When did something innocent turn from benign (e.g. Charlie Chaplin) to malicious or “warning sign”?

believe I purchased my first (maybe only) bowtie in 2001 (possibly 2000) at a shop called Manchester Wippell (of Manchester). Or maybe “J Wippell & Co. Manchester”; some people I know call them “Wippells” (with an S) . There’s a very long history to these folks. It moreover seems that they still exist and operate in the same address (9-21 Princess St, Greater, Manchester M2 4DN). They’ve survived a lot. The name and reputation matter. I also got a silk handkerchief there once.

I recently wrote about James Bottomley, the Microsofter who helps Microsoft inject back doors and kill switches into Linux.

Bottomley became “known” for wearing bowties; it’s like he attempted to make these garments of clothing/apparel his “signature”, I honestly don’t know why (the bizarre logic of it).

Like “normal” ties, they serve no practical function, they only ever get in the way (e.g. inside some food), but those are class or hierarchy symbols (worn at the expense of one’s comfort).

I dress casually every day. I don’t try to project “value” using cotton and leather.

Like many of his background, Bottomley seems pretentious and uncarting about Software Freedom, he’s just chasing money. Money, money, money.

Because of this man (Bottomley), I nowadays associate bowties (in the context of software) with bad people. I think I’ve now worn a bowtie for well over a decades.

Even when Bottomley was at IBM/Red Hat/Novell I already didn’t like and didn’t trust him. I had good reasons to feel that way.

City ’til I die?

HE visitors are ahead by 3 goals within just over half an hour. The worst part? It seems like they deserve it.

Maybe it’s not too shocking that PSG is winning, but the pace or rate of the goals is probably shocking and demoralising players.

Now it’s about damage mitigation for ManCity. They have future matches to prepare for.

Thankfully this is no “knockout round”.

What more can be said?

ManCity needs a miracle even just to equalise.

The rest is the cost of exposing things

oday we made some more progress regarding legal matters. We are still eyeing the Court of Appeal for next year. All these processes are slow, but we exercise our legal rights and we do so strictly based on the protocols available.

Reporting regarding the EPO has been successful. It seems like the “monarch” is being stopped. At last.

The reporting is a public service. We always did this pro bono.

Simple message

he coach has spoken

“The message is quite easy. We need the perfect game because they are the best team in Europe in this moment,” Maresca said in Tuesday’s press conference.

“They won the last two Champions Leagues, so that shows how good they are.

“So, we need the perfect game but at the same time, if we play our best we can beat them.

“I think we are for sure a good team, no doubts about that…

Kick-off one hour from now.

I heard their hordes of very loud fans an hour ago, marching towards the stadium.

Hopefully they won’t vandalise the city after they lose (or win).

Seems like a pattern at BBC today

rench fans congregate around the stadium today, but BBC has nothing to say today except things like these in the SPORT section of BBC:

Seems like BBC bias. Manchester envy?

There’s an appeal, this is about something that’s not news, and all eyes are on a very important match between two major clubs.

Mancunian influence-peddling? Or BBC (London) trying to change focus? No ManCity story today, except the one below.

oday BBC reports: “The head of English football’s independent regulator says he will resign if he encounters any political interference over the future of Manchester City.”

He probably refers only to the former mayor who is now a Prime Minister with a rather Mancunian cabinet.

There’s also an appeal in the making. It’s not over.

Tonight there’s an important match here against PSG. The weather is perfect (sunny; I even managed to sunbathed for an hour, warmed up by a litre of coffee) and the impact of a ManCity win would be profound. ManCity has won every game for months already; an impact of a win against the European Champions (CL) can only be lessened by antagonistic media like the BBC [1, 2].

he “tropical mode” in the fish tank is now activated. Overnight, there was a lingering concern about the safety of the heater, so we turned it off and decided to wait a while. Just to be on the safe side.

Basically, it seemed like something may have been cracked and the thermostat, moreover, kicked in to deactivate the heater a lot sooner than anticipated.

After 3 test runs it’s finally off to a warm start. It seems visible or visibly obvious that the fish all seem happy (all species), they are accustomed to warm water and given the weather changes this is no longer possible without some electricity.

Last night, at 10PM, moving all the tropical fish to the same tank was feasible and could be done with minimal stress to the fish, maybe a maximum of 5-7 seconds inside the net.

Fingers crossed.

If all goes well, we’ll just look forward to springtime, then remove the heater and store it away, safely.