random observations, variously interesting and instructive

1. The nice fingerprinting man came around last night, leaving a thin film of silver aluminium dust over a variety of unlikely surfaces. He found absolutely no fingerprints worth a damn. This confirms our suspicions about the bizarre element of the two pairs of missing socks left discarded in the garden. Apparently the modern burglar wears them over his hands to avoid leaving prints. For some reason I find this mental image obscurely cute - they must bumble around the house with all the manual dexterity of an animated teddy bear.


2. I have a single power point in my campus office, feeding all the appliances in the room. Apparently I can run the computer, printer, heater and kettle off the same power point as long as I don't simultaneously use the computer's CD player, which will promptly trip the switch. This means I am denied tea, internet and music-ripping at the same time. This wanton deprivation of basic life necessities is surely against some kind of union rule. Also, it makes me worry about the apparently high voltage of my music taste.


3. I have spent an annoying hour and a half changing all the passwords on my various web logins, on the grounds that I'm not too sure if the password-protected Windows Server install on my stolen computer actually qualifies as hack-proof. I hate the thought of anyone going through my private files, but it would cause me incandescent rage to discover I was paying for someone else's porn shipments on Amazon.


4. The Egyptian goose on the next door building has found a friend, and the two of them are posing on top of the chimney in interesting configurations, in the rain. I'd post the picture if I'd remembered to bring the wretched camera cable. Phooey.


5. Coding campus web pages, which use XHTML, is causing me to become ridiculously pernickity about closing my tags. I'm not sure this is a good thing.