Hero of The Day

I hope my post isn't overtaken by events or judged too hasty, but as I write I would have to declare my hero of the day as the security official or police officer who appears to have extinguished a burning suspected terrorist at Glasgow Airport today, not only for putting themselves in harm's way, but also for exercising better judgement than I would have - with one unharmed suspected terrorist apprehended, I would have felt inclined to let the bastard burn.

America's Cup Flight 6

It's now or never for the Kiwis as Alinghi beat Emirates Team New Zealand to take a 4-2 lead in the first to 5 series

Lightish winds set...

You can now read this story in full detail over at our new site, The Afterguard, created to cover in full the America's Cup story and news of Great Britain's TeamOrigin.

Hero of the day

Sometimes fact is much stranger than fiction

The fate that almost befell the UK's capital city today is well recorded on the news sites, so I won't go into detail. But just imagine pitching this plotline to a film studio for development:

A woman drinks too much in a nightclub in London. So much does she drink, that someone at the club feels it necessary to call an ambulance. While on site, one of the ambulance personnel spots what they believe to be smoke inside a car parked outside the club. Thinking a car fire is imminent, the medic calls the police. The police turn up, have a good look, and apparently spot petrol containers, gas cylinders and masonry nails inside the car. One officer also spots a mobile phone somehow connected to this material, and without evacuating residents in the area, they have the foresight to disconnect the phone from the materials - in effect diffusing a potentially lethal terrorist bomb.

Meanwhile, a few streets away, and apparently none the wiser, a graveyard-shift tow truck scoops up an apparently illegally parked vehicle - no doubt with their usual care for the vehicle's condition - and drive it to a disused underground carpark not far away, now used as a pound. Later that day, perhaps 12 hours later, and becoming aware of the events outside the nightclub earlier that morning, someone working at the pound becomes sufficiently concerned about the smell of petrol emanating from the recovered vehicle to alert the police, who attend, repeating the same performance. It is in this way that London is spared the effects of two terrorist atrocities.

Talk about lucky! If that lass hadn't had one too many Bicardi breezers, who knows how many dead and maimed there would have been? Oh, and did I mention that Bruce Willis wasn't involved? Nah, I knew you'd never believe me!

For inadvertently foiling two terrorist attacks, today's heroes of the day are the lass and the medic, the hapless towtruck driver (9 lives?) and the bomb squad - thanks to them all.

Team New Zealand get seasick

America's Cup flight 5 is one Team New Zealand will probably care to forget.

Sometimes things are...


You can now read this story in full detail over at our new site, The Afterguard, created to cover in full the America's Cup story and news of Great Britain's TeamOrigin.

No more 1984

On June 29th, Apple will introduce iPhone. And you'll see why 2007 won't be like 1984.

In just a few short hours from now, months of fevered anticipation will finally be delivered upon, as Apple Inc. & AT&T release the iPhone to retail. The theatrics will reach a peak in the US on Friday as AT&T stores close prematurely mid-afternoon only to reopen at 6pm into a whole new world of Apple's design.

Now as previously stated, I covet all things Apple - although I've donated surprisingly little to the Cupertino coffers of late. As a dedicated Treo owner with the capability of MP3 playback, I never felt the need for the addition of an iPod to carry around (though don't get me wrong, I still covet one!). I haven't held or touched (or even seen by direct line of sight) an iPhone yet, but I've absorbed enough of the device to know that I already think it's a beautifully engineered example of iconic Apple design, just as I've come to anticipate & expect of them. If the deafening crescendo of Friday's activities deliver as promised, then I believe that Apple might just have another hit on its hands. I know it's going to be costly, it's first generation, it's network-tied & all the rest, but iPod was pricey when it came late to market & that gizmo didn't suffer.

For Apple's sake, I hope it's as good as they'd have us believe. If they put a foot wrong, their inflated stock will fall through the floor & then where will us Apple fanboys be? Also, they've achieved such remarkable presence for the product prior to launch, they simply can't afford for much to go wrong, & I'm sure they've done everything humanly possible to ensure it doesn't. Anyone familiar with the 1984 backstory will know that Jobs is no stranger to the odd Richard Branson-style skin-of-the-teeth white-knuckle-ride (snappy huh?!), but this time he's had to play it straight with the big boys right from day one, and I'm certain AT&T will have kept Apple honest.

I really hope Jobs & co. have created a viable touch screen interface & keyboard that enables effortless real-world data character entry - if they have, hats off to them. When they can give themselves time, I really hope they'll address their insult to the OS X development community that is its support for 3rd party apps. 'so long as they're web-based', and then we might see the platform truly expand beyond the phone/iPod/browser/organiser/camera product it currently intends to be - we've waited long enough surely for Job's revision to the Newton?

So why, you may ask, won't 2007 be like 1984 for me?

Well, the answer is tied to the previous paragraph. iPhone is - to my mind at least - oh so desirable, but oh so limited in its intent. I'm past justifying my expectations, and I wouldn't want anyone to think I consider what I have as perfect (it certainly isn't), but my Treo 650 does so much more: It achieves the same result as iPhone - I make calls, listen to MP3s & could, should I wish to, enjoy an inferior movie experience, & at a push I can surf; not with any of the style of the iPhone, but I can't warrant $499 to do what I already do more elegantly. Treo syncs with my address book/iCal (& Entourage, & Outlook/Exchange on XP simultaneously); I access my office docs and PDFs; it serves as my TomTom Navigator 6 GPS platform; heck, it even controls my AV equipment at home. Sure, its camera might be a howler, but it's good enough that if I'm ever the sole witness to a Paris Hilton nervous breakdown (or chipped nail - same thing really), I'll get rich selling the reproduction rights. But critically, what my Treo also does is run the other 160+ applications (I just counted, and yes I'm ashamed of myself) that it holds; sure, hardly any of them are even remotely essential to my daily life, but they all go to making my Treo experience MY experience.

Apple make great computers & even some of the great software that runs on them, but they also encourage the development community to think outside the box. Way back, I first bought into OS X for its protected memory & the fact that suddenly just the applications died, not the whole computer. Don't sell me OS X on a phone 6 or 7 years later & tell me you left out protected memory & so won't support 3rd party applications!

Jobs never told me what I could & couldn't do with my Mac - he said 'think different'. I can accept his vision for how a single-purpose music player should be used. But don't expect to sell me on a 'smart' phone that can only function to one user's expectations - it all feels a bit - forgive me - 1984.

I'm sure my concerns will be addressed in due course, and it won't be long before I'm an iPhone owner. Looking back, while the Mac was the attention grabber of 1984 (with its lack of software, lest we forget), it was the LaserWriter that really changed computing history - without it, the Mac would never have won through; I'm sure that with the iPhone Apple have just focussed on what wins straight from the box & will encourage development for the platform in due course.

I'm in the UK, so all of this is somewhat academic. But I'll sure enjoy watching the circus state-side. I'll also be keeping a keen eye on Ed Colligan and co., hoping against hope that there might be the dawn of realisation of what it takes to at least 'appear' to be at the forefront of technology; as custodians of the Palm OS they've managed a most unsightly decline - its time they look into the eyes of 2007's marketplace and decide once and for all if they've the stomach for the fight.

If not, Palm should just sit back & watch how it's done properly.

All Warm & Fuzzy

The blogosphere proves a friendly place

In a little over 48 hours, the world of blogs has proved to be a friendly and welcoming place, for which I am most grateful. With posts on their sites, Murray over at Palm-Mac & Sheldon at Morning Paper, as well as comment from May at Palm Discovery have all inspired me to bigger and greater things. Well... to carry on at least! Thanks guys.

In defence of vegetables

While I don't think it appropriate to allow domestic disputes to spill over into the blogosphere all the time, sometimes there's a need to set the record straight, and in public is as good a place as any...

I like vegetables. Vegetables are good. While they're young and developing, they add colour to the place and keep farmers occupied. When mature they provide a vital source of nutrition and serve as a tasty mealtime accompaniment, an accompaniment to something else. Normally, meat. And plenty of it. Now, I appreciate that some readers might be vegetarian, but let's face it, those who are face constantly being sold on vegetable substitutes for... you guessed it, meat. From fake bacon, sausage & chicken, they're all trying to be something that's missing - yup, meat. This just goes to prove my point, which is when serving vegetables at mealtime, at least pretend there's meat in there somewhere. I rest my case.

Splash ID v4

Splash Data fail to impress with Version 4's initial release

It's out there & you can find out more by visiting the Splash Data website, but you won't read a review here just yet, as I'm staging a one man - well, more like one blog - protest at the fact there's no OS X desktop companion, just one for the Windoze crowd!

Fear not, as soon as they address this injustice I'll follow up on this much favoured application. Until then, Mac owners be warned, you won't be able to backup your handheld data. (I believe with new formats, syncing with an older desktop version will fail).

Hero of the day

She won't often get my vote, but today of all days The Queen deserves to be in our thoughts, after all, she's had to put up with not one prime minister, but two.
For enduring Blair & Brown all in the space of an hour, her maj. is my hero of the day.

The Middle East came a close second as soon as news broke of our Tony's appointment as envoy, but lost out as they haven't had to deal with Brown simultaneously.

Alinghi provides some answers

The Swiss draw even at 2-2

Race 4 of the 32nd America's Cup in Valencia, Spain, took place in...


You can now read this story in full detail over at our new site, The Afterguard, created to cover in full the America's Cup story and news of Great Britain's TeamOrigin.

Changing to the same old...

Blair out, Brown in

After a decade of Blair's New Labour experiment, it's all change in British politics as we have a new Prime Minister, promising to be very different and very, err, New Labour. The man who allegedly stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Blair during numerous scandals ('spare us a million, Bernie?') promises no more spin and a more honest approach. While I welcome the pledges, I can't help feeling we've been here before. Let's just hope he remembers our troops overseas before he deconstructs what his party has spent the last 10 years spinning, and lets hope the British Press feel they can hold our leaders to account once again after 10 years of simpering complicity.

On being an endangered species

Blogging is not without its perils!

It didn't take long, but it now appears that my blogging activites have not gone unnoticed, which, on the face of it, is what publishing a blog is all about.

However, particular attention has been drawn to my use of terms such as 'er indoors' & 'she who must be obeyed'. Despite my protestations that these phrases are steeped in affection and deeply-rooted respect, it has been suggested that should I wish to continue to function normally & with all physical appendages intact, I should desist from the use of such terms. In view of the circumstances, I feel I have no choice but to comply most willingly with the very reasonable request of my very beautiful girlfriend.

An America's Cup classic...

In one of the greatest America's Cup clashes in recent memory, Team New Zealand staged an unbelievable comeback to...


You can now read this story in full detail over at our new site, The Afterguard, created to cover in full the America's Cup story and news of Great Britain's TeamOrigin.

Forgive our bias

It's the end of June & most of the country is under rain water - it must be time for Wimbledon.

Of late, us Brits have been bewitched by a new, younger model, young Andrew Murray; alas, a wrist injury sees him absent from SW19. Rusedski has retired. Tim Henman may be showing his age & wrestling with his own thoughts of retirement, but our hopes remain with him.

It's a bit unfair on him really, as he's given us 14 years of excellent, if ultimately frustrating service, but he's rising to the challenge of keeping Henman Hill populated yet again. Having had a terrible year to date, struggling to string two match victories together, it wouldn't be unfair to expect him to leave in round one, especially when drawn against the talented Spaniard, Carlos Moya, seeded 25. While unseeded, Henman does have the benefit of requiring his opponent to beat both him AND the partisan Wimbledon audience, and so it was that a night-interrupted match of high quality & great tension went to 5 sets, with our Tim winning out eventually 13 games to 11 in the 5th, successfully converting his 7th match point.

At a time when winning a first round match feels like winning the entire tournament, it remains unfair of us to expect too much, but Wimbledon is always a better place for the courage of Tim Henman.

Hero Of The Day

As parts of the country continue to struggle with flooding, it seems only right that we salute those who have risked their lives to help others. As well as those who felt it appropriate to demand 'rescue' less they miss an episode of Corrie and a tasty lasagne they had in the fridge, there have been some genuinely fortunate whose lives have undoubtedly been saved. The emergency services are today's Heroes Of The Day.

On being difficult...

Confused+Emotional.

I think it important that the reader gets a fairly accurate handle on what they're dealing with here - it's only fair.

Maybe it was something to do with the configuration of planets at my hour of birth, or the misuse of forceps at that time, but it seems to be my role in life to buck trends and struggle to be different. What do I mean? Well, my obsession with gadgets is a perfect example...

Back when I had to book my school's sole computer in 15 minute blocks to perfect my Commodore Basic programming (it could say 'hello' on the screen and everything!), the techies here in the UK were playing with the BBC Micro; everyone else was busy swapping applications for their Sinclair Spectrums. So the decision was pretty easy really... I found myself with a Commodore Vic-20! Oh how my friends looked on jealously, when they weren't swapping the latest and greatest games with everyone else. Never mind that the Spectrum owners didn't have a need, I smugly spent £75 on a 16Kb (yes, Kb!) memory expansion pack for the Vic. I was flying! I could get a computer to say 'Hello' at home now.

To a fault, I'm diametrically opposed to all things Bill Gates and Windoze (SIC). I'm a huge, unashamed fan of Steve Jobs, Jonathon Ives and everything Apple. Yes, I also own a laptop running XP, but I do so despite everything I've ever believed in. I resent it; Windoze is something to scowl at from the other side of the room. I spend my time in Gatesville wishing I was on the Mac. With a creative music background, I was brought up on a diet of Apple, so I have an excuse. But come on, have you ever used a Macintosh? Why would you use anything else?! Well, to cooperate with the rest of the world, to enjoy the same experience as friends, family and loved ones, of course. Which is what I mean. I sit smugly knowing that I use the best Operating System, but watching jealously as everyone else enjoys their Windoze-only experience.

As an avid photographer, following the crowd by going Canon or Nikon was never going to do for me, oh no. I was seduced by the use of little expansion cards for the range of Minolta SLRs (nevermind that these expensive little cards added functionality to my camera already built in to the other manufacturers' offerings, these were 'gadgets'!). So Minolta have gone to the wall, leaving me with expensive and obsolete equipment, while the competition have gone from strength to strength. Are you getting the picture yet?

Then there's the mobile phone nightmare. I thought I knew better than to carry around an industry standard mobile phone AND a PDA, so I went and combined the two. Rather than choose the industry standard Palm PDA, I chose a compatible device from a company called Handspring. Why? Erm, well... errr... Gadgets! See, the Handspring had a special socket connector called Springboard, enabling the owner to attach additional hardware... or gadgets, if you like. Having expanded the painfully poor built-in memory, I spent the best part of a year coveting a 'Visorphone', yes, a plug-in GSM phone module for my Visor. Eventually, I got one for 50% of the RRP at £100. Yes I know other mobile phones were free, this was a true gadget! Of course, it was 50% of the RRP because it was being obsoleted and, to be honest, didn't really work, but nevermind, this was a gadget! If you stood on one foot with your body at 45 degrees to the vertical, most likely hanging out of a window and uttering some strange incantation, it might hold a call for as long as, ooh, let's see, 30 seconds? Nobody learned to be so concise when making calls, and no matter, this was a gadget!

The next step was to watch Handspring be absorbed by Palm, and see the obsolescence of my beloved Springboard modules. I bought a Treo 600. It was really good - it held calls for at least twice as long as the Visorphone - a 100% improvement! Okay, whoever I was talking to had to contend to listening to me mixed in with the residual sound of the big bang - this was a new gadget! Within days its headphone output failed. Without Bluetooth, I decided a convoluted system of dongle plugged into the phone (yes, via the failed headphone socket) and a pathetic earpiece would do. Okay, it never did 'do', but it was a gadget. How good a system was it? Well, recently in a generous act, I tried to gift the earpiece to her in doors. Demonstrating the simple process of charging, the charger blew up on me! As the smoke billowed, would it have made a difference if I reminded everyone that this was a gadget?

Now, I have my beloved Treo 650. It actually works. It's probably cost me about £800 to get a Palm smartphone that actually works. No matter, think of all the lovely gadgets I've enjoyed. Having invested extensively in 3rd party applications, I'm very tied to the Palm platform - it's what I've known for almost the last 8 years. I'm jealously watching the emergence of the iPhone, but I know it won't do what I have come to expect of my pocket-pal. I'm not sure if the Palm does what I need it to do to make my life easier, or if my life has changed to do what the Palm finds easy, but no matter, we're a team now. Of course, Palm the company continues to demonstrate all the business sense of a dying company, and the signs are clear that I've backed the wrong horse in the Palm OS, as the company gets all cosy in Gatesville with the pocket PC Windoze Mobile OS. Bugger!

At least I've done well with my GPS choice. Here in the UK, TomTom rules (or 'Doris' as clan Confused+Emotional have dubbed 'her'). OK, what really rule are the dedicated TomTom PND hardware devices. I, being an individual, decided to integrate TomTom within my Palm Treo 650 - can you imagine what a gadget that baby has become? Okay, so I don't own TomTom hardware, which puts me in relation to the user experience just outside the room with my nose pressed against the window, looking in. No matter, TomTom supports PDAs. But wait, 98% of TomTom PDA users are based upon the dreaded Gatesville Pocket PC platform. So ok, my nose is no longer against the window looking in on the community; I'm on Venus. No matter, I have GADGETS!

There's more to share, but I'm now feeling a little embarrassed. But I just thought I should share with you where I'm coming from, just so you might understand a little better why I might sometimes sound a little hurt, a little offended, a little bitter, a little angry at the world. And of course, you might now understand why you're reading 'Confused+Emotional'.

That said, I do have some great gadgets!!

Access To Music

Web 2.0 continues to revolutionise the way we discover music

Firstly, a little on how I relate to music. I don't own an iPod (on account of being an old fart) but do access MP3s via Pocket Tunes on my Palm Treo 650 and a pair of Bluetooth Stereo Headphones (thanks Motorola 820s for earning me the monikers 'Shrek' & 'Princess Leia'!). Although I can't fault the technology or software, I find this method of accessing music less than satisfactory - it just doesn't sound or feel right. I do have a burgeoning iTunes collection ('how much disk space is it using?!'). I still prefer 'owning' music, and cope well maintaining a good CD collection. I have bought via iTunes, but only to access music I can't find by other means. I spend my life being 'difficult', which is a topic for a whole other post sometime, but I often covet some never-heard obscurity from 30 years ago, and I know how & where to look for it. As a former recording engineer, I have been conditioned to respect the absolute in audio quality, and I resent CD for the fact that it could sound better; MP3s feel like a return to compact audio cassettes (convenience overrides quality) and I'm not a fan of Torrents & Limewire et all, as I find the whole process painful, and the end result often leaving much to be desired.

Web 2.0 has generated a multitude of new ways to discover new acts, and I don't just mean those artists for whom the web has provided an opportunity to release dirge that should never have left the bedroom! These opportunities break down into several different categories:

• Waiting for something interesting to happen

This includes polishing the old MySpace profile and waiting for the right artist to beg & plead to reach new heights by being permitted to be my friend. So far, despite a fairly representative group of artists in my friends list, only the most conscientious or desperate have come to my door - I salute their enterprise, but wouldn't wish their material on an enemy! Internet radio does reveal the odd gem, but there's much to wade through, and often identifying what's being heard can require the cunning of Sherlock!

• Prowling the web

From Amazon recommendations and favourites lists (which started out to be promising, but have degraded as more feel the need to share their lack of taste) to having a damned good root around in the iTunes store & its celebrity playlists, there is possibility within this method, but it takes commitment and patience. Why do websites insist on selecting apparently arbitrary song excerpts for their 20-30 second playback? All too often what is heard is not representative of the full track!

• Finding more of the same

This is perhaps the most revolutionary way of finding gold. Let me share some favourites:

1. www.pandora.com - currently at war with Royalty Legislation in the USA, you'll need to check back tomorrow to sample this excellent service, as they're participating in the 'day of silence' protest. Also, the legislation has forced this site to go US-only, so you'll need a proxy server which places you in the US to access this now, but boy is it worth the extra effort. Submit an artist or artist track, and you'll receive about 10 very well selected similar artists or songs - by far the most appropriate selection I've found. You can store your requests as a 'radio' station, and then return to hear further recommendations (the service limits you to about 6 choices per search per hour - but you can conduct as many searches as you want). Note this provides you with full streamed track playback, not just samples. Pandora seems to cope with pretty obscure enquiries and produces very high quality results. Highly recommended.
   
   
2. www.liveplasma.com - Formerly musicplasma, this website has expanded to include a movie database too. I've included it here for the unique visual way it provides 'similar artist' access - a feature I won't even begin to try to describe, just go and check it out for yourself. I do have reservations though; no doubt because it's so clever, it seems to struggle on the compatibility stakes - it currently behaves poorly with Firefox for Mac. It's also best used to search the bleeding obvious, and not that recent releases; a search for Corinne Bailey Rae failed; I thought she'd enjoyed a significant amount of success in the States, but this US-centric site didn't have a clue. Still, a clever way of presenting information.
   
   While I'm mentioning search sites, it would be remiss of me not to mention www.allmusic.com - although it doesn't provide 'sounds like' functionality, its encyclopaedic knowledge deserves recognition.
   
   
3. www.last.fm - Very web 2.0, this UK-based idea has recently been aquired by the CBS giant, and provides not just music access, but also social networking. There's a bit of commitment involved, including registration and then downloading a local application, which allows 'scrobbling' (no, I don't know either!), which is background logging of what's being played on your computer (application independent); the client then provides suggestions based on the playlists of other users who've listened to the same track(s), and allows for social networking based upon groups of similar listeners. So far I've not had the time or patience to throw myself into this - clearly the rewards increase the more time you commit.
   
   
4. www.thefilter.com - my thanks to Murray at Palm-Mac for this recent entry. A downloaded application, this studies your iTunes and WMP collections and makes suggestions based upon what it finds. Compatible with OS X, XP and Nokia, I've not had time to investigate this fully; there are options to upload to your iPod (yippee!) but no doubt that involves the lightening of wallets!

So there are plenty of new opportunities for finding what you want out there, if you're prepared to commit time and effort. I've found that the more knowledgeable and intelligent the method, the more pleasing the results. That said, there must be issues relating to privacy of personal data relating to all this, but I'll leave you the reader to consider this! Happy listening.

By the bucket load

With parts of England receiving more than a month's rain in less than 12 hours, the country as a whole having its wettest June for over a hundred years & with some weather stations reporting their wettest calendar month ever, it seems the drought may be over.
As I write, cities are suffering power cuts, RAF & Navy helicopters are occupied in rescuing victims trapped in shopping centres & industrial estates as rivers burst their banks & a number of tragedies are being reported. It's taken the civilised world over ten years just to get the US government to acknowledge climate change & we were told recently that the biggest contributor to our woes is now China. How exactly do we create that 'special' relationship with China to have a similar level of influence, I wonder?

Congratulations due

A good friend Keith has just completed a gruelling Lands End to John O'Groats cycle for a very worthy cause. In days gone by we'd watch him set off and then wait a few weeks for him to return; not so today - a great support team have been providing his followers with constant updates on this amazing feat, and it's worth a look at the site to read his fantastic day to day diary of what he's been through: hop over to Cycle For Connor and be sure to click on 'sponsor' while you're there.

Well done Keith - Confused+Emotional's first Hero Of The Day.

In need of inspiration and traffic

My good friend Murray runs a blog called Palm-Mac and is asking what he can blog about without repeating himself or the wider blogosphere. His page is well worth keeping an eye on, covering all things Macintosh, Palm, Windoze Mobile-based smartphones and anything else that gets up his nose. Go on, pay him a visit!
(That's Murray pictured above, by the way - I'm much too considerate to offend with my own mug!)

The fight for the Auld Mug heats up...

The fight for the world's oldest sporting trophy, the 32nd America's Cup is well under way in Valencia, Spain.

Background: A competition between large yachts, it represents the...

You can now read this story in full detail over at our new site, The Afterguard, created to cover in full the America's Cup story and news of Great Britain's TeamOrigin.

Frodo... the frog!

The youngest member of the Confused... entourage had the pleasure of naming the latest addition to the aquarium - Frodo, the Dwarf Aquatic Frog. Extensive assurances to 'she who must be obeyed' were made relating to Frodo's ability to climb (or lack of!), and he's survived a weekend of the Pygmy Puffers' curiosity without great misfortune, so Mimi Monster might be required to name further hobbits in due course.

There has to be somewhere to start

In keeping with the premise of this blog, its start isn't likely to be promising. I have to begin somewhere, and I've resisted the temptation to say goodbye and delete my account - that'll no doubt come later.

Why? I'm still trying to work that out... I guess I must have a need to express myself, so I've chosen to try to do so here...

There'll be a little technology: Apple, Palm, Blackberry, TomTom, Windoze et all.

There'll be a little personal interests: Tropical Fish, Course Fishing, Yachting, F1, breathing.

There'll be rants: Life, Work, Home. Children. Women. The futility of it all.

There'll be more. But always less.

There'll never be accuracy. That I can assure... well, I can't really, but you know what I mean.

Will it last? Only if readers make their presence felt. That means YOU. Say hello. Or else.