Skimming visits

I am ever so slightly hungover this morning, so shall keep the commentary to a bare minimum today... but I simply have to try something out:
APPARENTLY, if you put the words "Sarah Beeny" on your site/blog/forum it sends your visitorcount sky high. Now, I love Sarah Beeny. Beeny moments have always been a happy fixture in the weekly shedules these past 3 years, so I have no problem putting a picture of Sarah Beeny up on this blog as well as repeating her name 6.5 times. It is all of course, yet again, under the heading of "investigative research". THAT, and the fact that I am far too geeky not to like the sport of "visitor-count-watching".

So I give you: Sarah Beeny


PS: To those of you who have been deprived of Sarah Beeny-ness, she is the property-godess of British television, a favorite of many men&lesbians alike, and another one of those people who's spark never seems to get caught by still images.

PPS: SARAH BEENY

Venting

Why?!? *fumes*

Why do bartenders find it necessary to water down the drink they just charged you a fiver for? (7 euros for the europeans amongst you)

Now I don't drink much, and granted, even liquor of the watered down variety generally suffices to send me off to merry-land. But still. No need.

Burning Matters

Forest fires seem a rather dry topic (excuse the pun) for a blog. But the libertarian & scientist in me find them utterly fascinating debate-food.

From any perspective, fires wreak havoc, sure. But man, with his obsessive urge to gain control on just about anything around him, started to adopt a "Zero Tolerance" approach to fires as far back as the 1890's. Even forest fires sparked by natural causes (such as lightning) were instantly doused by immense man-made watersheds.

Why man never seems inclined to stop and ponder the "why's" of certain natural phenomena, I will never know. Surely it is obvious that nature, without external interference, has evolved into some sort of fragile balance where everything has its purpose? And that forest fires, in their own right, are likely to serve a purpose in this fragile ecosystem of ours? If forest fires DON't occur, old trees do not get replaced by younger trees. Dead wood, twigs, leaves etc... no longer get incinerated on a regular basis and start to accumulate. Thus yielding far higher burnable fuels in case a fire DOES strike. The natural dynamics which keep forests in a healthy natural state, require forest fires. It's as simple as that.

Trying to prevent forest fires from happening is, to put it crudely, like trying to stop earthquakes from happening. Whereas we all know earthquakes are merely a necessary release of pressure on faultlines as the earth's tectonic plates move. They restore balance.

I have to admit that the whole twist in the forest fires in Spain and Portugal at the moment made me smirk. It seems like most of the forest fires there have been the result of arson. Pyromaniacs, people venting grievances against forest owners, people with commercial stakes in the firefighting business and/or land speculators seem to be the culprits.

Isn't that ironic? Despite all the efforts of man to curb the devastation forest fires cause to the human population, it is now man himself that sets them alight. The most striking examples I thought were the firefighters that were arrested because they set some forests on fire, just so they could strike up a financial bonus at the end of the summer. And the developpers, keen to get their hands on areas that were protected against building expansion by governement rules.

It seems nature, by way of man's greed, has found a way to restore balance yet again.

Google Earth

A friend of mine told me to look up Google Earth. She'd been faffing around with it at work and said that apart from being mesmerisingly addictive, it could also come in handy for "planning your trip".

So I looked it up this morning and it turns out to be a very nifty little program you can download for free to your PC, which allows you to zoom in on any spot on the Earth to get a closer look. It seems to be based mainly on satellite pictures and GIS, which for some places, displace such high resolution that you can actually zoom in on individual houses.

Much to my astonishment, it allowed me to zoom in on the actual house I lived in in Newcastle-Under-Lyme. By placing the hand on the globe you can turn it around until you've found the continent of your choice. And by simply double-klicking the area you want to go to, you are taken floating closer and closer to the spot of your choice. Not only can you see the actual streets and houses, but I managed to go for a stroll in the neighbourhood I used to live in. How bizarre is that?!?

Unfortunately it doesn't have as high a resolution for every area on the Earth. When I looked up Bridge of Allan, I managed to zoom in on Dumyat, but only got vague images of the streets and houses. Either way... I am very impressed. If you're looking for a fun faff... defo worth downloading it, as it's only a 10Mb file :-) Enjoy your flight!

Moving pictures

So I caved in and went to see the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie on Friday night. I shall reserve comment on it, but I have one observation to make. Why is it that some people who are actually gorgeous in real life or on camera, actually never look that way in still images? It's almost like the still image just erases the spark of these people.

Point in case being Zooey Deschanel (a.k.a Tricia McMillan, a.k.a Trillian). Never mind the film, the woman had something utterly disarming & I couldn't put my finger on what it was exactly that did it. In one of my sadder geek moments this weekend, I actually googled her *hangs head in shame* and came across nowt but very disappointing stills of her. No spark, no charm, no bubbliness just some standard clean basic beauty. Why is that?

Is THAT why there are NO good pictures of myself?!?! Cuz I have such a sparkle that cannot be caught on paper?!?! *grin*

And in an attempt to redeem the geekiness of google-ing a celeb: It's all under the heading of "investigative research". Once a scientist *geek*, always a scientist *geek* ;-)

Gear

Outdoor shops are to me what toy stores are to little kids. So although I'm hardly the most outdoorsy person in the world and few of my activities actually warrant any sofisticated gear, a trip down to the Outdoor store is always a very exciting prospect for me, if not for my wallet. But with the decision of taking time off to travel in a couple of months time, spending money on "the right gear" has now been officially warranted *big satisfied grin*. And as I really ought to pace and plan the expenses carefully, I started yesterday with what I consider to be the most important decision of all: the mule-bag!

Nearly everyone I know that's ventured on extended travels before me, has told me that the worst aspects of backpacks are: "too much, too heavy" and "damn fiddly trying to reach your stuff from the top of the pack, day after day after day". So after careful consideration I decided upon a 55 liter Pack, with a built-in option to extend it a further 15L should one decide to adopt any stray goodies along the way. That way I will be forced to keep my stuff as minimalistic as possible. Stranger Know Thyself ;-)

Apart from the nifty Torso Fit System and the tons of extra little gadgets, what I am most chuffed about is that I managed to track down a backpack which, not only had top-down access and sleeping-bag compartment-access, but ALSO has an All-Access zip in the front of the main body. So no fiddlyness from the top if you don't want to! And all for the price of a normal backpack. How clever is that?! *looks at it lovingly*

two left hands and a hammer

I like hammers. A lot.

So when a red squirrel started scrambling back&forth across our garden with a bunch of nuts from our Oak tree & the Hazelnut bush, I came up with a cunning plan for my latest displacement activity: I was going to build a squirrel feeder!


Yes, Im sure the little fella was getting on ok on its own, but did I mention I like hammers???

So after my medical appointment this morning I popped into our local DIY store, ruler in my backpocket, scribbly instructions on a post-it note and a huge big grin on my face. It took me a while to locate everything I needed, as I appear to be rather blonde and have no clue what the proper names for things are. I suspect I provided the morning's entertainment for a few of the workmen in store, what with all the pointing, miming and gesticulating.

However, a bruised thumb, several bent nails and loud scream later, there it was: a wonkey wooden mass that somewhat resembled the picture on my sketchpad :-) Unfortunately, I cannot hang the darn thing anywhere as there are cats around and the last thing I want is to have cold blooded squirrel-murder on my conscience. But at least my hammer needs have been satisfied for the time being. Mission accomplished!

PS: I DO actually work on the PhD too you know... Just be grateful I don't blog about THAT ;-)

Wheels on fire

I intend to travel for a couple of months after I've (hopefully sucessfully) handed in my PhD in January. Yes, yes, it's so fashionable to travel these days it's become unfashionable, but who gives a toss anyway? I want to go :-) If you happen to be unfortunate enough to bump into me in person on occasion, you will no doubt have established that I
(a) am an obsessive bookhoarder
(b) churn out bright sparkly ideas worthy of an unrealistic 5year old
(c) am an incorrigable planner


So despite my promise not to plan ahead too much, I've started to build a library of books on the regions I want to go to, bought myself a huge kick-ass pinboard with maps of those regions as well as a box of 200 very colourful pins :-) I am gradually adding "bright ideas" to the pinboard, and the latest addition says: "CYCLE THROUGH LAOS & VIETNAM". You should probably also know I am

(d) a lazy git

So in an attempt to estimate the achievability of my lastest "bright idea", I decided to start by cycling 25kms yesterday to see how that would go. Unfortunately this is Belgium, where in all honesty, a moleheap is considered a massive achievement. So I ended up at the gym. Cranked up the level of the bike to about midway and put the training on "surprise" mode (can you believe it's ACTUALLY called that???). Surprise it was indeed as it seemed to go straight into "hill" mode. It took me an hour to cycle 25kms, which I've been told is not a bad start.

I am trying to establish how I feel today... Although I seem unable to actually SIT DOWN anywhere, I noticed I WASN'T acutely walking John Wayne-style when I went to pick up the paper this morning, which generally tends to happen after one of my runs or hikes. So, seeing as the hour of cycling also gave me quite a buzz, I reckon I will start training for it. You never know, this might actually turn out to be the first achievable bright-Sarah-idea! *excited* ... I shall keep you posted ;-)

Ars Moderna

Having lived away from bubbly metropolitan hipster cities for a few years, being back in Ghent has been a rather amusing experience. I myself am a considerably "unhip" person in the sense that am not even remotely up to date with the fashion and decorative trends that are in style at this very moment. (Quite purposefully so ;-)). I am generally spotted wearing jeans and T's, and the only decorative features in my room are a bunch of stacked old wine crates serving as bookcases, sided by my lovely green plants.

So when I'm invited round the flats, rooms or houses of friends who have lived the trend for years, I always feel like I've been taken out on a fieldtrip. I am utterly incapable of making decent conversation with my host until my curiosity has been allowed to drag me off on a grand tour of the place. Minimalisitic interiors, stylish baths raised in the centre of spacious and otherwise very empty rooms. Tones of blue, orange and fluorescent lighting in highly unconventional places. Chairs that are meant to be the centrepiece of the room, artwork that takes ages to figure out... it's all spectacularly entertaining.

The ultimate proof of my "out of towner" status came the other night,however, when I asked my friend when he was planning to unpack the boxes and bundles that were piled up in the centre of his living room, and why on earth there was a plastic crow perched on top of it. He looked at me incredulously for a few moments and said: "it's art!". I grinned apologetically stating it was very pretty art indeed, if not very confusing art :-)

Can you calculate me up a scrambled egg?

I'm all for Star Trek. Big fan. It nourishes the geek in me. And I've always thought the food replicator on board was a stroke of genius, if only for the money saved on kitchen staff. However...

NASA, in dire need of an "exciting" new project, is funding a study to design a computer controlled cooking machine. The idea being that ingredients and recipes can easily be reduced to mathematical terms and equations, so a computer could control the mixing, heating and cooling of the ingredients based on mathematical formulae and produce something that tastes similar to the object requested, even if it was not made by the convential ingredients. So a cooked potato would become: ((S1/W1)/W)/S2 with the S1 and S2 being different solids like starch or fat, the W being water and the W1 being liquid cytoplasm (I got this from the New Scientist site btw...)

Now why on earth would I want to consume something that looks, smells and tastes like a cooked potato when a cooked potato is about the EASIEST thing in a world to make? Like I don't have enough trouble avoiding fake foods as it is... IF I ever venture into space for a gap-decade, I shall consider it ;-) For the time being, it might be better for NASA to focus on simply getting its spaceships off the ground in the first place.

Je pense, donc je suis ?

The topic of Open Relationships is delightfully complex and I've always found it a fascinating, if not somewhat disturbing one, for it seems to bring two of my most fundamental desires into conflict. But when I got confronted with the topic not once but 5 times these past few days, I felt I had to devote at least 1 blogpost to it.

People seem to find it easiest to talk about biological imprints: they seem fixed, require little justification and we all feel the effects of them. Research suggests that the substances in our brains that are responsible for passion & butterflies, only get produced by our body for a period of 3-4 years & then generally disappear, whether we like it or not. This is our biological imprint. From an evolutionary perspective it might be explained by the fact that on average, 3-4 years of commitment suffices to raise a human child beyond its most fragile phases. After this period, the benefits of the relationship no longer outweigh the biological advantages of reproducing with as many partners as possible, and the individuals should/could move on to the next partner. In light of this, serial monogamy most closesly fits our biological inheritance.


I find it much harder to speculate about the psychological aspects of this topic: our "concious self" seems to have progressed on a more rapid timescale than our biology has. We assume we are capable of conquering our own basic drives, urges & instincts. Although some of these, like sleeping & feeding, are a necessity to indulge, quite a few others have become less primal due to changes in our environment and we assume we ought to be able to control those. Or as Descartes put it: "Je pense, donc je suis". If you merely follow instincts, you simply exist. Think about yourself, and you become an individual that "is". (sounds simple dunnit ;-))

In a bizarre twist of faith (if not fate ;-)), western society in the form of the Church, instated an external structure that "enabled" humans to "free" themselves from their instinctive urges. The last few decades those societal restrictions have started to crumble down and our biological patterns start to resurface more freely. Dealing with them is now grossly up to the individual.

What fascinates me is the different ways in which individuals give new meaning to this all. There's people who function brilliantly in "open" relationships, others seem perfectly capable of living in a monogamous setting, and many more live in the myriad of alternatives in between. I supose it comes down to figuring out for one's self how one can or wants to deal with these givens, and then hope to meet someone that does similarly so. Many couples of our generation seem to come together without really knowing where they each stand, under the deemed free spirit of "we'll see what happens", which makes it pretty damn hard once the 3 year hormonal time bomb runs out. Some manage to thrift past this on a current of habbit. Others split up for need of more passion. Still others start putting in hard work to deal with those new changes and find a new balance between them. Some people simply don't live their lives that consciously & let circumstances decide.

It's something I'm only just starting to figure out for myself as I have clearly gotten it wrong in my previous relationships. Opinions I've voiced before were only mere guesses and there's a possibility my current opinions may one day metamorph in yet others. But right now, the 2 biggest conflicting "wants" in my life are the one for stability & safety on the one hand, and the one for change, passion & adventure on the other hand. I'm pretty certain serial monogamy would make me miserable. And I'm fairly convinced an entirely open relationship is something I just cannot handle. But the mistake I, like many others no doubt, made and make still, is to expect a relationship to take care of both. If what you're looking for is a long term relationship, perhaps it makes more sense to expect a relationship to take care of the stability & safety aspect (no mean feat by itself!) once the hormonal source runs dry, and expect yourself to organise the rest of your life to fulfill the need for change, passion & adventure in other ways beyond that point. I think it's the latter that poses the greatest challenge. I shall duly report on the successes in my next attempt at a relationship ;-)

Military Strategies of the Gaza Pull-out.

Since getting back to Belgium, I've had trouble locating a Flemish equivalent of the New Statesman. I was therefore bound to scrummy newsflash takes on world affairs and erratic newspaper clippings. When I saw the newsbulletin about Sharon's decision to evacuate Israeli settlers from the Gaza strip, I was somewhat perplexed. The newsanchor didn't mention one word of the whys, hows or conditions of this decision. All we were shown were images of families in tears and palestinians celebrating. And for the past few days, that is all we were given. Despite it being a very appropriate time to do such, I will not enter into the "media information manipulation" debate here, as I think I've done that in earlier blogposts with respect to Noam Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent".

But it did speed up my search for other media venues that would give a broader, more objective account of this whole series of events. I ended up at the New Statesman website again, and eventually found the article I was looking for. Indeed it seems Sharon has cut a deal with George W. Bush in which Sharon traded off the "free-ing" of the Gaza strip, for the garantuee that the Jewish settlements in the West Bank would remain untouched if ever a Palestine State were to be officially established. This is a trade-off of a mere 9000 settlers in the Gaza, for a far bigger occupation in the West Bank. Apart from this, Sharon is strategically building settlements in and around Jerusalem which will enclose Palestinian areas and eventually block off Jerusalem from the West Bank, to avoid it ever being established as the capital of Palestine.

I am not shocked at his tactics. Sharon has proven himself a shrewd military strategist on more than one occasion. I am, however, once again shocked at the willingness of the majority of the Media to obscure these crucial facts. Shocked too that the US has let its ignoramous president cut deals such as this one. Saddened that the pressure from financially well off Jewish American lobbygroups, still seems to have a foot in the ground.

What Palestine is concerned, the only honest reasoning that can be made is this one: In 1949, the Palestinian people were brutally robbed of their land and brought into oppression to relieve the guilty concious of the West. Nations which called themselves democratic ought to have known better back then. Nations that call themselves democratic today, should not make themselves guilty of robbing them even further.

Beetlejuice

My dad has these crazy ideas every now and then, and several years back, he decided to buy an old VW beetle as it reminded him of the very first car he ever owned. The reason I thought back of this today is because I was stuck behind one just like it in traffic this morning.

This then, ladies and gentlemen, is the car I got my very first driving lesson in:



That, needless to say, was not the cleverest of ideas, as the first attempt was on a gritted driveway with the top down... my acceleration was so brilliant, it actually rained grit into the car. Ahhh the memories...

Spikey Dykey??

So I've just had a gay weekend in Antwerp. In the literal sense of the word at least ;-) I have but one observation to make. In the UK, the tendency is for lesbians to attempt to look like David Beckham. Perfect example is of course Alex Parks: hair shortly cut, but spiked upwards with lots of gel. Cute, if you have a face to match, which in all honesty, most dykes don't... *shudders*

In Belgium, however, the trend seems to be to have an equally short haircut gelled sideways and forward. More like "Shane" from the L-word.

Whatever happened to the good old golden earring in the right earlobe to mark "gayness". When did the transition to haircuts happen??? Haircuts are so bloody expensive... 40£ as opposed to a 50p earring??? Lesbians seriously got their priorities wrong ;-)

Cows

I was in a bit of a teary mood this afternoon, not sure why, but I sat in the grass, facing a few cows and letting out a couple of good big sobs. That helps sometimes. Cows are amazingly therapeutic ;-) My mind was feeling very numb at the time and I couldn't shake it off.
And then... I felt this great big arm around my shoulders, and someone sat down next to me, pulling me close for a hug. My brother, for the first time ever. And somehow I found myself sobbing no longer because I was sad, but simply because of this gesture. I am THAT mellow ;-)

PS: Check out exploding dog. It's somewhat bizarre but very clever.

Perseid Meteors

As it's nearing the peak of the Annual Perseid Meteor Shower, I'd planned a bit of a Geek-Fest last night :-) A bunch of friends, a tasty BBQ, a spot of music, lots of warm socks and sweaters, and a night of sky-gazing. Fun and shooting stars-a-plenty, and sore necks to boot. Caught myself out on a little thing I, like many others no doubt, used to do as a child: "I wish I can have a thousand wishes"... with every single spec of dust or debris that shot its not-so-merry-way across the atmosphere in feisty inferno.

Now then the excrutiating process of carefully choosing my precious tens of thousands of wishes commences ;-)

Footage

-My New Tattoo-

Kites

A spot of Kite Surfing with my friend Isabelle. I'd no idea you actually had to pump up your own kite. D'oh! ... ;-)

Thoughts on the Matter

Yes yes yes, the wireless modem has finally been delivered and installed, which means I have the world at my feet again on my very own laptop :-D So time to update the pictures ey, seeing as I've now got access to Picasa again...

My little sister ladies and gentlemen:


- *hmmm I think I see what you're saying there, mmmm...* -


- *Oh yes, I definitely see what you're saying now, and I absolutely disagree...*-

What If

What if there was no light
Nothing wrong, nothing right
What if there was no time
And no reason, or rhyme
What if you should decide
That you don't want me there by your side
That you don't want me there in your life

What if I got it wrong
And no poem or song
Could put right what I got wrong
Or make you feel I belong

What if you should decide
That you don't want me there by your side
That you don't want me there in you life

That's right
Let's take a breath, jump over the side
How can you know it if you don't even try

Every step that you take
Could be your biggest mistake
It could bend or it could break
But that's the risk that you take

Thats right
Let's take a breath, jump over the side
You know that darkness always turns into light.

Elevenses

I can bend my toes to such an extent that they actually disappear underneath my feet. That, combined with my freakishly long toes and the three hairs that grace my big toe, have earned my otherwise perfectly normal feet the nickname: Hobbit Feet.

It seems, however, that I have developed another Hobbit-trait these past three weeks. Since being back home, I have taken to a daily mealplanning which now includes not only breakfast, lunch and dinner, but also second breakfast, elevenses, afternoon tea, four o'clockses and supper.

In spite of this, my weight has been tumbling downwards. In the past 8 weeks, I have shed a full 8kgs (17.6 pounds). Some of it initially quite consciously so, but the last three weeks there simply seems to be no stopping it. Although I've always known that "little and often" is the way to go in terms of healthy mealplanning, I'm still a little surprised. Still, I'm not complaining. This morning I saw a number on the scales that I've not seen since I was 15, and although weighing scales are not the right way to measure your general bill of health, the girlie side of me couldn't help but revell in it.

Still, this is about as far as I intend to take the hobbit-traits. The toe-hairs, all 3 of them, have been removed, a new tatoo on my foot has been strategically placed to draw attention away from my freakishly long toes, and there shall be NO MORE toe-bending!!!! You hear?!!!

One's always welcome to stop by for second breakfast, elevenses, afternoon tea, four o'clockses or supper though... ;-)