TubaOrNotTuba

Economic downturn; parallel worlds. Consider the sad fate of the automotive industry, where we’re all going to pay (again) for mediocre product. No choice for the consumer there. And then the parallel: one of the larger videogame firms has decided to lay off hundred of programmers and artists due to economic downturn. The main product mentioned in the news story mentioned Need For Speed, which involves virtual automobiles. Mere chance; I think not.

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Sometimes the best plan is no plan at all. We were up early this morning because we had company and it’s not polite to remain in bed when others are out and about. From there, things got all turned upside down. By lunchtime, the car was packed and at 13h00 all available team members were on the open highway, racing towards a storm and destiny. Take your pick.

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At a time when people try to find the ideal gift, I’m left really hoping that nobody in my inner circle will be tempted by that most ignoble of presents: the board game. In French, they’re known as “jeux de société”, which is really a misnomer. How many family battles have been precipitated by an evening of entertainment that went very, very wrong?

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Maybe I should stick to ordinary presents, but sometimes the need to meet an obligation goes along with a sense of adventure. This year, my search for the original gift has shown me that perseverence will lead to success. As long as the gift is appreciated; maybe even if it isn’t (but I don’t want feedback), my efforts won’t be in vain.

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Inconsistent user interface. IUI. Just when you think you’ve got something under control, count on Windows to throw a curve into things. Unlike the Mac world, where consistency is Job One, Microsoft doesn’t have a game plan. Oh sure, the X in the upper right corner is useful, when things aren’t working well, but what about some of the odd choices made at Redmond for tasks that shouldn’t be difficult.

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A quiet afternoon and two identical laptop computers. What to do? In the geek world, the answer is simple; compare and contrast your two “favourite” operating systems. After all, subjectivity isn’t scientific, so a dual-boot machine leaves you convinced that A is better than B, but the doubt persists. What if I’m suffering from a discontinuity in my benchmarking memory?

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I’m safe, at home now. The risk of falling has ended. You see, we’re in the midst of a thaw, and the city is in the midst of a budget crisis. Ergo, no abrasives or saline for pedestrians. My trek from here to the bus stop (and back) was equally suited to testing my ability at walking in zero gravity. Shuffle, shuffle, very carefully. If not, prepare to be very wet and cold, for water at the freezing point has little else to offer the supine citizen.

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With a century of readers, Anne Of Green Gables has taken on a life of its own. Each reader constructs a personal vision of the scenes and characters. And then there’s the vision of Kevin Sullivan, or what some might call his obsession. After all, without the visual world he constructed, my children wouldn’t know the story. Boys are like that. And when the original material doesn’t provide the hooks needed, then what else to do but create new ones.

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The evening has been dedicated to various software updates. The different blog installations are now using the latest version of WordPress. The different machines that are “dual-boot” now have the latest distribution of LinuxMint working (and it automatically configured the wireless stuff, which is worth mentioning). Even the various permutations of Windows have updated this afternoon. Everything is in order for the busy time of the holidays, where we soon tire of seasonal TV and depend on the laptops for distraction.

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By an odd set of coincidences, I came into contact with bridges today. Not the historical variety, carrying the world across a stream, but the newfangled, telecommunicational kind that link faces across a distance. One bridge worked. The other never got a chance. I didn’t expect either when the day started, but that’s what gives form to coincidental moments.

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