Recipe

Fabada, a stew from the Asturias...

Onion
Garlic
Ham
Black pudding
Chorizo
Pancetta
Flageolet and Borlotti beans
Bay leaf
Paprika
Saffron

Boil the ham with the bay leaf, melt the onion and garlic in oodles of olive oil, fry the meat in it a little, add the beans, paprika and saffron, top up with water and simmer until ready.

Readers: Yummy - is it nice?

Self: Dunno, haven't tried it yet. This is the proper way to do Fabada.

Personal Blogging

I found that whenever a 100W light-bulb went in my flat, it also blew the main fuse.

So I tried 60W - but when the first one blew, the same thing happened.

So I've decided to go back to 100W.

Interestingly

Readers: What part of "interesting" is it you don't understand?

The picture is of the "pioneer" or "pilot" bore for the Eisenhower Memorial Bore in Colorado

Readers: Spare us.

Feckless

Sovereigh Wealth Funds per citizen, mostly from oil revenues:

Abu Dhabi $1, 000, 000
Quatar $250, 000
Singapore $100, 000
Brunei $95, 100
Kuwait $80, 000
Norway $74, 500
Alaska $61, 000
Singapore $35, 000
Saudi Arabia $15, 000
...
United Kingdom $0

Gore Vidal called us "feckless Brits" and that is what the Oil Money has been spent on.

KISS

KISS : Keep It Simple, Stupid.







Blood & Treasure claims to have found le mot juste... meditating upon our Prime Minister,

"the right word suddenly struck me.

He’s a wanker. A 100%, solid gold, honest to goodness, 24 carat wanker. And that’s all there is to him. He’s nothing other than a wanker: and once you’ve called him a wanker there’s nothing left to say. He is, precisely, a wanker."

I would go for übergeek:

- make it Complicated, to overawe the world with your Cleversomeness;

- make the Solution more Complicated than the Problem, so that the Problem will have no way of escape;

- the real Problem and the Solution exist in your head, not in the "real" world - the Laws of Unintended Consequences, Murphy, Sturgeon, Hofstadter &c do not exist in your head (they are annihilated by your Cleversomeness);

- never a simple answer to a simple question, or Fools may begin to doubt your Cleversomeness;

- when Fools begin to doubt, lies evasions and jargon are what little they deserve;

- with Chertiozhnik's Law of Recursive Complicatedness operating in the "real" world, it will soon be time to... Run Away! before you are caught out.


Maybe "wanker" is simpler.

Spamiversary

Hurrah hurrah
The third of May
Internet spam
Began
thirty
years
ago
today.

News courtesy of BBC News.
Image courtesy of Finkbuilt.

Cachetism of Cliché

The BBC reports Mr Brown's response to the election results...

Mr Brown told reporters: "It's clear to me that this has been a disappointing night, indeed a bad night for Labour."

He conceded that the government had "lessons to learn", but insisted: "My job is to listen and to lead."

I suppose "listen" is better than its predecessor, "connect with ordinary people", but is is nearly as numbing.

"My job is to cut taxes, rein in public sector spending, reduce public debt, hold a referendum on the notaConstitution, abolish PFI, appoint a competent Chancellor for the first time in eleven years, support our military, shoot myself..."

The picture shows the man making his characteristic sucking gesture.

Fancy That

According to the BBC's report on a Which? investigation,

Some computer keyboards harbour more harmful bacteria than a toilet seat, research has suggested.

and

They also found that, compared to men, on average women have three to four times the amount of germs in, on and around their work area.

Ewwwww.

---

Talking of germs, my ex has ambitions to become a Conservative MP. Judging from the local election results, she stands a good chance. Not that I'm bitter or anything. But, come on Mr Brown, you've really got to try harder.