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Updated: 01/29/04



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dirty snow


Thursday, 29 January, 2004

If anyone ever asks you if you'd rather be in Bermuda or London in January, I can give you a suggestion. Brrrr. They were even predicting snow in London on Wednesday, although I think all we got were a few flurries.

That said, it was even colder at home, and I managed to miss out on the latest round of snow. Or at least I missed out on it *falling*. It's still here and looking decidedly worse for the wear after a couple of days of lying around on the streets.

[As most of us would.]

Aside from being a tad chilly, the trip to London was good. We had pretty much back-to-back meetings for two days, and things seem to go well. I had the chance to catch up with a couple of friends that I wasn't able to see on my last visit - although I did not get the see Keith (and more importantly Edward, William and Jane) this time. And unfortunately, Keith reads the blog from time-to-time, so I received a phone message at my hotel letting me know that I was unsuccessful in my attempt at a stealth visit to his city.

[Next time - I promise.]

Who is David Bradley? Aside from being a computer engineer who is retiring from IBM on Friday, he's also been the answer to a question on "Final Jeopardy" for inventing a program that has saved countless computers from being thrown out of windows:

Meet the inventor of 'CtrlAltDelete'

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, North Carolina (AP) -- David Bradley spent five minutes writing the computer code that has bailed out the world's PC users for decades.

The result was one of the most well-known key combinations around: CtrlAltDelete. It forces obstinate computers to restart when they will no longer follow other commands.

Bradley, 55, is getting a new start of his own. He's retiring Friday after 28.5 years with IBM.

[Thanks, David, and enjoy.]

From the "Well Duh!" files comes this little tidbit:

Authorities have opened an investigation into a 1979 death originally reported as the suicide of a man whose body was found under the floor, wrapped in sheets and burned.

A second autopsy performed on James J. Silver of New Paris raised enough questions to warrant an investigation, said Dave Lindloff, an investigator for the Preble County prosecutor.

Silver is believed to have died April 11, 1979, in his home located 32 miles west of Dayton, near the Indiana state line. Authorities found the body, wrapped in sheets and partially burned, beneath the utility room floor one week later.

Here's the money quote:

Lindloff said authorities should have interviewed more family members.

Hmmmm. He "shot himself" in 1979, burned his own body, wrapped it in sheets and buried it in the utility room, and it's taken them this long to determine that an investigation is in order?

[I'm thinking the police are a little overworked out there in New Paris.]

Quote du jour:

"I have never seen a situation so dismal that a policeman couldn't make it worse."

-- Brendan Behan (1907 - 1973)
Irish poet, dramatist, editor

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