2002-10-18 14:52 (UTC+1)
�l streik, indeed!
Invade Norway?
Good idea!
Labeling the Oslo-based Nobel Prize Committee a "terrorist front
organization," the Bush Administration is now weighing the option of
invading Norway, insiders say. A resolution of support is likely to be
presented to Congress immediately following the November recess.
"Naming Jimmy Carter as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize instead of
President Bush has created a strong internal shift toward military
action," we were told. "It totally ignores the achievement of
President Bushs new policy of peace through the obliteration of
potential enemies."
Not only are they stock-piling whale blubber, they persistently refuse
to join the EU. When you're dealing with an administration which will
stop at nothing - not even a preemptive �l streik against their
own people - surely regime-change is the only answer.
2002-10-18 10:45 (UTC+1)
Networking notworking
Or it wasn't when I got in. I hate that, and now I'm behind
schedule.
Anyway. In Swedish class we have to do a geography project.
(Language study beyond a certain point requires things to talk about:
A-level French in the UK is idiot-level sociology of France discussed
in French. University-level study seems to be divided between Forren
with Literature and Forren with Stuff Likely To Be On The EUs
Bureaucrat Entrance Exam. Why everyone can't stick to beer,
princesses and linguistics - not necessarily in that order - I don't
know.)
Anyway. I hated geography at school, and I've never seen any reason
to revise that opinion, so I've been somewhat in Rebel Mode (the
mildest possible setting, of course) about all this, so in order to
demonstrate a general knowledge of a country (or region) in which
the target language is used I said I'd do Finland. Swedish is an
official language there, of course, albeit a minority one, and the
only flavour of geography I am known to like is geolinguistics, up
which's street this is right. [grammer.]
Anyway. The only other thing I know is that I'm going to include a 3D
pie-chart in my presentation, and that most people won't guess that
this is intended sarcastically.
2002-10-17 13:13 (UTC+1)
It's beginning to look a lot like Eurovision...
Next year, Iceland will be back in the Eurovision song contest, after
the mandatory year out they earned by coming last in Shoppingharbour
'01.
Excitement
is mounting. (I've considered the Icelandic Daily News a
necessary daily ritual since long before they made me register, NYT
marketroids will weep to hear.)
Did you know that in Sveden the pre-contest contest is more popular
than the contest contest itself? (I more-or-less did, thanks to
Aftonbladet's saturation coverage last year.)
If you have a song in Icelandic that has never been performed
publically and is less than 3 minutes long - and I think we all do,
deep down, don't we? - the R�V wants to hear from you by the 18th of
November.
2002-10-17 09:26 (UTC+1)
EC's cheese freeze: Greece pleased
[Doh! The BBC reports
that]
The European Commission has decided that only cheese made in Greece
can now be sold under the name of feta.
[...]
The decision gives it the same kind of protection as Italian
parma ham, French champagne, Ardennes ham or Newcastle Brown Ale.
Why Newcastle Brown Ale has to be produced in Greece is beyond me, but
I'm sure the EC knows best. When are they going to introduce the
(much-needed, especially in this country) regulations that chocolate
must contain at least 70% cocoa solids and that pork (f'rinst)
sausages should be mostly made out of pork, though? I'd buy that for
a Euro...
2002-10-16 10:52 (UTC+1)
V�lja val!
My DesCo Prose-Generator module seems to be on the blink. While I'm
waiting for qualified service personnel, here's a couple of links
(of links, I tell you) about whaling.
Iceland's at
it, as are Indigenous Persons:
At the meeting in Cambridge in eastern England, the IWC agreed to
re-instate whaling quotas for the Inupiat and Yupik communities that
fish the Bering Strait between Russia and America.
I would pay good money to see a college student with enviro-veganist
tendencies try to decide whether this is a Good Thing. (I have no
idea, myself.)
And, of course, Norway never
really stopped.
Both stories are illustrated with photos of whales, yum yum, in
varying states of disrepair. It occurs to me by contrast that stories
about cows, yum yum, are seldom illustrated with abbatoir shots.
2002-10-16 10:23
Mechanically-reclaimed meat products
"Thinking meat! You're asking me to believe in thinking meat!"
"Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The
meat is the whole deal! Are you beginning to get the picture or do I
have to start all over?"
This world-renowned SF
micro-story has
been reclaimed by its rightful
owner.
Read it to understand why people who refuse to accept the possibility
of Artificial Intelligence are known as Meatists, and taunted with the
slogan "Why meat?".
2002-10-15 13:38 (UTC+1)
Bo Bonanza
Well, bonanzette, then.
2002-10-15 10:16 (UTC+1)
Undroughtedly
It rained all night and most of this morning. I had to wear my
great-coat in to work on account of it, but that's OK, I quite like
the rain.
Equally welcome and overdue is this story on Madeleine's
mentor. Inget l�tt jobb, indeed.
2002-10-14 17:37
Advice.
Whenever things get vague make yourself a concrete example.
This Teaching Seminar thing involves audience participation, and lots
of it. There were lots of people there this (first) time, we'll see
how many come back for more. I would have to even if I didn't want
to, but I do want to.
Incidentally, Lyapunov, Liapunov or (horrors) Liapounoff (which is
French, of course)? It's the new Chebyshev!
2002-10-14 14:05
Ah, Mr Kolmogorov, we meet again.
This year's post-graduate lectures started today. I went, because KAM
theory is one of those things I Ought To Know (but don't). I've done
mechanics from a Hamiltonian point of view (well, it was over ten
years ago and I was fed up with physics and usually hung-over, but I
sat through some lectures) and I've done Dynamical Systems theory (6
years ago, and I was paying attention), but I've never seen them put
together the way they're clearly meant to go.
Let's make this the year that I find out what it is that I do, shall
we? My boss's new Teaching and Learning Seminar (as opposed to the
more usual Being Bored Shitless Seminar by someone with a pile of
overheads of which you stand a one in ten chance of understanding the
third) is at four this afternoon, so it's not as if I'm lacking in
opportunities to learn. I just hope my brain doesn't explode.
2002-10-14 09:29
Zzzzzz
I spent pretty much all of yesterday asleep or dozing, listening to
the rain against the windows. A day well spent, I'm sure you'll agree.
Which tangentially reminds me. When I was first learning Swedish I
was told there was no "z" sound in the language. So, naturally, I
asked what sound Swedish bees make (ours go "Zzzzzzzzz", which is also
used to denote snoring: hence the link). They can't go "Sssssssssss",
obviously: that's reserved for snakes. I received, I am afraid to say, no
satisfactory reply.
Help me, InterWebNet, you're my only hope!
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