just followed this link from the latest Ubuntu weekly newsletter. It led me to Dell's US store where I find I'm less convinced by a Dell Precision M3800 laptop (or, as they prefer, "mobile workstation") with, and I quote, a 15.6" UltraSharp IGZO UHD Touch (3840x2160) 4K2K Wide View LED-backlit. My retina isn't that hi-res. And the idea of poking one of my fat fingers on a screen of that resolution with any, erm, precision strikes me as particularly ludicrous.
I spy...
... with my little eye, that there's not really much point getting heated about guvmint surveillance. Nor even about the Civil Service empire building behind this new (and profitable) enterprise. People are going to carry on regardless of my low opinion of their "intelligence". Recall that lovely joke found (among other places) in a 12th-century Persian poem?
The story of the sheep who try to leave the country, explaining to the border guards that they want to get out because the secret police have received orders to arrest all elephants.
'But you're not elephants.'
'Try telling that to the secret police.'
I don't need...
... to read much of the IBM (and ex-IBM [and soon-to-be-ex-IBM]) ranting and venting here to be grateful, again, that it's all over eight years ago for me, now.
What could I possibly add?
Much as I hate...
... to see Mr Postie powering his way past Technology Towers without stopping, there's actually nothing currently still malingering in the supply pipeline. I've just checked. Golly.
Anyone remember...
... "Video on Demand", I wonder? Did it ever get going? Follow me back to the days of IBM's Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). I was glancing at a letter I wrote to dear Mama back then — I was still doing that once a week (without ever getting a reply, of course). Here's the relevant extract:
It's been a week not without interest. On Monday morning my present boss rang me to ask whether I'd be happy working for a manager who I'd last worked for (briefly) in late 1987. Seems she thinks I'm just the hero to save part of her nascent project's bacon (a bid involving about eleven bits of IBM [not to mention anything up to thirty rival consortia!] promising to wire up Hongkong for TV and video on demand, interactive shopping, and all sorts of other goodies).
Well, I don't mind, and indeed the work sounds quite interesting, but I'm loath to give up my present duties as (a) I'm having a ball and (b) their value is apparently appreciated. So by Friday it looked like we're going to compromise on some sort of part-time job-sharing arrangement. My boss has to clear it with his boss [the Lab Director], first though, so nothing's final yet. Still, it's always nice to be in demand...
Infamous last words! I wonder whatever happened to Caroline Cooper, too :-)
Coming from behind?
An interesting story about the Surface Pro 3 — a tasty device if ever I saw one. But oh, so expensive.