Dave has put us in for a green computing award. Top prize is a long-distance flight to see polar bears drowning in the Arctic ocean.
I discover one of the judges drives a 3.5 litre 4x4 and has a plasma television. Must be worth his vote not to let on to the others.
We are having fun helping Fully Cannery and her Literary Society develop a website for the forthcoming Bogcaster Festval.
Her objective is to create an interactive events programme that allows book-type people to buy tickets online.
Ours is to sneak in as many spelling mistakes, grammatical howlers and inappropriate apostophe's (see what I did there?) as possible.
Dave reports that the datacentre energy utilisation is running at just over a third of what it was last year.
Full office lighting can now be restored, although in some offices a vote is taken and dark-working continues.
I am not sure if this is because the darkness has been found to encourage intimacy or that the staff are sick to the back teeth of having to look at their great fat ugly colleagues. Certainly it must be either one or the other.
Took a trip over to see George Swislestick at Noneaten and Bedwetting Borough Council.
The word is the old fox is retiring sometime soon. Something about starting a Polish bakery.
Anyway, over a pint or six and a pie, he was bemoaning the state of the local government IT business. No sooner does he buy a new software system than the company he bought it from gets taken over by the one he swore he would never have on the premises.
The new, fully virtualised green computer suite is finally online. This is a big relief as during the parallel running we were using so much juice that we had to go around the building turning off computers, lights and air conditioners.
The resulting combination of boredom, dark and heat led to some interesting consequences.
The current count is eight new affairs, three divorce proceedings and one dismisaal for gross misconduct.
I knew those infrared cameras would come in handy eventually. It's surprising what people will do not to have my snaps of them posted on FaceLook. Two Housing Deparment officers spent last weekend sorting out my garden, I have a year's supply of home-baked fruit cake in the freezer and use of a holiday cottage in Cornwall whenever I need it.
Mavis is organising a Computer Olympics to complement that business going on in China. Nothing too strenuous you understand.
Medal events include: writing a programme to solve a simple maths test - seven sections here, one each for the different compilers we have to hand; commissioning the PC (includes removing from the box, assembling, delivery, and getting a real user to sign for it - current world record time 18 seconds); best webcam footage; worst Facebook site; least plausible excuse for late delivery accepted by a user; and, of course, the blue ribbon event, marathon drinking of pints of Hobsons in The Flea and Faceache (with points being awarded for both quanity and final stability).
As Dave says, it can't be a recession because we are still not getting applicants for the vacant DBA job.
"Recession? What recession?" The important thing is for influential people, like Computer Weekly columnists, to act responsibly and stop talking things down all the time.
Our having nothing to fear except... what was it now... oh yes, losing our jobs, the house being repossessed, pension wiped out, savings lost in a bank crash, global warming, bird flu, the Toies getting back into power, nuclear war, food shortages, another new Sequin Splendour release from Microshaft.
I went to the local BCS meeting this evening - well, I don't go to the kirk much, so this is the only way I can feel like one of the younger ones, relatively that is.
I am being a little unfair, I suppose. Actually, we do get a few youngsters at Bogcaster BCS - it is just that they don't tend to come more than once.
Anyway, we were in the "what is wrong with the young of today?" mode of a Daily Mail editorial, discussing the next generation this evening. In particular why the lazy hooilgans are not taking IT at A Level. Some thought it was because it was too difficult, but I think it is in fact the very reverse.
Let's face it, any kid who has grown up net-savvy is going to know more about IT than anyone they are likely to meet this side of a whiteboard.
Bright kids drop out of A-Level IT, or have the sense not to do it in the first place, beaause all they are asked to do is write essays describing different types of database. Meantime, they are sitting in front of state-of-the-art desktops they built themselves writing code that can bring down the US defence network.
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