I was an agent for three years before I found out that all models were aliens
Finished Standing in Another Man's Grave by Ian Rankin. Late ex-Inspector Rebus novel, with the aging detective now retired, but working as a civilian on a Cold Case unit.
Seemed like a pretty decent coda to the series: some interesting characters, and the mystery definitely kept me baffled.
Would be good if the series came to a definite conclusion, the one before this was supposed to be the last, but looks like there's at least one more.
What I'm Watching
Saw
Men in Black 3.
Decent sequel to the science fiction comedy, with Will
Smith going back in time to 1969. Good enough gags,
though fairly predictable.
Me
- Work is OK, but I'm still on a slow learning curve. It involves a pretty complex architecture, a codebase in the tens of millions of lines, and some obscure front-end technologies: can take a long time to do simple things. My old project team was disbanded this week, so I'm in a new team with new colleagues to get used to and new areas and new products to learn. So, can't really take my foot off the gas yet.
- Baby's going into nursery full time next week,
had his "adjustment week" where he went in for
increasing durations each day this week.
Was a bit worrying at first as teething has put
him off the bottle, but he seemed to have adjusted
and was feeding OK by the end.
Hoping that having them doing childcare will ease the burden a bit. My terminal insomnia (terminal meaning end of the night, not end of life) is back with a vengeance, which is kind of blessing when you've a lot to do, but after a few days of waking up at 4 or 5 in a haze of exhaustion, then doing either work-work or chores or childcare till 9ish I sometimes feel I'm going to shatter into a million pieces if I even sit down too hard onto the sofa.
- An uncle of mine died recently in his early Seventies.
He was a great guy: funny, intelligent, creative,
generous. Also a snappy dresser: I wore
a classic leather jacket of his for a while.
I was close to the family when I was younger
but drifted away a bit: feel very guilty that I
didn't see him in the illness.
The funeral was a very moving mostly-secular slightly hippyish one, with singing and some Hindu chanting. Terrific stuff, but still not as good as being alive.
Socioeconomics. The confidence fairy: "It is consumers, in aggregate, who are reasonable and bosses who are skittish and sentimental". The sexual politics of full frontal nudity on HBO (NSFW)). The poor white problem. Amazon's gazelle project. What drove the UK recovery?
Politics. An age of cruelty. Political engagement and activism: "78% of those who are consistently conservative say they always vote, compared with 58% of consistent liberals... At the center, just 39%". NHS close to the edge. Scottish devolution didn't change much. Comparing the four healthcare systems of the UK. Island Britain needs a foreign policy. Europe needs a radicalized Left. Labour's red princes.
Random. Origins of 31 science fiction terms Paul Klee notebooks.
Articles. Why are all the cartoon mothers dead? Why you are wrong.
Sci/Tech. Twitter animated GIFs aren't GIFs. Inside the mirrotocracy.
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