I really want to discuss Barzun’s book, but I need a little more time to digest it. I only wish I had been taught history this way when I was at school. As I recall, history at school was a little too compartmentalized. Or perhaps I wasn’t mature enough to see the big picture by [...]
My purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset, and read more books. It may be that Moby Dick has first claim to my attention; the great white whale has been waiting for me to finish his story for…a long time. I cannot remember exactly how long. But there is another book that I want to [...]
I remember that when I started programming, one of the examples in the little BASIC textbook produced a graph of biorhythms. Generally speaking, biorhythms make a lot of sense: a lot of phenomena in nature is cyclical and synchronized with the moon. So a period of roughly 29 days is not too far-fetched. Also, everyone [...]
I have again stopped training consistently. But since I’ve been at it for a while now, I’ve decided to forgive myself and just carry on with the program regardless. I wonder if my self-discipline problems will improve if I improve my sleeping pattern? I’ll try that as a little experiment in the next few days. [...]
Today is Shakespeare’s birthday. We think. I have spent long hours with the Bard, from the first play in grade 7 (Macbeth) to … well, I still read him from time to time. I’m not sure how many people have favourite Shakespeare quotations. Most people know a line or two, and some admire the plays [...]
Today I voted in Bellville. Apparently it was unnecessary to drive all the way there: someone said that I could have voted anywhere, also here in Somerset West. Nevertheless, I enjoyed seeing my sister’s family and walking around the old neighbourhood to the polling station. I have voted three times now (since 1994). In ’94 [...]
Recovering from the rejection! It isn’t that bad. The paper will have to be revised and submitted again, and there are many places to do that. I was looking forward to going to the conference, but at least I’ll save some money now. No matter who funded the trip, I would have dipped into [...]
The workshop I attended this afternoon (and will attend again tomorrow afternoon) turned out a little different than I expected: it is actually useful! The crucial factor, I think, is that the lady who is presenting it has about 20 years of experience in vetting grant applications. In other words, she knows what the people [...]
I’m trying to think what I did this weekend, and the answer turns out to be: very little. But that is OK. Not every weekend has to end in a spectacular result. I suppose I’m a little disappointed because I had great plans. I’m a little worried because my brain was apparently broken on Friday: [...]
Conditions: 15°, partly cloudy Time: 18:40 Back on track. I restarted the programme last Monday and have been following it all week, even though I haven’t been logging my progress. It seems much harder this time round, but I think that my pace has been ever so slightly faster. On Monday I have experienced a [...]