We had (for us) a heavy snowfall last night, so I went out this morning to take some shots of Gouda. It was eerily still, only later in the morning did the town seem to come to life.
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Gouda in Winter
2 responses to “Gouda in Winter”
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Wonderful photos, and snow!! everyone has had snow here except us in the south-east. Maybe I should visit my dutch mate again and get some. Lisse – you know it?
Good to come back here and visit, always worth it. -
Hi, Gelert. I’ve only ever passed through Lisse on my way to the Keukenhof, so don’t know the town itself. Thanks for your kind comment. BTW, if you would like to see more of my photos of Gouda and other places in the Netherlands, then you’ll find them on my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gcoupe/ Cheers.
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How Much is that Doggy in the Window?
As I’ve mentioned before, when we move to our farmhouse in the country (and now there’s less than a month to go, hooray!), Martin wants to become a dog owner once more. He’s not had a dog for the last 20 years, partly because he doesn’t think it’s right to keep a large dog in a built-up area such as where we currently live.However, the gloves come off once we are settled in the farmhouse, since we’ll have nearly two acres of land ourselves, let alone all the surrounding countryside to exercise the animal. Part of me thinks what is the point of having a dog, while another part of me thinks it will be good. It’s rather like having a devil on my left shoulder, and an angel on my right, both whispering into my ears.I see that the devil has turned up some evidence to bolster his cause; Churchill Insurance has produced research that shows that the lifetime cost of the average dog is £20,000 (€30,000). Egad! As they say, that’s more than the cost of a brand-new 3-series BMW. Oh well, Martin has his heart set on having a dog, so I’ll just have to be on the side of the angels this time around.3 responses to “How Much is that Doggy in the Window?”
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geoff dat geloof je toch niet?
mijn ouders waren echt niet rijk maar ik mocht van hen een puppy uitzoeken
ik was er dolgelukkig mee en dat kostte geen fortuin
roken en drinken kost veel meer!! -
Ik probeer altijd een rational mens te zijn – af en toe net als Star Trek’s Mr. Spock! Maar, ik kan het wel zien dat een huisdier kan ook erg gezellig zijn, dus de engel spreekt harder dan de duivel. En zeker een hond is goedkoper en gezonder dan roken en drinken – dus Martin heeft geen excuus meer. It’s the dog or smoking!
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PS – heb je de fotos gezien: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gcoupe/107162092/in/set-436838/ ?
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Queenie of the Night
A video of a boy soprano doing a credible job of Mozart’s Queen of the Night aria. Bet he can’t do that in a few years time…(hat tip to Robert)One response to “Queenie of the Night”
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Thanks! Though as a comment on that website says 200 years ago, he’d have been enabled to perform that for a quite a few more years.
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Another Data Point
Following on from the experience I mentioned in Eroding Liberties, Jenni Russell relates a similar depressing incident that occurred to her on arrival in Heathrow. Is this sort of thing becoming more prevalent? Jenni may be the canary in the coal mine. I sometimes feel the rest of us are frogs in water, unable to feel that the temperature is rising.Leave a comment
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A Day in the Life
Dr. Crippen describes a day at his surgery. It makes me realise just how much thin ice we are all skating on and how much we tend to take for granted. And as for the pushy middle-aged woman patient, I indulged in the mental image of her falling through the thin ice and taking her child with her… Very satisfying.Leave a comment
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Chef Shock
News in the Guardian today that a team of top French chefs were roundly beaten in an international cooking contest. I feel a swell of schadenfreude coming on.2 responses to “Chef Shock”
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Schadenfreude is such a pure and beautiful emotion. Best consumed with a prawn cocktail or Black Forest gateaux.
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Fanny Craddock would indeed be proud…
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They’re Baaack!
They are the fourteen hopefuls after a job with Sir Alan Sugar. Yep, last night a new series of the Beeb’s version of The Apprentice came to the haunted fishtank. Well, OK, strictly speaking it’s Sir Alan and his two sidekicks who are back – the fourteen hopefuls are a new bunch, although clearly from the same stable as the last lot – a set of driven backstabbers who spew managementspeak at the slightest opportunity.Actually, I think the producers have tweaked up the evil knob a couple of notches for this series, I warmed to none of the candidates last night. The one who I had a slight twinge of sympathy for – he actually wanted to trust his colleagues – was the one who got fired. Admittedly, he deserved it, he did a bad job as project manager, but the fact remains that the most sympathetic one got the old heave-ho straight off. A nice touch was that he had just beaten off a life-threatening cancer. He clearly failed to beat off Sayed and Samuel who turned on him like hungry hyenas in the climatic firing scene in the boardroom. Sayed is clearly the producers’ choice for the villain of the piece, every time he opened his mouth I could sense thousands of viewers reaching for their voodoo dolls of him and sticking in another pin. Even Sir Alan seemed to get the message, and gave him a warning. Mind you, a number of the girls are also being groomed to take on the title of the candidate you most love to hate. My money’s on Jo.Of course, it’s all a pile of dingo’s kidneys. But it is brilliant entertainment, and I’ll be parked on the sofa for the rest of the series.Leave a comment
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Inside Out and Back To Front
I wish I could write like this. It sends shivers down my spine and raises gooseflesh on my arms.4 responses to “Inside Out and Back To Front”
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Yes. This man is an original treasure. I agree with you all the way.
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Hi, Gel, thanks for dropping by. I think the second clown picture on your site does the same for me. Oh, and thanks for introducing me to the music of Bill Jones – The Hexham Lad is terrific.
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Geoff, thank you for stoppping by and for your kind comments here. I’m touched.
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Hi, Coboró, a pleasure. Keep writing!
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Why Is Ice Slippery?
Apparently, this seemingly simple question doesn’t have easy answers. That’s what I conclude after reading a fascinating article by Kenneth Chang in the New York Times on the subject. I also learned that there are different forms of ice, characterised by different arrangements of the water molecules. Rather worryingly, scientists have so far discovered twelve forms, and it is suspected that there is at least one more form. I say worringly, because Ice Nine is the eponymous title of a doomsday story by Kurt Vonnegut (the story also goes under the title of Cat’s Cradle). Could Ice Nine be for real?One response to “Why Is Ice Slippery?”
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Interesting – I’ll have to do some more reading to understand the two new(er) theories more.
Actually, many solids and compounds exhibit multiple solid forms at varying temperature and pressure. It’s a fundamental part of metallurgy and alloy formation, bringing a mixture of two (or more) metals to a particular state by understand the different solid phases it passes through as temp and pressure change. (It’s also the one cool fact that almost pulled me into materials science as a field instead of chemical engineering. Not that I use either much these days.)
On a separate but related note, one of the more interesting variations on ice I’ve come across are called gas hydrates – snowballs that burn.
Think about natural gas production from deep sea exploration. The temperature is low, the pressure is high, and methane (for example) is being piped out of the ground. Should a bit of water get into the pipes, at the right conditions, it can form ice – except instead of the usual crystal structure, it forms a football-like cage around the much smaller methane molecule. Furthermore, this acts like a seed crystal, so that once formed, other water molecules will latch on and expand the pattern. In the pipe, this can cause a total shutdown of production – the pipe is blocked by a giant ice slug on the ocean floor. Because of the high methane content, it is possible to set it on fire.
(see http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~hydrates/index.html for example)
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Echoes of a Bomb
When you’ve been involved in an extreme event, it takes time for the impact echoes to die away. Sometimes they never do. Rachel is someone who has been involved in an extreme event, and this posting clearly shows the impact that it continues to have. But, small step by small step, I hope it gets better for her.Leave a comment
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Heartfelt Rant
Mike Fullerton is having a little difficulty with his Toshiba laptop. I know what he means – I’ve had the misfortune to use machines like that. There are times when a little simplicity and a well-designed user experience would not go amiss. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been happening for Mr. Fullerton.One response to “Heartfelt Rant”
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hello there my name is brian fullerton i just thought i’d say hello
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Department of the Blindingly Obvious
This study doesn’t really tell me anything that I hadn’t suspected already…Leave a comment
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Eroding Liberties
I’m becoming increasingly alarmed by what I view as the erosion of civil liberties that appears to be happening in the UK, driven by fear of terrorism – both real and imagined. The atmosphere of suspicion is getting thicker, and this has a negative impact on the way in which the authorities treat the citizen.For example, take the case of the actors and others returning from the Berlin Film Festival after a showing of their film The Road to Guantánamo. They were detained by police at Luton airport and questioned under the anti-terror laws. The disturbing thing to me was the manner in which they were questioned. Read the account by one of the actors of the incident, and reflect on it. Is this the sort of political police force that is emerging in the UK?Update: and then there’s this…Leave a comment
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The Touch of Things to Come
Interesting research video of a touch-sensitive screen. The harbinger of things to come?Leave a comment
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Dumbing Down
The Guardian reports today on worrying evidence that the brain-eating virus of creationism is on the increase in British universities and colleges.A 21-year-old medical student and member of the Islamic Society, who did not want to be named, said that the Qur’an was clear that man had been created and had not evolved as Darwin suggests. "There is no scientific evidence for it [Darwin’s Origin of Species]. It’s only a theory. Man is the wonder of God’s creation."Ah, the "it’s only a theory" meme again… So is gravity, so perhaps this student would care to step off a cliff to demonstrate the fact.At another London campus some students have been failed because they have presented creationism as fact. They have been told by their examiners that, while they are entitled to explain both sides of the debate, they cannot present the Bible or Qur’an as scientifically factual if they want to pass exams.What a surprise… But apparently the students won’t let sticking to stories get in the way of passing exams; they’ll simply follow the advice of creationist David Rosevear:"I’ve got no problem with an all-powerful God producing everything in six days," he said. He said it was an early example of the six-day week. Students taking exams on the subject should not be dogmatic one way or the other. "I tell them – answer the question, it’s no good saying it [creationism] is a fact any more than saying evolution is a fact."Are we heading back into the Dark Ages?Leave a comment
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Self-loathing
What a sad person Ronald G. Lee must be, judging by the content of this article that he has written. Still, Sadly No! has managed to see the humour in the piece, and gleefully points it out for the purple-prosed pile of tosh that it is.Note: declaration of interest – I have visited Lobo’s in Houston several times over the years. Somehow, I managed to avoid the magnetic pull of the pornography in the back that exercised such a fascination on Mr. Lee, and have purchased a number of well-written novels and biographies there. I have even bought a coffee and a slice of carrotcake in the bookstore’s coffeeshop, and consumed them whilst reading my purchases in a state of calm. Even though there were other – gasp – homo-seks-uals on the premises, we somehow managed to exist in a state of clothed decorum and equanimity.Leave a comment
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Brave New World
Dr. Crippen adds another entry to his blog, detailing his concern over the increasing readiness to diagnose ADHD in children. He also feels uncomfortable about the response of the drug companies, which, to cynics like me and him, seems to be one of recognising a promising new market, ripe for exploitation.I must admit, when I see statistics that show that in some areas of the US over 10% of children have been diagnosed as having ADHD, then I start to wonder what we are doing. Mind you, even here in the Netherlands, the incidence of ADHD is at 5%.Leave a comment
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Sarah Morris – L.A. 2004
Yesterday I paid a visit to Rotterdam’s Boymans van Beuningen museum. One thing that caught my eye was a temporary exhibition of work by Sarah Morris. As well as producing large, geometrically abstract paintings, she has also produced some films. I saw her film of Los Angeles 2004 – a hypnotic look at L.A. in the days leading up to the Oscars ceremony. The film is without dialogue – the soundtrack is music only – and the end result is something like the films of Godfrey Reggio. A hypnotic look at the denizens of Tinseltown primping and preening themselves under the watchful eyes of thousands of cameras. The end result (for me) was a glimpse into the inner hell of Hollywood; a town where image is all, filled with beautiful people with empty souls.Leave a comment
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