The gentleman writing this blog is a scientist who could not find a job in Singapore and thus ended up driving a taxi. His occasional stories are always thought-provoking, but his story today is about as sad as a story can be.

I'm certain that most of my readers are, like me, book collectors. I had 40 cases of books when I moved in here, and I'm certain that there are at least 10 more cases here now.

One thing I've realised while culling is that many of my cookbooks are now outmoded. I can find whatever recipes I want on the Intarwebz. There are some that I want to keep for sentimental reasons (The Two Fat Ladies cookbook is one of those), some I want to keep because I like the chef (Ken Hom is SO cute! Craig Claiborne told a great story and The New York Times Cookbook is a classic), some because they are priceless (Mastering the Art of French Cooking and Mrs. Beeton's), and some because they are quaint (I have one cookbook about railroad food in the US, with recipes, and that one is quaint enough to keep). All the other ones probably need to go into the jumble sale at church.

Often people who see my book collection say, "You've read all of those? Why don't you just discard the ones you've read?" Well, when J.D. Salinger kicked the bucket a few weeks ago, HWMBO was intrigued and wanted to read The Catcher in the Rye. I had to search a bit as he'd hidden it behind some other books, but I found it and he's reading it now. It's so old that the covers (paperback) fell off as he read it.

From Graham Linehan's blog came a reference to this YouTube video, with some design choices from the 1950's and later that will make your mouth^Weyes water. James Lileks would be proud.

The Cheshire Cat had nothing on this feline. However, view at your peril! I will see this cat in my nightmares tonight, I'm sure.

We've all been there. Something we have has turned to a pile of crap and we need the company that sold it to us or the company that supports it to help us turn it back into something useful. So we pick up our phones. And that's where the death spiral starts…

This is simply astounding. I am in awe of this. I do hope I never have to avail myself of their services, though.

You remember the articles in various scientific magazines. They told us (in the 1950's and 60's) how we would all be commuting using our personal automobile-airplanes by 2000, and if we didn't want to fly or drive we would be travelling at supersonic speed on the moving belts that connected all the major cities in the world together.

Well, someone else remembers them too, and there's a website devoted to those long-past visions of our present. I suspect that this one will be as popular as James Lilek's various Intarweb offerings.

You may remember that last week I received a Pyrex 6-cup percolator. I've made two pots of coffee in it so far. The coffee is tasty enough, but I forgot one thing.

Percolated coffee is more powerful than rocket fuel.

I had a cup at 5 pm. I may still be up at 5 am.

Oh, well.

It's not been a quiet week at the Elephant and Castle, except for Monday.

Tuesday Goliath had our Lodge of Instruction. Something that Freemasons have to do regularly is rehearse the ritual. In most Masonic jurisdictions the ritual must be memorised. One particular ceremony can take up to an hour, and may be conducted by one man. So, rehearsal is serious stuff indeed. My friend Nadeem, whom I nominated for the Lodge, picks me up at Northwick Park station on the Metropolitan line and we go to Harrow Masonic Centre and have a beverage in the bar while waiting for the meeting to start. The meeting was very emo as there was a bit of a dispute about some parts of the ritual. I thus proposed to make a leaflet detailing the differences between our Goliath ritual and the standard Taylor's Working. This I did, and we'll be publishing it in May after I assume the Mastership of the Lodge. Only problem was: Microsoft Publisher. The final leaflet came to 19 pages plus one blank page, and no matter what I did, I couldn't get page 18 to flow onto page 19. Whoever invented Microsoft Publisher needs to be corrected somehow. I suggest the cat o' nine tails, myself.

Wednesday was my swine flu vaccination. The good thing is that it was free. The bad thing was that the nurse was running 1/2 hour behind. I know that I shouldn't complain, but if I were 1/2 hour late for an appointment I'd get hell in a handbasket. My right arm ached for a couple of days afterward, and I had a very deep hypo on Thursday which I can't explain with what I was eating or the amount of insulin I was taking. I wonder whether the inoculation did something.

HWMBO was off Wednesday through Friday so on Wednesday afternoon we went to the Turner and the Masters exhibition at Tate Britain on Millbank. It closed today (Sunday January 31) so we thought we'd better go see it. Well, as it was the afternoon and a weekday we thought we'd have an easy time of it, but the exhibition was stuffed. Lots of people who wait until the end of an exhibition to see it were there, and many were elderly and had canes, just like me (I was using mine as my back was killing me…see Thursday for more informaiton on that). I felt that while it was slightly interesting, the Tate often has Turner exhibitions because it has most of the Turners that are extant, as Turner left most of his paintings that he had at his death to the nation and the nation gave most of them to the Tate. As it was kind of a comparison between Turner and other artists, if you weren't paying attention in Art History class (and I wasn't) much of the exhibition was not very illuminating.

Thursday I went to the Foot Clinic at Kings to be fitted for orthopedic shoes and insoles. I have been waiting for this for years (but didn't get on the official waiting list until December). The assessor (fancy name for the shoe fitter) was very nice, perhaps batting for Our Team, and sharing my first name as well. While he was measuring my feet for the shoes, he asked me how my back was faring because of the pressure boot—I told him that my back was killing me. Every time I got up from sitting on the bed while wearing the boot my back felt like someone had stabbed me in the kidney. He said, "Wait a minute!" and took my shoe (not the boot!) away. A minute later he returned with a device that raised the boot by about an inch. This instantly fixed my back problem and my gait is now normal, as both shoes are on a level. I was as delighted as a young kid on Christmas morning who got all the presents he asked for and no coal in his stocking. While measuring he rolled my trouserleg up and said, "It's like the Masons." and I replied, "Funny you should say that; I'm a Freemason." and we discussed that for a while. I shall bring a brochure when I take delivery of the shoes. They're black wingtips with laces.

Thursday night we went out with our friends Ard, Leslie, Eddie, and Christina to Belgo at Covent Garden. HWMBO tried a couple of Belgian beera, but I stuck to Diet Coke. The wait staff were all dressed in monk's robes, for some odd reason…perhaps because a lot of Belgian beer is brewed by monks. Lots of mussels were consumed (not by me), and I had a steak and frites, which were excellent. Then off for dessert. We walked from Belgo to Old Compton Street and Chinatown, and finally ended up at C&R Café and Restaurant for "dessert. As they have a £6 minimum per person, HWMBO and Leslie ordered some other stuff. The reviews are mixed, but we enjoyed what we had. I had an iced Milo and a sago pudding as dessert. One of the side dishes that Leslie ordered was a kind of meat loaf phyllo pastry spring roll…this was fantastic and I want to go back and have more.

Friday I returned to the Foot Clinic for the last appointment under the study I've been in. Well, I got in there and when the podiatrist came in I showed him the new device on my shoe and said, "Why didn't I get one of these when you gave me the boot?" He looked at the nurse and said, "I didn't know we had any in stock." The ulcer is still there, but much smaller. However, now that I'm out of the study I do not get free supplies from the clinic; I have to have them prescribed by my GP. That's a pain. Oh well, they are cautiously optimistic about it and I go back for a regular appointment in two weeks.

After the appointment I had to wait in the waiting area for a prescription. The usual doctor, Prof. Edmonds, wasn't there on Friday so I waited for 1/2 hour while they scraped up a doctor. Then the nurse came up to me with the prescription and said, "We forgot to do something for your last appointment." and I had to come back, take my boot and shoe off, and have her test the bottoms of my feet for feeling (I don't have any). The podiatrist just laughed and said to her, "I told you that we could just fill it in ourselves." but no dice. I was seriously late for lunch at the Drop-In.

Saturday morning I received something I'd bought from eBay in the US. Coffee connoiseurs among you will sneer at me, but I am now the proud possessor of a 6-cup Pyrex coffee percolator.

Now I realise that perked coffee tastes burnt and isn't the best quality according to coffee mavens. However, I have memories of my childhood, when we had instant coffee most of the time, but when company came my mother hiked out the Pyrex percolator and made REAL coffee, as opposed to instant. Now neither my brother nor my sister drinks coffee nowadays, but I'm seriously addicted. And when I fire up the percolator on Monday afternoon and have a cup of real perked coffee, I guarantee that I will be transported back to my childhood and I'll hear my mother say to me, while she poured me a cup of real perked coffee, "You really shouldn't be drinking this stuff; it'll stunt your growth." Would that it had.

Saturday afternoon we went to the Serpentine gallery via the 360 bus. This is a really great way for us to get to Museum Alley near South Kensington. No muss, no fuss, and a one-seat ride. Very convenient. I enjoy this bus route, which goes by the Imperial War Museum, through a housing estate and up to Albert Embankment, swings by the Vauxhall Bus Station and my gym, then crosses Vauxhall Bridge next to MI6 HQ. Then through Mayfair and along the river to the Royal Chelsea Hospital, the home of the Chelsea Pensioners. then down the road to Sloane Square and past Peter Jones, the quite posh store in the John Lewis family of shops which includes Waitrose. Then past the Conran Shop, with lots of merchandise we can't afford and the Michelin Building toward South Kensington Tube Station and the various museums in the area such as the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, and the Royal Geographical Society next to Imperial College London, ending up in front of the Royal Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial, certainly one of the most garish and curious memorials to a lost love ever erected.

( Pictures behind a cut of some of the sights along the 360 bus route )

On the way to the Serpentine we stopped in the Gents' just beyond the Albert Memorial and interrupted what was probably a bit of the old slap and tickle between two guys at the urinals.

The Serpentine Gallery had an exhibition of modern design that was interesting; it including such things as the OLPC laptop and the bumper of a Lamborghini.

There was an area in the central gallery with Kindles, TV screens, and various displays. All the Kindles were occupied, and we didn't fancy waiting around. So back home to coffee and then dinner with our friend Mark at the Indian restaurant at the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre. Mark was ogling the waiters, who were all Bangladeshi and very good-looking, especially Aziz.

This morning we had church as usual: it was the observance of Candlemas, and the major attraction of Candlemas is that I can put the candelabra away until Easter. The candles drip on the carpet and are a real nuisance: I refer to them as "the forest fire".

So that was my week.

This is really fast work. Thanks to Ron's Log for the original cite.

If you've ever had an iPhone (or other phone) stolen, you'll appreciate this blog post detailing how an iPhone owner tracked down his phone after the theft. I found it riveting, and I think I shall get MobileMe to ensure that should such a thing happen to my iPhone, it will be traced.

…the New Yorker used to have an occasional bootnote item called "Letters I never finished reading". Now it should be called "Emails I never finished reading". Here's my contribution:

THIS MONTH'S TOP TIP FROM ALEX

Are you looking for some ideas for using up any left over Chestnut Puree?

…and many happy returns of the day.

If you follow the link to this badly-designed webpage take care! Your eyesight may be damaged irreparably.

I'm sure that trawnapanda will love this one...

…and many happy returns of the day!

You will recall my last post about my debit card details being hacked. I got a letter from Currys Online today (Currys is a UK online retailer of electronic and computer goods). They had a question about an order that Mrs. Christian Hansen had placed, and could I call them. When I called, I told them that the order was fraudulent, and they said that they'd cancelled the order.

So, only a few pounds remain to be accounted for. That doesn't mean that we'll not have more trouble, unfortunately. But, the £1,500 has been recovered.

…and many happy returns of the day. We'll see you tonight!

I got a call while I was out buying rice (something that we have to do regularly in this household). When I got back I listened to the message but it didn't make much sense—it said that it was about my recent order, and I haven't ordered from them in a long while. So, I called the number and it turns out that an order was placed for a Sony Vaio netbook using my debit card details, including the security number on the back. I never let my card out of my sight, so I am presuming that some online merchant has skimmed my card details and has either used them or sold them along. The merchant cancelled the order and, I think, will give back the money.

So I called my bank, got right through (oddly enough; usually it takes quite a while to get to talk to a person), and had a bit of trouble making myself understood to the nice lady in India. There were two held transactions on the account, one for £999, and one for around £550, with a few other small ones that were probably the thieves making themselves certain that the numbers they had were good. The debit card's been cancelled and I'll get another one in a few days. I will need to fill out a form they send me and the money will be credited back to our account. But, we will probably have to transfer money from our savings account temporarily in order to cover our household expenses for February, like the rent and such.

I'm always careful about using my card in person, but have never had problems using it online. So, hopefully, we'll get all the money back. But, what a pain.

Sometimes certain blogs I subscribe to either have Chinese entries or Chinese comments. If I think the comment might be interesting I will use Babelfish to translate it. A comment on an old blog entry about Hainanese Chicken Rice came through today, so I translated it. This is what I got:

Lubricant underwear's sexy underwear's self-consolation gasification baby's AV appeal clothes butterfly's massage stick's electrically operated massage stick's airplane cup's self-consolation set of self-consolation set of appeal underwear G spot sexy T-shaped trousers' suspenders sock's T-shaped trousers jump wireless the egg sexy night clothes The roll play jumps the egg appeal to jump egg smoke and fire wholesale smoke and fire appeal thing SM

On a closer examination of the original I find that there are multiple links to a site in Taiwan, and when I follow one of the links and click that I am 18 (I know enough Chinese to figure out which link to click), I get a page devoted to vibrators. So the mystery is solved.

I suppose this is a Chinese blog spammer. I wonder what "wholesale smoke and fire appeal thing SM" might be...

First, that Massachusetts elected a Republican to the Senate seat held by John F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy. Enough said about that: I'm not close enough to Massachusetts politics to be able to complain intelligently about it. But, in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a very large margin, isn't it natural to expect that Democrats will, all things being equal, put up competent candidates, run competent campaigns, and more often than not, be elected to office? And why haven't they learned the lessons taught by the succession of Republican governors the Commonwealth has elected?

Second, the BBC's pronunciation rules. The British pronounce the name of the Dutch artist Van Gogh as "van goch" with the "ch" being a slightly less emphatic form of the Scots "ch" in "loch". There is a Van Gogh exhibition here in London at the moment, and it's been in the news daily, and every time I hear them pronounce his name I wince. Americans pronounce it "van go", of course.

But what really irks me is that, while in this case the BBC bends over backwards to pronounce the name as the Dutch do, when they pronounce American words, especially place names, they take no account of American pronunciations. BBC announcers pronounce the name of the state in which Baltimore is located as "MAY-ree-land", not "MEH-rih-l'nd". I have heard them pronounce the name of the state in which Detroit is located as "MITCH-i-gan", rather than "MISH-i-gan". There are other instances of this which I can't remember now (no coffee yet).

I should found a Facebook group: Get the BBC to pronounce American place names correctly.

I need to go and forage for breakfast.

If you can excuse the execrable lyrics, this vid explains what the internet is made of.



Thanks to vasilatos for this overload of cutesie...

Again, nothing to do with P**ps, but jelly marbles seem to be the flavour of the month.

Usually this meme operates on page 56, I believe. That's changed.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth full sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around for the coolest book you can find. Use what's actually nearest to you.

That sentence is your spiritual guide for tomorrow.

Note: In addition to detailing by means of elementary specifications, you can continue decomposing scalar specifications by using sets of [qualifiers].

Oh, well, my spiritual guide for tomorrow isn't very spiritual I need to keep something other than books about software engineering by my desk. Thanks to tim1965 for keeping me spiritually clued in.