Some of the blogs I read were standing in open-mouthed dismay at this section of the transcript of a Bush Social Security event in Tampa yesterday: Q — really understand how is it the new plan is going to fix that problem? THE PRESIDENT: Because the — all which is on the table begins to ...
I was taking A. to an important appointment yesterday morning, so of course when we headed out to the car we discovered that a tyre was flat. A call to AAA got the wee narrow spare put on (this is the point at which I swear I’d have done it myself but for the fact ...
Once upon a time I lived in a beautiful city full of bookshops. Whenever I could, I would take myself to readings and signings and such, and, whenever I did, the same fanciful idea would float around my dizzy head. I think it had to do with the fact that book-signings are just about the ...
So I was about to start getting dinner ready last night, when I decided that I’d just clear up the dirty dishes that were sitting around first. Okay, but the dishwasher was full of stuff that I’d cleaned the night before but which hadn’t been put away yet, so I couldn’t put the new dishes ...
Lunch at McDonald’s today, and – stop me if this is obvious and I’m just being a dolt – I was caught by the realisation that there’s something very metaphysical going on with apostrophes. It’s not just that people don’t have a clue any more how to use them – I mean, it’s ...
Cartoony birds sitting in dit-dit-dah-dah irregular spacing on telephone wires, some in communally neat rows, like old women on a day trip to the seaside, others wanting a bit more space, dammit. The whole looking like a complex piece of music on a stave, or perhaps a coded message — though what is music if ...
So I’m spending a lot of time at Santa Monica’s main public library these days, and it’s completely fascinating. It’s actually the temporary main library, because they’re building a shiny new one a few blocks from here that won’t be finished until next year. But that’s by the by. ...
It might seem strange that my favourite photograph from the day is of signs on a wall, but not if you know me. It’s not just that we were snapping a bit randomly, and both posing a bit reluctantly, for the photographs of ourselves to have much more than a feel of familial contractual obligation ...
Why does whether something’s true or not matter so little to people, that they’ll put so much else above it? There’s a meme that has particular currency right now. It’s not terribly important what it is. I’m sure as hell not going to try to refute it, because trying would be an exercise in ...
(Some odd notes, which should be a longer and more thoughtful piece.) If I ever write a (very slim) book about programming, I’ll probably call it “Pattern and Variation”, because the vast majority of what it means to effectively convert a problem into a representation using code is: first of all, the ...