Reverse Logic

I was on the scavenge again for a free Mini fleece blanket. Before I could enter the Mini site this challenging box appeared. Thankfully I grasp the concept of reverse reasoning but I'm sure loads of people do not. Or just do not understand one or the other language.
I wonder how many people end up clicking on the button that still leads to a page in a language they don't understand.
Someone's been thinking about this one. I think it's very clever.

Another One

Another freebie:
Invaders Must Die. New single by The Prodigy. Available for free download on their site here.
Doesn't sound bad either. Has that typical Prodigy sound to it. Starts out with a little rumble/tingle like No Good and then a reminiscent Breathe kick up.
For a limited time only! That's a Merry Christmas from the band to the fans. Full Album out in March 2009.

Science is everywhere!

As mentioned before, I'm not one to pooh-pooh freebies. So here to share with you all:
Interested in science? Even only slightly? Wanna know what the Belgian government is spending our pennies on?
Sign up for a free subscription today. Go to the science connection website and start clicking. Past issues available for download too.

From the Science Connection website:
The Belgian Science Policy has launched a new magazine "Science Connection". This free publication (five times a year) is designed to provide an in-depth review of the office's various components. Those who are keen on space, the arts or scientific trends will definitely be astonished at the items on offer in this publication issued by the "Ministry of Knowledge".

Ministry of Knowledge. Miniknow? Good thing they added those brackets themselves...

So this gets a big thumbs up and Mrs B's prestigious and much sought after Official Seal of Approval.
Remember, only if you see this Seal you know it has been verified and scrutinized for the sake of it's trustworthiness and guaranteed hours of pure, unadulterated fun by me personally.

Train of thought

Mrs B's train of thought:
1) I have friends in my neighbourhood?
2) Is someone stalking me?
3) Wait. What? I have friends? Friends. Plural.
4) Where did they come from?
5) Someone has a crush on me?
6) Crush Messenger? WTF?
8) There is no 7)
9) I get confused by spam banners.

Scientific Outreach with a difference

Dance your PhD winners were announced on Thursday!
For those of you who have never heard of it: It's a dance contest for people with PhD's.
Researchers from around the world are asked to interpret their Ph.D. research in dance form, film it and post it for all the world to see on YouTube.
For a quick run down on this year's winners: navigate here.
For a complete list of entries with videos check here.
So who said scientists were locked in an ivory tower? Last year's winner was an Oxford achaeologist sporting nothing more than a translucent loincloth.

The Elf Treasure

I feel sorry for the guide we got when visiting the Aachener Domschatzkammer on Tuesday.
Trust me to be in his group and ask him questions he did not have the answer to (I swear I didn't do it on purpose).
One of my fellow students pointed out he resembled Legolas, Elf of Mirkwood. I haven't seen any Lord of the Rings movies, but I did seem to remember that in popular folklore elves tend to have pointy ears and do not have pierced eyebrows.
Funnily enough there are several exhibits made out of Elfenbein (=German for ivory) on display and that made me chuckle all to myself.

Our Western Heritage

War, rape, pillage, bloodfeud, combat, mutilation.

I love the Middle Ages. Now if only I could remember all the details about roughly 700 years worth of information on economic, political, religious and cultural matters, my trial examination on Thursday will be a breeze.

6.67 x 10E-8 dyne

Dr Livingstone dreamt this little gem up yesterday. Here's his contribution to science philosophy:

"All sex really boils down to is actually just two people trying to overcome gravity."

That makes me stop and think about the first gravity experiments that were carried out by dropping balls from the Tower of Pisa...

I really read too much into these things...

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month

Napoleon is a kitchen utensil

Because Dr Livingstone broke the wing corkscrew (I told you it wasn't me!), he went out and bought one of those designer ones to replace it.
I have a severe case of pareidolia: I think it looks just like the silhouette of Napoleon in hat and cloak, legs a little astride.

It wasn't me (really)

Honestly, how many times have you heard that someone broke their wing corkscrew?
What was that? I have a 'Never' at the back. Thank you.
Moldy corks break, glass might shatter on a rare occasion, even eyes get poked out now and then when the contraption is used to remove a stubborn stopper (I once had a narrow escape as an interested moppet).
Ours has broken in two. Is it a severe case of metal fatigue? Or just plain old overuse?

(I plead not guilty, Your Honour)

America's new superhero?

Is this the face of America's new superhero?

It could turn out his legislature could be a lot like the plot of Superman III:

Disguised as an Army general and a WAC officer, McCain and Palin give Obama a chunk of republicanite as a gift, and are dismayed to see that it appears to have no effect on him. However, the compound begins to produce symptoms: after a flying, ambitious start of his presidency Obama becomes selfish, which causes him to delay in rescuing the troops serving in far away countries, delaying environmental and health reforms and to question his own self-worth.
As the budget cuts take effect, Obama becomes depressed, angry, and casually destructive, committing petty acts of vandalism such as blowing out the Olympic torch and straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Republicans, seeing this, create new plans and order a supercomputer to be built.
Obama sullenly assuages his depression with a drinking binge, but is overcome by guilt and undergoes a nervous breakdown. After nearly crash-landing in Afghanistan, he splits into two personas: the evil, selfish Obama and the moral, righteous Obama. The evil Obama and Obama, the embodiment of his remaining good qualities, engage in an epic battle. Although Obama is initially overpowered by his alter ego, he eventually takes the upper hand, feverishly strangling his evil identity until it fades from sight. Thereafter he is restored to his benevolent former self and continues to save the world and is elected to a second term.

Reanimocracy

Finally The Crazies (that whole Reagan entourage that was reanimated) are going to get turned out of the White House. I can't wait to see the look on Dubya's face in January. If you're going to miss the bushisms, download the iBush, "The Artificial Oval Office Occupant Simulator". (Mac OS X only). It makes political statements much like a certain Mr. G. W. Bush might do. Passes the Turing test every single time you click the button. Actual quotes make up over 90 percent of the statements generated by the application, the other 10 percent being filler material.
Mr Obama is going to have a lot of hard work to do in the New World. Let's hope it is not just all talk but he surrounds himself with some good advisors. It'll be a rough four years. But I'm glad so many people went out to vote.
There is one thing that gets up my nose every time I hear it. They always blurt out 'God bless America'. I don't get it. Not fair on all the atheists and people who dig Vishnu. And they keep saying it in the imperative. No wonder the country has been going downhill. The mythical creature they seem to be referring to obviously hasn't been blessing it.
Maybe the slaughter of a few innocents on the altar of democracy might help?

A Total shambles

As we are not house owners, we are stuck with the heating facilities in the house we rent. They still haven't been updated, the gist being: the windows are still all single-glazed and the roof has never been isolated. It is not the best way to cut down on our carbon footprint. But our landlord is of the penny pinching kind and does not give a toss about doing the environment a favour.
So we had some polluting heating fuel delivered today. Luckily we've been eagle-eying the oil prices the last couple of months to get the best price at the right time.
We've managed to pay just as much as the price was last year. And according to our inside informant, and his company's estimative calculations, the price of heating fuel will go up 1/3rd by December. The dollar is expected to gain on the euro and will push up prices.
After having parted with a good sum of money, the man from the oil supplier gave us a free calendar for 2009. It was titled 'Sea & Ocean' and displayed a plethora of yummy nature images mostly by Benoit Stichelbaut.
This oil company, one of the six so-called supermajors, has been desperately trying to restore its image after several serious pollution events in the last decades. Like what? you might ask.
Oooh, lemme think. Remember the huge oil spill of the Erika back in 1999 that severely polluted about 400 kms of French shores? Ironically, or should I say shamefacedly, some of the worst hit areas from that oil spill have been included in this latest charm offensive.
The Breton island of Belle Ile-en-Mer (featured in May), the peninsula of Quiberon (September), the Raz foreland with lighthouse (April) and another light house on the rocky shore of South Finistère (November) are just a few which I have managed to identify. They look suspiciously oil-free.
A shot of "Tierra del Fuego" at the Cape Horn (June), notorious for being one of the most hazardous shipping routes in the world, has also been included to remind us all of the kind of huge storms that broke Erika in two and made her leak her cargo.
Oooh. What's that word I'm looking for? Painful?
And to top it all off it says on the back "With our best wishes for a Happy New Year".
Well, I'm sure all those volunteers and locals who helped clean up the huge mess still think of New Year nearly ten years ago as one they'll never forget, certainly not a happy one.

I think it is in very poor taste and am absolutely appalled by this inappropriate and crass kind of advertising.
It's even worse than that memorable balls up at the Sunday Times in the early seventies of last century (click picture to enlarge).
Or even the recent sensitive display at The Daily Torygraph of an advertisement for the musical 'Gone with the Wind' juxtaposed with a very gripping picture of Burmese children orphaned by Cyclone Nargis.

Pigeon: Impossible

What happens when you're a secret agent and a pigeon gets trapped in your briefcase? Go check out Pigeon: Impossible

Not today thank you

I have a trial examination today and I'm not ready. I have done the whole course, I've seen it, read it and tried to memorize it. But I tend to forget very easy stuff and words. I'll probably botch up and confuse everything.
I so want to go down to the gym and flex my aching muscles and joints.
But I can't until after.
Ah well, as Hercule Poirot would say: 'I will do this by using the little grey cells'.
Unfortunatly I have killed most of them off by consuming alcohol over the course of several decades. The spud-faced nippers in my class are still one step ahead of me. But I suspect they will catch up by way of binge drinking in no time.
First puberty. But then: Ah! Maturity!
And then: Oh no! Dementia!
Alas impaired reasoning is bothering me at the moment.
I just hope I do not forget to turn off the gas when I leave for uni...

Oh! Look a squirrel!

This little fellow has been rummaging around the garden lately. Sciurus vulgaris. I only see it in the morning, they're only active that time of day in winter.
Maybe it's the same little poor bugger I saw back in spring when Mouser was in hot pursuit.
I don't know how it seems to remember where it stashed its nuts, or whatever it's saving for harsher times.
It looks to me the animal kind of happens upon them per chance.
Like someone looking for car keys and having to retrace their steps to find out where they could have gone.
Everytime we're doing the washing up I can see the squirrel raiding Mr Moleslayer's™ garden. The walnut tree is a very popular venue.
I've been keeping a camera on the ready to make a nice picture of the creature, but they are very twitchy, easily frightened and can dart off in a flash.
Yesterday it was on the other side of the house tucking away some goodies. I managed to snap the little redhead, but I hope to get some better pictures sooner or later.

I haz a Michelangelo

Breaking news!
A Belgian art historian in training has shocked the art world by discovering photographic evidence suggesting Michelangelo owned a cat and the animal was the artist's main inspiration behind the famous ceiling painting of God creating Adam in the Sistine Chapel in the Apostolic Palace.

/sniggers

A New York second

With Newtonian Time the physical concepts associated with time and space are considered to be "absolute" and to flow "equably" (in Mr Newton's own words) for all observers.
Then Mr Einstein came along and defined time as something relative to the observer.
A unit of Plank Time is the amount of time it takes a photon to move Planck length (For those of you who don't know: The length at which the Schwarzschild radius and the Compton length are equal).
A New York Second is defined as the time between the light turning green and the cab driver behind you blowing his horn.

No matter how you define time, don't forget to change it on Sunday (If you live in Europe & Russia)! Or on Saturday evening before you go to bed.
Everyone gets to sleep an hour longer! I bet Mouser's routine will be all messed up, kitteh cat will now do everything an hour earlier. I've noticed the past year its habits have gradually shifted too. Velvet Claws used to wake me every morning at 5h20 sharp. But it's been sloping toward the twenty to six mark.

Our concept of time is based on the position of the sun. Normally it should be in zenith at 12 o'clock. On Saturday it's at it's highest point in the heavens at 13h26. Because of the added hour it will be 12h26 on Sunday, sneaking a bit closer to the ideal situation.

For astronomers Winter Time has an added advantage: we get to watch the stars a little earlier!

Picture is a still from one of my favourite silent movies Safety Last starring Harold Lloyd (1923).

Flip4Cat

I don't know how Velvet Claws did it, but it wanted to jump on my lap and on of its paws skidded sideways onto my computer and started downloading Flip4mac. I'm glad Mouser didn't delete the file I was working on or download porn.
Or even worse still, the Lolcat widget.