Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Connections
Not the title of a best seller to which there is now a follow up. Rather the connection irritations which seem to follow from uploading pictures to blogs. Even the BT broadband software seems to thing something is wrong, announcing this fact with the odd pop-up, promising resolution which does not quite seem to come off.
On the other hand, it might have been connection to the various odd academic sites in a search for a digital version of Finnegans Wake. A fair proportion of these sites seem to be very slow, something which seems to disturb the connection. And the way things are looking I am going to have to eat my Tooting words. I thought I could lay my hands on a digital version of said book in about five minutes but after half an hour all I have to show is a rather naffly laid out, incomplete bit of Ulysses text. Maybe the sort of people who are into reading digital texts need lighter fodder - although I would have thought the Wake would be a wonderful text for those who like to analyse with computers. Count the number of times that the word stem 'mast' occurs as part of a compound in a noun clause sort of thing. The search continues.
My other foray onto the Internet has not been that successful either. Prompted by a note in the DT which alleged that urban foxes live for a shorter time than country ones - my recollection being that it had previously reported things the other way around and having a low opinion of sub-editing there - did a google on the subject. Plenty of relevant hits, some of which appeared to be respectable and trustworthy (there were quite a few of cuddle a fox today variety). We learn that a fox kept in a nice comfortable zoo might well live to be 10 or 12 but in the wild maybe 2 or 3. Mortality in the country down to shooting and dogs; in a town down to being run down on roads. Nothing much on relative mortality in the country and in towns. But coming to think about it this is perhaps not so suprising. It would be reasonably expensive to mount the kind of survey needed to answer the question. And since it is entirely possible that one needs to kill a fox in order to detirmine its age one might have trouble with the RSPCA. And I had forgotten - if I ever knew - that fox fur was once widely used by ladies and that shooting for fur accounted for as many foxes as shooting because vermin.
The DT also advises us that a recent study has ascertained that living increases the chance of dying by 28%. Also that alternate day consumption of bacon (or related products such as luncheon meat) increase the chance of catching a wide range of lung complaints by 97%. I wonder if whoever wrote these studies up ever had any training in statistics - or whether they were funded by the same gang that pays for people to construct unmade beds.
Passed what looked like a dead green finch sitting by the side of the road on the way to Cheam today. Viewed from the top as one cycled past it looked a bit short and fat for a green finch but I could not think what else it might be. Maybe a juvenile. So given that I have not seen one this year I think I might score half a tweet for a probable dead one.
But I think I get two tweets for a sighting of an anonymous hawk on a cleared part of Epsom common the other day; first time for a long time that I have seen such a thing around here. A large brown bird with pale belly and lingish tail, on the ground when first seen then flew up into a tree stump. Rather bigger and longer than a pidgeon so a bit big for a kestrel. But I am not sure what that leaves.
Third ration of Bakewell tarts for our London picnic today. Hopefully it won't rain despite the change in the weather.
On the other hand, it might have been connection to the various odd academic sites in a search for a digital version of Finnegans Wake. A fair proportion of these sites seem to be very slow, something which seems to disturb the connection. And the way things are looking I am going to have to eat my Tooting words. I thought I could lay my hands on a digital version of said book in about five minutes but after half an hour all I have to show is a rather naffly laid out, incomplete bit of Ulysses text. Maybe the sort of people who are into reading digital texts need lighter fodder - although I would have thought the Wake would be a wonderful text for those who like to analyse with computers. Count the number of times that the word stem 'mast' occurs as part of a compound in a noun clause sort of thing. The search continues.
My other foray onto the Internet has not been that successful either. Prompted by a note in the DT which alleged that urban foxes live for a shorter time than country ones - my recollection being that it had previously reported things the other way around and having a low opinion of sub-editing there - did a google on the subject. Plenty of relevant hits, some of which appeared to be respectable and trustworthy (there were quite a few of cuddle a fox today variety). We learn that a fox kept in a nice comfortable zoo might well live to be 10 or 12 but in the wild maybe 2 or 3. Mortality in the country down to shooting and dogs; in a town down to being run down on roads. Nothing much on relative mortality in the country and in towns. But coming to think about it this is perhaps not so suprising. It would be reasonably expensive to mount the kind of survey needed to answer the question. And since it is entirely possible that one needs to kill a fox in order to detirmine its age one might have trouble with the RSPCA. And I had forgotten - if I ever knew - that fox fur was once widely used by ladies and that shooting for fur accounted for as many foxes as shooting because vermin.
The DT also advises us that a recent study has ascertained that living increases the chance of dying by 28%. Also that alternate day consumption of bacon (or related products such as luncheon meat) increase the chance of catching a wide range of lung complaints by 97%. I wonder if whoever wrote these studies up ever had any training in statistics - or whether they were funded by the same gang that pays for people to construct unmade beds.
Passed what looked like a dead green finch sitting by the side of the road on the way to Cheam today. Viewed from the top as one cycled past it looked a bit short and fat for a green finch but I could not think what else it might be. Maybe a juvenile. So given that I have not seen one this year I think I might score half a tweet for a probable dead one.
But I think I get two tweets for a sighting of an anonymous hawk on a cleared part of Epsom common the other day; first time for a long time that I have seen such a thing around here. A large brown bird with pale belly and lingish tail, on the ground when first seen then flew up into a tree stump. Rather bigger and longer than a pidgeon so a bit big for a kestrel. But I am not sure what that leaves.
Third ration of Bakewell tarts for our London picnic today. Hopefully it won't rain despite the change in the weather.
# posted by Jim @ 2:53 AM 
