“Yes, that IS an Ice Cream van you hear.”
It snowed in Glasgow today.
And … a half-hour later, it came by again.
Either something is 1) very wrong with the ice-cream van drivers, 2) very wrong with Glaswegians, or 3) the ice cream vans are selling something other than ice cream.
-D & T
In Scotland, Winter … lasts. Two weeks ago we had sunshine, birds singing, and temperatures approaching 50°F / 10°C. Today? Snow. Snow that’s not melting on impact with the ground. Snow that’s sticking. So much for Spring.
We hope that it warms up a bit before F & D come to visit … but we’re advising them to pack long underwear and warm clothing. Their “Spring Break” will mean that they’re visiting Winter like they’ve never experienced it, as they’re from California.
-D & T
Lots of good links from the past couple of weeks. Enjoy, in particular, Anonymous shuts down Westboro Baptist Church site — during a live interview and Why Gas Is So Expensive Today (Hint: It’s Not Libya) – Chris Peterson. Do, also, play the poverty game at PlaySpent – it’s not fun, but it’ll give you a good idea of how the poor in America exist, day to day.
Continue reading “Links”
Another batch of links for you. This batch is heavier on censorship news and freedom of the press type issues, rather than law. Something’s happened with LAW.com‘s Law Technology News Feed, giving me tantalizing headlines but no actual articles. Oh, well.
A few fascinating links in today’s post, not least of which is A Year from a Window in Oslo, Norway. Enjoy!
Continue reading “Links”
Another batch of links for you. Enjoy!
Continue reading “Links”
At the beginning of the year, Glasgow University announced that the Heatherington Research Club would be closed, because they’d accumulated £40,000 of debt and didn’t have any way to pay it back. Well, here it is nearly 6 months later, and the postgraduates have rebelled: they broke into the building last week and have occupied it, serving free coffee and tea, and giving the postgraduates a space in which to congregate once more. It was silly of the University to leave the space unused (D. wished that it could have become postgraduate office space, as there is so very little of that on campus). Now, it’s back to being a postgraduate space … without the membership fees.
This evening D. went to a “Turing Lecture” given by Donald E. Knuth. It was deadly dull (one of the questions was on whether P=nP, and Knuth asked whether anybody wanted the problem explained … and a lone hand extended: one of the university faculty. D. and the rest of the audience could have screamed and chased the man out of the room.), but the man is a legend in computer programming circles. D. admits that he’s been away from the computer science people for long enough to feel uncomfortable at the vast amounts of body hair and all-around geekery present. When nerds want to get a book signed, be afraid. Be very, very afraid.
-D & T
 |
 |
 |
 |
February 7, 2007, found us deep into the renovation of our condo in Benicia, picking out cabinets and fittings. The floors had been torn out and had begun being replaced, the place was in chaos, yet we were honestly thinking that we’d be there forever … or, at least another few years, to enjoy living through all of the dust! D. was working as a technical instructor, teaching people various programming languages. T. was busily writing, trapped in a single room away from the builders. That month also saw us finishing up some interesting knitting projects, such as this yellow hat … which was made for an adult who begged and pleaded with D. to make her one. It’s a baby hat, but she just had to have one for herself.
 |
 |
Two years later (2009) found us living in Glasgow, Scotland, making Tacos. Between the two points, we’d finished the remodel, rented out the condo, sold everything else we owned, and moved to Glasgow. D. had finished another Master’s degree and had embarked on a PhD. A La Carte had been published, and Mare’s War was four months from being released. We were living in a converted church, a block from the largest reference library in Europe, with no idea where we’d be in two years.
Flash forward another two years to today, and the end of the PhD is in sight, we’re contemplating selling everything yet again, and moving … again. And contemplating buying stock in a box company…!
A scientific fact – recently humorously discussed on NPR – is that human beings can’t go from Point A to Point B in a straight line. Unlike birds, with their magnetic senses, blindfolded, a human being makes a staggering line of loops and circles. That has some parallel to how we live our lives. In many ways, not being able to see what’s coming next feels like being blindfolded, but the good news is that even as we’re making crooked loops, we’re circling our goal… and eventually, we end up safely where we started from. We don’t believe we’ll do that geographically, as there will be transportation involved with people who actually can see where they’re going, but we do live in faith that metaphorically, at least, this will work to our advantage. A person walking blindfolded eventually circles and ends up back where they started from, and so we, too, will find our way “home,” where ever that will mean next.
-D & T
If you’ve never had it, we strongly encourage you to try mixing up a cup of blueberries (or blackberries, but you know you’ll spend an hour picking seeds out of your teeth), a generous dollop of Greek yogurt, and topping that with a few tablespoons of brown sugar. Don’t worry about not stirring this very well: it’s all about the contrasts in flavor between fresh, sour, and sweet. It’s also about how the brown sugar melts into the yogurt, but remains sort of gritty.
Truly – this is a favorite in our kitchen, and the early berries — from some warm hothouse far from Britain — were a Spring-to-come treat.
-D & T
So, today’s links are pretty weighty. Do begin with asking yourself, Did a U.S. Government Lab Help Israel Develop Stuxnet? Continue with wondering about The Mass Extinction of Scientists Who Study Species. If you’re still not at all depressed, read about The decline effect and the scientific method.
There are, of course, many MANY other things to read. Enjoy!
Continue reading “Links”
I’ve had some bad flights before, but they’ve been bad for being long, or occupied by obnoxious people, squalling babies, hyperactive children, or other somewhat tolerable things. This morning’s flight to Southampton, for example, was a bit frightening getting underway, because we made such a steep ascent, almost like we were going to do a loop. We didn’t level out until 25,000 feet and we were practically pulling g’s. It was a bit bumpy along the way, but we did eventually head out.
Today’s return flight from Southampton, though, qualifies as the worst flight I’ve ever been on because we had to abort the landing 2 times due to sever wind shear, and wind gusts from between 35 and 56 miles per hour. We were finally told that we had fuel enough for one more shot at it, and if we couldn’t make that landing, we’d have to divert to Aberdeen. The prospect of being diverted to Aberdeen is a fair horror because it’s several hours away by bus, which would have been how they’d have gotten everybody back to Glasgow. But the landings?
The aborted landings were a true horror of flight. The first was aborted at about 10 feet from the ground, the second at several hundred feet from the ground. In both cases, the pilot yanked the plane into a high ascent (think, better than 45°), powered the engines to a high whine, and said nothing until we’d climbed back to altitude to circle around for another try. You’d think that the first one would have been worse than the second, because we knew something of what was possible. Not so: the second was worse, because we’d all had time to worry about what might possibly happen. By the time we were circling for the third attempt, people were vomiting, and those who weren’t were either cursing, whimpering, or very quiet.
There weren’t even any bumps on the third attempt, except for the very definite jolt of the aircraft as the pilot sought to get us firmly upon the ground.
So, I made it home, after a fairly successful business day, and am supremely grateful that it’s over.
(T. adds, Thank God.)
-D