MOTD

[1] My not contain facts.

Current factoids
I have been musing on the idea that histories/biographies are written more by those that want to write than those who were actually there and could give an account of the facts. This was first triggered by my reading a description of the history of date systems (Julius/Sosigenes, Augustus, Pope Gregory, Scaliger/Julius, computer Julian, Lilian and ANSI) at the end of which the author cheerfully admits that the early part of the story may have been made up by historians who found the explanation cute/convenient. I then came across an opinion evinced by a character in Kenzaburo Oe's Rouse Up O Young Men Of The New Age that the current temperament of the Japanese is a "vector" from the post-war era. I find that hard to accept as a vector has a specific direction which should thus mean that the future state should be predictable. The only reason that my mind dwelt on this particular idea is that I have just been watching Mike Leigh's thoroughly excellent film, Topsy-Turvy , set in the classic Victorian era. When watching the scene where (supposedly) Gilbert receives the inspiration for The Mikado I was physically grimacing at the portrayal of the classic British condescending approach to foreigners. Mike Leigh knows what he is doing as he points out that Gordon was killed in Khartoum at that time for doing much the same thing. I am a great admirer of Leigh's work and know that he has an amazing eye for human character. This makes me suspect that the historical portrayal of G&S's lives may have been adjusted to emphasise the sorry states of their wife and partner, respectively. I agree with Oe that the state of Britain during my early childhood in the '60s can easily be traced to Victorian attitudes and that things have progressed along the same lines since. I still hesitate to describe this as a vector as it is more like a series of lines, with each point representing a generation. The '60s are famous for "liberation" but, as I have pointed out ad nauseam there are films like Lindsay Anderson's classic If... of 1968 which reinforce the notion that there was still yet more change to come.

Older factoids
When my neighbour with the kitchen next to my bedroom starts up their dishwasher it screws up the wireless signal. When the neighbour below me starts up their air conditioner it gets even worse.

Finished watching Chushingura. I won't give away the ending but I doubt if there'll be a sequel. Maybe a mad scientist will reattach Lord Kira's head and he'll rebuild his Death Starfortified house. Then the TARDIS will appear and the cybermen will fight with the daleks.

I also watched The Cup on Sunday. Not often do you see the information "Bhutanese with English subtitles". I won't give away the ending but

Glutathione biology is amazingly cool. In my profession, if you are dealing with it then it is bad news for someone but Mother Nature put a lot of thought into it nonetheless. Have you thanked your mother lately?

An office supply company was at the product show at work. I am beginning to think that such companies now see staplers as some sort of macho quasi-weapon thing. You no longer pull the thing open and stick in some staples. You feed it a fresh magazine of ammo, pull back the slide to arm it, release the safety, then squeeze (don't jerk) as you fire your chisel tipped round into that request for more paperclips. I blame Office Space (and Dick Cheney of course).