| Monday, November 30th, 2009 |
| 10:26 pm |
Cambridge PSA: This excellent DIY course is in danger of not running next term because not enough people have signed up. It's Change It Yourself at CRC and it's going to be on Wednesday evenings, and it does taster sessions in woodwork and bricklaying and painting and glazing and plastering and tiling and lock-fitting and door-hanging and plumbing. And Bob is very good. I'm glad to have done it. |
| 3:34 pm |
Oh look. Who has been funding Dubai to build palm-tree-shaped sandbanks just as the climate goes kablooey and the sea levels start rising? The Royal Bank of Scotland. And who is guaranteeing losses at RBS? Gordon Brown. What's he guaranteeing them with? Future taxes on UK citizens. That's me. How the fuck did that happen? This, that we've got here, is not democracy and is not free market capitalism. These Dubai investments are blatantly wrong on so many levels: economic, and ethical, and sustainability, and aesthetic (OK, two of the palm trees are cute and frilly, but even then they're smothered by The World). Why are we bailing out the people who thought this was a good idea? If Scotland goes independent I hope they take their damn bank with them. |
| Saturday, November 28th, 2009 |
| 3:14 pm |
Cambridge PSA: Borders has 20% off all books, and 50% off gardening, law, medicine and politics (all top floor). Notice, though, that Waterstones is doing a 3-for-2 on everything this weekend, which trumps 20% off in most cases, and probably doesn't have the hideous queues. |
| Friday, November 27th, 2009 |
| 10:10 am |
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| Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 |
| 9:13 pm |
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| Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 |
| 7:50 pm |
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| Monday, November 23rd, 2009 |
| 9:50 pm |
This evening we did converting doors into rabbit bedding. And it was good. |
| 10:31 am |
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| Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 |
| 5:29 pm |
I did a search on Amazon for "extraordinary chicken calendar". The 2010 calendar is £6.96. The 2009 calendar is £7.99. Who pays more for this year's calendar than next year's, in the middle of November? But there's more. 2005's calendar is £27.72. In fact there's a definite, but not perfect, correlation between out-of-dateness and price. I *knew* I shouldn't be letting people talk me into throwing away old calendars. Except that 2011's is £8.69. That had me checking the date on my computer in case I'd forgotten which year it is. But they don't show you the pictures inside the calendar. So how are you meant to decide which one you want? |
| Friday, November 20th, 2009 |
| 12:01 pm |
I think that in Cambridge it rains at lunchtime significantly more often on Fridays than on other days. If it's true it's presumably because of some kind of urban heat island effect. Is there a convenient source of local data about this? I can find it monthly, but that's no use. |
| Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 |
| 10:15 pm |
"BASIL, SACRED or TULSI Ocimum sanctum/tenuiflorum HHA 25cm. Holy Hindu herb, sacred to Krishna and Vishnu and traditionally grown by temples. [...] Basils contain antisceptic properties." ( Source) |
| 7:47 pm |
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| Monday, November 16th, 2009 |
| 10:11 am |
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| Friday, November 13th, 2009 |
| 11:54 am |
2009 Garden write-up. ( TL; DR ) |
| Saturday, October 24th, 2009 |
| 9:12 pm |
I've just had supper with Elizabeth Warren's 2007 lecture at Berkeley on why families with two incomes now are more precarious than families with one income a generation ago. (She's now chair of the congressional oversight of TARP panel; then she was just a Harvard professor.) It is very powerful and affecting (OK, I had a couple of glasses of wine too). Don't be put off by the first six and a half minutes of tedious introductions; she knows her stuff, and it's important. Also, sit near enough the screen that you can see the graph axes; I kept having to get up to see the slides properly. It's an hour. Watch it with supper sometime. It's true facts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0S8A |
| 6:18 pm |
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| 4:51 pm |
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| Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 |
| 6:34 pm |
I was mooching home through the Grafton when my peripheral vision did a double-take. M&S: shelves almost empty. There's a notice saying they're closing tomorrow at 6pm, but I don't think there's going to be much left by then. Apart from chunky corn relish, and bras. The fresh and frozen and chilled has mostly gone already. And they're re-opening on the Retail Park, _uselessly_. |
| Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 |
| 7:53 pm |
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| Saturday, October 17th, 2009 |
| 11:53 pm |
Also, the Botanic Garden courselist for next year is out, and they don't have a session on grafting fruit trees. Chiz. Far too much lino cutting and botanical illustration and not enough actual plants. What is the point, &c. I can't find any fruit tree grafting course nearer than Brogdale. But I wanted to go to Brogdale anyway, and their next grafting course is the weekend of my birthday next year. I think perhaps I should take this as a hint. |
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