November 2008
1 post
7 tags
Atlas May Shrug!
I have seen my last Formula 1 Grand Prix, at least for the foreseeable future. That sport means nothing to me, all of a sudden. Nothing at all. The curtain fell on this season’s racing at São Paulo last Sunday. Lewis Hamilton won the championship - having won less races than the eminently more deserving Felipe Massa, having never had a mechanical failure, having had run into the backs of...
October 2008
3 posts
Surely Not...
Dear Miss «object of your desire», I saw you indulging a smile at «object of your ire» the other day and I am very worried. It is not really me to meddle in such affairs, but, have you really thought through who you would want in your life, for life? Surely, not too -tall, for you will forever be looking up to him, -short, for you will never retrieve that tin of tea-bags that...
Spotlight on Reason
It has got to be spectacular. There is reasonable consensus on that across the rumor-mills. Early indications revolve around ‘brick’, an ambitious design based on aluminium ingots shaped by Apple’s design boffins into something truly pretty, and built by experts with water-jets and lasers. There, however, are the few who already offer machines manufactured following such cutting-edge methods...
Performance Appraisal
Dear All, (said the original message) Further to mails you have received regarding performance appraisals and reward letters. We would like to ask you to bear with us and thank you for your patience. For those expecting mirror letters please contact your local HR team with any questions. Should any letters arrive for you, you will be notified. Please note specific questions cannot be answered...
April 2008
1 post
Truly Blessed
You know, there isn’t much fun in taking a stance if there isn’t a different view. No, there isn’t. There isn’t much in a sacrifice if nobody takes heed. There isn’t catharsis in tears if there isn’t a shoulder to weep on or a kind hand to wipe them away. There isn’t meaning in effort without appreciation. Love is wasted were it not for reciprocation....
September 2007
3 posts
Our Embarassing Apathy
Burma is burning. Most of Europe do not seem to care. There are not any reserves of petroleum or prospects of reconstruction in this impoverished land enough to titillate the rowdy crowd across the Atlantic pond. And it was never intended for Putingrad’s influence to reach that far in that sorry direction. Ergo, Burma burns and nobody seems to care. I am not sure I know of a single place on...
F1 Shenanigans
Oh, the games people play. So, about 800 pages of technical information about Ferrari’s F1 effort gets to McLaren’s engineering chief. In a rarefied world where a few tenths of a second separate someone on the fourth row of the grid from the pole-sitter, would you be surprised that Ferrari principals went apoplectic? Come round one of arbitrations and the powers that be deem there is...
Thankyou for the thrills, Colin...
Colin died last Saturday, the 15th of September. The life which scary speeds and spectacular tumbles could not snuff out was finally claimed by a rotary wing aircraft. News has it that just a day later, coming back to England from the Grand Prix at Spa, Prodrive’s boss and Colin’s ex-manager Dave Richards too had a scary moment in one of those abominations. He’s safe and yes,...
August 2007
2 posts
Auld Lang Syne...
My schoolmates got together last weekend, far away in the southern end of the Indian subcontinent. God’s own country that, and if anyone begs to differ, keep begging and when finished, stick it where the sun doesn’t shine. I attended Ambalamedu High for a dozen years and enjoyed quite a bit of it. We mostly got there on time, come rain or shine, and went about our business with not...
July 2007
1 post
Jesus Fired, Papal Primacy Re-Established
A Riposte to http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2056515.ece And in breaking news, following a sensational finding by Papa Ratzi, His Eminence and other members of God’s Board of Directors have decided to relieve Jesus Christ of his duties as their Chief Executive. Jesus, upon investigation, has been identified as the chief perpetrator of the sacrilege of ordinary...
June 2007
4 posts
What Price, Perception?
Merriam-Webster defines perception as “a result of perceiving, observation, a mental image, awareness of the elements through physical sensation, intuitive cognition and a capacity for comprehension”. I dare argue that the Oxford English Dictionary would not digress much from such meaning, nor would Samuel Johnson’s, Chambers, Collins, Longman, Random House or other...
Honey, I'll Bury You...
There is this old joke about a male tourist who refused to bury his wife in the Holy Land, she having died there, despite it being the cheaper alternative to carrying her back home, because he had heard of some bloke who had woken and walked three days after being buried right there in Jerusalem, and just did not want to run the risk. Hilarious as it is - the joke, that is - I reckoned I had the...
Safari on Windows: See a Leopard?
It doesn’t quite make it to the big three, but, aren’t leopards worth going on a safari? I contend they are. Then there is the YouTube fare which showed a herd of buffaloes ganging-up on a pride of lions (lionesses, I should say) and an odd aquatic couple who lost very early in the game - that makes buffaloes contenders for qualifying among the big four, should the list be expanded....
London 2012
Bureaucracy runs this epic city; that, and Ken’s whims. Venezuelan petrol, anyone? The Lord Mayor does a fantastic job most of the time, though. Not much unlike Elliot’s plans on having a lot of industry titans cool their heels in state penitentiaries, Ken plans on cooling the entire underground, no less! Way to go, mate. And wants NY, in turn, to learn road-pricing from him, the...