and here i am in 2020
Thursday, 19 November 2020
Saturday, 16 September 2017
years later I decide to write another post
Finished reading the golden fleece book by Apollonius. Moved on from reading about greek demi-gods and devinities and such (cf. metamorphoses, the illiad) and now looking at 5th century BC stuff.
Friday, 1 January 2016
The Golden bough / Fleece
hmm. Seems that ... the original golden bough myth written up by Apollonius (3rd Century BC) which predates the Aeneid...
Posted by Alex Beston on Thursday, 31 December 2015
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
State pensions
Gradually emerging into my daily consciousness is the issue of pensions - I will be an OAP one day, and the days of extended student-life are receding over the horizon, so I ought to take it all very seriously - those days of wondering around aimlessly at the age of 70 will need to be paid for.
So - if you are the same as me and have realised the importance of state pensions, try at the pension forecast site at directgov, to begin your research into the matter.
Btw - discovered that you have 30 years of work to cover to qualify. but what if for some reason you dont make the 30 years? say youve worked x years, then you get x/30-ths of your state pension. Other things like child benefit add to your qualifying years if you are a carer - housewifes / house husbands get a pension even if they've never worked, but have cared after a dependant.
So I need to work out how many years I am on record as having worked. Its a little akin to knowing your credit rating is it not?
So - if you are the same as me and have realised the importance of state pensions, try at the pension forecast site at directgov, to begin your research into the matter.
Btw - discovered that you have 30 years of work to cover to qualify. but what if for some reason you dont make the 30 years? say youve worked x years, then you get x/30-ths of your state pension. Other things like child benefit add to your qualifying years if you are a carer - housewifes / house husbands get a pension even if they've never worked, but have cared after a dependant.
So I need to work out how many years I am on record as having worked. Its a little akin to knowing your credit rating is it not?
Monday, 25 October 2010
mail notifier
wrote a little app today which lets me know if i have mail even if i dont open the browser (chrome has an extension that lets you know if you have mail (after all, if youre on your machine youre probably using a browser, right?) so thats ok, and suits most of the time, but what if youre not?)
desktop notifier! yay!
low tech solution: created a file with the filename as the number of messages and the file is the new messages. neat?
desktop notifier! yay!
low tech solution: created a file with the filename as the number of messages and the file is the new messages. neat?
Sunday, 24 October 2010
Kidnapping of Anne Sluti: Taken in Broad Daylight
Watched the "Taken in Broad Daylight" on the BBC4 site this evening and I thought it
quite a good film on the usual kidnapping line since the kinappee, Anne Sluti of Nebraska,
thought on her feet. This happened back in April 2001 and the ordeal lasted 6 days. You have the feeling that a lot of victims are so paralysed with fear that that are unable to cope; I certainly know that paralysing feeling and how you lose all your mental faculties. Apparently got through it all and since then gone on to graduate as a biomedical engineer.
quite a good film on the usual kidnapping line since the kinappee, Anne Sluti of Nebraska,
thought on her feet. This happened back in April 2001 and the ordeal lasted 6 days. You have the feeling that a lot of victims are so paralysed with fear that that are unable to cope; I certainly know that paralysing feeling and how you lose all your mental faculties. Apparently got through it all and since then gone on to graduate as a biomedical engineer.
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Watched "Social Network", discussed at Wagamama's
Very enjoyable film, discussed it at length with wife at Wagamama's. had no. 36, very filling. According to the menu (ofcourse online), no. 36 is:
I think I prefered no 37:
Milder, less powerful, more subtler flavours. Will try next time, and oh there will be a next time.
So, back to the film.
The director had made se7en, so there was alot of expectation and it kinda delivered (rotten tomatoes has a very high grade), where the most emotional side actually was in the private legal meetings (depositions). The back turned to the meeting by one of the protagonists was interesting. That man is in this forbes list I found this evening, and also written about by Larry Cheng, and has a profile in forbes, so it was all worth the fuss he made in the film, which was called fiction by the CEO Mark Zuckerberg. I just love the use of the phrase "tent-pole events" used in this critical review, also at forbes (no I'm not promoting them just seems to be alot of quality at hand at that venue). The reviewer, Chiang, tells us that the film isnt from the tent pole events of facebooks first year but actually from a book by Ben Mezrich, the accidential biilionaires, who said it was "big juicy fun", and writes about clever young men. His books all have "purchase" tags next to the blurb, which rather put me off him, and his expression on his page, i.e. one of sharpness; cant authors just smile?
Anyway, all these "clever rich young men" just made me feel stoopid. I'm not the only one :
I comfort myself that perhaps they cant play like this. Hang on, Hold up! isnt all their value tied up in stocks? i know its high valuation, but will anyone buy $1.3 billion worth of shares?
chicken kare lomen
a spicy soup made from lemongrass, coconut milk, shrimp
paste, red chillies, fresh ginger and galangal. served with ramen
noodles and garnished with a marinated and grilled chicken breast,
beansprouts, cucumber, fresh coriander and a wedge of lime
I think I prefered no 37:
chicken itame
stir-fried chicken breast with bok choi, red and spring onions,
red peppers, chilli and beansprouts. served with rice noodles in
a spicy coconut and green chilli soup. garnished with coriander,
mint and a wedge of lime
Milder, less powerful, more subtler flavours. Will try next time, and oh there will be a next time.
So, back to the film.
The director had made se7en, so there was alot of expectation and it kinda delivered (rotten tomatoes has a very high grade), where the most emotional side actually was in the private legal meetings (depositions). The back turned to the meeting by one of the protagonists was interesting. That man is in this forbes list I found this evening, and also written about by Larry Cheng, and has a profile in forbes, so it was all worth the fuss he made in the film, which was called fiction by the CEO Mark Zuckerberg. I just love the use of the phrase "tent-pole events" used in this critical review, also at forbes (no I'm not promoting them just seems to be alot of quality at hand at that venue). The reviewer, Chiang, tells us that the film isnt from the tent pole events of facebooks first year but actually from a book by Ben Mezrich, the accidential biilionaires, who said it was "big juicy fun", and writes about clever young men. His books all have "purchase" tags next to the blurb, which rather put me off him, and his expression on his page, i.e. one of sharpness; cant authors just smile?
Anyway, all these "clever rich young men" just made me feel stoopid. I'm not the only one :
None come younger, richer or geekier than Mark Zuckerberg, the brilliant Harvard student who founded Facebook in 2004 aged 19, and is now the world’s youngest billionaire, an ascent chronicled in The Social Network, a riveting, era-defining picture that is guaranteed to make you feel very stupid in comparison and very very poor.
I comfort myself that perhaps they cant play like this. Hang on, Hold up! isnt all their value tied up in stocks? i know its high valuation, but will anyone buy $1.3 billion worth of shares?
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