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The weekend was stellar. I´ll probably drone on about it later. First, though, a couple of interesting news items - at the end of this year Britain will finally finish paying off our war loans from the US, and the High Court has said that the Chagos islanders can go home. Result! (Or, at least, Result! pending the inevitable appeal). Oh, and HMG´s finally calling for the Guantanamo camp to be closed. Not going to happen, but nice to hear it said.

While I´m here, does anyone know how to turn off dead keys (the method of mapping extra characters to a standard keyboard rather than any other use of the phrase) under debian (etch, gnome)? I be grateful. It´s annoying me.

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No clue about dead keys, but....I don't suppose you've misplaced some paper plates, have you? Because you're the only person we can think of who's been in our car in teh past...long, long time...and...yeah. Paper plates. We're very confused.

HMG´s finally calling for the Guantanamo camp to be closed. Not going to happen, but nice to hear it said.

I find that more infuriating, tbh, as nothing will happen and everything will feel all the more futile. Or is that just my little dark cloud growing chin straps?

Paper plates. We're very confused.

Guilty as charged, m´lud.

Right, I sentence you to two nights listening to love ballads sung by Jimmy the drunken Weegie Haggis, including such favourites as 'that creepy Lionel Ritchie song where he sings to a blind chick', "Everything I Do I Do It For You" and "Love Is All Around"!

Um. Do you want those back? We can post them.... or would you rather we chuck (recycle?) them.

They weren´t mine in the first place. Plates -> recycle.

It could be worse several years ago I was passed on the street by some students collecting for rag week - they were, in return for sponsorship, spending 24 continuous hours listening to ¨The return of the mack¨.

....you stole paper plates!? ;P

Ok, will recycle them or attempt to put them to good use. Or something.

Brave students! But was everythign sung in a fake Glasweigan accent? Aha, I bet it wasn't! He burps, too.

They were left at my place at a previous party.

Ah, ok. And - just because I'm kind of curious now - how did they end up in our car? Did we steal your plates?

btw - how was the drive home? Is all well?

The drive back was fine, yes, although the rain was ferocious in Bedfordshire .

I had the plates with me because I was meaning to take them to be used . . . but I left them behind.

MEh, we can save them for our next party or something, I guess. I always get plastic cups and whatnot for parties.

It did rain a lot the day you left. What way do you take to Edinburgh, btw? Is it shorter than the M1/M6/A31 (32?) route?

And! Have you had the chance to listen to the cds I gave you? I'm curious! Also, bored (if you hadn't noticed) at work.

I went onto the Holloway Road and turned left. It goes straight to Edinburgh, in about eight hours including a meal break.

I haven´t listened to the CDs yet. Must do so, though. Just not immediately, as I have to go out shortly.

WIth your speedometer under three digits? COol. I commented that it seemed utterly stupid to go and get the M6 up the west side of the country only to have to take another road to go back east. Hm. I shall mention this.

Let me know when you've had a listen and what you think n' all that!

I have to admit I was trying to figure out what the *hell* you were doing driving through Lancashire on a London-Edinburgh road trip, and decided that you didn't really mean "Lancashire" but rather "somewhere up north".

No, we meant Lancashire. And Cumbria.

Muffin is very prehistoric with directions sometimes.

It does seem logical to stick to motorways as much as possible over that sort of distance, so on paper the M1/M6 looks like the obvious route. To East central Scotland, though, I tend to use the A1. It's a pretty good road, and makes up in directness what it loses by not being entirely motorway-standard.

I always wondered whey they didn't just continue the M1 up there...is the A1 a continuation of the old Roman road?

And yes, it is direct. I thought it was stupid to go north, west, north, east.

re Guantanamo it is nice to see it said. On the other hand, Blair has just appointed as home secretary someone who thinks that the solution to problems with policies breaking international law is not to change the policies but change the law so that whatever malfeasance is required would be legal, so there's a bit of a mixed message there.

Soph

No change there, then. Intellectual consistency was never his strong suit.

Does Goldsmith saying it count as HMG saying it?

More or less, I´d have thought. I wouldn´t expect him to say something that sweeping in public without checking with the PM and cabinet.

I think it's more like the government muttering it quietly in a slightly embarrassed way rather than actually saying it. But they should be bloody shouting it through a megaphone.

Desktop -> Preferences -> Keyboard

(might be Programs -> Settings -> Keyboard on some installs)

Select the 'Layouts' tab. Add the 'United Kingdom -> International' layout, and set it as the default. Then remove the 'United Kingdom -> International (with dead keys)' layout.

That´s my problem. There is no International, only International (with dead keys). Is there a file I can grab elsewhere, and if so where do I put it?

I'm bloody appalled that the govt introduced a new order in 2000. It was a crass and evil act in the 60s when we had different standards for such things. Nowadays... what on earth is motivating them? I wonder on the terms of "the agreement between the UK and the US under which each side has a veto on who should live in the whole Chagos archipelago." (from the BBC coverage)

Have a look at the full judgement. Crass and evil have not gone away, which is quite incredible given Cook's acceptance of the verdict in the main case.

I know the solicitor, who's been fighting this for years.

Oh... under Ubuntu (debian based) the dead keys are turned off by selecting a keyboard map without them. I think it's under keyboard in the administrator menu. (Assuming you are using gnome). Etch, of course, may be different.

Yes, but you still owe me five quid, and I'll be holding on to that grudge for eons to come.

;)

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