Lastly, I had to add a CAPTCHA to the comments form to get rid of a tide of spam.  Mostly from Russia, it seems, although there are probably enough people who dislike Russians to try to make it look as if all spam comes from the formerly Red Bear.  I don’t think it’s too much of an inconvenience, and I don’t think it’s illegal or unethical.  But I wonder if spam is not protected by free speech?  Or to turn the question around, suppose everyone exercised their right to free speech all the time, to everyone else.  Would it make sense to limit free speech to avoid this cacophony?  Just a random thought, but it seems that there should perhaps be a right to free silence, in addition to free speech.  More accurately, free speech should be based on a “pull”, not a “push” technology.  Or should it?

Secondly, I find that a need a vital new piece of equipment for my home office to continue working here:  a new chair.  I bought my current chair in 2005, so it is only four years old.  About a year ago the handles broke, but in such a way that the chair is still sittable-in.  The other day one of the wheel came off, but that was easily fixed.  Still, a disturbing sign.  Now something else has broken in the “axel” and I’m not sure what it is, but unless I concentrate, I wobble from side to side, as on a ship.  I have nothing against the noble race of seafarers, but I’m not nautically inclined myself and I think I will need to replace it.  Tomorrow, before it falls apart and I break a leg.

Firstly, I have a confession.  While I’m opposed to amateur theft, I have one illegal video that I have downloaded from YouTube: the video for Daniel Powter’s song “Bad Day”.  I really like the song and as soon as iTunes come to South Africa, I’ll buy it.  But in the meantime, there are so many nice ideas in the video that I can’t help commenting.  There is a motif where several very short scenes (such as the guy putting on his shoes) are repeated three times, all with slightly different versions.  There is a also a constant shift from the him/her perspective.  As someone else has remarked, the lyrics are all negative, but the song sounds optimistic, or perhaps it is just the video that makes me think that.  It is an excellent example of storytelling, so have a look if you can find it.  I prefer not to add a link to it here (my sin quota is up), but “daniel powter bad day official music video” should find it.