| Tuesday 18th January 2005 12:57MST | → 0 Comments |
I thought Valentina’s machine had a virus when she accessed my site and I saw in the logs:
/MSOffice/cltreq.asp?UL=1&ACT=4&BUILD=6254&STRMVER=4&CAPREQ=0
/_vti_bin/owssvr.dll?UL=1&ACT=4&BUILD=6254&STRMVER=4&CAPREQ=0
However, I’ve since learned that these are actually Microsoft-specific IE requests to see if your server (undoubtedly assuming it’s IIS) supports something called ‘web discussions’. I’m sure I’m not the only one to be freaked by that ‘pseudo-worm signature’. Thank you Micro$oft.
After many weeks of reading UK newspapers (and having weaned him off The Times), bf made the observation that, in terms of world affairs, they have blanket coverage of US politicians but practically nothing about European politics. I was tempted to say (in anger directed at said newspapers, not him) Well, Duh!. Actually, I would clarify his observation in so far as saying the media does cover European politics, so long as the following conditions are met:
- It’s related to the EU
- It’s bad news
All refutations, with evidence, are welcome.
| Saturday 15th January 2005 23:51MST | → 0 Comments |
Whatever did we do with that funky lino, which I picked up yesterday? We did this with it. Actually it was all bf’s idea - he’s the creative one.
I also got my printer working under Linux, with a little help from HP themselves.
| Friday 14th January 2005 23:15MST | → 0 Comments |
Wiped my Linux box and put Fedora Core 3 on it. The delay was due to home-directory-backup-hassles.
I also bought a HP Deskjet 3845 from Comet as it was only
| Thursday 13th January 2005 19:00MST | → 0 Comments |
… because, as has been confirmed today, my company is closing the office I work in so as to consolidate all work at the other office and I am almost definitely going to be made redundant (severance, as ‘merkins call it). I wouldn’t want to commute to the other office every day, what with it being a three-hour round trip by car. It had been on the cards for some time now and came as little shock to those seven of us left there - I suppose I could say I was surprised we lasted as long as we did. Hopefully I’ll get a tidy pay off and may even spend February just with bf and start looking after he goes back.
Maybe I’ll bite the nettle and become a contractor, as I’ve often threatened. Obviously it all depends on what the IT job market is like and if the mythical ‘definitely this year’ upturn manifests itself.
| Wednesday 12th January 2005 22:35MST | → 0 Comments |
Some recent CD purchases:
However, they will be the last purchases for a while as some ‘financial prudence’ will be necessary in the coming months…
| Monday 10th January 2005 21:49MST | → 0 Comments |
So many activities. On Saturday we stopped off at a carpet place and bought 2m by 1m of lino with a Keith Haringesque pattern. More on that later.
On Sunday we went into London and visited the Design Museum, getting there the long way by walking along the river from Waterloo. I’m rather disappointed in the Design Museum thesedays, given that they’ve reduced their ’static’ display space considerable and given over the rest to transient exhibitions. Admittedly, the one on at the moment about Mark Newson was very interesting but I feel without the regular displays a lot of design ‘context’ is lost.
Afterwards we wandered up to Hamleys, to reprise a visit we had abandoned at Xmas (for obvious reasons). Bf decided he wanted a shiny new Mousetrap game but surprisingly they didn’t have any.
Otherwise they day was somewhat marred by us having a row and returning home on the train in silence. It was the usual reason of insensitivity on both sides, though mainly on mine. Am I still not used to him? Our personalities are poles apart - me, the introvert and him, very much the extrovert (and some) but isn’t it supposed to be a case of opposites attracting? We made up by bedtime but I really MUST TRY HARDER.
Right now I’m stressed by how his pills are making him tired, though that could be more a consequence of the amount of ‘running around’ we’ve been doing recently, travelling mostly on foot. A further worry is that he only has three months’ worth of pills and next month’s is supposed to be being sent here. I’d rather not think about the consequences of them not turning up in time (in short, he’d just have to fly back).
| Saturday 8th January 2005 0:20MST | → 0 Comments |
Weather alert as UK hit by storms says the BBC and they’re not kidding. The wind is making a hell of a racket. There are a number of trees immediately outside my flat - I hope one (or more) doesn’t get blown down, taking my windows out in the process.
Tsunami - Funds pledged (per $ GDP).
Tomorrow I’m going to download and burn all four Fedora Core 3 discs. The time has come.
| Wednesday 5th January 2005 22:17MST | → 0 Comments |
I am so lucky to have a partner who is a fantastic chef. He has, practically spontaneously, created a new type of desert consisting of white chocolate mousse wrapped inside cr
| Tuesday 4th January 2005 20:49MST | → 0 Comments |
Back at work. There were only three people in the office today so it was quiet, though I had a sizable list of tasks waiting for me. However, I did discover that I can get my recent eye test paid for, along with a contribution towards the cost of frames/lenses from my company. Then again, I did realise that I’ve spent all of my working career (nearly nine years) staring at a screen almost every day. What a life.
Look like Michael Howard is defining the ‘forgotten majority’ as anyone who reads the Daily Mail, given that his speech was tailored towards the ‘right-wing outrage’ sector with phrases like:
You’re probably not part of the so-called liberal elite.
and (particularly odious):
The decline of responsibility and the proliferation of so-called “human rights” have left us in a moral quagmire, unable to get a grip on rising crime and disorder.
Odious because of the “so-called” bit shows how they hate the very idea of ordinary people having and (horror!) exercising fundamental rights, but entirely predictable from a party trying to out ‘right-wing’ Labour. Hopefully the electorate will see through this and look towards the Lib Dems (so long as they give up on that ‘tough liberalism’ crap) and away from the other parties’ ‘politics of fear’.
| Sunday 2nd January 2005 17:36MST | → 0 Comments |
Bf and I met up with Daryl on New Year’s eve for supper then wandered into town where there was a slightly larger crowd than last year but still down in numbers compared to previous years. Afterwards, we made our way up to South Hill and watched fireworks across Guildford and surrounding towns. I didn’t get any decent photos of fireworks
I’ve just checked and not surprisingly I didn’t make any resolutions last year, so technically I can’t feel guilty about not achieving them or recycling the same ones year after year. Anyway, mine (so far) are:
- lose weight and exercise more
- learn French
- cut down on spending
- be less grumpy with bf
I’ve also decided to give up on my course. That is, I haven’t done any work on it for over a month and I’m not going to do the final assessment (which means I fail by default). I’m not particularly sad as the material never really captured my interest, which is why I really needed to motivate myself to work on it, and it could be said the course served its purpose which was to determine if I had the time/motivation to work on a formal course (I don’t) and whether I liked the social sciences enough to do the more significant course DD100: An Introduction to the Social Sciences (I didn’t) that would have been the starting point to doing the OU’s law courses. I’ll have to continue studying law informally at my own pace - maybe that’s another resolution?
From the Telegraph: Washington makes U-turn on what is meant by ‘torture’:
American troops in Iraq will no longer be allowed to inflict “severe pain” while interrogating suspects after US justice officials broadened their controversial definition of torture in the wake of the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal.
It is beyond belief that a country could have engaged in such behaviour and still considered themselves ‘civilised’. For all the criticism European nations may get, at least they have a universal and consistent abhorrence of torture (though the UK’s implicit acceptance of torture in other countries by happily using the intelligence gained from such practices is the ‘blot on the conscience of Europe’).
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