kestrel

downloaded Virtual PC from Connectix this afternoon. 98 of our earth pounds, and now the Powerbook runs W2K in a window – I’m installing Autoroute as I speak.

even more impressive is that IE on W2K under VPC (are you still with me? :) can see its host machine’s Apache home page.

It Just Works – I love it!

you can generate a Hobbit name here. Apparently I’m Primula Brandybuck of Buckland. Which is nice.

this site also does Elvish names – mine is Ireth of Dorthhonian.

normally it’s freezers that die on me at Christmas, presumably because they sense that they’re packed to the gunwhales with festering fare; I’ve had three of the bastards stop working, the most memorable of which was on Christmas Eve, which was a Thursday that year, so no possiblity of an engineer for four days. That time we just asked all the neighbours round to help us eat everything …

this year, because we are decamping to Scotland [ the Manor House Hotel in Oban, to be precise ] for New Year, via a couple of days stay at the [ Haweswater Hotel ], I can only assume that the three freezers in the house realised that it wasn’t really worth throwing a strop.**

instead, I came home yesterday from the Waitrose run [shudder] to find water all over the floor – the washing machine had seemingly sprung a leak. We cleaned the filter, and shouted at it a lot, and mopped up ever increasing amounts of water. But to no avail. It turned out to be the plumbing for the outlet hose, which also rendered the dishwasher hors de combat [scream].

Perlmonger cleaned out the U bend, but still no improvement. And given that the pipe runs behind the cooker, and then behind three kitchen cupboards including a corner one, he was somewhat downcast. Until I remembered the Karcher power washer we bought this summer -… a quick blast down the flue – ooh er, Matron – and peace and harmony is restored. I can hear the reassuring hum of the dishwasher running, and have rediscovered the kitchen beneath the debris. And most important of all, the espresso machine is returned to its rightful place.

** and yes, I know there is still time, thank you.

in preparation for the Great Trek North (Scotland for Hogmanay), I decided to see whether my beloved Ixus worked with my equally beloved Qu (the Powerbook). Found the Ixus USB cable, attached it to camera and laptop, switched camera on.

two seconds later, the contents of the CF card are on the screen in iPhoto. It Just Works. I can see me appearing on the Apple Switcher** site in the New Year – everything I do with the machine is a joy. I will have to rattle the piggy bank very hard to switch this main workstation to a G4, but it might just be worth doing …

** do see the S Claus switcher videos at Apple’s site.

from the Register …

“The configuration of a PC supplied to a British dyslexic student by MicrolinkPC has raised privacy concerns about the company …

… When she came to customise her new Windows XP PC she learned that MicrolinkPC had retained access to the administrator account. Her account granted only super user status which means she could install new programs but not disable remote administration.”

“Two years ago, the eccentric explorer John Blashford-Snell delivered a baby grand to a remote Amazonian tribe who’d had little contact with ‘civilisation’. Late last month, he and a team returned to tune it – and to see if they had learned to play it.”

the full story is at The Guardian’s site [ here ]

this year’s Google Zeitgeist is out. Fascinating as always.

bah humbug – lovely!

switch to the dark side … it just works. [here ]

but this is something else.