I’ve been running a 3rd party app today. The trouble is if I ask it to go back to where my bookmark is it displays a “Can’t find it” message box, OK’ing gets it to display another ad infinitum. Nothing too weird yet, apps go wrong I know. However, it doesn’t appear on the task bar or in task manager as an app or as a process I recognise so my only option to get rid of it has been to restart the machine.

Even when it runs OK it doesn’t show up. It looks like a real window with control menu and everything, it appears on an ALT-TAB menu. If minimised it doesn’t go to the task bar but resizes as a title bar only window - could it be a 3.1 app or something? (It is old, but the files are dated 2038!!!)

Any ideas welcome - resetting the PC takes too long, I’m having to use the “make a note on a piece of paper” bookmarking method! BTW I’m running Win 2K (Vista? WTH is Vista?).

Apparently it’s ten years since Diana’s death. I know this because the BBC today program told me this morning. They also told me she died in a Paris road accident.

If they need to tell people that either we really do have too many immigrants/ asylum seekers or too many people have been living underground for the last 10 years!

Having come back from the spiritual and artistic haven of The Greenbelt Festival http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/ I’m trying to extend it by looking the flickr streams http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/greenbelt2007 and reading various groups and blogs from other festival goers & contributors. Hence I found myself at http://www.annieporthouse.com and read this 

http://www.annieporthouse.com/?p=216#respond . Being in reflective mood I thought I’d post a long reply & then I remembered how sadly lacking  I have been in blog entries of late so I’ll cheat and reply here!

Stuff can’t buy you happiness - agreed. Lack of stuff can cause unhappiness - lack of basics like food, healthcare, shelter certainly will. Lack of non-essentials like TV’s, 32″ plasma TV’s, sky sports, etc may cause you to feel unhappy, jealous, bitter,… but maybe an attitude of mind could change that. I suspect most of our (contemporary culture western world consumers) buying of stuff is to alleviate boredom. The little buzz of owning something new, the excitement of finding it, the frisson of taking pocession & using - the nearest many of us get to creativity.

However, I blame most of my boredom on being stuck at work all day and being too knackered to do much when I get home. So winning a cool million would buy me out of work. It wouldn’t buy much luxury, 1M in 4% annuities would be 40K a year - not a huge amount to support a family (although I guess I could clear my mortgage and I wouldn’t need my pension so that would make a difference). What it would buy is time. Time with my family, time to do something with at least some of the musical instruments I attempt to play, energy to say yes to some of the many (valid and what would be rewarding) requests that church make. Of course I might just spend all day in bed but I like to think I’d be a creative and fulfilled human being.

Maybe I’m just externalising my failure, blaming work and looking for a silver bullet (or golden handshake) fix. Still if anyone has a million they don’t want it would be an interesting experiment!

I heard Frances Lawrence (widow of murdered headmaster Philip Lawrence) on the radio speaking of how she  feels about her husbands murderer winning his appeal against deportation. He appealed using the The Human Rights - but it looks as if its EU law (how can you deport someone to a country you have open borders with?) that is his real case.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6955071.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6950000/newsid_6956400/6956458.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1

It is so rare to hear someone speak with such intelligence, patience and understanding - wisdom might be the unfashionable but correct word.

Why this business of the murderer having human rights asserted sticks in my throat so is that if he had true remorse and was accepting responsibility for his actions he would seek to do whatever he could to make what amends - including leaving the country if asked to.

It’s not that he doesn’t have “human rights” but that he lacks the remorse that would make him willing for go them that is the problem. Maybe the human rights act ought to be like Douglas Adams theory of leadership - only people who don’t want to leaders should be allowed to be. Maybe human rights only apply to those human enough not to clamour for what they should willing surrender.

A good application of Catch 22?

Just  back from my holiday - very nice place http://www.thequietsite.co.uk/ but the promised wi-fi wasn’t available so no blogging  or any kind of surfing and a wasted tenner on a wi-fi usb adaptor

Checking the mail now I’m back I saw one which follows up on my previous post about freecycle

http://www.itpro.co.uk/blogs/user-blogs/dave-f/148388/weirdest-freecycle-item-competition.thtml#comments

> Fwd: [coventryfreecycle] Wanted: summer

>Sorry I can’t collect so must rely on delivery. I need some
>prolongued sunshine for at least the next 6 weeks (sorry can’t promise
>to return after use). if anyone has parts, a few days, a week, i will
>take delivery and assemble not afraid of flat pack. I can promise the
>item/s a good home and appreciative kids, days out, camping holiday/s,
>BBQ’s, visits to theme parks and seaside.
>
>Many thanks

We had decent weather for the holiday, not too hot to walk and didn’t get caught out in the few downpours we had so can’t complain!