So I finally caved and created a facebook account…only to find that not only are my brother and sister, and both my parents on there, but so is my Grandfather.
I’m such a luddite.
Archive for November, 2007
Bandwagons…
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007Arrr?
Tuesday, November 20th, 2007Something to think about for those that object to the use of the word “piracy” for the act of copyright infringement.
William Makepeace Thackery uses the term for precisely that purpose in Vanity Fair – first published 1848.
So it has had that meaning for at least 160 years – and I would be surprised if he had coined the usage.
There are plenty of words, the accepted meaning of which no one disputes, which have had a far more recent origin.
The conclusion I draw from this, is that if you want to have a well reasoned and sensible discussion on copyright issues – don’t muddy the water with the “call it copyright infringement, not piracy” strawman – it’s irrelevant.
1 – Chaper 62: “may the blessings of all Englishmen who have ever been abroad rest on the founders and proprierots of that piratical print”
Monday, November 19th, 2007
It’s amazing how therapeutic writing a horrible angsty song can be.
….as long as you never, ever let anyone actually hear it.
Virtual Posts
Sunday, November 18th, 2007Someone needs to write a brain-to-blog interface.
There’s always a whole bunch of things I intend to put here, but by the time I get round to it, I’ve either forgotten what they are, or (in most cases) I’m daunted by the concept of actually having to turn those thoughts into words.
So in between every (rare) actual post, there’s usually ten or more virtual posts that exist entirely in theory, but in practice….don’t.
Childhood for sale…
Tuesday, November 6th, 2007Apparently, the house I spent the ten years from 5 to 15 in, in New Zealand is now For Sale again.
When you leave a house, you never really know what the next people are going to do with it…it looks like in this case, it ended up in good hands.
It’s funny seeing the inside again after more than fifteen years – I recognise it all, but it’s all different – everything seems smaller for a start, but I guess that’s always the case – it doesn’t help that the room that was mine (the bedroom with the sloping ceiling), actually _is_ smaller than how it was for most of the time I was in it – just before we left, we added a walk in wardrobe to one side, which was split in two, with the other half opening into the next bedroom. Effectively stealing some of my space for the benefit for Craig. bah!
There’s only a couple of major differences – there was a funny little corridor between the lounge room and the bathroom, with the chimney in the lounge room actually split into two back-to-back fireplaces and the one behind was covered up. It looks like they’ve done something to that area to create a second living area and reclaim the other fireplace – and put an archway between the two sides. I’d assume they’ve moved the bathroom to make room for it, but it looks like exactly the same bathroom (but with updated fittings) as I remember.
The other major change – and one I’m afraid I can’t approve of, is that they’ve taken out the hedge that used to separate the back yard and the orchard, so now there’s just one big bleak expanse of grass with trees on it (though that effect is probably largely due to the photo having been taken on a typical Wanganui winter day). I can’t quite tell, but it looks like they’ve taken out the grape and kiwifruit vines too.
However, the outside front of the house still looks very much as it did when we left (though the path is an improvement – ours was brick). They changed the inside colours quite a lot, but left our green, and just touched it up a bit by using three shades, instead of two.
The front entrance and hallway is very similar too.
….and they STILL haven’t done anything about the driveway!
I might have to see if I can find some photos of it during the time we were there for comparison.