tired fools

ok, one more. this i love, although i have no idea where i got it from (494000 google hits and none the wiser) -

It’s like this: even the Samurai have teddy bears, and even the teddy bears get drunk.

i’ve not been blogging because i mislaid the password to log in. (i know, i know). making matters worse the email address registered at blogsome is an old one for which i’ve also lost the password after changing machines:-). despite changing the email account on blogsome it continues to send communications to the old address. ok, so i was careless, but it is annoying none the less.

and another nugget from my retrieved notebook, from Sam Beckett:

Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness.

i watched a part of a tv documentary about prime numbers and it reminded me of another quote from my recently rediscovered book of notes, this time from St Augustine:

The good christian should beware of mathematicians and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger exists that mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and confine man in the bounds of hell.

Though I think i prefer this, from George Soros:

Where reason has failed, fallibility may yet succeed.

i’m very glad i have blogged. terry recently lost a lot of his archive. it would hurt to lose that. i’ve been blogging for coming up to three years. terry also says that he’s planning on blogging daily. that’s good. i’d like to also, but it’s a little unlikely. still, more would be good.

today i found an old book in which i used to write things i’d heard, quotes and the like. it goes back to 1992. i’d rather these things were online somewhere. blogging them is one way of making it more likely that i don’t lose them. here’s one:

we either love each other or else we die

Lyndon B Johnson said this in a TV advert in his presidential campaign against Barry Goldwater. This voiceover was against an image of a mushroom cloud. Astonishing.

I give you another, from the same page in my book:

There is a goal but no way; what we call the way is mere wavering.

That’s Kafka.

And talking about wavering, i was in a bank today opening a business account. despite having gone online and filling out a long form, the “manager” proceeded to complete another form, with all the same details, on the in-house system. why? in fact all that was really required was to sign something in his presence and show some ID. It took 1.5 hours.

maybe things are looking up:

In a link-up with Adobe, the BBC will use the company’s Flash-based video system to make the iPlayer service available to be streamed by Mac and Linux users by the end of the year.

well, this is nothing short of a scandal. I only hope it’s not true, although i suspect it is. In which case I only hope that enough people cause a fuss. This organization is not allowed to unduly mention Nescafe in a programme, yet can seemingly try to force anyone wanting to stream media they have already paid for using a proprietary OS that is on the wane anyhow.

The last time i mentioned this I was impressed that someone from the Beeb left a comment. The gist of the comment was that streaming radio was always going to be ok, as if this was an answer. For radio I thank you, but what about the rest. Of course what will actually happen regardless is that, independently of the BBC’s efforts, others will host the shows anyhow, as they do now. This whole mess is caused by the insane belief that DRM can somehow stop people copying and distributing 1s and 0s. It can’t. The BBC is just forcing people to do something “illegally” because they are unable/unwilling to do it the BBC/microsoft officially sanctioned way.

your doctor tells you that this is the drug for you, one of the most popular antidepressants out there. Ah, but 6% of users report suicidal thoughts when taking it, and many of those have ended their lives. But fret not, for an extra $500 (not claimable on health insurance) he can test to see whether you have one of two genetic markers that might suggest you belong to this minority. See, you feel better already.