Arthur's Mutterings

TestDisk

Some more open source disk recovery software, this one seems to be mostly for finding and repairing partitions. TestDisk

web folders in msie

How to make MSIE open webdav share urls as file exporer windows. Web Folders

So, back to visit good ole aunt mabel again for more pearls of wisdom.

When it comes to preparing a bath for baby the following was divulged:

"Now i know some people get confused by numbers and things so i wont tell you what temperature, just test it with your elbow."

So this is the equivalent of giving directions to a group of people and saying something like "i know not all of you can drive, so i wont give you the address, just catch the number 23 bus, and get off at the 3rd stop" so what if i am not clueless with numbers and have a thermometer to hand, i havent been given the option now have i. And even in the dumbed down instructions no mention was ever made on what i was supposed to feel with my elbow, was it supposed to feel hot, cold, tepid, what?. sigh. I really wish people would be more precise.

It reminds me of that farce that is now the bbc weather news, a while back they decided that "the public" whoever they are, were confused by isobars and little cloud/rain/snow symbols, so they dumbed it down just about as far as they possibly could. you now get a motion sickness inducing virtual ride around a map of the county where bright bits are sunny, dull bits are cloudy and rain is wet.

Why couldnt they have put the isobars or perhaps just the weather fronts on there as well, theres a lot of people out there that DO know what they mean, and it tells you a damn sight more about what the weather is likely to be later, and why, than just a brown and soggy picture does. bah.

Well what a busy few weeks it has been, getting married, and preparations for the impending baby. The former part, getting married, went smoothly enough, once past all the preliminary panics about who was doing what and how many people were coming, etc. etc, the actual day went really smoothly and was lovely weather. Were now trying to collect photos from attendies so we can create a definitive set.

But onto the main subject of my rants, babies, or rather the over bearing application of "help" that you get and its utter uselessness. First off is the marketing material, i know this isnt really trying to be helpful just try to sell product, but they do add a thick gloss of pseudo-help, whilst simultaneously trying to muddy the waters even further. Take nappies as an example, you start out thinking that its a straight out choice between disposables, and those ancient fold up & safety pin jobs, but oh no, now theres hybrids [cue groan] semi disposable things, linings, stuffable things, fleecy ones, pre-folded, one piece, the list is seemingly endless, and they all have their little foibles, convenience in application often means inconvenience in washing, and so on. sigh.
Choice is usualy a good thing, but in thise case, evaluating the right choice will take more time, money and effort than will ve available before its too late and baby is past that phase.

Then theres good ole Auntie Mabel (Anti-Natal) Classes, or "parenthood" as they would like you to call it now, these seems to be predominantly targeted at those that have some how miraculously managed to miss or not read any of the mountain of literature that you are bombarded with from the outset. The first class we attended consisting entirely of repeating the content of the booklets we had already been given by the same health service. Further classes have attempted to talk about some of the options available, but mostly with a "we advise this" but without giving you any valid reasons or detail, and when quizzed about other alternatives just giving in with "its personal choice really" well thanks, that helped me make an informed choice, not.

Enough of my rantings for now, i forsee this being a rich vein to plumb, so more in the future.

A thought that crossed my mind on the way to IPO Fridays, was that if burgers were served to you in the same kind of way as windows seems to boot, then shortly after you ordered you would be served with a bun and lettuce on a plate, but its content wouldnt arrive until much later, thus giving the illusion that you were served more quickly than you really were.