I guess the phrase "mind the first step, it's a doozy" comes to mind."

A Friday, once again? Lickety split, that one, to use a phrase I really don't like. If I had to guess, I'd say 19th century. Duckduckgoing . . . ah. "First attested about 1860, in the US, as a fanciful alteration of lick and the verb split. lick appears to have something to do with animals made to go faster by means of a "lick" of a whip." So there.

Yes, duckduckgoing - took Google off as the default. In the future I'll say "DDGing," I guess. This weekend I move all my archives off Google Drive to elsewhere. The brand is entirely sour to me now. Lie and Spy comes to mind. You do have to wonder how "Don't Be Evil" turned into this. You have to wonder how they defined evil in the first place. You have to wonder if there was an employee whose job review indicated that he had, in the last quarter, been somewhat evil in some instances.

"Soooo . . . going forward, setting goals for Q2, would you say that being 10% less evil would be doable? Would that be a fair metric? You actually chart out at 32% more evil than the norm, so reducing that by 10% would go a long way."

(employee scrunches down in chair, curls his lip; his tail twitches)

"Five percent? I know we've been letting people slide with 3% less evil, but they're in bookkeeping, and 32% year-over-year more evil in your department - SEO tweaking - is not unusual, but we're reeeealy under pressure from upstairs. Tell you what: four percent reduction in the rate of growth of additional evil, AND you find a way to make it look less evil."

Employee squirms down in chair, frowns: "I have anxiety and this is making me feel judged."

"I apologize, Mr. Smith. If we -"

"Legion."

"What?"

"My name is Legion. I changed it. You misnomered me. How about you give me a 100 satisfaction review and I go back to coding and don't stop at HR on the way."

"Well, it's not in your file that you changed your name."

"You're supposed to ask."

"Every time?"

"Yes. So you know who I'm identifying with today."

"Okay, well, I apologize, Mr. Legion. Shall we -"

"That's not who I am any more."

"And who are you?"

"You couldn't pronounce it. Are we done?" (Stands up, bends over, scuttles out of the room on four limbs)

I will still use Google Street View, just as I occasionally use other products from companies that gave me a sour feeling. But what were once defaults are now options. That's all.

Anyway: good week, productive week, and I usually don't say this often, but it's over too soon. I'm already pregirding for Monday.

Meeting people for drinks before a speech at the Sheridan Hotel in New York. Old 20s-style place, ornate. I went to the dining room used for quick meals - noisy, stenciled art on the wall - and saw through a window in a door that the people I knew were in another part of the cafe. Couldn’t go through the door, since it was for staff only.

Eventually made my way over there, and joined a group of people who were already in progress. I tried to gin up some comraderie but it didn’t work well, as everyone seemed in a desultory mood.

The most notable thing about the day was the presence of three fish-like parasites, subcutaneous, whose eyes lit up when you pressed them. I thought at first these were welts, but no, they were fish. I was relieved upon waking to see they did not exist.

And now, a related feature that will provide some Friday amusements:

This week I was dabbling with more office lobby interiors, as you've seen.

A Sixties rendition, with the ceiling lights:

Again. It's not inconceivable you'd find this in New York.

We're going to run out soon. You know that, don't you. I think we're already on the second go-round.

Then again, do you remember the answer to all of them? This one you might get right away, but do you know if it's a repeat or it was a repeated idea when it ran?

"Aren't what? They're wrong?"

"They're right. The idea that their were being unduly is wrong."

Your very obvious answer is here.

And that's it for Fridays! Ha ha kidding, of course it's not.

Last year I cut out the tunes, but heck, why not bring them back. We'll be counting down the bottom 50 songs as listed by Whitburn. It'll be fun! Stuff you've never heard. A grab-bag of styles.

Mind you, we're working up from the bottom.

Another follow-up - in this case, a sequel to "Rebel Rouser."

This came out four years after Rebel Rouser. An eternity in pop music.

Now we're done. Thanks for your visit, and I'll see you Monday!