Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017 - 00:03

1. At ten past nine, a text saying my Amazon order was out for delivery today - which got me out of bed and dressed, though resolved to potentially spending the whole day waiting in for a man with a package (ooh-err) who'd eventually come at quarter to five. I started a new book ('The Book of You' by Clarence X Penrith) based on it looking relatively quick and undemanding. I had a cup of tea, and the doorbell rang at twenty past eleven with my parcel. This basically forced my hand with respect to meaning I'd have to go out and do something with my afternoon.

2. Apparently Salvatore "Totò" Riina, head of the Sicilian Mafia, has died. I suppose this means I can stop checking my bed for decapitated horse bits every morning. I've never seen any of the Godfather films, my assumption being that they're not my kind of thing, though they are important cinema and I should maybe make the effort. Anyhow, Riina was 87 (just) and not a very nice man (very).

3. How come light sabers seem generally to act as lazer swords which are slicing weapons (hence Vader cutting off Luke's hand and times when they slice through metalwork etc.) but that Obi Wan is somehow turned into nothing but a pile of empty clothes when he is struck. As opposed to sliced messily in twain?

4. I didn't have a great afternoon. I went out for a wander, and as far as 'getting a bit of exercise' is concerned (and also in the sense of 'getting groceries') it was a success. However, I wanted to do some sketching but am facing a somewhat difficult loss of confidence and hence lack of mojo where that is concerned - seeking the perfect subject then not doing so because I'd only muck it up. Additionally, my boss texted me telling me that we're going to be doing some kind of weekly ten-minute meeting where we present on a chapter of a management/customer-service book. I was asked to help find the book, so wasted an hour tramping round shops looking at the kind of shit that people with more money than sense buy and gobble up - ultmately not finding anything relevant. I'll do what's put in front of me, like others in my department.. but I'm not wasting my time on something that neither I or my boss actually believe in, just to please those clueless folk higher up.

5. Seventy years ago, American scientists John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain observed the basic principles of the transistor, which became a key element for the electronics revolution of the 20th century.

6. This evening's Children in Need was the usual shit - poor quality television supposedly immune from criticism by virtue of the good work that it's all supporting. I just guess that there's a lot to be said for some aspects of charity being more 'important' than others objectively and subjectively too. The criticisms of aid in the Third World when a portion is wasted in corruption and when in truth greater impact could result from action at the political and global scale. I personally don't find stories of 'please pay for a hut with snooker tables to stop kids dicking about on the street and a bereavement therapist to be nice to an upset lad or for siblings of people who are ill to go kayaking' as compelling as 'donate to research into diseases and vaccinate babies against preventable disease' but that's my opinion.

7. Chris Coleman has left his role as Wales manager and has took over at Sunderland. I suppose there is some sense in it - not really much likelihood he'll improve on Wales' Euro heroics last year, but maybe a better club than struggling Black Cats might've been better. Suppose there is a need to prove oneself.

8. A strip search is a practice of searching a person for weapons or other contraband suspected of being hidden on their body or inside their clothing, and not found by performing a frisk search, by requiring the person to remove some or all of his or her clothing. The search may involve an official performing an Intimate Person Search and inspecting their personal effects and body cavities (mouth, vagina, anus etc.). A strip search is more intrusive than a frisk and requires legal authority. Regulations covering strip searches vary considerably, and may be mandatory in some situations or discretionary in others.

9. Weakest Link celebrity special showed that Chizzy from Enders was quickly out of SCD but is not thick - and neither is Rylan. I also learned that the definition of 'celebrity' is somewhat loose and wide these days.

10. As the main ancestor of the cultivated cherry, the sweet cherry is one of the two cherry species which supply most of the world's commercial cultivars of edible cherry (the other is the sour cherry Prunus cerasus, mainly used for cooking; a few other species have had a very small input). Various cherry cultivars are now grown worldwide wherever the climate is suitable; the number of cultivars is now very large. The species has also escaped from cultivation and become naturalised in some temperate regions, including southwestern Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the northeast and northwest of the United States.

11. Thank you to QI on twitter - "On November 17th 1810, Sweden declared war on the United Kingdom. During the 2 year Anglo-Swedish war, no acts of war took place and no one died in battle". Of course, 'Dónde Están los Ladrones?' (English: 'Where Are the Thieves?') is the fourth studio album by Colombian singer and songwriter Shakira, released on 29 September 1998 by Columbia Records and Sony Music Latin.

12. On my walk round town this afternoon, I was walking along a narrow pavement and spotted a policewoman coming the other way - before I could cede to her and walk in the road, she stepped down to allow me to stay on the path. I smiled with gratitude, but it left me slightly uncomfortable after, as I was unable to act in my sexist/chivalrous and 'respect to authority' manner. I was extra considerate to other people for the rest of the afternoon, holding doors open for people three or four times. Indeedy much so. Ittihgaps was playing in the garden...

13. I checked what I was up to a year ago today, and was somewhat amused to find that on 17th November 2016 I waited in for an Amazon package till lunchtime, then went for a walk round town and did a little Crimbo shopping, before playing FM16 in the evening. How things recur. St-anding in front of you is a gimp and a dodaly

14. HMS Empire Dace was a 716 GRT coastal ferry that was built in 1942 as a merchant ship by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). In 1943, she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy. She served until December 1944, when she struck a mine and sank in Greek waters.

15. Don't stop thinking about tuberculosis. Yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone. Ooh, bugger my bum with a buggering device. I've got a spot coming on the left hand side of my nose. NOSE, I TELL YOU! Qwaaaaazulu Natal.