A lot of press verbiage over the last couple of years has been on how bankers are overpaid. Of course it is not just bankers I have also read stories about company bosses, sports stars, BBC executives and even civil servants. There has also been a lot of analysis of the reasons behind it. Partly it is the rise of the cult of the individual - the ( Read more... )

In the summer there are too many cyclists to count inside the ring road, mostly students and schoolkids. Outside the ring road there are fewer and they are more distinctive. The first to go was hot, fit young woman (powder blue lycra with pink highlights, matching helmet, coordinated pink sunglasses and colour matched £2000+ bike - she was quicker ( Read more... )

Since it is that dull and dismal time of year again we thought it was about time for a party. We'll be having it on Saturday the 14th November starting at about 7:30pm but if you have children or just want to come earlier we'll have an open house from 3 ish. RSVP if possible so we can have a go at estimating food and let us know if you are ( Read more... )

I went to the optician today. There is a small amount of haze which will get better with time and slight discomfort in the right eye which will also improve. The issue is that the prescription is -0.25/-0.75 (down from -6.25/-7.5). The -0.75 in the right eye means the vision is not as crisp as I would like (-0.25 is fine). They are saying this may ( Read more... )

Had laser eye surgery yesterday and it didn't go well.
The operation was very uncomfortable and I passed out in the recovery room.
Today my vision is hazy particularly in the right eye. Not too much discomfort though so I suppose it could be worse.
Reading is my normal escape from this kind of thing and that is hard work at the moment.

Drives and Controls magazine has an article this month about Honeytop Speciality Foods which produces more than 100,000 artisanal breads every hour on its robot production line. I know the term artisanal has no formal definition but I think it would be reasonable to expect at least some human input.

For those who are interested (and are in Oxford) there is a rather fine display of astronomical images in Parks at the moment. Start at the Keble road gate and walk towards the bridge. With autumn colour starting to touch the trees it makes a very pleasant lunchtime stroll.

I phoned up Microsoft last night trying to get my Xbox 360 fixed. Initially I got through to a voice recognition robot. This was a little surreal as it was pretending to be a person but eventually by repeating the word agent a few times it connected me to 'another' person. As expected this person was in a call centre in India. Now I don't object ( Read more... )

As I was ambling back to work along George St today after my lunchtime coffee I noticed a wolfhound/greyhound cross. He was standing patiently waiting for his humans to stop chattering to their friends and get on with the serious business of walking and like me he was watching the world go by. Simultaneously we both noticed a young dachshund ( Read more... )

The fingerprint recognition software on my work laptop has stopped claiming that I am not me and is now claiming that I no longer have fingers. I shall slither off and bitch to my tentacled brethren.