2016 — 4 November: Friday
I regret to announce the breakdown — temporary, I hope — of the lovely system whereby Uncle ERNIE sends me a monthly mite of financial encouragement. Though at least he had the grace to say "Sorry".
IBM, meanwhile, sent me a pensions 'payslip' yesterday. It shows the predictable effect my new tax code from Brenda's gang of thugs has on the IBM portion of my monthly pittance. Of course, when the State Pension kicks1 in the bottom line will still twitch up rather than down, so my simple-minded Micawber Wilkins system of financial integrity and contingent happiness remains intact.
I shall celebrate...
... with my second cuppa before venturing out on to the Info Superhighway to see what new levels2 of national inanity / insanity are now prevailing in this Happy Land as we "take back control" from our European Overlords by handing it to an unelected PM of unproven ability. And as (for trivial example) we continue not to boost the NHS with the £350,000,000 per week of 'saved' EU funding that was "promised" on the side of that stupid propaganda 'bus by the, erm, liars and their Klingons during their inelegant Referendum "campaign".
Now here's a thought!
And it puts us into a neat perspective :-)
We humans exist only because of the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Nice essay. Unless you're a devotee of "Intelligent Design", of course. Or "Creationism". Or is that the same thing? I am so easily confused that I tend to forget all the strands of pseudoscience.
Not quite all...
... the UK Press reaction to yesterday's High Court ruling has been as elegant and restrained as this:
Instead of continuing an expensive and time-consuming fight in an attempt to seek legitimacy for riding roughshod over parliament, the government would be much wiser to do what it should have done from the start and ask for parliament's approval to start negotiations on the basis of a clear explanation of what it hopes to achieve.
Much of our glorious media seems to prefer to scream its outrage from the gutter.
Delicious understatement
From paragraph #7 of the ruling:
It is not difficult to identify people with standing to bring the challenge since virtually everyone in the United Kingdom or with British citizenship will, as we explain at paragraphs 58 and following, have their legal rights affected if notice is given under Article 50.
Including me, dagnabbit.
I'd not heard...
... much of this week's "Composer of the Week" (Meredith Monk). But my car radio was on as I was driving back from some shopping, so I heard enough of "Gotham Lullaby" to recognise Björk's distinctive voice — and (when I got home) I was able to winkle this MP3 album...
... out of cyberspace. It is interesting music.
Seen in some lights...
... today's little haul might well look like an abject failure on my part to find a copy of the new "Linux Voice" magazine that I was actually seeking:
No argument from me.
To satisfy...
... my own curiosity (and prompted by news today of a chum's £25 ERNIE win) I've just been looking back. Since 17 November 2015, I was surprised to see I've accumulated £975 in ERNIE wins. So Uncle ERNIE is currently delivering a better "interest rate" than any of my other savings "instruments". Who gnu?