| Newcon 4 Memberships for sale at the Tun |
[2008-10-02 13:13] |
As described here, at the Tun I'll have two memberships for Newcon 4, which takes place over the weekend of 11th/12th October in Northampton. Iain M Banks, Storm Constantine, Ken MacLeod and special guest Paul Cornell. So come and see me tonight and we'll do a deal.
One for ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) reverendjim, one for cobrabay |
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| Help create a huge stir |
[2008-09-26 09:57] |
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I'm just off out to do this. |
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| Increase Canadians by one |
[2008-09-26 09:17] |
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Warmest congratulations to Cerra. Well done. |
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| On Facebook... |
[2008-09-25 21:25] |
Let's hear it for Facebook's "People you may know" tool, which suggests other Facebook users as candidates to be listed as a friend.
Here's one of its suggestions:( Read more... )Clearly it's practically certain I'll know him, then. |
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| Provincial Grand Director of Work |
[2008-09-24 11:25] |
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For reasons unconnected to my previous post, and more to do with having a sudden rush of jobs none of which are in London, it seems unlikely that I'll get to the BSFA meeting tonight. Apologies to all concerned. |
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| The clue is in the "music" field |
[2008-09-24 11:25] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Diademata | ] |
I had a temporary one yesterday, I'm getting a proper one on October 8th.
And the temporary one keeps falling off. |
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| Announcement |
[2008-09-16 15:50] |
On Windermere."During the trip, I'd like to take this opportunity to point out two items of interest. First, all around the boat, water; second, all around the water, trees." |
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| Lakeview Pub and Carvery, Bowness-on-Windermere |
[2008-09-16 13:48] |
Overcharging us three quid -- Not terribly bright.
Getting the order wrong (roast potato instead of poppadom) -- Not terribly bright.
Serving thing-with-sauce in a basket -- Not terribly bright.
Providing a leaflet "plesase complete our short survey" and then coding it in a way that doesn't work on two different mainstream industry-standard browsers -- Not terribly bright.
The Lakeview Pub and Carvery, Bowness-on-Windermere. For all your not-terribly-bright holiday lunchtime needs. |
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| More on that holiday... |
[2008-09-14 21:29] |
Still here. Still no mobile signal. Landline phones down last night. Still got wireless in the hotel bar, except during the powercut this morning.
Yesterday we were going along one of the really small roads which hang onto the edges of the valleys half-way up the peaks when we found half a tree blocking the road, a few yards beyond a very tight bend over a narrow bridge with the safety rails twisted and broken, necessitating a short spell of reversing followed by a 2n+1-point turn with mother leaning out over the gap and shouting when one of the wheels was about to fall into the chasm. After this we did the most entertaining bit of driving ever. I'd link to a Google map, but it's too complicated -- find Eskdale, and follow the road up the valley to the north-west until it turns to the right away from the river and up towards the pass... a gradient of 30%, which I've never seen before on a real road, and some seriously tight multiple bends. Oh, and about forty people coming in the opposite direction on teeny-tiny scooters in the Lambretta stylee. Lots of fun.
Today we went to church in Grasmere, where I met an old friend of Julia's to the amazement of both of us. I told her that Julia was buried in Essay Hell and I'd pass on the word. And then we went off to a small farm on the other side of Keswick where Mother's boss from the early 1950's used live at weekends, commuting by rail to Reading University for weekdays.
I actually got a usable mobile phone signal whilst parked at the farm gate there. Hurrah! It's gone now.
More later. |
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| Still in the Lakes... |
[2008-09-12 20:48] |
Went to Glenridding. Parked. Got on a boat. Went to Howtown. Got off boat. Walked back to the car. See icon. |
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| On Holiday... |
[2008-09-12 09:10] |
Here I am on holiday in Grasmere, in the heart of the Lake District, and there's free wifi in the public areas of the hotel -- but no mobile phone reception at all, not only in the hotel but anywhere in the village. Going to Ullswater later to pick up my voicemails.
In other news, the particular interests of two separate portions of my friends list have finally collided on this page:
http://revjph.blogspot.com/2008/09/at-last-large-hadron-collider-fat-joke.html |
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| Deus Ex Bollocka |
[2008-09-10 14:58] |
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The science in that episode was... less than realistic. |
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| Things I'd like to see in Windows |
[2008-09-09 22:37] |
You can tell a machine running [a sufficiently recent version of] Windows to use "fast user switching", which means I can log in as an Administrator (or another user) to do something without having to log myself out.
You can also get two screens plugged into a Windows machine, and extend your desktop across both screens, which means I can run one application on one screen and another on the other.
What I'd quite like at the moment is to have one screen logged in as me, and the other screen logged in as an Administrator (or another user), and to switch sessions by sliding my mouse from one screen to the other... and Windows can't do it. I have to keep switching users, and I can't look at both sessions at the same time.
Boo to Windows! |
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| SSL certificates |
[2008-09-04 14:24] |
Note to self: When your provider alerts you that your SSL certificate is about to expire, why not check which certificate they're on about before you run around like a headless chicken? There's always the possibility that it's the one you never use anyway...
In other news, Yahoo's UK POP server has had the wrong CN in its SSL certificate for a couple of weeks now, and their support department don't seem to understand my messages to that effect ("If you're having trouble sending mail...") |
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| A list of prompts for fanfic |
[2008-09-01 13:23] |
Those of you who write fanfic and are a little stuck and in need of prompts...
You might do worse than look here. |
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| At the BSFA... |
[2008-08-27 19:28] |
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"Finding my name in SFX is a bit like finding my photo in OK magazine." -- Gwyneth Jones |
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| On the naming of Grandparents |
[2008-08-27 11:33] |
Repeated from a comment to a similar question elsewhere...
My mother's parents were Nan and Grandad; my father's were Granny and Grandad. Grandads were distinguished by appending an appropriate surname in case of ambiguity. All four now gone.
My mother is called Nanny by those suitably qualified.
My father had gone AWOL by the time anyone might have offered him a corresponding name, and the only one of my brothers who has any contact with him has no contact with his daughter.
So... what about everybody else? What does your family call them? |
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| Further to yesterday's party... |
[2008-08-24 20:26] |
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Did anyone leave behind a pair of glasses? |
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| Party reminder for Saturday |
[2008-08-21 15:02] |
Repeated from julia_winolj's journal:If you are attending you need to bring:
Whatever you are intending to drink (except for ordinary tea, coffee, tap water);
Whatever protein you are intending to barbie;
If you are intending to swim, a swimming costume, a towel and your choice of inflatable friend;
If you are intending to stay the night, something to lie on, in or under (my Dad has got rid of lots of stuff recently so spare bedding is at a premium - and I got here first!), and also your choice of essential toiletries;
Your sense of humour;
Your sense of fun;
Your common sense;
If you are staying for breakfast, have you let me know? Some people have asked about paying accommodation - my only suggestion has been The White Hart in Beaconsfield Old Town, but I've no idea of costs or other details.
I will be at the house from Thursday if you need to contact me and Doug is available on his usual mobile number.
Looking forward to seeing you all there.
Love & hugs
Julia
XXX
See some of you there. |
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| Stairs, my occasional downfall |
[2008-08-16 17:37] |
As some of you (particularly those of you who follow some of my other online presences) will be aware, I fell down the stairs yesterday.
I'm not seriously injured -- some scraped bits of skin, some large bumps, one particularly picturesque bruise, some places that feel like bruises but don't yet look like bruises -- because falling down the stairs is something I do routinely every now and then. I hadn't fallen down the stairs for a couple of years and I was probably overdue for another go, and when I'm falling down the stairs I don't usually pick up serious injuries. I'm actually quite good at falling down the stairs. I didn't hit my head, or damage my spine, or tear any muscles, and so the only injuries I have are those arising from impact.
I think there's a fanzine article waiting to be written about just how to fall down the stairs properly, achieving the maximum noise and comic effect coupled with the minimum of injury and lasting consequences.
Unless someone's already written it, and I haven't found it yet. |
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| Ann Green, 16th December 1961 - 29th July 2008 |
[2008-08-15 07:43] |
So Ann Green, wife of stevegreen, died on July 29th after two weeks in hospital [Ansible]. And, unsurprisingly, Steve doesn't know what to do with himself.
I'm going to the funeral today, and I dropped Steve a note to that effect. He writes:I am relentlessly amazed at the efforts folks are making to show their respection and affection for Ann. (Not completely, though: I always thought she was incredible.)
It's good that Steve had someone whom he thought was incredible. It's good that Ann had someone who thought she was incredible. I wish all of my friends had relationships like this. It's the best kind of relationship to have, and it's a tragedy when it comes to an end.
If your whole life is wrapped up in being wholeheartedly part of a relationship like that, it's a huge hurdle to recognise that there's still life to be had after such a relationship comes to a close. I hope Steve copes. |
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| Fringe |
[2008-08-14 17:04] |
I'm at the Edinburgh Fringe for a few days. By the time I leave the city in a few hours time, I will have ( seen the following )
Golly. |
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| News of the car... |
[2008-08-11 09:11] |
As some of you know, I got a new car a little while ago.
Turns out it's not so new any more... shortly after we set of towards Edinburgh, later this morning, it'll do its 100,000th mile.
Golly. |
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| Cultured! |
[2008-08-11 09:05] |
I have been subjected to culture.
On Friday evening Julia took me to the cinema for the new Mummy movie.
On Saturday the two of us took Sue and Rew (nolj) to the cinema for the new X-Files movie.
On Sunday Julia and I watched episodes 15 and 16 of the fourth season of House, which she'd missed a few weeks ago.
And today we're off to Edinburgh for four days at the Fringe. |
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| A new kind of Uncertainty Principal |
[2008-08-09 14:46] |
When you know exactly why she's going to be angry, you have no idea just how angry she's going to be.
When you know exactly how angry she is, you have no idea why.
(she's not angry, it's just fruit of a random conversation) |
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| Mmmm, beer... |
[2008-08-07 22:59] |
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I have missed the Great British Beer Festival, which means that my current advanced state of confusion is due to the Tun alone. |
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| Mismanagement... |
[2008-08-05 10:02] |
I have a scan of Companies House form 288a, which I've just sent to the printer.
I now have one-65th of the form printed on each of sixty-five teeny-tiny sticky labels.
I doubt that this will satisfy the regulatory requirements. |
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| The End Of The Beginning |
[2008-07-30 22:19] |
Boss B died on December 7th 2007.
( Read more... )
Why do these things take so long? |
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| Listen again: Party Post |
[2008-07-29 11:07] |
You may have missed this post about a party at julia_winolj's dad's house in two-and-a-half three-and-a-half weeks time... if you haven't yet done so then please go and read, go and comment. |
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| Banged up |
[2008-07-28 21:22] |
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"Fabric Check" -- Prison-officer version of LARPing. |
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| Ow. |
[2008-07-27 16:49] |
My right arm isn't working properly. In fact, my right arm hurts. I think I've done something unfortunate to a small muscle somewhere at the top of my arm near the shoulder, in front.
It was fine when I left Leicestershire earlier today, but it isn't now.
I'm used to other bits of me not working properly, and I've developed techniques to work around the effects. But I'm running out of bits of me that work, so I rather hope that this new thing will sort itself out. |
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| Forthcoming Unbirthday |
[2008-07-27 10:45] |
It's the mornng after a party, and one of those odd conversations has taken place.
People have parties when they get a 25th birthday or 50th birthday, to mark the quarter- or half-century. Some people have celebrations to mark a third of a century.
Why not mark other fractions?
It seems that sometime in the very late evening on Tuesday 5th August, I'll reach the age of forty-two and six sevenths... which is exactly three-sevenths of a century. Hmmm.
See you all at the Tun on the seventh. |
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| The L Word |
[2008-07-26 13:51] |
Right, I'm off now into darkest Leicestershire for the purposes of partying.
I know some of you are doing so elsewhere, at events where I might reasonably have been expected to attend (Leeds, London) -- I hope you all have a good time, and manage to cope without me. |
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| Wordle again... |
[2008-07-26 13:11] |
I've been Wordling again, on this occasion using the text of three poems I wrote a while ago from the POV of Hawkeye Pierce from M*A*S*H.
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| Not sensible at all |
[2008-07-24 15:38] |
I'm easily confused.
I just got home turned on Countdown on the telly, and went online... where I saw this story.
And then Countdown's during-the-adverts anagram question was "LEESBINS". |
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| Party August 23rd |
[2008-07-24 00:39] |
julia_winolj is hosting a party at her father's house in Beaconsfield... if you can see this, you're invited. Also, if you're invited, then so is your usual/default partner, if there is one.
Of course you may have seen this elsewhere, for which I apologise.
Julia writes as follows:
You can let us know if you're planning to attend by commenting here.
Obviously this is a suitably filtered post and not an open invitation -- if you think someone's been omitted from the list in error, then contact me off-list and discuss. |
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| Wordle again |
[2008-07-19 11:42] |
Julia noticed that she didn't feature particularly prominently on the Wordle version of my profile page. So she suggested a change.
I tried ... and got this:
( Read more... )
This, however, proved insufficient. So I tried again.
( Read more... )
I'm reminded, once again, of this. |
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| "It started as a pimple on my bum..." |
[2008-07-17 23:00] |
hddod asks whether this is me:
( Read more... ) |
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| All about Buffy's senility |
[2008-07-16 23:46] |
Buffy is Mother's cat, a Maine Coon or close relative, and she's very very old.
Her lungs and heart still seem to work okay. Her liver still seems to work okay. Her digestion still seems to work okay, although she's only about two-thirds of her old fighting weight, and her teeth are okay. She still seems to be able to get up onto stools and chairs, and to get down off them afterwards. In fact, most of the things that seem to stop working in other cats still seem to be working in Buffy.
But she's totally deaf, and very nearly totally blind (although she can see food or furniture or people when they're close enough to block out the sunlight), and seems to be terribly confused most of the time. When she wants attention from someone, she'll stand in the middle of the room making "baah baah" noises like a sheep until someone comes and strokes her, at which point she'll forget whatever it was she was complaining about. And last time she had an anaesthetic it took days and days for the dopiness to clear.
But despite all that she seems to be relatively healthy... just deaf, and nearly blind, and confused, and very very old.
Very very very old. |
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| True Story |
[2008-07-16 10:15] |
There's an auction in Torrington today. I found a book called "Amen to Artillery".
( Read more... ) |
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| Sally's birthday party, July 12th |
[2008-07-15 17:43] |
It's purple_peril's birthday tomorrow, another nice round number, and I hope and trust she'll have a good one. This last weekend was her special birthday party, a barbecue at her home in Chippenham. She always hosts a very good party, and this one was firmly in the same tradition.
( Long... ) |
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| Masonic activity, July 11th |
[2008-07-15 17:05] |
In that three-questions meme a while ago, someone said that they really didn't know what Freemasonry was all about. Well, here's a post to let you know what life as a Freemason is like.
( Long... ) |
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| Sue's birthday party, July 5th |
[2008-07-15 16:46] |
A week and a half ago, on Friday, I drove down to Sue and Rew's house in Clevedon (a little south-west of Bristol). I met Julia who'd been working in Sue's kitchen for some considerable time already. We sent out for take-away food and sat around talking old toot for the the evening, and then Julia and I disappeared a hundred yards down the road to a hotel overnight.
The following morning we went back to Sue and Rew's and were set to work once more. I accompanied Sue to the butcher's and baker's to collect further provisions, and on my return I spent quite a while in the kitchen where I seem to recall I spent most of the time cutting up spring onions ... no, wait, now I think about it I definitely recall cutting up a red chilli too.
In due course guests arrived, loads of them, and the barbecue proceeded as barbecues do. Rew did most of the barbecuing, out there in the rain under the big umbrella, while the rest of us cowered indoors drinking too much and talking bollocks.
Back to the hotel, tired and confused, at about 1am -- and down to breakfast far too early the next morning.
And then off to Sue and Rew once more, to help clear up and finish off stuff, and field the leftovers as directed by Sue... so I ended up with eight unused burgers to take home on Sunday afternoon.
Happy birthday Sue, a nice round number. |
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| What I've been doing recently |
[2008-07-15 16:25] |
We left off the story of my life at that point when Julia was staying with me, three weeks or so ago, encouraging me into doing housework.
Since then, I've been to the pub in London a couple of times, first for ladymoonray and zoo_music_girl's birthday and later for the Tun. I've failed completely to attend two parties, those hosted by camies and major_clanger. I've been to two special birthday parties, one for each of two people each of whom has reached a round number -- one being Sue (nolj), the other being purple_peril -- both excellent parties, succeeding in spite of the weather rather than because of it. I've been to a rehearsal in anticipation of a Masonic meeting, and subsequently to the meeting itself. I've been to Church Meeting, and this morning I came down to Devon for a few days with Mother.
In a while I'm going to do separate posts about those two parties, and another about that bit of Masonry.
Edited for typo in LJ username |
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| More Wordle |
[2008-07-14 07:43] |
This is from Wordle again -- I've given it the contents of the "bio" section of my Profile page.
In fact I like it so much I've now adopted it as my desktop wallpaper (hence the size). |
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