"Quick, somebody, distract him with a horse."

I'm back at work today, still a little giddy and breathless, but in desperate need of catching up, so we'll see how we go.

But that's not what I'm posting to tell you. Actually, this is mainly for xparrot, naye and gnine, as well as other Man from UNCLE folks out there.

Solo behind the Iron Curtain

I really hope you guys can stream BBC Radio 4! Summary:

Tracy Spottiswoode's thriller is based on real events in 1968.

Actor Robert Vaughn, famous at the time as TV spy Napoleon Solo, is making a movie in Prague with several other Hollywood stars. Filming stops abruptly, however, when Russian tanks roll into Czechoslovakia. Cast and crew find themselves trapped. The Man from UNCLE must find a way to escape, and quickly.

Starring Robert Vaughan as himself (and in an awesome picture at the website, but that's by the by). I haven't listened yet, so it could be awful, but I wanted to flag it up before it disappears. According to the site, there are 5 days left to listen. Enjoy!

I so need to get out more

I am a bad, bad person, and for this year's bringthehappy I seriously want to make people go here to get their plots.

Mwahahahahahahahahahahahaha*cough*

Okay. I'm invoicing. Honest

The law of unintended consequences

Normally I'd save this for my linkspam, but it amused me too much, and knowing the internet, it will all be over in a few hours.

Newsflash: Oprah breaks libraries!

The short version of the story: Oprah recommended a website for getting a coupon for free grilled chicken at KFC. People who don't have a computer/printer at home (or who don't have a home - the homeless are big library users) use the library to print the coupon.

CHAOS ENSUES.

Yes, really

Really really

And of course Twitter folks have their own take on the whole thing

And it's all fun and games until somebody loses their privacy (this part makes things particularly difficult for libraries. Trust me, downloading software onto our PCs is NOT going to happen...)

Fortunately, the cartoonists are already on top of things

ETA (because when I don't say things that make me cross, I just get crosser): I've seen 3 types of comment on this.

#1. From librarians who've been tearing their hair out/struggling with this/found a way round it/not had too many problems. They know what they're talking about, and are sympathetic to those who are stressed and/or immensely relieved that they haven't had these problems.

#2. From librarians who haven't had these problems and are saying it's 'non front-line librarians' who are making a big fuss about nothing. Good for them that they haven't had any problems. By the sound of what other people are saying, they've been lucky. No, seriously, other people are having problems. Just because you didn't, doesn't mean they're not allowed to be frustrated at the long queues and endless technical difficulties.

#3. From non-librarians saying that librarians are making a fuss about nothing. I invite them to take over the job for a day, on a day like that again. Public librarians can and do handle all kinds of truly ridiculous and SOBAR* situations every day. If they're saying this was bad, it was bad.

As you can imagine, one of these things is not like the others, and is not doing bad things to my blood pressure.

ETA2: As donutsweeper just reminded me, there were serious problems at the KFCs as well. Shockingly, with a recession on, when you give away free food, people take you up on it...

*Stressed Out Beyond All Recognition. The version of FUBAR that you can explain to your mother