Anagrammatically » the quotidian

If Only I Could Make It So

AS — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:47:33 +0000

It came to me while I was marvelling at my laptop: Why don’t desktops come with internal batteries that can keep a computer running for an hour or so if power is suddenly lost?

There’s really no reason that a desktop computer should shut down as soon as the power is cut. What’s holding desktop makers back from installing a basic battery?

Shaking Things

AS — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:57:51 +0000

Most of Australia stared on nonplussed when confronted with Kevin Rudd’s repeated fair shake of the sauce bottle, but he has literary precedent: the supreme PG Wodehouse gave us two shakes of a duck’s tail in his classic Right Ho, Jeeves:

“And in two shakes of a duck’s tail Gussie, with all that lapping about inside him, will be distributing the prizes at Market Snodsbury Grammar School before an audience of all that is fairest and most refined in the county.”

Wodehouse’s meaning comes across effectively despite the use of idiom, and in the mouth of Wooster it’s rather hilarious. In the PM’s mouth, a firm shaking is also hilarious, but the meaning effectively eludes entrapment.

Nick Cave Telling It Like It Is

AS — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 05:08:27 +0000

Is there any better reason to love Nick Cave?

ON SATURDAY night, Nick Cave thanked 3500 music fans for their commitment in trekking to Mount Buller for the inaugural Australian All Tomorrow’s Parties music festival. “I wouldn’t have done it,” he said dryly.

From The Age article on All Tomorrow’s Parties.

A Black Swan and a Black President

AS — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:24:31 +0000

Those of a philosophical bent know well the positive ramifications a single black swan had on Western philosophy. Now we have ourselves a black president; here’s hoping the ramifications are just as positive on Western politics.

From verbal privilege.

The Workplace and Talk

AS — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 01:01:07 +0000

In the workplace more so than anywhere else I imagine, someone uses a word or expression — often inelegant, sometimes a solecism, other times cute – in a particular situation and it becomes the de facto lexical standard for analogous situations from then on. Cases in point currently:

agreeance, as in “Are we in agreeance?”;
visibility, as in “What’s the visibility on this process?”;
heads-up, as in “I just wanted to give you a heads-up on this before you met with the client”;
offline, as in “Can we take that offline?”, which means “Can we not talk about that in this meeting?”;
socialise, as in “Has this process been socialised throughout the team?”; and
consume, as in “Who are the consumers of this document?”.

Brought No More

AS — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:27:03 +0000

It’s finally happened: bought is now the past tense of bring and brought is but a faint memory.

Better to Remain Silent…

AS — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:10:06 +0000

As seen from the 112 tram on the rear window of a swish Holden Commodore driving down Collins Street:

I put the X in SEXY!

What’s the bet the driver is one of my wog brethren?

The Sinking In

AS — Thu, 22 May 2008 03:38:30 +0000

Despite the November election, I had been reading and hearing the word prime minister and John Howard would spring to mind.

Over the past week, though, I’ve heard or read prime minister and Kevin is the mental jack-in-the-box that pops up.

It’s a small victory, but a decidedly happy one.

Grinning and Bearing

AS — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:42:53 +0000

So how does one tell a co-worker, who one wishes to continue having cordial relations with, that their fishy food stinks and it would best be eaten some place far away from our shared cubicle?

Will Fado Save the Music Industry?

AS — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:02:44 +0000

After perhaps two years of the entire cost of my musical acquisitions being bound up with my monthly broadband connection fee, I’ve finally paid directly for music.

Blessed youtube had the glorious Amália Rodrigues singing Barco Negro, a song I had heard first sung by her musical heir, Mariza, and I just had to get it.

Maybe if more people liked fado, more people would end up actually paying directly for music?