November 13th

November 13th - an important day

On this day my elder daughter was born.  I won't say what year because it's not polite to tell you the age of a lady (though that seems less of a 'rule' nowadays).  

The following were also born on November 13th...

354 – Saint Augustine of Hippo, North African theologian (d. 430)

532 – Augustine of Canterbury, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 604)

1833 - Edwin Thomas Booth, a famous 19th century American Shakespearean actor who founded Booth's Theatre in New York, but is better remembered for being brother to John Wilkes Booth who assassinated President Lincoln.

1850 – Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish writer (d. 1894)

1945 - My elder daughter loves Formula One but I doubt she hasn't heard of Masahiro Hasemi.  He is a Tokyo-born former racing driver and team owner from Japan who participated in a Formula One race at the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix.  He qualified 10th after an error which cost him his chance of a pole position and finished 11th, seven laps behind the winner. Notably, however, he also set the fastest lap of the race.

1955 - Whoopi Goldberg (born Caryn Elaine Johnson) is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.

1959 - Caroline Goodall is an English actress and screenwriter - born on Friday 13th!

Bliksem Sky

As regular readers of this blog will know, earlier this year I upset DataTransfer, the Gods of Technology and All Things Electrical / Wireless.  Constantly since then he has shown His discontent.  Once again He has reminded me of His power to exact retribution. My mobile phone packed up and had to go away to be repaired. The Vodaphone engineers couldn’t find anything wrong with it.  They sent it back to the shop.  Fortunately the young lady in the shop had the sense to check the battery before giving the phone back.  It turned out it was a faulty battery.  Now the Sky television has gone on the blink (yet again).  It is, of course, an intermittent fault and I suspect the engineer will come out, make various changes and go away.  The system is such that their work is guaranteed for a month so if it fails again in that time we don’t pay again.  Last time, it went after five weeks…

Squeaky Cushions

Have you ever wondered about the origin of that childish piece of amusement available from Joke Shops – the squeaky cushion? I found out as I sat down on my study swivel chair this afternoon. It was obviously designed by someone who had sat on a sleeping kitten.  Fortunately, my reactions were such that she didn’t suffer anything except injured pride.  Unfortunately, the adrenalin buzz it gave me had my heart popping at some ridiculous rate for ages.

Then she did her usual trick and sat in one of the cubby–holes behind the desk. 

Had enough now.

Can I come and play with your mouse.

That's an interesting blog...