2016 — 21 October: Friday
Recall Einstein's doubts about the non-infinite nature of the Universe?1 I've just spent quite a lot of time trying (unsuccessfully) to repair the damage (self-inflicted, naturally) on my NoMachine Remote Desktop view of my BlackBeast PC. Having once made the mistake of inviting NoMachine to "create" a remote desktop for me I fear I proved unequal to the task of repairing its badly-broken state. No such damage occurred with a direct connection, of course.
Among the set of things...
... to do, or not to do, as you sneak up on this problem a longer way round is "RTFM" next time, idiot. I eventually realised my best bet would be to remove NoMachine completely, and then put it back on and start again. I first tried manual removal. Or what I naïvely assumed would be manual removal. Don't do that next time.
I then read the "Uninstalling" section of the manual. Next time, don't read the bit about uninstalling from a non-standard location, idiot. I ended up using the Package Manager to zap the installation, a couple of sudo-assisted bits of dynamite on the appropriate sub-folder, rebooted, and finally just re-installed using the latest download.
It went on completely trouble-free, and a perfect BlackBeast desktop is now muttering quietly to itself in a distant Skylark Virtual Workspace... alongside a smaller i5NUC NoMachine Remote Desktop now that I've put the i5NUC back directly on to the Rotel pre-amp HDMI connection.
Other tasks
I shall arrange for Big Bro2 to receive his latest Stanley Gibbon stamp catalogue for Xmas. I know how much innocent pleasure he derives from his used bits of licked paper. I shall also have to do something about Mother Hubbard's self-emptying cupboard with a new batch of fresh edible stuff if I intend to eat this weekend. I must also try to remember to nip over to the IBM Clubhouse in time to bid a fond farewell to my tall young Dutch friend who's returning to Holland.
I'm very much enjoying the letters exchanged between Paddy L-F and DD that arrived yesterday. I also managed to squeeze in a viewing of Episode #1 of the new season of "The Big Bang Theory". Better squeeze in some breakfast, too. Busy, busy.
How worried...
... should I be that — with the exception of one, forgettable, short section appearing in the 2006 film "Destricted" — I'm largely unaware of "the world's most famous performance artist"?
At the gala, she presented the architect Sir Norman Foster with a golden replica of his brain, as well as what she calls a "brain cozy," like a nerdy hard hat, bristling with LED tendrils, which he put on. Abramovic has always been interested in various notions of energy waves, and ideas about the brain are, for her, part of this. She also met with "top scientists" working on mapping the brain and artificial intelligence: It was "mind-blowing." Then, midstream, as happens with Abramovic, her mood swoops: "The future is so gloomy," she says. "We are going to have machines rule the world."
(My) ignorance is bliss, it seems.
I was dismayed...
... (though not surprised) to hear from Tall Thomas that our recent collective bout of Brexit insanity helped him decide to take his family and return 'home'. That is IBM's loss.
I was pleased...
... (though not surprised) to hear from Yet Another Bit of Brenda's vast organisation the details of my "first payment of State Pension by Direct Payment". There is no new information in this latest letter but at least, this time, it didn't cross the Irish Sea to reach me.
Arriving earlier this morning...
... from rather further afield... Toledo, in fact. It's a fairly battered, but still perfectly readable, 1991 hardback:
Decent-length profiles of John Stewart Bell, and John Archibald Wheeler, and a look at the 52-year correspondence between Einstein and Michele Angelo Besso.
I can only tolerate...
... relatively brief exposure to the specious arguments in "Spectator" magazine editorialising. The so-called "leading article" on 27th August, for example, was titled "Better together". It examined the case for Scotland not breaking away. After first rubbishing the "shrill hysteria" of those predicting doom, and then describing Scotland's dreadful 10.1% of GDP deficit — admitting that it's twice as big as the next-worst country (Japan) — how about this conclusion?
By being plugged into the larger economic network of the United Kingdom, Scots have not just been shielded from the oil slump, but have been able to achieve more than ever. The pooling of resources works. Scotland and England are now, more than ever, better together.
By some miracle of right-wing economic and political theory, the same argument isn't applied to the UK vis-à-vis the EU. Simple oversight, no doubt.
Whatever you do...
... do not call it "cold fusion"! (Fascinating link.)