Category Archives: Blather

I had a return of the horrendous posting problems that afflicted me in June. they’re caused by an obscure fault in an NTL cache server, and mean that no http requests over a certain size can get out. This breaks … Continue reading → Continue reading →

One reason I tend to write and think so much about the war — apart from believing that it may turn out to have been a mistake of 1914 proportions — is that the blogs I read are overwhelmingly American … Continue reading → Continue reading →

inspired by the quite extraordinary organ of a a hedgehog seen on a David Attenborough video: A hedgehog, when cursed with insomnia, said, “Dear, poets have sung their encomnia to food and to sleep, and the joys of a heap … Continue reading → Continue reading →

“Sometimes it’s better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness” I doubt I could get that into the Daily Mail’s slot for heartwarming things the grandchildren say. Continue reading →

Kevin Drum has just lived through the perfect summary of the modern economy. Two years ago, he brought a Minolta colour laser printer for $1000. over the last few weeks, all the consumables ran out: four ink cartridges, a fuser … Continue reading → Continue reading →

If any readers are anywhere near Manchester tonight, they should rush off to Ratdog. I had no very high hopes of them last night, but they were lovely: slick, imaginative, and interested in their work. They played a set consisting … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The first time I saw Bob Weir play was around 29 years ago, at the Alexandra Palace, though I was, God knows, in no condition to trust the evidence of my eyes at the time or for about eight hours … Continue reading → Continue reading →

When I am on my own, less often otherwise, I eat kippers. This morning, I finally mastered the technique, from Jane Grigson, of eating them without any bones at all. Her instructions were illustrated with diagrams. I were setting a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

All operations are suspended for the next ten days while I pursue intensive researches into the grayling of the Ljöra and the Trysil. Continue reading →

I was sitting in a low chair with my laptop on a coffee table beside me. One lead snaked out of it to the wall socket; one led to the stereo, so that I could hear a cleaned-up MP3 of … Continue reading → Continue reading →