 rysmiel
|
2009/07/11 16:07:00 - more fun to lose on the roundabouts
|
++: Succeeded not only at two sizable lots of laundry yesterday in the pleasing heat, but also at general kitchen-cleaning and other house-cleaning stuff.
-: Running a little short on sleep because that took rather a while to do.
+: large envelope from the government of Quebec was "here is a form to send in to get your updated medical cards before your current ones expire" rather than the ever-dreaded "you have buggered up something in the labyrinth of taxation and you owe us more money."
-: Sodding "schools tax".
+: potato salad with pickle.
-: mildly earwormed with "The Worst Sex I've Ever Had", which is up there with "Every Sperm is Sacred" and "Springtime for Hitler" as things one does not want to find oneself singing in public.
?: $former_grandboss, who is involve with the new data coming into Ant despite that project being over for three years, only clarified today that when he said "we have new data for X and Y" what he actually meant was "we have new data for X and Y which we want processed as completely separate datasets and also combined with the existing data." Which is not a problem, we have done this before, save that for reasons of integrity checks we can't actually do both of these in the same database at the same time. Which means we need to establish a new database and process everything twice. And will take ensuingly longer.
++++: Leaving shortly to go meet ![[info]](http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~jdamery/ljman-redirect?livredor) livredor in the airport. *bounce*
-: Being in the airport to meet a flight from the US probably means I need to add "The War of 1812 Song" to the above list.
+: a spam claiming to be from a bank headed "statement" making me smile at the reflexive reaction "Fifteen-love."
|
 madam_silvertip
in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) little_details
|
2009/07/10 01:11:00 - British packaged foods, ca. 1984
|
What are the British equivalents of Cheez Whiz, Knorr, and Ramen noodles, ca. 1984? Really well-known staple processed foods, not too fancy.
I already know Bovril, Marmite and Smash.
|
 rmc28
|
2009/07/10 20:36:00 - What have we been up to
|
These might turn into posts in their own right, or they might not. I am currently delighting in the side-effects of medication that "may cause drowsiness", but hopefully not for many days more.
20-27 June: lovely holiday in Devon with Steph & Cormac et al
28 June: my birthday (Ox20!)
29 June: mini-heatwave begins and brings back lots of memories of being heavily pregnant 3 years ago
2 July: the joys of an early start for a major upgrade at work
3-5 July: visit to Lucy, Simon & Izzy in Sheffield, which I love a little more each time I'm there. No thunderstorms
6 July: amusing cloudbursts soak me and fill waterbutts
9 July: 4th wedding anniversary, nice meal at Riverside, thanks to last-minute babysitters!
Charles things:
more not-potty-training
sleep improvements
hide-and-seek
appearances of C and G sounds
less running off
On my mind:
the "rape and men" post and its 4000+ comments from which I learn something new each time I go back to read
work-life balance and life-life balance
new bras are brilliant
looking forward to Constitution
walking
periods and what a non-joke they are
|
 lnr
|
2009/07/10 20:16:00 - Stuff wot haz bin happnin'
|
|
It seems like ages since I wrote anything here. In the meantime I have:
- Had a CT scan for my kidneys (actually that was before my last entry), but not got the results yet, despite it being nearly 3 weeks now
- Had some friends over for dinner, on one of the hottest days of the year, and really enjoyed eating with the patio doors open beside us
- Been given an appointment for July 28th to go talk to the surgeon at Addenbrookes about having my dodgy parathyroid gland out. Apparently I should get the date for the surgery itself on the day, so looking forward to that, though no doubt it'll mean more waiting.
- Reached the point where I've lost 10% of my body weight, and so should be seeing positive health results provided I keep it off (there's the rub!). Will go see GP (once the damned CT results arrive!) and ask if I can come off the pills. At least the metformin, since it seems to upset my digestive system a bit whenever I forget one or take one with too little food. Have decided to lose a little more and stop at either 90 or 85 kg.
- Been to a fab BBQ in Histon with Mike's colleagues followed by a bijou party for Pete's 30th, both of which were excellent.
- My sister now has a date on which they plan to induce her baby (at just over 38 weeks, for health reasons), which is a week on Monday! So excited and looking forward to visiting her and the baby (and Dave) the following weekend assuming all goes well *fingers crossed*
- Had a day off today to make sure I do use up all my holiday before the end of September. Will still have a week to spare to hopefully go away in August.
- Looking forward to Rae's hen night in Cardiff in mid-August. Half wishing she'd gone for the hen weekend approach given how long it takes to get there. I will be on a train from Shelford before 7am on a Saturday. Ow.
There's probably other stuff too, but that's the main events. I've generally had a few chilled out weeks, with far too much time spent playing the Sims, and doing quite a bit of reading. I should give Tom his book back now I've finished it. I have applied for a library card and will see if I can borrow the rest from the library in the village. I have at least got round to cataloging the books I've finished over the last 2 months now, and reviewed them all over on librarything. I'm still really glad it's the weekend though.
Entry Tags: books, family, friends, hyperparathyroidism, life
|
 bruce_schneier
|
2009/07/10 12:45:00 - Lost Suitcases in Airport Restrooms
|
|
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/07/lost_suitcases.html Want to cause chaos at an airport? Leave a suitcase in the restroom:
Three incoming flights from London were cancelled and about 150 others were delayed for up to three hours, while the army's bomb squad carried out its investigation, before giving the all-clear at about 5pm.
Passengers were told to leave the arrivals hall, main check-in area at the terminal building, the food courts and shops, and gather at safety areas outside.
The scare led to major traffic disruption around the airport, with tailbacks stretching back about a mile. Some passengers faced lengthy walks to the airport after being dropped off by shuttle bus from the city centre.
Oddest quote is from a police spokesperson:
"Inquires are under way to establish how the luggage came to be located within the toilets."
My guess is that someone left it there.
I'd suggest this as a good denial-of-service attack, but certainly there is a video camera recording of the person bringing the suitcase into the airport. The article says it was left in the "domestic arrivals area." I don't know if that's inside airport security or not.
|
 marnanel
|
2009/07/10 14:19:00 - is it really six years?
|
Six years ago today, Fin and I stood together and pledged our futures to one another. I'm still so glad we did so. I love you, sweetheart. Here's to many more. ♥
Entry Tags: firinel
|
 feanelwa
|
2009/07/10 18:59:00
|
I stayed at home this morning to figure out some maths where nobody was kicking the table, then had lunch, then went to work. I'm working on hopefully the last programming task of the thesis, which is a bit of a monster but seemingly not impossible.
|
 theantijoss
in note_to_cat
|
2009/07/10 11:56:00 - Dear Charlotte:
|
I've been really worried about you lately. You've seemed kind of grouchy, avoiding everybody's attention by staying at the very top of grandpa's closet, and only coming out to eat or poop. I was concerned about the ick you seemed to have on your chin and your slightly swollen glands in your throat. But most of all, I've been worried about how mean you've been to your grown baby, Elsie. I mean, every time she got near you, you growled and hissed and swatted her in the face. You at least used to play with her on occasion... before you growled and hissed and swatted her in the face!
Well, we took you to the vet yesterday, and you got a clean bill of health except for... acne. Zits? Seriously, Charlotte? And the zits can make you very, very cranky, apparently. Now you've got a stainless steel bowl and Stridex, and you're happy as pie again. You even let Elsie practically sit on you in the window while you stalked the chipmunks together.
I just wanted to say I'm glad you were just going through a grumpy adolescent phase. Never stop being so weird.
Love,
Mamma
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/relieved.gif) relieved
|
bruce_schneier
|
2009/07/10 09:44:00 - Making an Operating System Virus Free
|
|
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/07/making_an_opera.html Commenting on Google's claim that Chrome was designed to be virus-free, I said:
Bruce Schneier, the chief security technology officer at BT, scoffed at Google's promise. "It's an idiotic claim," Schneier wrote in an e-mail. "It was mathematically proved decades ago that it is impossible -- not an engineering impossibility, not technologically impossible, but the 2+2=3 kind of impossible -- to create an operating system that is immune to viruses."
What I was referring to, although I couldn't think of his name at the time, was Fred Cohen's 1986 Ph.D. thesis where he proved that it was impossible to create a virus-checking program that was perfect. That is, it is always possible to write a virus that any virus-checking program will not detect.
This reaction to my comment is accurate:
That seems to us like he's picking on the semantics of Google's statement just a bit. Google says that users "won't have to deal with viruses," and Schneier is noting that it's simply not possible to create an OS that can't be taken down by malware. While that may be the case, it's likely that Chrome OS is going to be arguably more secure than the other consumer operating systems currently in use today. In fact, we didn't take Google's statement to mean that Chrome OS couldn't get a virus EVER; we just figured they meant it was a lot harder to get one on their new OS - didn't you?
When I said that I had not seen Google's statement. I was responding to what the reporter was telling me on the phone. So yes, I jumped on the reporter's claim about Google's claim. I did try to temper my comment:
Redesigning an operating system from scratch, "[taking] security into account all the way up and down," could make for a more secure OS than ones that have been developed so far, Schneier said. But that's different from Google's promise that users won't have to deal with viruses or malware, he added.
To summarize, there is a lot that can be done in an OS to reduce the threat of viruses and other malware. If the Chrome team started from scratch and took security seriously all through the design and development process, they have to potential to develop something really secure. But I don't know if they did.
|
 mjg59
|
2009/07/10 16:17:00 - Chrome OS
|
It turns out that I was entertainingly wrong a while ago, though I persist in claiming that this is an utterly ridiculous idea and I should be forgiven for thinking that Google were sane. The whole thing really still doesn't make sense to me. Worthwhile support of hardware is difficult. I'm going to take it as a given that Google aren't going to claim to support arbitrary hardware. People who would never otherwise try Linux will install it, and the state of many Linux drivers is sufficiently poor that it'd do a great deal to damage their brand. The logical assumption is that it'll be available pre-installed on devices where Google have worked closely with the hardware vendors.
Which concerns me somewhat. History isn't filled with compelling examples of this. Xandros's low-level support for the Eee mostly seemed to consist of a pile of shell scripts made of cheese and failure. The bizarro-Linux on the hilariously dodgy MIPS-based netbook I have is about as functional as my wisdom teeth. The best example of a Linux vendor working with OEMs is probably Canonical, and their enthusiasm for merging hardware support code in their OEM-specific distributions has led to things like touchpad gesture support based on using a known security hole or drivers that reimplement one that's already mainline.
What I'm trying to say here is that pretty much every desktop Linux product based on cooperation between OEMs and an existing Linux vendor has been built on top of a tower of shit. That's partly because it's a hard problem, but it's also because most OEMs produce dreadful Linux code and the Linux vendors don't have the resources to rewrite it in a clean way in the timescale permitted between hardware being finalised and shipping product. I haven't seen Google recruiting a larger than normal number of people with Linux distribution experience lately, so I suspect that the situation may be the same there. This is probably fine if the number of products is relatively small - there's an opportunity to QA them sufficiently to ensure that the rough edges underneath don't accidentally take someone's hand off. But otherwise there is a genuine risk that poor-quality devices will appear with Chrome OS and people will blame Google for the poor user experience.
So it seems like a risk for Google. Either there'll be a small number of devices and the same vague level of discontent that surrounds the fact that the number of shipping Android devices doesn't seem to have reached expectations, or a large number of potentially crappy devices. What's the payoff? It's pretty clear that this is going to be based heavily around Google's web apps, possibly with disconnected operation. That gets Google a lot of lockin. It also neatly sidesteps the entire disaster that has been providing application add-ons and updates for netbook Linux distributions. But it seems that Google could have achieved that by partnering with a distribution that already has experience in this field rather than going it alone.
I remain unconvinced that this is a sensible decision for Google. But then, I've already demonstrated that I don't have the faintest idea what's going on. Which probably puts me in the same field as most of the analysts I was bitching about before. Zounds. The irony.
Entry Tags: advogato, fedora
|
 katherine_b
|
2009/07/10 17:35:00 - Only one day to go... (and a bit)
|
Thirty-six hours and I will be heading back to London to catch my plane back to Australia.
No, I can't believe I've been here for two weeks either.
But what have I don't for the past two days?
Yesterday was my relax day. I stayed in my room and wrote On My Own. At 3pm I headed out to meet a woman who my supervisor knows and who she introduced me to long-distance. We chatted about all things German and Berlin-related until after 7pm and then I came home.
And sadly today was about as exciting. I woke up at stupid o'clock (4.50, if you were interested) and spent the next two hours trying to go back to sleep. Then I commented all over LJ, had an early breakfast and headed off to the conference which is the reason I'm here. I'm ashamed to admit that my lack of sleep caught up with me and I nodded off several times. Because of that and the fact that none of the afternoon presentations were relevant to my interests, I left at lunchtimes and did a little bit more shopping.
ETA: I forgot to add that I went to the Zoo and have now seen Knut. So I've done what all Berlin tourists must do. *lol*
Now I just have to fit it all in my suitcase... :-/
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/kem_bruce/Doctor%20Who%20moods/shocked.gif) shocked
Entry Tags: berlin, conference, life
|
 astolat
in yuletide
|
2009/07/10 11:15:00 - Yuletide Stories Of The Day
|
Your Yuletide Stories Of The Day for Friday, July 10, 2009 are:
Alone Time
Fandom: Lois McMaster Bujold - Vorkosigan series
Written by stealthmuffin for TigerKat
What's the best way to get Miles to leave a room? Cordelia/Aral, total fluff.
Lips That Touch Blood
Fandom: Terry Pratchett - Discworld
Written by Kanna-Ophelia for sadisticferret
"O women, the sorrow and pain is with you,
And so be the joy and the victory, too;
With this for your motto, and succor divine,
The lips that touch blood shall never touch mine,"
Never The Same
Fandom: Big Wolf on Campus
Written by Vixen for Atlantia
Loyalty (Ties That Bind)
Fandom: Charlaine Harris - Southern Vampire series
Written by Carla for Amand-r
Quinn is a good big brother, brave and strong and true.
Blisters
Fandom: Tessa Duder - Tiggie Tompson series
Written by thankyouturtle for jessikast
Tiggie looks for work in London.
Surgeon's Hands
Fandom: Master and Commander (movie)
Written by Deanna for gillianinoz
When Jack, of all people, begins to exhibit signs of hypochondria, Stephen decides to test a theory.
3am
Fandom: Bourne Identity series (movie)
Written by athersgeo for inveigler
3am is a good time for reflection.
Beyond the Darkest Hour, Just Behind the Dawn
Fandom: Samurai Champloo
Written by MsCongeniality for blue
Post-series. Mugen has a sleepless night, a fair amount of alcohol, and far too much thinking.
Rhinegold
Fandom: Diana Wynne Jones - Chronicles of Chrestomanci
Written by rosemaryandrue for Becky
Cat, Tonino and Marianne visit Series Seven, where they attempt to order takeaway. Oh, and Conrad gets captured by rhinemaidens.
Stories from the most recent Yuletide challenge are posted in order of when they were uploaded. Please comment on the stories if you read and enjoy!
The following New Year Resolutions stories were also posted:
the universal wolf
Fandom: RPF - Sweeney Todd (2006)
Written by kangeiko for brand_new_name
Maybe it's just him getting older. Maybe man wasn't meant to film musicals at this age.
Your Random Unfilled Request Of The Day:
Recipient: astrangerenters
Request: North and South UK (book or tv) (John Thornton/Margaret Hale)
Details: John and Margaret, something steamy or forbidden. Thank you!
Your Random Older Story Of The Day:
This Year
Fandom: Harry Potter
Written by Helena Larkin for k in the Yuletide 2003 challenge.
Sirius reflects on Christmas past and his relationship with James.
Note: comments are not e-mailed; please comment on an admin post to reach the Yuletide mods!
Entry Tags: story of the day
|
 brennaraven
in note_to_cat
|
2009/07/10 10:38:00 - Stinky!
|
Dear fuzzbutts,
I don't know who did it. I assume it was you, my little gray terror, which is why you spent a couple hours alone in the den last night (yes, there was food and litter boxes and water and toys).
And now, ALL of you are BANNED from under-the-bed.
Momma and daddy spent a lot of time cleaning and setting up milkcrates and boxes and such so you cannot get under there ever again and spread your kitty terror. I'm sorry if that means you can't hide in the bedroom at all, but you should have though about that before one of you poo'd under the bed.
Don't even think about finding a new spot outside of the litterboxes (we have THREE!).
Annoyed,
Momma
p.s. Gemini, thank you for pointing out to me where the frog had hopped off to (and croaked... *excuse my bad pun*). It's better than finding a skeleton in a year or two. Sorry to take away your rather gross toy, but you are my little huntress.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/annoyed.gif) annoyed
|
geofftech_iblog
|
2009/07/09 22:49:00 - The Sunshine - with intermittent showers - State
|
|
http://www.geofftech.co.uk/iblog/2009/07/09/the-sunshine-with-intermittent-showers-state http://www.geofftech.co.uk/iblog/?p=1473 The I-10 seems to stretch on forever, from the eastern coast in Florida all the way through to the western coast in California.
But it’s not the longest interstate in the USA at 2,460 miles long (spanning eight states). That accolade instead goes to Interstate 90 which passes through 13 states and runs for 3,084 miles, and I’ll be getting up to that later in the week.
 The I-10 featured heavily over the last couple of days as we drove to Lancaster in Florida, to find that it was basically a crossroads in the middle of nowhere with some pine trees, and then … turned around and drove back almost the same way we had come to head west again and see if we could make New Orleans by the end of the day.
But we wanted to see real America, so off the interstate we came again and dropped onto US Route 90 which was somewhat more scenic.
We pass a shop … the ‘Guns & Auto Repair Shop‘. I’ve often wondered why in England you get a shoe repair and key cutters together. What special quality or skill is is that someone have that means repairing shoes also means you can cut keys? Or vice-versa? Here in the south though it seems that fixing cars and selling guns go hand in hand, or as J.J. put it … “Don’t try arguing with the price of your car service … or they’ll just shoot you”.
More billboards, gigantic, towering high in the sky. My favourite : “Did you know 1 in 4 teenage girls already have an STD?” informed one. “Abstinence is the ONLY WAY to be safe!”. Of course.
We slowly meandered our way out of The Redneck Riviera (The majority of Florida may be it’s own special world full of sun-chasing-seniors, but the panhandle along the top is effectively part of the south), as rain showers came in for 60 seconds .. and then stopped almost abruptly as they have arrived. “The Sunshine State”, say the Floria license plates around here. “With intermittent showers” I mumbled to myself under my breath.
 We make Alabama again, stopping at the USS Alabama in Mobile - the ship where Steven Seagals “Under Siege” was filmed. And then off again into two new more states for me - Mississippi and Louisiana.
At the welcome center or Mississippi, and 7 foot tall cardboard cutout of Elvis greeting me. Hang on .. even I know that Memphis & Graceland are in Tennessee, and not Mississippi. Ah! But Elvis was born in Tupelo in the north, and so the state also tries to cash in on the tourist trade. We did get a free map though, a “Things to do in Mississippi” guide, and a free drink of our choice. I can’t imagine beverages being doled out gratis at at English place, nice touch.
‘Things to do in Mississippi’ for us included at the very top : Leave almost immediately. Don’t panic, I’ll be back here during the week, but we had a date to make in New Orleans that we had to make, and the dangling carrot of a free hotel to stay in in New Orleans, so we pushed on.
To kill the last few miles, I introduced J.J. the the ‘pub cricket‘ game that I often used to play as a child on trips in England. No pubs in southern America? No problem .. you just play it with Waffle Houses instead. So frequent were the redneck-starbucks dotted along the US90 that it simply became a case of ‘Score 1 every time one popped up on yous side’. JJ won 7-4, three of them occurred (all on his side) within a one mile stretch of each other, crazy.
Biloxi was slightly depressing to drive through - you could tell which people had had insurance and who hadn’t by the plots of lands that were still un-rebuilt on post Katrina. Most people think of the hurricane devastation for just affecting New Orleans, but it did widespread damage at towns all along the coast in the area - at one point, we crossed a bridge on an inlet that had been totally wiped out, and had been rebuilt since.
We made New Orleans by Thursday night, but more on that over the next few days as I’m resting up here for the weekend.
|
aaisp_planned
|
2009/07/10 13:13:00 - 21CN LNS update
|
|
http://aaisp-planned.blogspot.com/2009/07/21cn-lns-update.html The 21CN LNS software has been stable all week, and as such we believe we have correctly identified and addressed the instability issues at the start of the month. Thank you all for your patience.
We have an upgrade planned over the weekend. We will deploy for new connections on Saturday and remaining lines around 2am to 3am Sunday morning in the published maintenance window.
Any issues Saturday or Sunday and we immediately revert to the current stable software release.
The new software has a number of minor improvements. The main one is better handling of situations such as the tennis recently. The new code will, in cases of extremely high traffic load, allow smaller packets through more readily than larger packets. Tests indicate that this means VoIP can continue unaffected by such unusual traffic levels. The change also improves the reporting we get so that we can ensure there is sufficient headroom at all times. Later in the year BT are launching a burst option and this new code will allow us to make use of this. Our network design rules continue to be that we should not be a bottleneck.
We have also made changes to dialup which will also go via the same LNS now.
There are likely to be more changes later in the month as we prepare to have all lines on the new 21CN link to BT using IPStream connect. More on that later.
As this is one of our first "routine" software upgrades, we are, of course, carefully monitoring the whole process. It should be pretty seamless for everyone.
|
 angelofthenorth
|
2009/07/10 12:37:00 - Pilgrimage and a Pilgrim People
|
I hear quite a lot about "being a pilgrim people" in the context of church. As someone who self-identifies as "a puffin' pilgrim" or "a cockleshell pilgrim" depending on where I'm going, this is a reflection on what that means to me.
First off, what is a pilgrimage. Wikipedia doesn't really help much. Sure, it gives a list of sites to which people journey, and the fact that pilgrimage happens in secular as well as religious contexts, but it doesn't convey what it's about. There's a legend about the Camino de Santiago - that those who complete the journey are promised a love affair. This has its roots in the fact that Santiago was the site of the Roman Temple of venus (hence the use of the cockleshell, which was her symbol) and people would go to the ends of the earth (lit. Finis-terre) to find venus and love. I'm not sure about the temple at the end, but I know that the process of journeying changes one, modulated by the purpose of the journey and the people one travels with. I tend to travel fast and light, usually alone. Sometimes I have to walk with people, for reasons of safety, more often I slow down to chat, and then carry on to the next adventure.
The Camino itself is the stuff of legend, and all through the Moorish period of Spanish history, the Camino - the major trade and pilgrim route - was kept open, and pilgrims were guaranteed safe passage. It is said that harm to a pilgrim would result in a double punishment for the perpetrator over the normal punishment in Spanish law. To walk a pilgrim route requires a respect for the ground, the climate, and the people around, as well as the other users of the path. The path itself dictates the pace - see some of the camino tagged entries to see what I mean, as I discovered I could walk faster and longer than I expected, and others I had to slow up and breathe. I can only impose my will on the path for so long, and then something breaks. Usually me.
The path itself lives and breathes and interacts with the pilgrim, affecting each of us differently, and then changing the interactions within the group because of it. Walking along the canal, the boaties experience the canal very differently (and at a slower pace) from someone who walks, and that affected the ways we interacted with one another and the landscape around us. The experience of the interface changes the pilgrim within and without - corners getting knocked off, baggage getting jettisoned by the process of walking and thinking and having to face up to who one is, because there's no one else.
Realising that the irritations we carry with us, when there's no one else around, are actually about us, not the other person, can be quite a salutary experience, and in have the walk sandpaper off the rougher features of who we are, we become better able to enter into relationships with others, and hence, I believe the idea of the love affair.
There is something important about getting from A to B on foot, or rather under one's own steam, and along paths that were also trade routes. That sentence needs unpacking a little at a time, however. Where we begin and end the journey matters, to some extent. Had I gone to Rome, I would have started in London, unlike Santiago, where I started at the Franco-Spanish border town of St Jean Pied-de-Port (although Roncesvalles is the traditional in-Spain starting point, and has the abbey/guest house to go with it). We can't always start from where we are, or finish where we want to go, at least this time. Some sort of compromise has to be made between the two. For me it was a matter of where I thought I could reasonably get to, and instinct about where would be the right place to start.
The question is then where we are going. Pilgrim routes were often trade routes, and ancient pilgrims would be walking along side pedlars and those who were seeking to do business at the Abbey which marked the terminus. Commerce and church were often inseparable, and pilgrims were a source of tourist income for the community. For me, it is the interplay of the sacred and mundane that makes something a pilgrimage, walking along routes that have been used for a long while for industrial purpose, and the juxtaposition of a walk for pleasure, the luxury of that, with the need to earn a living, and to provide industry with raw materials. A pilgrimage isn't simply a pretty walk in the countryside, which is why I keep wondering if the Pembrokeshire Coast Path really counts as a pilgrim route up to Tyddewi.
There's a line in milton "I cannot praise a cloister'd vertue" which echoes a line from a prayer card I found at St Non's "why do you go to the Wilderness to seek God when he is there inside yourself". Praising God while walking past industrial graveyards and forgotten wharves and factories, while meandering through housing estates, and under graffiti'ed bridges - that is what I found challenging. How can I seek God at the end, if I don't find God on the journey? The rougher bits act as the spiritual sandpaper, easing off and re-shaping us to see God the King in the glory of the cathedrals and abbeys, but in the context of encounters with Son and Spirit on the canal path. Then again, maybe it's that I have a problem with encountering God in the really beautiful bits. I'm so used to the grey landscape that I struggle when out of the city and in a place with a big sky.
I'm not very good at enjoying the destinations either. I don't know what to do with them. I love the journey though, and tend not to schedule to have much time at the end just to sit and think. This time, it was slightly different, but not so much. And if you take the lid off my head and saw the thoughts inside as I walk, they would not strike someone as particularly holy thoughts. Often they focus on the basic needs/experiences of humanity - food, sex, death, sleep, companionship and tea. Yet through those thoughts percolate sermons, and musings and poems and god-posts, and people seem to find them helpful. Much as liquid is filtered by going through charcoal to produce something pure and useful.
The destinations matter, because they were built out of the journey - the materials would have provided money and work for the local community, and training in certain crafts for several centuries. Yet the journey also matters.
So we get to the idea of being a pilgrim people, all of us being altered in different ways by the same journey, and having to interact with the differences thrown up by the journey. If we are travelling as a community, then the things we're getting wound up by are our problem, and bugbears that we carry, not necessarily about things going on in the wider world. To be a pilgrim people is in some sense to be self-contained, welcoming, mobile and responsive, to be working on the trade routes, and finding ourselves in the world around us, rather than just in holy buildings. Yet we journey together, in the hope of finding one another in the end in the City of God.
Entry Tags: camino, tyddewi
|
bruce_schneier
|
2009/07/10 05:52:00 - NSA Building Massive Data Center in Utah
|
|
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/07/nsa_building_ma.html They're expanding:
The years-in-the-making project, which may cost billions over time, got a $181 million start last week when President Obama signed a war spending bill in which Congress agreed to pay for primary construction, power access and security infrastructure. The enormous building, which will have a footprint about three times the size of the Utah State Capitol building, will be constructed on a 200-acre site near the Utah National Guard facility's runway.
Congressional records show that initial construction -- which may begin this year -- will include tens of millions in electrical work and utility construction, a $9.3 million vehicle inspection facility, and $6.8 million in perimeter security fencing. The budget also allots $6.5 million for the relocation of an existing access road, communications building and training area.
Officials familiar with the project say it may bring as many as 1,200 high-tech jobs....
It will also require at least 65 megawatts of power....
Another article</a>.
|
marnanel
|
2009/07/10 05:54:00 - Davyd Madeley: Documentation BoF
|
How we're generating documentation in telepathy-doc.
There are three kinds of docs: facing developer (like a tutorial... what tool?), facing user ("how do I format my USB key"... Mallard), and the stuff you format from the API (gtk-doc).
Developer docs
HIG, GTK Drawing Manual, ... etc
Example code, descriptive prose, i18n, multi-programming-language examples (how??), link to the API references
telepathy-doc
DocBook, gnome-doc-tools, svg figures, and a ton of Python to play with the xml. DocBook purists don't like this (would rather do it in DocBook).
Entry Tags: gran canaria
|
 stephenpthomas
|
2009/07/10 10:51:00 - Poem
|
I encountered this today. I think it's lovely.
I do not love Thee
I do not love thee!—no! I do not love thee!
And yet when thou art absent I am sad;
And envy even the bright blue sky above thee,
Whose quiet stars may see thee and be glad.
I do not love thee!—yet, I know not why,
Whate'er thou dost seems still well done, to me:
And often in my solitude I sigh
That those I do love are not more like thee!
I do not love thee!—yet, when thou art gone,
I hate the sound (though those who speak be dear)
Which breaks the lingering echo of the tone
Thy voice of music leaves upon my ear.
I do not love thee!—yet thy speaking eyes,
With their deep, bright, and most expressive blue,
Between me and the midnight heaven arise,
Oftener than any eyes I ever knew.
I know I do not love thee! yet, alas!
Others will scarcely trust my candid heart;
And oft I catch them smiling as they pass,
Because they see me gazing where thou art.
Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/niaha/kitty/ankhappyg.gif) content
|
leninology_feed
|
2009/07/10 07:48:00 - Unionising call centres
|
|
http://leninology.blogspot.com/2009/07/unionising-call-centres.html I spent about six years working in call centres, and I just say a bit about what it is like, for those of you who have avoided it. All of the call centres I worked in employed people on a casual, part-time and temporary basis. All of them had their share of bullying, vindictive and harrassing supervisors. Supervisors were empowered to sack one at a moment's notice, and didn't require a particularly good excuse. Actually, they could just stop booking you for shifts if they didn't like you for some reason. Pay was always low, about as close to minimum wage as they could get away with. Lunch or dinner breaks were usually unpaid. Toilet breaks are timed, and more than five minutes away from one's computer might be penalised. And it's miserable. Most call centres are situated in relatively inexpensive office space out in the sticks - bleak looking industrial wastelands with few amenities nearby. The literature from 'work and psychology' journals characterises call centre work as 'emotional labour', which is accurate. After eight hours on the phone, pretending to listen to and sympathise with members of the public, while at the same time conforming closely to a pre-scripted routine, you will feel drained. Despite the way management tend to treat staff as expendable, it is actually a highly skilled and demanding kind of labour. In my experience, this would come out when experienced staff members were consulted for their suggestions as to how a particular project might work: there was a wealth of accumulated wisdom and experience that management simply wouldn't have access to otherwise. But partly because workers are so lightly hired and fired, the work is also heavily micro-managed by supervisors, who listen in to about 12% of calls on average. Among the various points a worker is likely to be assessed for is fidelity to a script that is quite often stupidly worded and unworkable, written as it usually is by people who spend no time on the 'phones. Since your job is to get people to stay on the phone and either do a survey, or divulge some information, or buy something, the natural temptation is to chuck the script - people hate it when they think you're just reading a script at them. But persistent failure to read the lines out is a disciplinary issue. Lots of people who can't stand this idiocy just walk out mid-shift, and never show their faces again. It isn't easy to unionise call centres. To get recognition, you need a vote of all employees. But there's a high turnover of staff, and a large number of people who remain formally on the books long after they have ceased to work shifts. On top of that, staff are disproportionately young, and are perhaps not as assertive as they need to be. And most people have other things they're moving on to - they don't see it as a permanent job, and thus may be reluctant to get involved in lengthy battles with management, especially if it's so easy to fire them. That said, however, I am encouraged by this series of articles which suggests that things are changing. It would be an enormously important development if this happened, because the those most exploited in the private sector have tended to be those least able to respond to their situation. It would potentially drive up incomes the lowest paid jobs and improve the bargaining power of an undervalued layer of workers.
|
yafgc
|
2009/07/10 02:22:00 - RSS Feed for Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic.
|
|
http://yafgc.shipsinker.com/
Strip 1139: Clover in Trouble AGAIN!
Friday, 10th July, 2009 (Today)
</b>
Click here for today's strip
This is NOT the last YAFGC strip!
Uh, seems that this strip left some confusion. I'd like to clear that up. This strip is simply a tribute to an AD&D (2nd ed) campaign I used to play with my gamer gang back in Montreal called "The Quest for the 13 [Treasures of Kalain]" (Generally shortened down to "The Quest") which ended on this date in 1999. 10 years ago today! Rob St.Martin (the man who played Shawn of Shallmar in another campaign that I ran) was the GM and I played the original Eric of Drostardy, of whom King Eric, husband of Queen Clover, is supposed to have been decended.
Edrimore (who appeared in this comic as Edrumore, the Elf mage who assisted Eddie in the "Axe-in-the-stone" scheme) was also a PC (Dave McBride) in that campaign.
Nobody died! Don't worry! And YAFCG will continue on its daily schedule. This isn't THE end. But it is, AN end.
News updated on Saturday 13 June, 2009
|
|
|
![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/marcus/beheadedboy/125.gif){kind=small}
chummy
