Day: 30 August 2026

Weeknotes #188: latches and legends

Recovery, DIY success, musical memories, pub drinks and lovely lunches.

Week commencing Monday, 24 August 2026

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 3/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 4/7. (52%). Morning walks: 0/4. Office days: 1/5. Total steps: 41,876. 22.2 hours in meetings.

Life

  • PY was really not well at the start of the week, but thankfully recovered by the end.
  • Success: I fitted a new latch on the door, and it worked!
  • On Tuesday, after Tai Chi, I looked at the news and saw that Dolly Parton had died. So many people have such lovely stories about her kindness that I think her death will really leave a hole in the music industry. One of the things she exemplified was generosity: a good spirit wrapped up in a ball of fun.
  • Also, Tim Curry, the actor known for playing Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, had died. Very sad.
  • On Thursday, they’d rearranged the outdoor seating at the White Horse, adding more seats and extending the area where people were allowed to stand. Although it was quite busy, when I went inside to buy the first round, the pub was empty, but many of the tables had reservations. Standing outside is the new inside.
  • On Saturday, to Lucky Cat on the 60th floor of 22 Bishopsgate. The views are impressive, even on a dull Saturday lunchtime. Brunch was also delicious.
  • On Sunday, a tasty lunch with friends.

Media

Cookie Me

So DoubleClick are going to be more open about cookies and all that they are tracking. According to DoubleClick’s press release:

DoubleClick is to be commended for its cooperation in setting an industry standard for promoting consumer privacy in the data collection and tracking taking place across networked websites,” said New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

[release]

The issue of cookies – especially in relation to online advertising – seems to worry some people into thinking they are being spied on (as if those big satellites can’t see what you’re doing anyway). It seems that, in the US, people go to court over them. Given that I’ve been working in the online advertising business for nearly seven years (has there been an online ad business that long?), I think I am supposed to have an opinion on this hot potato. Except, I don’t think I do (at least as long as we can use cookies, I don’t have an opinion, which I guess means I do have an opinion). Cookies are not evil, and as companies like DoubleClick must have millions of cookies in their databases, I am sure my online activity is not of sufficient interest for anybody to try to find out where I have been. Most people are pretty good and don’t store personally identifiable information, and even if they do, I could just wipe my cookie files and start again to stop being tracked. So, all I really want to say is that there is nothing wrong with cookies. Cookies are useful. People who hold data on me should abide by the Data Protection Act, which seems sufficient for every other piece of information that is being held about me, so why is everybody so worked up about these little bits of data? Agghh!!