Food for thought... ... or I just need to clear out all the stuff I've been putting as "starred" on my GoogleReader. Yep, that's how I keep track of things I should one day mention here so then when I have to find a link again I can wade through thousands of my own posts rather than google it up. It makes sense! (in my head)
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Sometimes you really have to wonder how these things fly. Actually I think that the more you know about air planes, the more you wonder just how in the world don't 50% of them, at least, crash. I remember one class back in school, it was about materials, I can't remember just what the topic was exactly but I remember learning about the fact that there are some cracks that appear right away and they're actually really useful because they indicate visually if the plane is still good to go or not. They're the ones who, partially, make sure that the whole system is safe... but I bet a lot of people would feel safer flying in a plane with a pristine surface than a cracked one. ( +2 - catching up with the moon, or was it the other way around? ) In other news, some things can always be expected. Just as you can be pretty sure that the local commuter trains will be messed up at the first sign of snow even though snow comes every year, Heathrow was a huge mess because of fog. Fog! |
| Let's get our geek on! The other week-end the two commercials ports of Marseille, of which only one is in Marseille while the other is at Fos, held visit days and if you were lucky enough to get a spot on one of the boats for a visit, you could get your geek on! We didn't get a spot for the port in Marseille, but that's ok since I already know it somewhat from working there for a while, but we did get a spot to visit the port in Fos aka "bassins ouest". Now I know it doesn't sound like the most exiting thing in the world and most people would probably prefer to see the Vieux Port in Marseille rather than one of the commercial ports but, as locals, it's important to discover all facets of a region and you get to learn a lot. Like did you know why sometimes you see a single spool of metal on a huge lorry on the road? That's because a single spool weighs 30 tons which is the maximum weight a lorry can have on a French (and probably European) road. For this reason, it is now obvious why they prefer to ship by boat these types of things. Also we got to see one of the biggest container ships and learn all about how getting the containers on and off is a bit like a game of Tetris. The ships make several stops and they have to load the containers at each stop as not to prevent the unloading of the right containers at the right stop.  ( +11 - ships and water and some towers ) |
| So you've been thinking about sprouting things but it's always seemed too complicated, too expensive, etc.? I'm here to prove that sprouting is easy and if you have an old tupperware box and a tea towel, you're all set! No need for fancy equipment, no need for anything. In a day or two you can have yourself some awesome sprouted food. I call this "Gali's sprouting guide" with the subtitle "I actually learnt this by doing and applying some basic biology and gardening skills" and it comes with the disclaimer "I'm not a specialist, it works for me, probably it will work for you but I can't guarantee anything. Also I have a rather strong stomach and digestive system when it comes to raw fruits and veggies so I've never had any problems but that's not the case of everyone, start with small quantities just to test everything." Or I could call it "Gali's sprouting hacks using the following equipment:"  ( +6 and loads of text ) |
World, please meet Gali, one of the world's strangest nerds. Why yes, I do find nifty road works structures rather nifty. See the example below or the many photos of traffic cones from Montreal.  And yes, I did just almost wet my pants because making figures in Illustrator 5 is like a very nice wet dream, compared to trying to do the same thing inside our friend Word or PPT. Just had to share that. Back to our normally scheduled article finishing touches. |
Alas last week I only made myself two lunch boxes because I ate home one day and then had work/thesis related day-long talks and meetings with peeps from Paris and we ate out. |
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You'll recognise the wontons I posted about earlier. And they're coupled with my mum's buckwheat patties. Apparently the way I stack fruit inside my dessert box is amusing, yes it takes time to cut them up and them stack them but, trust me, a lot more of the good stuff can then fit! And after all dessert is the most important part of a meal. |
( 1x2 - Tuesday's box ) |
In other mundane news I was going through my "bits and pieces" notes folder and I can't remember if I've already posted this: Totoro is actually a grim reaper. You can read more about that here. I love theories about Japanese anime/manga/random films... must be why I like Oshii's Avalon so much. |
Yesterday I went up to Mont Royal.  On paper it was a great idea but perhaps going there after already walking all the way from the city center to go get the Fairmount bagels was not so great. I wish I had a way of tracking just how much I walk around sometimes... Mont Royal, what a perfect place it would be to go for a run! The main road goes up quite pleasantly and I bet there is time to get tired on it. I didn't bring my running shoes in my backpack, opting to bring dressier shoes for the conference days, but next time I shall bring them along. |
( 7x2 more photos - Montreal from above, crosses and Marseille references ) |
Is there anyone else from the Oregon-Trail-on-school-computers era? I quite like this "trailer" that was made. I would absolutely love to see a real film based on the game with all the cult phrases. The trailer is hilarious, they've got so many details right... down to the way how we used to give horribly random names to the characters! |
Oh the meetings you can have in a city! Like seeing your first love... thousands of kilometers away from home. Yep, Albator (Captain Harlock for the non-French-speaking peeps) is definitely my first love. Albator 78, not really 84. I highly believe that there is a whole generation of people out there who have had their love lives forever ruined because they fell in love with Albator as children. There is just no way one could ever be a better man than Albator!  I was just walking along that Insadong tourist street and I saw some nerdy stuff on the second floor of a building. It turned out to be a "museum"... it looked more like a nerd's parents' garage than anything else but I guess it still beats most museums. ( they had everything from LOTR stuff to Tellytubbies to Astroboy ) During the whole trip I was asked mainly two questions: why travel by myself and why come to Korea? Well, the answer to the first question is that I'm a loner by nature and seeing the same people for a couple of days in a row tires me out. Always having to consult someone else to know what to do always pisses me off like crazy! It feels like so much time is wasted uselessly when it could be wasted in other ways such as sitting down in a cool spot and catching up on some reading. Visiting that museum is a prime example of stuff I probably wouldn't have been able to do if I had been with others... I probably wouldn't have noticed it even because you can't really just stand around and look up at random buildings when you're with others. Sure it does get lonely but in the end for me it's absolutely worth it and it's not like I'm alone all the time. I'm always faced with opportunities to meet others, just hanging out in the evening or visiting places. The sub-question of the "why travel by myself" question is "aren't you afraid? isn't it dangerous?" and the answer is no, I'm not afraid of travelling alone to most places, Korea even more so. Korea is one of the safest places on Earth for tourists. I wouldn't go to many reputedly hot areas by myself at night but it's not like I'm in the habit of doing that in Helsinki either. I also feel that being someone who doesn't really fit in with the population makes it safer because people are watching. There is always someone watching, they might not admit to it and they will lower their eyes when you make eye contact but they are watching. Also I believe that the upbringing of people in Korea and the lack of diversity in the population makes it safer than most spots for tourists. |
 Truth, Justice, Freedom, Reasonably Priced Love, and a Hard-Boiled Egg |
Yes. The discworld nerd in me had to take that photo of lilac in Montreux just to be able to post it today. I should reread Night Watch but first I still haven't gotten ahead in Going Postal. |
Now let me tell you something, I did recognise most of the names of the scientists after which the streets in CERN were named... but there were a few that made me curious. It's true that I was specialising in chemistry before I switched to mechanical engineering so my knowledge of physics is limited to pretty much the basics that we were taught in classe prepa (which I suppose is still much more than what the average Joe knows but it's still really limited). I know a couple of names of scientists which are terrible to spell, it's a nightmare for every student. It's embarrassing to mess up the spelling on a test, sure you know what the theorem says and you can apply it but try spelling out the name of the theorem which is named after some guy. Here's one example of such a name:  For those who might be interested, Willibald Jentschke worked on nuclear physics. ( a few more example of easy and complicated names... and grassy areas ) |
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