cheekbones3

You know what would be really handy? A keyboard that worked on which ever monitor I was looking at rather than the last one I clicked on. It could save the numerous occasions where I start typing in the middle of a reference document or some code rather than in the e-mail I'm trying to compose.

No pun intended.

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/500362.html

When did it stop being dressing up, and start being cosplay?

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/500060.html

1. Marmite- love or hate?
Hate.
2. Marmalade- thick cut or thin cut?
No peel - yuck!
3. Porridge- made with milk or water?
Either's nice.
4. Do you like salt, sugar or honey on your porridge?
Honey usually, but they other two appear to work as well.
5. Loose tea or teabags?
Either.
6. Where on your door is your letterbox?
Centre on the horizontal axis, slightly below centre on the vertical.
7. What's your favourite curry?
Rogan josh.
8. What age is the place where you live?
Built in 1896.
9. Where do the folks running your local corner shop come from?
No idea - of south-Asian extraction of some description.
10. Instant or fresh coffee?
Instant, on the rare occasions I have it.
11. How far are you from the sea?
About 5 miles.
12. Have you travelled via Eurostar?
No.
13. If you were going to travel abroad, where's the nearest country to you?
The nearest country is probably Ireland, just in front of Norway, but whether I'm going to travel abroad doesn't change these facts.
14. If you're female (or possible even some males) do you carry a handbag?
I'm male, and no.
15. Do you have a garden? What do you like growing?
No.
16. Full cream, semi skimmed or skimmed?
Full cream, cos less sugar.
17. Which London terminal would you travel into if going to the capital?
King's Cross.
18. Is there a local greasy spoon where you live?
Aye, quite a few.
19. Do you keep Euros in the house?
If I have them.
20. Does your home town have a Latin, Gaelic or Welsh alternative?
No, it's unique. Unless you mean its name, then "Dunn Eideann"
21. Do you have a well known local artist or author?
Zillions.
22. Do you have a favourite Corrie character?
Stan Ogden.
23. Are your kitchen sink taps separate or a mixer?
Mixer.
24. Do you have a favourite brand of blended tea?
Maybe Yorkshire Tea.
25. What's in your attic if you have one?
Someone else's flat.
26. If you go out for a cream tea, what jam do you like on your scone?
Strawberry.
27. Talking of scones- scon or scown? Jam or cream first?
Scon. Jam first, cream on top. Much easier that way.
28. Barth or bath?
Bath
29. Carstle or castle?
Castle
30. What flavour of crisps do you favour?
Roast beef Monster Munch.
31. If you go to the chippie, what do you like with your chips?
Salt and vinegar.
32. Take away, take out or carry out?
Whatever.
33. If you have one, what colour is your wheelie bin?
Don't have one.
34. What colour skips does your local skip hire use?
Odd question. I imagine we have several local skip hire businesses and they all use different colour skips. (quoted verbatim from previous memee).
35. Do you celebrate Guy Fawkes?
That's a stupid question.
36. Dettol or TCP?
Don't think we have either at the moment.
37. Do you have a bidet in the bathroom?
No.
38. Do you prefer courgettes or aubergines?
Courgettes all the way.
39. In the 'real world', do you have friends of other nationalities? Which nationalities?
Enough to be tedious to list.
40. Do you have a holy book of any sort in the house?
Maybe? No idea really.
41. Do you prefer a hankie or tissues?
Neither.
42. Are you a fan of crumpets? What do you like on them?
No, nasty things.
43. Doorbell, knocker or both?
Whichever gets the person inside to answer.
44. Do you own a car? What sort?
No.
45. What sort of pants do you prefer? Y fronts or boxers?
Boxers.
46. Anyone still a fan of suspenders?
They don't really suit me, although I've never actually tried any. My legs are probably too hairy.
47. Do you have a favourite quote from the bard?
No.
48. Do you like toasted muffins?
No, that would be weird.
49. Do you think a traditional trifle should contain jelly?
Of course.
50. Do you attend regular religious worship? Of what kind?
Lolz, no.

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/499833.html

Isn't it odd that talking about one pint of beer is singular, but zero pints is plural?

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/499657.html

Just been reminded by the telly of a Yorkshire word I'd totally forgotten about: "chelping", or the verb "to chelp" I suppose.

Basically, being gobby, especially referring to women/children.

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/499307.html

Nice to see that 'bukkake' and 'eh-up' are now officially part of the OED. I'd say more, but meh.

http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/recent-updates-to-the-oed/june-2015-update/new-words-list-june-2015/

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/499042.html

So - Lunchmoney Lewis has a big hit this week. The bit where he goes "work work work" totally reminds me of Swedish Chef from the Muppets going "Bork Bork Bork". Someone should totally do a Taylor Swift-goat style mash-up. Get to it!

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/498466.html

I'm fascinated by Labour's decision to lock itself out of coalition with its most likely partner. I can't decide whether it's an idiot move which greatly increases the chances of a minority Tory government (either way, I think that becomes more likely), or a great move to risk that.

If not working with the SNP leaves us with a Tory minority, there's little danger the Tories could get anything through (even with another Lib Dem arrangement (is this likely again?), as the leftist bloc will have too much power and will be able to vote anything down - we end up with a bit of a stalemate. However, Miliband would have to be careful not to generate sympathy for the rightists by being seen as obstructive, but would need to balance that against working with them too much as well - that might not play well. Although, that opens the way for a very informal grand coalition-type arrangement, which I'd never considered at all likely.

Grand coalition? Hmm, until now, it hadn't struck me as something that anyone would consider, but I can see that after a year of bickering and not getting much done in a minority Tory government, the two largest parties are somewhat likely to see that they can work together to nullify the increasing influence of the smaller parties. This is also where the toryfication of Labour over the last two decades may come to its logical conclusion. Where Labour became more business-oriented, the Conservatives have become more socially-oriented as they realised that overtly crapping on the working classes wasn't a sustainable scenario, either financially or electorally.

However, if Labour do manage to be the largest party, then I reckon it becomes a very simple decision for them to form a minority government themselves, although they may need to bring in the Lib Dems in some capacity to nullify any Con-DUP-UKIP sort of grouping if the numbers don't look particularly helpful.

Regarding other factors, I do think that the incumbency of Cameron in #10, and the incumbency of Lib Dems and Scottish Labour politicians may temper some of the bigger swings on the day. Fine margins in many places though.

So, in summary, I reckon we're likely to get either a weak rightist minority govt or a strongish leftist minority govt, and in either case, the two largest parties will gradually realise that the establishment status quo may be supported best by them working together (although with grimaces and fingers crossed). Any obvious enthusiasm for such a lock-out arrangement could have unpredictable consequences in the 2020(?) election, although whether the public at large would like such stability or would run away screaming to the smaller parties, who knows?

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/498188.html

Nice that that lovely Mr Murdoch gets two votes. I suppose someone as important as him deserves such - it's only fair.

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/497978.html

It seems to me a truism that on devices with digital volume controls, the optimal volume is always exactly in the middle of two notches.

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/497773.html

When I run into people I've not seen for a while, I can never say much of interest to them about what I've been doing, apart from korfball, spreadsheets, quizzes and the occasional beer. Sorry folks, I suppose you're stuck with it until I find something else to do, or we can think of better small talk!

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/497480.html

SO PTERRY, WE MEET AT LAST.

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/497341.html

January's over - it's seems I'm allowed to play korfball in other months without getting broken or hideously ill. Happy day! I'll enjoy my inadequate amount of sleep tonight, notwithstanding the blummin back to normal wake-up time tomorrow.

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/497021.html

All hail thee boiled eggs, and indeed soldiers. The first meal I've managed to finish since Thursday, assuming that the bowl of cereal I had yesterday doesn't really count.

Generally just pissed off with being ill, especially since it seems to having been vaguely hanging around for three weeks or so:

My neck glands were up, then I got what felt like a chest infection, which went away again. Then I went to Belgium for a week, my glands came back up, then went away, but then I felt crappy one night for no obvious reason. Then I felt fine again until Tuesday or so this week, where my glands were up again, along with a sore throat, sore kidneys (dehydration from constant pissing?), and general headache and swimming eyes, with a high temperature.

Fast forward to today, where I felt a bit better this morning, but had no appetite, and still want to sleep, and my kidneys are still a bit sore. Meh!

Oh yes, lovely hacking cough too, although that's mainly on command, or when I do something strenuous like standing up.

Grateful for an airdrop of supplies please.

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/496889.html

Michael Bolton you're allowed to enjoy.

"Kid Cudi - Afterwards (Bring Yo Friends) (feat. Michael Bolton & King Chip) (Indicud)" (Watch on YouTube)

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/496396.html

Hello 2015! It's January, and that probably means I'll be doing very little apart from linking spreadsheets and playing korfball this month. That's only different from normal because we're playing in the Europa Cup, as well as all the usual league fixtures and the Edinburgh International Tournament. Rock on, dudes. Or something.

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/496196.html

Apparently today is the feast day of St Homobonus. I think I've just found the name of my first-born son.

Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/496118.html

Well, it's been a fascinating, if sometimes tedious, run-up and conclusion to the referendum. It would have been very interesting to have seen a successful outcome, as for now it'll be pretty interesting to see how the political capital gained by the exercise competes alongside other slightly invigorated devolutionary movements from around the UK and the general rightwards drift that's currently happening in the run-up to the next general election. Manifestos

Also, if the Scottish turn-out is boosted by 5% in that election, I'd say yesterday's exercise was quite a success.

In other news, I scrapped our worthy old car yesterday. It made it past 200,800 miles, but sadly was scuppered by the pesky MoT being too expensive.

Current Mood: relaxed
Crossposts: http://cheekbones3.livejournal.com/495654.html

It just occurred to me yesterday that probably the writing that makes me laugh more than anything else is those rare sections of Terry Pratchett books that involve farm animals. I've just re-read Night Watch, another one that springs to mind is a bit in Feet of Clay. Guaranteed hysterics.