2016 — 24 June: Friday
Sunshine, a clear blue sky, no evidence of any overnight downpour hereabouts, a double lunch date, and a nice hot cuppa.1 Plus a fair chance of another significant bit of house repair progress. The end of which is now clearly in sight (judging by my diminished bank balance). Thanks for that, dear Mama!
There's no point saying "Should have done it years ago" for the simple reason that we generally chose not to spend our money that way. But it's both a bit annoying, and something of a relief, to be finally putting right a set of faults and deficiencies present from Day 1 in this house when Day 1 was now somehow 35 years ago.
Meanwhile...
... on a somewhat larger canvas, and going back eight years further than my 35, the entire country has been doing much the same thing (according to 52% of the "opinion" thus expressed). My opinion is, as usual, a minority one.
So here we all are (as it were) out in the "real" world. The good thing about such things? Voting marks a temporary end to the lies, desperate shouting matches, and endless tedious prognostications and commentaries. But the best thing about democracy? As usual — assuming the Universal Truth that if voting changed anything "they" would make it illegal — everybody gets what nobody wants.
Despite what they may think :-)
I've replied to Big Bro's email and suggested to him that perhaps we should rename ourselves the "Untied" Kingdom.
Following the reversion...
... to static HTML throughout 'molehole' — needed because of my recent move to an AWS storage bucket for hosting this site — Brian has been tidying up some of his Python code, and I've reworked my description of the slightly-changed way I now generate my lists of books. The next item for change is the generation of the list of films I have on DVD and Blu-ray. Python code pulls this data from Kodi's internal SQLite DB and customises it for the 'molehole' look'n'feel. (Not quite the conventional Kodi "use case", but it works very nicely.)
I've still yet to decide how I wish to present a list of my various "non-film" items. A typical example: the six seasons of "Northern Exposure" — do I really want to show details of every episode, or is the series title "enough"? Good question. Then there's the whole topic of music and speech recordings. Both on CD and recorded off-air. While I remember pretty much what I have, finding it can be an issue...
Or I could just step outside and smell the roses. Or make some breakfast.
My back garden gate...
... once again can be opened and closed "properly". Cool! And the only remaining sign of the massive FM antenna array will now probably be the stud bolts that once held the brackets to which its support pole was clamped. One less thing to be struck by lightning or blown down in a howling gale...
I was always dubious...
... about some policies of my last employer!
IBM has also been accused of placing less emphasis on its technology in favor of financial engineering over the last 10 years. The company spent $125bn on share buybacks from 2005 to 2015, compared to $111bn on capital spending and R&D. That's an extraordinary situation for a company undergoing a significant technology transition.
I know I'm swimming against the tide when I remind people that it wasn't "Respect for the Individual", either. According to Lou Mobley...
... in his 1989 book, it started out as "Respect for the dignity of the Individual". Wonder how that's been working out since I retired?
As others see us?
Hard to disagree:
It's now hard to overstate how important the "Brexit" vote was, and the potential negative consequences for all concerned. The only possible benefit is as a teachable moment on the shortcomings of isolationism... Voters apparently bought have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too argument that the UK could negotiate favorable trade agreements with the EU even after severing political ties. This ignores the fact that Europe will be in no mood to accommodate Britain for fear that other nations would flee as well.
USA Today has a laudable policy of hosting an "opposing viewpoint" to their expressed editorial opinions. The chap speaking out on behalf of Brexit is from the "Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom". Does it get any more surreal than that? Read his views here.
A petition calling for a second EU referendum is proving quite popular... what a bizarre country I live in.