Yesterday I had two visits from roofers. The first one I had to prompt to show up (promised to come Tuesday afternoon, coaxed into coming Wednesday afternoon). But I understand: things happen and plans change. This first guy was a waterproofing expert and couldn’t really help with my problem, and so he referred me to [...]
Long ago my piano teacher (or maybe a succession of piano teachers) tried to explain cantabile to me. It refers to a singing quality of a tnote. (Or a phrase really, but it can also apply to a single note.) You are suppose to rotate your hand in a certain way after you have struck [...]
Long day at work. I accomplish so little, but I think I’m starting to zoom in on (one of) the problems. I think my biggest mistake is going to work at all. Interruptions account for most of my lost time. Richard Hamming gave a famous talk that discusses how to be a great scientist. One [...]
After a very dull weekend, I suddenly got a call Sunday afternoon from Pieter and Eva, who are visiting South Africa with their kids + the daughter of some friends. So Sunday afternoon we went along, first to Pieter’s cousin, and then to the beach. Amazingly, there was no wind, which is a rare occurrence. [...]
Sometimes we can know something, without really knowing. See all of the trees, but miss the forest. The internet is a great and wonderful store of information. But it is also a medium for communication. Those two aspects are not exactly the same. An encyclopedia is also a communication by its authors to its readers, [...]
Our paper deadline was this morning at 10:00. I may have been a little nasty to one or two of my colleagues and I had better apologize tomorrow. Truth is, I have never written this much of a paper, this close to the deadline. It is a pity, because it is nice work and deserves [...]
I am very, very, and very tired. Our paper deadline was moved from Monday midnight to Wednesday 10:00, and I foresee a couple of hours of further work. I have not had even four hours of continuous sleep since the beginning of February. That is not hyperbole. I can feel that my brain is swelling. Once [...]
Are you capable of murder? Perhaps not premeditated murder, but what about manslaughter? Picture a chance disagreement with a stranger that turns a little heated, more heated, everyone growing more agitated, slight pushing, then a scuffle, then blows exchanged. You pick up a metal bar to defend yourself and at some point you hit your opponent [...]
Things might just be looking a tiny little bit different. I contemplated a major overhaul. Most importantly, I wanted to increase the font size. It’s not that my eyesight is bad or much worse than before. I just like things to be large and clear. Perhaps it doesn’t appear any different from where you are reading [...]
I rushed past an advertisement at the shopping mall this afternoon: it looked like a airport shuttle service using the name “League of Gentlemen”. There was also a car parked next to it (they love parking cars in the shopping mall, for some reason). So perhaps it was really an ad to sell the car? [...]