Learning new stuff

Famously, I dislike research; equally famously, I love to learn new stuff. (One of these, you understand, is Wurk; the other is the satisfaction of curiosity, of which I have a catload.)

This morning, in the pursuit of New Stuff not unrelated to my last post (see how far I will go into the convolutions of syntax, in order to avoid any suggestion that I have been researching?), I learned that there is a profession called cosmetology, and that "In the United States of America, all states require barbers, cosmetologists, and most other personal appearance workers (with the exception of shampooers) to be licensed". It's the exceptions that prove the rules delightful; but I think we will forswear cosmetologists and keep all such work under the purview of a competent barber. What more or better licence could he want, after all, than the patronage of the Half-Emperor? (Don't say "the other half". I still haven't worked out what this means, but I'm fairly sure there isn't one.)

The cost of cats

There has been a fly in the house today. Between them, the boys have notched up one (1) box of eggs [Mac] and one (1) much-valued china bowl [Barry] in their frankly reckless pursuit of the thing. I would have hung up its trophy head regardless of the expense, but alas: Mac caught me the fly, but he eated it.

I do feel mildly revenged, though. Their tea-tin said "tuna flakes", but it wasn't. "Undifferentiated mush", I would have called it; in a restaurant, I would have sent it back. They're eating it anyway, and I'm sneering at them.