Dropsafe

So: the DRZ and I did a brief round-trip of England this weekend, to attend the baptism of Alexandra Grace Palmer, the newly minted daughter of friends for whom I had the honour of serving as best man back in – what – 1999? Setting out on Saturday at 1030 I was already late for

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everything you non-brits need to know about clapham junction – [en.wikipedia.org] – and remember: the h is almost silent / unvoiced.

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I went to Infosecurity 2004 last week, with my colleagues, Gilles Gravier and Tim Graves – basically to see what’s what in the wider world of security. Tim and I’d barely set foot inside the door before being accosted by a lady from Microsoft, asking us whether we would find the bundling of a firewall-by-default

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for anyone wondering what the previously-cited bird is, in the picture at [www.crypticide.com] – it is a Nuthatch, a tree-dwelling, woodpecker-like, native British bird, although not a true woodpecker. It has unusual and heavily-clawed feet, permitting it to climb both vertically up and down tree trunks, in search of food, bugs, etc. Update: Nice link:

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I am so used to going to [www.amazon.com] and typing the name of an author into the search box, and getting a list of publications with a best-fit match for the name, that I verge upon being offended by the fact that I just tried that with Darryl Huff Lie Statistics – yielding 263 results.

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I have my own views regarding the UK’s fad towards Identity Cards – which I will post at a later date – plus I am an Economist print subscriber, because I consider it to be essential bathroom material for a sunday morning soak. But: for those of you who are not, by seraching for Barrington

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A website that I find amusing and informative, and which reinforces my slightly archaic way with grammar: [www.ceafinney.com] What ? Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines subjunctive as: adj. 2. in grammar, designating or of that mood of a verb used to express condition, hypothesis, contingency, possibility, etc., rather than to state an actual fact:

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Well, things have been chaotic, hence the paucity of posting this past few days; highlights of the past few days include: Filling a gapping chasm in my kitchen wall, the which was left by removal of an ancient clothesdrier outflow pipe which had been duct taped and then plastered into the wall by the previous

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…either a spoof, or a full-on republican right-wing dilemma. [www.takeoneforthecountry.com]

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so, my ibook video is once again toasted. bother.

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For those who’ve been wondering why my posting rate had dropped-off, my iBook’s power supply/transformer died last week (dodgy cable) and so I’ve been living on borrowed power at work, and ignoring the laptop when at home. My experience with AppleCare on this occasion has been – frankly – unacceptable. Last time I was forced

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“espantoso”. hmmm… it’s pants.

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