[verse]
Dark and gloomy, Boxes looming.
Where's the cow? Is this even a mine?
There are blocks to hop on, and a path you can follow.
But the cow with his pickaxe is still lost in the mine.

[chorus]
Down, darker, deeper in a world full of boxes.
Following a path where he hopes there's no foxes.
He holds up a lantern, but it's not quite enough,
To see all of the blocks that are out in the rough.

[verse]
"Where am I?" he moos to himself in the darkness.
"I'm lost again, aren't I", he's feeling the stress.
The glow of the lantern helps guide him along,
But it's sometimes too dark, and he finds he's gone wrong.

-=-=-

[chorus]
Down, darker, deeper in a world full of boxes.
Following a path where he hopes there's no foxes.
He holds up a lantern, but it's not quite enough,
To see all of the blocks that are out in the rough.

[bridge]
The cow is scared. The world is dark.
He hopes his lantern won't cut out.
The mineshaft wraps around his mind,
With no way out that he can find.
The darkest world, the blackest night.
No path is wrong, though none seem right.
He'll choose a path both strong and clear,
And hope that there's a way out, near.

-=-=-

[chorus]
Down, darker, deeper in a world full of boxes.
Following a path where he hopes there's no foxes.
He holds up a lantern, but it's not quite enough,
To see all of the blocks that are out in the rough.

JNKCE20250221

What the Bubble?

Int. Dave's Study - Morning

[Dave is watching the latest Microsoft video about their "Quantum" chip, Majorana 1 YouTube Link ]

Dave: Look.
Green: Yes, it's quite impressive technology from the looks of things.
Dave: Yeah, but look.

[The video focuses on the chip's capability to work beyond the limits of binary]

Dave: That's what I did with Colanary. That's literally what I've been doing the past few months.
Green: I mean. It kinda is, but I'm fairly sure that Microsoft have worked at it a little more than plugging a coke bottle into a computer!
Dave: It is, though, isn't it? It's the same.
Green: I don't think you should be relating quantum computing to fizzy pop!
Dave: But look what happens in the video, though.

[Dave skips ahead to a bit of the video where the data of the chip is being presented as a series of floating bubbles on the screen.]

Dave: There.. Right there.. Look at that.
Green: ...
Dave: That's my Effervescent Engine. That's it, right there. They've pinched my idea!
Green: Well. I'll admit, that does look rather a lot like your house looked a few days ago.
Dave: I bet Bill pinched it. I reckon Matt told him about my awesome fractals, and he's wholesale nabbed the whole thing.
Green: Come now, Dave. He wouldn't have done that.
Dave: I bet he did. He ran off to Microsoft HQ, told them all about my Colanary methodology, and my Effervescent Engine, and they smushed it all into a little chip.
Green: You're sounding ridiculously paranoid right now..
Dave: It probably doesn't even need Sodastream carbonation cylinders to keep it all fizzy. They're probably using magical Microsoft jiggery pokery.
Green: I can see your point, though, Dave. It's the bubbles in the video. It's very very bubbly.
Dave: Right?

[Green scratches his head, thinking.. Knowing that this can't possibly be the way things have happened, but is also somewhat perturbed about how very much like the Effervescent Engine the video looks]

Dave: You think the patent would help?
Green: Probably not. It's all about valves and things, whereas this is a fully functioning chip.
Dave: Bugger.

[End credits as Dave replays the video for what must be the 80th time, this morning.]