Archive for January, 2006
I noticed this on the plane to Zagreb. The cloud cover just beneath us seemed to have this strange colour pattern that was tracking the plane, so I took a picture. The first is the original, the second is a zoom to the feature.
I can’t decide whether this is caused by light diffracting through the density fluctuation caused by the aircraft and/or its engines, or if its something else entirely. The sun was directly behind the camera, so its definitely not lense flare or anything like that…
January 31st, 2006
This book is very funny, if a little close to the bone. The plot is basically a sort of spy thriller and in that respect its not particularly good. The real genius is setting it in the near future where, by European law:
No person shall be prejudiced from employment in any capacity, at any level, by reason of age, race, creed or incompitence.
Rob Grant, one of the guys who wrote Red Dwarf, envisages a world where it is impossible to get anything done, with many Kafka-esque situations of extreme idiocy in feedback mode… He also picks up on the modern tendency to invent “syndromes” and “disorders”. For example: NSS or “Non-Specific Stupidity”, for those people who are stupid, but none of the other syndromes or disorders is applicable. They then get equal opportunities for jobs and promotions, meaning companies have to employ a certain percentage of “stupid” people.
Wonderfully farcical.
January 30th, 2006
I’m currently in Zagreb, Croatia on business, attending a conference about OpenFOAM, a cool toolkit/library to do CFD and other finite volume physics.
The city strikes me as similar to the southern French style, architecturally. I think it looks a lot like Toulouse, but with a hint of Italian.
Its also very, very cold and I’m hoping that I haven’t come down with some sort of illness, because I feel terrible. It might just be dehydration, since the Croatians don’t seem to drink water. Very strong coffee and soft drinks, but not water.
Also, they seem to have trouble with the idea of vegetarianism, but that didn’t really surprise me. Most mediterranean cultures seem to see meat at the “centre” of the meal, so eating nothing but vegetables probably seems very odd from their point-of-view…
However, the (very opulent) hotel has free WiFi, so its not all bad 
January 26th, 2006
Well, Rachel beat me to blogging about this weekend’s farcical attempts by me to put up a coat rack. Nothing particularly difficult, or so I thought. I mean; I’ve grown up in Britain, my Dad can do it and I’ve watched more than one episode of “Home Improvements” , so I must, by rights, be able to drill, hammer and generally DIY stuff, right?
Oh, hang on. “Home Improvements” was the comedy about the guy who was a walking disaster because he used “more power”… *sigh*
January 9th, 2006
There is a saying, “Start as you mean to go on“, which is good to keep in mind at the beginning of a new year. I have resolved that, as I have been meaning to do for ages, I shall actually use this server & domain for email and content, not just this pathetic blog.
And its not just me, the government seems to be getting off on the right foot, too…
Apparently, we’re all being spied on to determine if we’re paying enough Council Tax, we’ll all be arrested for loitering, littering, wearing a hoodie, etc… and, yes, we probably did ask the Greeks to torture those terror suspects. I’ll bet that didn’t take 90 days.
Just for once, I’d like the government to implement one of these crazy satellite schemes and find out that we’re all paying far too much already.
On the other hand, I did like the guy on the BBC Breakfast show saying how John Prescott was the only human being visible from space with the naked eye. Funny. He should have followed up with something about his mum…
January 1st, 2006