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arcana imperii :: the book of j

28.10.05

reality...

is said to be a big, nasty, vicious dragon. so i guess i now believe in dragons...

some excuses

i'd love to and know we have to but...

  • i changed the lock on my door and now i can't get out.
  • i did my own thing and now i've got to undo it.
  • i have to bleach my... hare.
  • i have to check the freshness dates on my dairy products.
  • i have to fluff my shower cap.
  • i have to fulfill my potential.
  • i have to jog my memory.
  • i have to pick the lint out of my belly button.
  • i have to stay home and see if i snore.
  • i just picked up a book called "glue in many lands" and i can't put it down.
  • i never go out on days that end in "y".
  • i prefer to remain an enigma.
  • i promised to help a friend fold road maps.
  • i was going to sort my paperclips.
  • i'm converting my calendar watch from julian to gregorian.
  • i'm going to count the bristles in my toothbrush.
  • i'm going to the missing persons bureau to see if anyone else is looking for me.
  • i'm having a conflict of interest with my alter ego.
  • i'm making a home-movie called «the growth of a bonsai».
  • i'm observing national apathy week.
  • i'm uncomfortable when i'm alone with others.
  • i've come down with a tiresome case of something or other.
  • it's too close to mid-century.
  • i'm alphabetising my crayons.
  • my patent is pending.
  • my subconscious says "i dunno".
  • can't find a single pair of matching socks.
  • the man on telly said to stay tuned and
    ... i'm tired, have to go to work, just want to go to bed, have a family thing, have a headache... bah.

  • 27.10.05

    in memoriam

    Quiet Strength
    «memories of our lives, our works and our deeds will continue in others.» ~rosa parks

    rosa parks, the black woman and complete lady in carriage and demeanour, who quietly sat her ground in a montgomery, alabama bus 01 december 1955, starting the modern US civil rights movement, died 24 october, aged 92.

    quotations of the week

    while events in my life this year seem to support clare boothe luce's statement that no good deed goes unpunished i am grateful to family, some friends, new acquaintances and strangers mindful of æsop's belief that «no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted».

    «dwell in possibility.» ~emily dickinson

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    26.10.05

    who'd noticed?

    boy george did notice and said so... «it's shocking that somebody who has made so much money out of homosexuals is aligned to an organisation that says homosexuality is a disease» referring to Madonna and the Kabbalah.

    source: attitude, vol. 1 no. 132, p.33

    3.10.05

    exporting gmail contacts

    i had found it infuriating that one could import but not EXPORT or back up contacts from gmail. i thought i'd look round again for the solution and the feature has indeed been added/enabled.

    so here's how to export one's gmail contacts list into a csv file.
    1. log in to your gmail account.
    2. click contacts along the left side of any gmail page.
    3. click export in the upper-right corner of the contacts list.
    4. select thedesired format to export contacts' information.
      • gmail csv (for import into another gmail account): formats one's contacts' information for easy import it into another gmail account.
        • this option encodes your csv file in unicode/utf-8.

      • outlook csv (for import into outlook clients, including outlook express): formats your contacts' information so you can easily import it into various versions of microsoft outlook.
        • this option encodes your csv file based on your language preferences, since outlook doesn't accept unicode files. when you import your contacts into outlook, some entries may become garbled if they contain characters that aren't part of your language's character set.

    5. click export contacts'
    6. select a location to save your file, and click 'ok.'
    depending on the requirements of the programme to which you're importing the contacts, one can easily edit the gmail csv to fit one's needs.

    1.10.05

    carmen - a translated synopsis

    here's a synopsis in «english» of the opera carmen, as it appeared in the programme for a recent performance in genoa, italy:

    "act 1. carmen is a cigarmakeress from a tobago factory who loves with don jose (duet: "talk me of my mother"). there is a noise inside the tobago factory and the revolting cigar-makeresses burst into the stage. carmen is arrested and don jose is ordered to mounting guard her but carmen subduces him and lets her escape.

    "act 2. the tavern. carmen, frasquito, mercedes, zuiniga, morales. carmen's aria ("the sistrums are tinkling"). enter escamillio, a balls-fighter. enter two smuglers (duet: "we have in mind a business") but carmen refuses to penetrate because don jose has liberated her from prison. he just now arrives (aria: "slop, here who comes") but here are the bugles singing his retreat. don jose will leave and draws his sword. called by carmen's shrieks the two smuglers interfere with her but don jose is bound to dessert, he will follow into them (final chorus: "opening sky wandering life").

    "act 3. a rocky landscape, the smugler's shelter. carmen sees her death in cards and don jose makes a date with carmen for the next balls fight.

    "act 4. a place in seville. procession of balls-fighters, the roaring of the balls is heared in the arena. escamillio enters (aria and chorus: "toreador, toreador, all hail the balls of a toreador"). enter don jose (aria: "i do not threaten, i besooch you") but carmen repels him wants to join with escamillio now chaired by the crowd. don jose stabbs her (aria: "oh rupture, rupture, you may arrest me. i did kill her") he sings "oh my beautiful carmen, my subductive carmen."


    funny? rather! well, until one realises that somewhere there's a homeless and destitute professional interpreter and translator that could have done the job properly...

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