While the FM-switches and the green-light digits keep in touch with the world outside

[venta]

Well, I promised trivia from The Calendar, and here's the first bit. It's not relevant to anything but it interested me.

Schott's Calendar seems to provide a random burst of information each day, coupled with a note of something completely unconnected which happened on this day in another year. Today it offers me a list of 70s Christmas number ones, and tells me that the first international distress call (CQD) was established in 1904 on Jan 7th.

I'd never heard of CQD before, but found this page on Wikipedia about it. It suggests CQD stood for nothing, but was developed from the radio operators' habit of using CQ to mean "seek you" - so CQD was "Seek You, Danger". Nice to see that applications like ICQ are still sticking to century-old traditions.

My only gripe so far with this calendar is that it doesn't have the day of the week on it, thus leaving me permanently slightly unsure whether I've ripped off the correct number of days, and whether it really is the 7th of January today. The daily trivia is otherwise delightful - and there's something very debonaire about writing one's shopping list on the back of a page listing the horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Comments

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

I will admit that at least one motivation for that comment was to get you to repeat your advice of last night somewhere where I stood a chance of remembering it...

[triskellian]

I have a currently-surplus-to-requirements Palm, which I think is a Zire, which I could chuck you in exchange for some Earth pounds. It has Minesweeper ;-)

Um. I'd need to find it first, though...

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yay! My journal is the new ebay :)

I'm willing to offer neutral territory in which all parties may exchange goods/payment. And have tea and biscuits.

Though mostly because I haven't seen you in a while and it seems like a good excuse.

[triskellian]

So what you're saying is, I can palm my Palm* off onto lanfykins without either driving into the wilds of South Oxfordshire or tidying my house enough to make it fit for visitors, and you'll provide tea and biscuits? This plan has no downsides!

Although I'm not sure how much I believe in your existence outside of LJ, The Far North and various gig venues... I know you claim to live in Oxford, but I'm not convinced ;-)

*Somebody please shoot me now.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I suspect the schedule which makes this meeting difficult might actually be lanfykins', not mine :)

I'm currently involved in complex negotiations to get half a dozen busy people to meet up in the next couple of weeks, so am trying to keep as many days un-booked as possible. Once that's sorted, I'll offer you a range of days for escrow and tea.

And dammit, if Lanfykins doesn't want to buy, come round for tea anyway ;)

[triskellian]

Oh, since you twisted my arm... ;-)

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Ah, but if I have a diary you can book me in advance!

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Approximately how many earth pounds...? :)

[triskellian]

Umm... fifteen of them?

Disclaimers: I need to find the thing, and then to confirm once and for all if smiorgan wants it (unlikely cos I think the only thing it does that his ipod doesn't is play Minesweeper ;-) I've also got a red leather case for it, if you're interested?

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

That seems like a reasonable number of earth pounds to me :)