Thursday 2 May 2002

Pic of the day: It's still spring, though! More and more!

Short

My hand improved yesterday, but not today, as I was back to work. This is just stupid. I'm not living in America, where you might get the boot if you take a few days sick leave. In truth, the main thing that keeps me from doing that is that I don't want my doctor to know where I work. Anyway, treatment of my arm is scheduled to start Monday afternoon. Some ultrasound and stuff. I don't really know what to expect. But I hope it helps.

***

I found a nifty book in the used book store, collecting stupid quotes from the papers. It is all in Norwegian and probably dates from the fifties sometime, though there is no mention of publication date anywhere in the book. I'm sure similar stupidities are committed to print today, though I suspect the Flynn Effect has helped somewhat over the course of a couple generations. Some of it is almost hard to believe.

"Many are those who today wake from a sleepless night." "Wood is like the woman, says architect Kollerud. It expands when heated." "Last week for instance according to Skagerakfish there was caught 15000 kg boiled shrimp ..." "Nobody lays flowers on an engineer's grave until after his death." "It was the first time the abductee was killed." "We are a single couple and lack a flat, preferably at once. Who will help us? My wife is newly married ..." "All illegal hunting and trapping on the property is prohibited."

I guess being amused by other people's poor verbal skills is not very different from laughing at people who slip on the ice, but it feels a lot more innocent. I tend to subscribe to the old verse: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me". But that's not quite true, is it? Words can hurt, even kill.

But right now they are killing my wrist.