When it’s not work, it’s catching up with the news, checking my calendar, writing my journal, playing games, shopping, writing my todo lists, looking at photos, watching youtube, etc, etc.

The good news is that being tied to a computer is now changing – I’m finding the more casual surfing tasks which are usually leisure based rather than productivity based are now more pleasant to do on the iPad on the sofa or in bed.

Do you live to work or work to live? Luckily the question is moot for me because my work is programming and programming (or more accurately, problem solving) is my calling. From “The Happiness Hypothesis” by Jonathan Haidt (which I haven’t read):

Most people approach their work in one of three ways: as a job, a career, or a calling.

• If you see your work as a job, you do it only for the money, you look at the clock frequently while dreaming about the weekend ahead, and you probably pursue hobbies, which satisfy your effectance needs more thoroughly than does your work.
• If you see your work as a career, you have larger goals of advancement, promotion, and prestige.
• If you see your work as a calling, however, you find your work intrinsically fulfilling you are not doing it to achieve something else. You see your work as contributing to the greater good or as playing a role in some larger enterprise the worth of which seems obvious to you. You have frequent experiences of flow during the work day, and you neither look forward to “quitting time” nor feel the desire to shout, “Thank God it’s Friday!” You would continue to work, perhaps even without pay, if you suddenly became very wealthy.

If I suddenly became very wealthy, I would definitely continue to program.

I was most excited about the carrots but we ended up with vegetarian veal:

Answers are at flavorwire.com. My favourite renditions are The Scream (Eduard Munch), Portrait of Dora Maar (Pablo Picasso) and Las Meninas (Diego Velázquez). Thanks goes to Rodrigo for sharing this song with me.

Bonus music video for “best marching band”:

Why? What’s so bad about the Digital Economy Act? My objection to this law is that it gives corporations the power to ban a entire household from the internet and I feel very strongly that everyone should have the right to be online. I would go so far as to say, for me, life without the internet wouldn’t be worth living. Just because someone in the household has broken some licensing agreements shouldn’t mean they are stopped from all the useful online stuff such as paying for road tax, campaigning for freedom, conducting research, enjoying art, planning travel, etc etc.

Other reason this Act seems unfair to me:

• The Act uses a guilty-until-proven-innocent system.
• The Act will add extra costs on wi-fi providers – meaning less public wi-fi. I had hoped the whole country would be blanketed in wi-fi by now.
• The Act is a threat to sites that permit user-generated content. This is because it has web blocking provisions that let copyright holders get a site taken down for inadvertently hosting a small amount of copyrighted content.

Another fantastic government website is http://www.number10.gov.uk/.

Three whole days without even a single scrap of food entering our bodies, only having water to keep us going.

I’m joining in – it started at 11am:

I ate the following a few minutes before 11am:

• Massive plate of home-made lentil curry.
• Massive bowl of nut based cereal.
• Massive energy drink.
• Some vitamins that were lying around from years ago.

I’m totally stuffed now – let’s see how I am in 72 hours, cold turkey! I’ll probably miss coffee a fair bit too.

Friday, 26th March Update.

Proof! Wii Fit can't lie!

I managed it. The first 30 hours were the hardest then it plateaued and I coped fine. I wasn’t even all that hungry by the end. I was very busy with work so I had a lot to take my mind off being hungry. After the first 24 hours, I had lost 4lbs, then 6lbs, then 4lbs – so I lost 1 stone in total – not that it means anything because I’m sure it’ll just go back on (but I’ll try not to let it).

I expected to feel drained and have trouble sleeping or getting up early, perhaps even stomach cramps but none of that happened, my energy levels were ok, physically.

Apart from feeling hungry, there were some other negative side effects:

• Mild headache started on day 2 and lasted into day 3.
• My brain stopped firing on all cylinders part way through day 2
• Upset stomach started on day 3.
• Aching carve muscles started on day 3.
• Felt a bit “away with the fairys” from day 3 – not dizzy but not quite right.

Google is trying to teach me to suck eggs. They obviously know what Operating system I’m using so I thought they would be clever enough to detect what browser I’m using and serve me something more targeted? What scares me more is that I suspect they are actually paying someone for me to see that advert.

A friend of mine is planning to write 52 songs in a year.

It sounds extremely challenging but I love the first three. He’s releasing them under a copyleft license.

Go for it Rob!

Yes – I went outside bare foot in the snow. I saw the cat catch a Robin in the garden and rushed to the rescue. The nice thing about working from home is that you don’t need to wear any shoes.

There was one particular shot he had been trying to get for the last 2 years – and he finally did it:

Good one, Doug!