Swedish Twin Peaks

Back when I was a graduate student, I went off to my first science conference in Landskrona, a Swedish town that was celebrating an anniversary of Tycho Brahe and his pioneering astronomical work on the island of Hven.

The town was very proud of hosting an international conference, and we were treated like royalty with the finishing conference meal being held in the local castle. I sat next to the mayor of the town who proceeded to get incredibly drunk and then go on to give a speech at the head table.

One of the more memorable events was the introductory talk, held in the centuries old theatre in the middle of the town. There we all were, bodies firmly wedged into tiny wooden seats, when the lights went down and the stage was lit up with a spotlight. From behind deep red velvet curtains there emerged the tallest, thinnest, baldest man I have ever set eyes upon. His domed head led down to overhanging brows that contained piercing eyes, and in a strongly Scandinavian accented english, he introduced himself as one of the organisers.

For many minutes he introduced us to the town and the history of it's most famous astronomer, all of this delivered in a deep, mournful monotone. Drawing to an end, he finished with: "But of course, we have a deep and immense respect for our greatest astronomer, Tycho Brahe - bring on the dancing girls!"

With a flourish, the curtains swept aside and the music started up as three men in garish drag stomped out onto the stage and sang in burly voices, "We're friends of Tycho Bra-he, we sing and dance and laugh, hey!" Two hundred astronomers sat and stared with their mouths open as a whole cheerful routine of cross-dressing men sang cheerfully camp songs about Tycho's love life.

I couldn't make this up if I tried. Honestly.

10 protons, 10 electrons, and 8 neutrons

Water is one of the most amazing substances on Earth - who would think that two hydrogen atoms tacked on to a single oxygen atom would lead to images such as these?
First off the mark, the unique snowflake (from SnowCrystals.com). It's white, feather light, and damp, but under a microscope the change from liquid to solid produces beautiful forms.

This ice vase grew spontaneously in a back garden during a night of freezing weather. (Image from Fred and Sarah Longrigg's page). And, if you freeze distilled water in your freezer compartment, you'll occasionally get an ice spike:
(Image from SnowCrystals.com).

Rat Race

I have had this postcard on my desk for over six years. It reminds me of what is important in life and how lucky I am. I love my job - I get paid to work with telescopes and optics, and to look at nearby parts of the universe with them. When it's not cloudy, that is.....

Double Teamed!

We have one Dog and one Cat, and they are not as stupid as they pretend to be. The Dog is very obedient, and never goes counter surfing for food, but we all know that anything on the floor is fair game for her. We had left several chilis far back from the counter edge, but two of them had mysteriously vanished overnight. Where were they going?

The answer was worked out in the morning - J. caught the Cat on the kitchen counter, batting one of our small chilis around as a plaything for his amusement. Further investigation of the Dog's bed confirmed our suspicions:

1. The Cat would slap shot a chili to the floor of the kitchen,
2. Dog would trot past and pick up chili in mouth, and
3. Eat chili on her bed whilst leaving stem and seeds intact.

Bravo, animals, you have won this round, but next time we will use - plastic containers!

Hello world

I kept an online diary for about three years when I first arrived in America, cobbled together with Perl scripts, then gave up writing for a long stretch. This is my first attempt at a public blog - heck, I'm only five years behind the curve.