A little bit of greetings-card philosophy

I've been rereading Andrew Smith's Moondust - an excellent book for anyone even vaguely interested in the Apollo moonlandings, by the way, when I accidentally misread the phrase " I realise how few people I know who might be described as happy, and how much time I've spent beng unnecessairly less than that myself". I thought it said:

"I realise how few people I know who might be described as happy, and how much time I've spent being unnecessarily less than myself"...

....and I would have gone on thinking that that was what it said, and nodding to myself at the profundity of it, if I hadn't checked the quote in order to post it here. Hah. Still, for some reason, the misquote chimes more deeply with me than the actual one.

kosmos

http://www.fleischfilm.com/html/kosmos_1024.htm
Okay, this is deeply weird. It's also long (5 mins), and at 50-odd MB takes a while to download - but it has a certain aggressive, hypnotic attraction to it.

Basically, this... person... grew crystals directly onto film, and projected the result. It's odd. People with epilepsy, or a tendency to hear voices in random noise, should probably not try it. For the rest, just make sure the volume on your PC is at fairly low.

Housekeeping: Belkin wireless router

I own a Belkin cable wireless router (model F5D7230-4).
Over the time
I've had it, it's generally been rubbish, and certainly never stayed up
for more than twenty four hours. In the beginning, I didn't even notice
the problem, but it got worse and worse - the thing would just stop,
and hang until I turned it off and turned it on again.



Doing some research, I found this is quite common, and the thing is in
general deemed to be a piece of shit. The general advice appears to be
'take it back to the shop and get something that works'; however, being
a lazy soul (and being unsure of what I did with the receipt), I
experimented. I figured it looked like an overheating problem, so:



I took the lid off.



So far, it's been on solidly for about a fortnight, and no problems. It
appears that the heat sink works a lot better without the top shell. So
far so good.



Anyway, thought I'd post this as it may be of help to someone who has problems with this device.

UPDATE: after working for another week, the thing died completely and utterly and resisted all attempts at resuscitation. I have gone out and bought another router from a different manufacturer. I won't be buying Belkin any more.

I yam what I yam (call for list)

I'm glad I'm a boy

 

 12

I'm glad I'm a girl

 

 9

I wish I was the other. They seem to have a lot more fun.

 

 4

In conversation, (especially eavesdropping on other peoples'), I often feel glad I was born a boy. It's a lot less hassle and, as someone who should probably remain nameless said, "never trust anything that bleeds for three days and doesn't die".

Now I love women, they're fascinating, noble creatures. But I'm sure glad I'm not one. Quite apart from all the biological fuss, there's the bewildering array of clothes they can wear (much easier if you're a guy), the still-shocking chauvinism they encounter in so many walks of life, and the endless barrage of cultural messages about the unworthiness of their appearance which they seem to have to endure.

So, a list: I (am/am not) glad I'm a (boy/girl) (because/despite of):

Transient but interesting

There's treasure everywhere today:

Clearing through my backlog of articles, I come across the fact that in the UK we throw away more food than packaging (courtesy of the deliciously named Soggy Lettuce Report). Really not sure whether to be cheered or alarmed by that. I guess, if the figures weren't so high, it'd be a good thing - less plastic going into the environment, more of our waste is biodegrabale, etc.

Then, via a roundabout route including Charles Stross' blog (which has some real gems on it, by the way), I find the rather wonderful news that IBM have a secret island hideaway - inside a computer game. In true Bond-villain style, Big Blue have staked a claim to an island inside Second Life, and are using it for business meetings. I'm surprised they didn't phone Pixar and offer to buy the island in The Incredibles.