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Another of those quiz things...


Which OS are You?



"A federal judge has ruled that Microsoft should be split into two different companies. One company will have the Windows operating system and the other will count Bill Gates' money." - Conan O'Brien

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So I've enhanced my music collection a little this week by adding an eclectic bunch of albums to it... The Aqualung album, 'Angels With Dirty Faces' by the Sugababes, the one by Röyksopp, the new Massive Attack cd, the t.A.T.u album and... Led Zeppelin. The Early/Latter Days best of two CD thing.

An interesting mix I'm sure you'll agree. And to cap it off I'm listening to the groovy 70s soundtrack for 'Enter The Dragon'. Cooool...

Just thought someone might be interested in what's been buzzing in my ears this week.



"Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable." - Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

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Again with the Friday Five!

1. What was your most memorable moment from the last week?

Last week... I enjoyed St Albans in the sunshine in most pleasant company. But more memorable was the almost-pain I felt as I had to reluctantly drive away...

2. What one person touched your life this week?

No comment.

3. How have you helped someone this week?

Just by being there for my mother, I think. Big trouble with her may-his-eyes-be-burnt-out-with-acid husband, my stepfather. Otherwise I'm frequently too self-involved, unfortunately, and not always very good on the help front.

4. What one thing do you need to get done by this time next week?

Lots and lots of really dull but equally important stuff for the payroll package we support. If it doesn't get done... there's gonna be a load of angry customers whose employee payments are gonna get totally screwed.

5. What one thing will you do over the next seven days to make your world a better place?

Make my world a better place? I know the things I'd like to do, but they're not going to happen this week or the next or maybe even the next, so... I dunno, eat, drink and be merry I suppose. I should do that, I need more fun. Fun good. Want fun. And, of course, if I don't get more fun, that's entirely my fault for not seeking fun out.



"You will find that the mere resolve not to be useless, and the honest desire to help other people, will, in the quickest and delicatest ways, improve yourself." - John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

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"All The World's A Stage..."

Is it just me, or do the media think the war should be playing out according to their timetable? I keep hearing comments on news reports like "why are you attacking this place when you said before you weren't going to?" and "how has the surprise resistance here affected your plan of attack down the line?"

Not only do they seem to have forgotten the first rule of combat ("no plan survives contact with the enemy") but it's almost as if they have their own idea of when it should come to an end...



REPORTER: General, do you think you could get those tanks moving? I want us to be attacking the city by at least three p.m. so I can get the pictures on the news at five...

GENERAL: Excuse me, but could you get the f**k out of my command tent please?

REPORTER: ...and I arranged it all with the channel, you see, the war ending in three weeks. So we can show the triumphant entry into the capital in a special two-hour show after the sports results on the Saturday. We've got Stormin' Norman and George Foreman booked as commentators for the official surrender ceremony, so if you could get that in motion I'd be really grateful, I can promise you a real good interview deal. Six figure fee, know what I'm saying? We need to make the ratings, yeah, to beat the repeats of the "Gulf War: Episode I" documentary going out on the Discovery Channel...



"Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events." - Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

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"Understanding Is A Three-Edged Sword"

I got pointed to this blog by a friend. I'd seen the name on a few other blogs and not taken much notice. But now... If you've not read it before, go there now.

Where is Raed ?

"...understanding is a three edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth."

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Another Friday Five this way comes...

1. If you had the chance to meet someone you've never met, from the past or present, who would it be?

Wow. So many choices. Who has had the most influence on the world, who would be most interesting? Or, who do we only really know from 'stories' from history? Difficult... Need to pick someone interesting... Ignoring major religious figures (Jesus, Mohammed, that kinda person) to avoid all the trouble that causes, I find myself strangely guided by the recent Greatest Briton poll, and, for some reason, Oliver Cromwell. Misunderstood on a lot of things, understood all too well on others. Instrumental in some of the biggest shake-ups in British history. Love to know what really went on in his head. Just a random choice out of hundreds of candidates.

2. If you had to live in a different century, past or future, which would it be?

Hah! Since the future has not happened yet I can easily say "a nice future where pretty much every health and societal problem has been solved but there are still challenges to be met and discoveries to be made, and mucho fun to be had" without worrying about the probability of it actually occuring. Interesting question though.

3. If you had to move anywhere else on Earth, where would it be?

Somewhere warm, nice place, fine beaches, warm sea, where I can do all those active, fun things I'd like to do but can't here in the UK. Pick a good spot on a private island in the Carribean and leave me there... With a big, fat internet connection and someone pleasant for real company.

4. If you had to be a fictional character, who would it be?

God? [grin] Seriously (if that's possible) errr... Someone famous with riches and the power to Fight Evil. Yeah, let's save the world. There's a few candidates, though, can't pick just one out.

5. If you had to live with having someone else's face as your own for the rest of your life, whose would it be?

I don't know, who's the number one most desired bloke in movies these days? I'll go for whoever's two or three places down the list, you'd get less attention that way.



"It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers." - James Thurber (1894 - 1961)

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"And so it begins..."

Well. War, eh? Looks like we're getting it after all. Almost seems inevitable now, doesn't it, that we'd reach this stage. Mr Blair won his crucial votes and we're going ahead with it. It was strangely undynamic to watch, that historic moment. Maybe it was just the camera angle.

Has the UN been permanently damaged by this? If so, it's as much the fault of the US and the UK as the veto countries.

On another point, it doesn't do much for the reputation of the US as the guardians of democracy though, does it? The moment a free, democratic vote goes against them they decide to ingore it and do what they want anyway... Tarring the UK with the same brush, unfortunately.

Oh well. It's time to batten down the hatches and reap what we have sown.



"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it." - Robert E. Lee (1807 - 1870)

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I heard this comic tale on the radio today...

There's this policeman in a supermarket, buying his lunchtime sarnie, and this doddery old lady comes over to him. She asks a strange request: when she leaves, could he call out "bye bye mother!" and wave her farewell? Thinking this was not too much to ask, and guessing she probably had a policeman son herself she was missing, he agreed. She went to the front of the shop and pushed her fully laden trolley through the exit. He waved and called out "bye bye mother!" and she seemed pleased.

He did not think much of it till he got to the till. When he was handed a bill for over fifty quid... Two pound fifty for his sandwich, and the rest for his "mother's" shopping!

Looks like crime doesn't pay: the police do!



"There's no one quite like Grandma..."

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I heard about this on the radio...

"Solid Dairy Confinement"

There's this guy called Noah in Weston-Super-Mare. On Thursday at noon he's going to have himself encased in a ton of fully mature Cathedral City cheddar for forty eight hours. I can only presume it's for charity... He wanted to take a laptop in with him, so he could go online while he was in there, but size restrictions means he will have to limit himself to using a mobile phone to communicate with the outside world instead. The block can be found in the Sovereign Centre in Weston-Super-Mare the whole time, guarded by a "six foot cat to protect the cheese from mice".

The man's a loon.



"When cheese gets it's picture taken, what does it say?" - George Carlin

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Today, finally: The Friday Five!

1. Do you like talking on the phone? Why or why not?

Not really. I'm quiet in person, but I'm worse on the phone. Most of my 'conversations' are monosyllabic affairs unless I really have something to say. And I don't really like ringing up places when I don't know exactly who I'm going to be talking to or precisely what I'm going to say. I'm just not very good at it.

2. Who is the last person you talked to on the phone?

Someone who called up our payroll support number asking for one of the companies who used to be where the payroll company used to be in Newcastle under Lyme. No idea who they were, but I wish they and all the others would buy a new phone book.

3. About how many telephones do you have at home?

One phone line, two cordless phones.

4. Have you encountered anyone who has really bad phone manners? What happened?

Other than me? There is this guy at one of our customers who, when you are talking to him, always says "uhuh" every time you say a sentence, presumably to let you know he is paying attention. That really annoys me, so that might count.

5. Would you rather pick up the phone and call someone or write them an e-mail or a letter? Why or why not?

Depends who they are and what I have to say to them. A simple message can be more easily sent by e-mail, interactive communication is better for finding out problems and suggesting solutions.



Comic Relief

Yup, it's back again, as if you didn't know. Well, if you're outside the UK you might not, I suppose.

So lots of odd things are on or will be. Celebrity Fame Academy? I hate reality TV crap, but this isn't really. Not that I've been watching it. But it sounds like it's been a load of fun, what with Ruby Wax who simply can't hold two notes together if she used glue and yet seems set to win. Cool. I never watch the big show either; I've got better things to do.

And there's this 'Battle of the DJs' thing on Radio 1, which is only worth mentioning for the slightly different version of that TV advert where said DJs are pushing each other off the decks to play their tunes. Whereas before they'd put on the latest chart hits, in this version they put on 'Shaddupaya Face', 'By The Rivers Of Babylon', 'The Birdie Song', 'Agadoo' and other cheesy stuff like that. Classic.

But maybe, this year, I'll actually give some money. I've meant to the last few times but I never remembered to ring them up and pledge. So this year I'll try to fix it in my head and do it.

And have you checked out the speaking clock? You should, it's not as serious as it usually is...



"In charity there is no excess." - Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626), Of Goodness, and Goodness of Nature (1625)

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Hey there, whoever you are. Welcome.

Just a quick word, because you might have come here from someone else's blog, or maybe via that BlogSnob link malarky.

Mie's Blog site is, of course, now formerly known as "Diary of a Chemically Imbalanced WOMAN". Now with a new format and a lovely green coloured background, it's called "Mie's World" instead. But I'm only mentioning this because she's put a link to here on her site.... I'm joking! Thanks Mie!

Oh, and "A Mating Call in the Concrete Jungle" is being featured on geekphilosopher.com. Go and take a look. Nice one Edie.



"Popularity is the one insult I have never suffered." - Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)

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I've noticed a few people do those Friday Five things. Maybe I should do them too, as not much seems worth mentioning by the end of the week.

But today, the special guest star is a quiz...


What's Your Personality? Find out!

Not entirely sure how true that one is....



Vincent: Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal?

Jules: I wouldn't go so far as to call a dog filthy, but it's definitely dirty. But, dogs got personality, personality goes a long way.

Vincent: So by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filty animal. Is that true?

Jules: We' have to be talkin' 'bout one charmin' motherf***in' pig. I mean he'd have to be ten times more charmin' than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I'm sayin'?

Dialogue spoken by John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson. Dialogue written by Quentin Tarantino.

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Oh, a pause in the flow... Happens to everyone.

Now, you'll like this bit.

The new office is in a back room of a hotel run by the company run by the 'Secret Director'. That hotel is a little on the rough side. In what I understand is a rough area of The City In Question. There are some most intriguing shops down the road... They sell interesting... things to their customers. But the place next door, around the back... Let's say they operate a service industry. And they seem to do a lot of servicing, if the cars that come and go are anything to go by. You have to be careful where you park, in case someone takes your number down... And apparently the landlord gets upset if you are not a paying customer.

Makes things interesting, yes?

"Manhunt"

Everyone in the UK must have heard about the girl who went missing with her older policeman boyfriend, and how they were tracked down in Scotland. The most interesting part of the story, I found, was they way it was described as time went on. First it was "missing fifteen year old girl (oh, and an older boyfriend who's a policeman)", all concern and worry. Then words like "manhunt" began to slip in... And then suddenly it's not so much a simple police search as a hunt for escaped fugitives. And then they find them... And suddenly things really shift. Now it's "questioning a twenty two year old police officer about going off with his fifteen year old girlfriend" and then it's all about him abducting her.

It is most interesting to see and hear police control of the press in action, isn't it? Obviously they wouldn't want to scare them before they found them so the news items were all soft and caring, but as soon as they got them the harder side came out. Facinating....

The Most Dangerous Man On Earth

If this quote is true, we're doomed...





See more here.....



"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! It is a dangerous servant and a terrible master." - George Washington (1732 - 1799)

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I'm beginning to think I should carry a little notebook with me everywhere I go. That way, when something grabs my attention I can make a note of it and record my thoughts on those subjects here later. Sounds a bit sad, though, we'll have to see.

But on another note.... Does anyone else think DJs get too much fame for playing other people's records? I mean, how hard can it be to just do "play song - cue up another as song ends - play song" for a few hours? In fact, it sounds quite dull. Overpaid buffoons, if you ask me.

I like that word. Buffoons. Say it slowy and it draws out nicely. All words meant to insult people should be satisfying to say. Buffoon....

Looks like I might need that notepad after all....



"He listens well who takes notes." - Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321), The Divine Comedy

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You know, compared to other people's problems mine are very petty. Family members, friends, they all have bigger fish to fry than me, shark-sized ones and just as dangerous. I've often said it: I need to get a grip.

Now, where are the handles...?



"Life is problems. Living is solving problems."

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Yeah, so that didn't make much of a rant. "I'm not sure the words exist in this world to adequately express my feelings on the matter." That's why.

Okay, update time.

Friday

Nothing happened that I feel I can comment on. See above.

Saturday

Lots of moving things around from two places into one, stocking up the new office with all our crap. After all the hard work and lifting stuff around (I swear my arms are a few inches longer than they were before) me and Mr Secret Director went to the cinema on the company credit card. He doesn't like horror, so my first choice The Ring was out. I wasn't sure that liking Jennifer Garner in the TV series Alias and wanting to find out how she does as Elektra was enough of a reason to go see Daredevil. So we saw Solaris.

The reason why there are no pictures or preview stuff for this film is because there is nothing to show that might bring in people to watch it. There is no action, no dynamic stuff, no amazing effect sequences, no amzing fights or stunts. Just people interacting on a space station over a weird planet.

You can't really enjoy it. You can't think while you watch it, as such, because there is no real need to do so. The whole story is there and you don't even get to think about it afterwards, to try and understand it. There is no need.

Go watch it. Decide for yourself.

Then Mr Secret Director made us dinner and I went home, to rest and watch the day's episodes of Charmed and Dark Angel. Sounds sad? I like them, and I don't really care what you think. But you can leave some comments if you want to tell me; I promise I will read them.

Sunday

And today is just me chilling out and not doing much.

Maybe that'll change and I'll have something to tell you later.



"If a relationship is to evolve, it must go through a series of endings." - Lisa Moriyama

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