Go and see The History Boys. Sharp dialogue, killer casting and and a great depiction of the time (post-Falklands Thatcherism just finding its feet) — not a second of your time wasted.
Category: goatee-stroking musing, or something
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Reeks of Astroturf
Either the Fair Air Association of Canada is a last-gasp attempt by Big Tobacco to overturn Canadian smoking bans, or it’s a delightful work of twisted humour. I’m unsure which.
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but what can it *mean*?
GO train tickets say: “Ticket must be cancelled to be valid.” Wha?
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As Ray Bradbury once said, “Wow!”
I’m totally stoked that today’s World Town Planning Day
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The Real Pirates of the Caribbean
Philip Gosse’s The Pirates’ Who’s Who, from Project Gutenberg.
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The National Archives | Public Information Films
Browsing The National Archives: Public Information Films probably explains too much about the UK psyche.
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boo {gerund} hoo
[Rick Ciarnello, president of the Vancouver Hells Angels chapter] claims he has been treated rudely by his local supermarket staff, and he says many people are no longer friendly toward him, and instead fear him or avoid him altogether.
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back home
Jetlag is bad, but all is well. Canadian Affair are pretty good for a budget airline.
Most of the eentsy platies made it. They were hiding in the water sprite, which is now the size of a lettuce.
Now to sort through the 268 pictures I took … -
dirty harry
Went to Harry Ramsden’s in Glasgow last night for old time’s sake, and we probably won’t ever be back. The service was slow, the food so-so, and the bathrooms disgusting. It has lost its Harryness, alas.
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fake plastic trees
They’re setting up some kind of christmas filmset in the parking lot – an ad, maybe? There are many fake trees in the parking lot, some with lights, and what looks like rolls of fake snow. There are also a hotdog stand and a London Underground sign – wha?
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no shave and no haircut, no bits
The Barber’s Chair has left Scarborough Town Centre. Seems that branch went bust. They left in a hurry; there’s still unswept hair on the floor. Now I have to go to Yorkville for Arthur’s Clydebank patter.
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Bored grad students of 1928
also known as Seth, J. B., Chetan Anand, and Gian Chand. “The effect of moist air on the resistance of pencil lines.” Proceedings of the Physical Society 41.1 (1928): 29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/0959-5309/41/1/303
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amalgam squidge
Got yet more mercury alloy trowelled into my head tonight by Dr Choi. I have to say, the best bit about going to the dentist is the squidgy noise the filling paste makes as it compresses into the cavity. It means it’s nearly over, and the burring slow drill is banished until next time.
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no snooze
The Science of Sleep is good.
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uptown senga
The Yorkville matron, clad in too much Burberry, doesn’t realise she looks like a chav.
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big boy’s book of big things
Christmas came early. With money from Carlyle, I bought a reproduction of Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary, a three-tome work from the 1870s which catalogued mechanisms, devices and machinery known at the time. It’s the ultimate nerd read.
You can browse two electronic versions online:
- at UMich; large page images.
- at Princeton Imaging; in DjVu format, this is a little easier to read if you have the right plugin.
I have to say, though, that the dead tree version is a splendid read.
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in a jam
I was supposed to have a book on the Golden Ratio waiting for me, but instead they had the Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving.
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shiver me statistical tables!
Today would be an apt day to revisit The Wit and Wisdom of Paul Hart, part 37(b)