Saturday, March 01, 2008
Profile Change
About two years ago, when I started this blog, I wrote in my profile that I was "bitter, pessimistic, depressive, downhearted and confused". I have started a course of psychotherapy and am trying to change all of these things. I still sometimes feel this way, but I'm no longer happy using these words to describe myself.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
I feel the Earth move
England was hit by an earthquake this week... England was mildly shaken by an earthquake this week... Small Earthquake in England, not many tea cups rattled. I asked four of my relatives, who all live about 100km from the epicentre (or Ground Zero, Lincolnshire, as I call it), whether the earth moved for them, and two said they slept through it. The others were shaken, but not stirred.
Having used up all the standard earthquake jokes and cliches in the first paragraph, let me tell you that Lincolnshire has a history of earthquakes. In 1185, the cathedral suffered structural damage, and had to be rebuilt. The rebuilt Cathedral was the tallest building in the world for over 200 years, until the central tower was destroyed in a storm.
Further earthquake news: the Saarland (memories of learning the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles for GCSE history come flooding back) was also hit by an earthquake a few days ago. This earthquake was due to mining subsidence. I think the human race should be given more credit for this kind of thing. Bacteria and plants got there first in changing the composition of the atmosphere, Dinosaurs lived ages, got fossilized and stomped around a lot, but we can cause significant earthquakes by digging out the earth from beneath our feet and waiting for the ground to fall, with only the loss of the odd chimney. I visited a mining museum near Essen last year, and the guide said that the Ruhr area had sunk by 30 metres over the last couple of centuries due to mining subsidence. I think this is a much greater achievement than a high building, and as a monument to human endeavour it is less prone to fires, storms and earthquakes.
Using the rather tenuous connection of Chile to earthquakes, here is the legendary Battle of Santiago from the 1962 world cup.
Having used up all the standard earthquake jokes and cliches in the first paragraph, let me tell you that Lincolnshire has a history of earthquakes. In 1185, the cathedral suffered structural damage, and had to be rebuilt. The rebuilt Cathedral was the tallest building in the world for over 200 years, until the central tower was destroyed in a storm.
Further earthquake news: the Saarland (memories of learning the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles for GCSE history come flooding back) was also hit by an earthquake a few days ago. This earthquake was due to mining subsidence. I think the human race should be given more credit for this kind of thing. Bacteria and plants got there first in changing the composition of the atmosphere, Dinosaurs lived ages, got fossilized and stomped around a lot, but we can cause significant earthquakes by digging out the earth from beneath our feet and waiting for the ground to fall, with only the loss of the odd chimney. I visited a mining museum near Essen last year, and the guide said that the Ruhr area had sunk by 30 metres over the last couple of centuries due to mining subsidence. I think this is a much greater achievement than a high building, and as a monument to human endeavour it is less prone to fires, storms and earthquakes.
Using the rather tenuous connection of Chile to earthquakes, here is the legendary Battle of Santiago from the 1962 world cup.
The game you are about to see is the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football possibly in the history of the game.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Blue Star Oblomow 5 - Torpedo Entenhausen 1
The new season has started in Bochum's spare time league. I was going to write some excuses for the scoreline, but in truth the opposition were better. We kept trying, though, despite going 2-0 down early on. I hope that next week will see an improvement, and if not that the opposition aren't very good. On a personal note I beat the full back and skipped down the wing a couple of times, which gave me a good feeling.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Antidepression
I just looked at the guardian online, and saw the headline "Prozac does not work, say scientists". The article had a link to the original paper, which was very helpful, as this says something completely different.
First rule of reading scientific papers: just look at the plots, the rest is usually irrelevant. This plot from the paper shows how much patients improved when they were given either an antidepressive drug or a placebo.
Maybe there are too many dots and curvy lines to see what is happening. After squinting my eyes a bit, I have, using the power of MS Paint, reproduced the main features of this plot.
Note the baseline, which the authors felt was unnecessary. Mistake. First rule of drawing plots: add a baseline. Looking at the plot, and looking at the baseline, I drew the following conclusions:
1/ Taking antidepressive drugs improves, on average, the mood of people with all degrees of depression. Woohoo.
2/ For people with mild depression, the same improvement can be made with a placebo. For these people, it is not the active chemical of the antidepressive that is helping them, but the circumstances of being given and taking a "cure". This could lead to a long debate about the ethics and effectiveness of giving patients a placebo cure.
3/ For people with severe depression, the chemicals of the antidepressive work and improve their mood. Woohoo.
So antidepressive drugs have been shown to improve the mood of people with severe depression above the level achieved by a Placebo. Or, as summarised in the Guardian:
This is obviously bullshit, as a second look at those graphs will tell you. More subtle is the mistake made by the authors, who conclude:
This is confused thinking. Taking any drug gives potentially a medication effect and a placebo effect. If the total improvement caused by taking the drug stays the same, but the placebo effect diminishes, then the response to medication effect must have increased: the drug works.
Maybe there are other, better, options for some people, but antidepressive drugs do on average have a positive effect for people with severe depression.
Links:
This blog discusses the difference between statistical and clinical significance (the funny green area in the plot), so that I don't have to.
Don Jewett is an emeritus Prof. at the University of California and knows how to use his CAPSLOCK. He takes issue with the conclusions of the paper (link added 28. Feb)
The language log get into the graph-drawing spirit. I like their old-skool noughts and crosses marker styles. They also summarise the press coverage.(link added 1. Mar)
First rule of reading scientific papers: just look at the plots, the rest is usually irrelevant. This plot from the paper shows how much patients improved when they were given either an antidepressive drug or a placebo.
Maybe there are too many dots and curvy lines to see what is happening. After squinting my eyes a bit, I have, using the power of MS Paint, reproduced the main features of this plot.
Note the baseline, which the authors felt was unnecessary. Mistake. First rule of drawing plots: add a baseline. Looking at the plot, and looking at the baseline, I drew the following conclusions:
1/ Taking antidepressive drugs improves, on average, the mood of people with all degrees of depression. Woohoo.
2/ For people with mild depression, the same improvement can be made with a placebo. For these people, it is not the active chemical of the antidepressive that is helping them, but the circumstances of being given and taking a "cure". This could lead to a long debate about the ethics and effectiveness of giving patients a placebo cure.
3/ For people with severe depression, the chemicals of the antidepressive work and improve their mood. Woohoo.
So antidepressive drugs have been shown to improve the mood of people with severe depression above the level achieved by a Placebo. Or, as summarised in the Guardian:
Prozac, the bestselling antidepressant taken by 40 million people worldwide, does not work and nor do similar drugs in the same class, according to a major review released today.
This is obviously bullshit, as a second look at those graphs will tell you. More subtle is the mistake made by the authors, who conclude:
The relationship between initial severity and antidepressant efficacy is attributable to decreased responsiveness to placebo among very severely depressed patients, rather than to increased responsiveness to medication.
This is confused thinking. Taking any drug gives potentially a medication effect and a placebo effect. If the total improvement caused by taking the drug stays the same, but the placebo effect diminishes, then the response to medication effect must have increased: the drug works.
Maybe there are other, better, options for some people, but antidepressive drugs do on average have a positive effect for people with severe depression.
Links:
This blog discusses the difference between statistical and clinical significance (the funny green area in the plot), so that I don't have to.
Don Jewett is an emeritus Prof. at the University of California and knows how to use his CAPSLOCK. He takes issue with the conclusions of the paper (link added 28. Feb)
The language log get into the graph-drawing spirit. I like their old-skool noughts and crosses marker styles. They also summarise the press coverage.(link added 1. Mar)
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Stream of Consciousness
I am unemployed, unattached, living in a bedsit and will turn 30 this year. These are facts, and I'm not particularly unhappy about them. I am trying to decide where to live. I have four choices: Bochum, Erlangen, Leeds or somewhere completely different.
Bochum
Plus: I live here, and have done for one year. I am good friends with some Bochum jugglers. I am the left winger of Torpedo Entenhausen and have developed a good understanding with the left back and the strikers. I know enough budding footballers to get a kick-about twice a week. I live close to a good ice-cream parlour. It only costs 11 Euros to watch a football game.
Minus: Bochum is "no beauty, and grey from work".
Distance to Leeds: I can be in Leeds within about 3 hours and the flights are cheap.
Erlangen
Plus: I used to live in Erlangen, and am friends with the local jugglers, some of whom even read this blog. Erlangen is a rich town with relatively good job chances. I am good friends with my ex-colleagues, who form the majority of people reading this blog. I grounded an Erlangen cricket club, and could try to reform it. There are lots of beer gardens within cycling distance of the town.
Minus: Erlangen is a small town which I might get bored with after a while.
Distance to Leeds: The flight to England takes a couple of hours and there is no direct flight from Nuremberg to Leeds. Awkward.
Leeds
Plus: Leeds is in England. My parents and sister live not far away. I would be able to write, speak and read the language perfectly, and never have to see another kezboard. I could race my dad up hills and find a cricket club. I could make my mum cook Sunday lunch, or even lend a hand. If I ever get bored I can call myself Klaus-Peter and pretend to be a German exchange student.
Minus: I know only four people there. The football club is owned by Ken Bates.
Distance to Leeds: N/A.
Somewhere Completely Different
Plus: Maybe I'll find something I never new I was missing.
Minus: I know nobody and would find it hard to get going, like I did in Bochum. I think I can rule this out.
Distance to Leeds: Upper limit - Leeds is to be found at -1.5 deg longitude, +53.8 latitude. The other side of the world is somewhere below New Zealand. The nearest landfall would be the bottom of New Zealand, and nearly 100,000 Furlongs away. Lower limit - Negligable compared to upper limit.
Bochum
Plus: I live here, and have done for one year. I am good friends with some Bochum jugglers. I am the left winger of Torpedo Entenhausen and have developed a good understanding with the left back and the strikers. I know enough budding footballers to get a kick-about twice a week. I live close to a good ice-cream parlour. It only costs 11 Euros to watch a football game.
Minus: Bochum is "no beauty, and grey from work".
Distance to Leeds: I can be in Leeds within about 3 hours and the flights are cheap.
Erlangen
Plus: I used to live in Erlangen, and am friends with the local jugglers, some of whom even read this blog. Erlangen is a rich town with relatively good job chances. I am good friends with my ex-colleagues, who form the majority of people reading this blog. I grounded an Erlangen cricket club, and could try to reform it. There are lots of beer gardens within cycling distance of the town.
Minus: Erlangen is a small town which I might get bored with after a while.
Distance to Leeds: The flight to England takes a couple of hours and there is no direct flight from Nuremberg to Leeds. Awkward.
Leeds
Plus: Leeds is in England. My parents and sister live not far away. I would be able to write, speak and read the language perfectly, and never have to see another kezboard. I could race my dad up hills and find a cricket club. I could make my mum cook Sunday lunch, or even lend a hand. If I ever get bored I can call myself Klaus-Peter and pretend to be a German exchange student.
Minus: I know only four people there. The football club is owned by Ken Bates.
Distance to Leeds: N/A.
Somewhere Completely Different
Plus: Maybe I'll find something I never new I was missing.
Minus: I know nobody and would find it hard to get going, like I did in Bochum. I think I can rule this out.
Distance to Leeds: Upper limit - Leeds is to be found at -1.5 deg longitude, +53.8 latitude. The other side of the world is somewhere below New Zealand. The nearest landfall would be the bottom of New Zealand, and nearly 100,000 Furlongs away. Lower limit - Negligable compared to upper limit.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
New Mission Statement
I am no longer an electrical engineer, and must therefore give up my search. Being an electrical engineer didn't do much for me in any regard. For the record, during the past year the following stood at the top of my blog.
The diary of a soul searching for the answer to the question: do electrical engineers have better sex lives than physicists?
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
The Perfect Crime
Bochum is just on the edge of the german Carnival scene, which is centred around the Rhine cities of Cologne, Dusseldorf and Mainz, where thousands don their fancy dress and get very drunk. I stayed away from the main events, but juggled at a small Carnival party in Bochum on Saturday; a video may appear soon. The payment was free beer and food, which was quite a good deal.
In Duisburg the perfect crime may have been committed, as reported in the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.
Reports that the culprits were last seen being pursued through the streets of Duisburg by Batman and Robin remain unconfirmed.
In Duisburg the perfect crime may have been committed, as reported in the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.
A 25-year-old was robbed at gunpoint by two men at the Central Station on Sunday at around 17:30. One robber was dressed as a clown, the other as the Pink Panther. According to the police, they relieved the man of his money. The robbers fled in the direction of Friedrich-Wilhelm Street.
The first robber was described as being 1.85m tall, 25-years-old, with a black goatee beard, a dark complexion, a red clown's wig, a red clown's nose and a white costume with blue and red polka dots. The second robber was described as being 1.80m tall, 25 years old, with short blond hair, square black-framed glasses and dressed in a Pink Panther costume. Any information should be given to the local police.
Reports that the culprits were last seen being pursued through the streets of Duisburg by Batman and Robin remain unconfirmed.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
20 Million Cubic Litres
I just sat in a cafe and read the European edition of the guardian, which sadly doesn't have Ben Goldacre's column in it. This week he makes fun of bad usage of numbers and statistics in newspapers. The European edition does, however, have a report on sending music to the stars, with the following excerpt:
The single most useful thing I learned studying physics is that there are almost exactly pi*10^7 seconds in a year. I also learned that the speed of light is almost exactly 3*10^8 m/s. So if you multiply the speed of light with the time of 400 years, there is no way that you're going to get a power of 10 to the 23.
I never learnt what a quadrillion is, as any attemped use usually ends in confusion between the British and American systems, but all these things that end in 'illion' are powers of three. 23 is a prime number, and obviously not a multiple of 3. I worked all of this out in the cafe, but things are a lot easier with a google calculator, which kicks ass, and has room for lots more zeros than needed astronomically.
((2 439 years) - (2 008 years)) * c = 2.53363342 × 10^15 miles
(Rounding to an appropriate level of significance is left as an exercise for the reader)
If all this sounds too mathematical, you can just look up Polaris in Wikipedia, and find out that it is 431 light years from the earth. This means that light will take 431 years to get there, and will arrive in 2439. No miles, no powers of tens to the fifteen, not so much fun.
Nasa will encrypt the song and beam it into space from its Madrid transmitter on Monday at the start of a 2.5 quadrillion-mile trip (that's 23 zeros for anyone without a large capacity calculator) to Polaris, where it will finally arrive in the year 2439.
The single most useful thing I learned studying physics is that there are almost exactly pi*10^7 seconds in a year. I also learned that the speed of light is almost exactly 3*10^8 m/s. So if you multiply the speed of light with the time of 400 years, there is no way that you're going to get a power of 10 to the 23.
I never learnt what a quadrillion is, as any attemped use usually ends in confusion between the British and American systems, but all these things that end in 'illion' are powers of three. 23 is a prime number, and obviously not a multiple of 3. I worked all of this out in the cafe, but things are a lot easier with a google calculator, which kicks ass, and has room for lots more zeros than needed astronomically.
((2 439 years) - (2 008 years)) * c = 2.53363342 × 10^15 miles
(Rounding to an appropriate level of significance is left as an exercise for the reader)
If all this sounds too mathematical, you can just look up Polaris in Wikipedia, and find out that it is 431 light years from the earth. This means that light will take 431 years to get there, and will arrive in 2439. No miles, no powers of tens to the fifteen, not so much fun.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Let it Bleed
Over Christmas I read the novel "Let it Bleed" by Ian Rankin. This book is one of a series describing Edinburgh detective John Rebus. Rebus mixes personal oblivion with flashes of obsessive brilliance as a detective and disdain for any kind of establishment.
In this book Rebus a mouth ulcer gives him the reason to see a dentist for the first time in years. After pricking the ulcer the dentist gives Rebus further appointments for half-a-dozen or so fillings.
Reading this, I realised that I probably haven't seen a dentist this millennium, so as part of my plan to take better care of myself I made an appointment yesterday. He was able to see me on the same afternoon and made a quick check-up. My teeth are alright but my gums bled when he poked his pokey-thing down beside a tooth. He asked me whether they sometimes bled when I cleaned my teeth, and I suddenly remembered that they did. I had completely forgotten this, and must have learned to repress it. The first time it happened I probably said to myself that I was too busy with work to bother going to the dentist, and after a while I got used to it. We have arranged further appointments to remove low-lying plaque and stop the inflammation of the gums.
For tea I had a cheese and blood sandwich. Lovely.
In this book Rebus a mouth ulcer gives him the reason to see a dentist for the first time in years. After pricking the ulcer the dentist gives Rebus further appointments for half-a-dozen or so fillings.
Reading this, I realised that I probably haven't seen a dentist this millennium, so as part of my plan to take better care of myself I made an appointment yesterday. He was able to see me on the same afternoon and made a quick check-up. My teeth are alright but my gums bled when he poked his pokey-thing down beside a tooth. He asked me whether they sometimes bled when I cleaned my teeth, and I suddenly remembered that they did. I had completely forgotten this, and must have learned to repress it. The first time it happened I probably said to myself that I was too busy with work to bother going to the dentist, and after a while I got used to it. We have arranged further appointments to remove low-lying plaque and stop the inflammation of the gums.
For tea I had a cheese and blood sandwich. Lovely.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Unemployment
My contract runs out on Thursday, and I've taken holiday for this week, so I'm free to do what I like. I'm open to any short-term offers, but am not going to get a proper job again until I feel ready. I've decided to concentrate on getting my life in order before I start working again. I need to become generally active whilst eating well and not getting drunk too much.
Today I read the paper, did 4/5 of the crossword, went for a jog and went shopping. This evening I juggled three torches. A man walking past said that his dog found it fascinating. I practised spinning torches round in my hand and learnt to recognise the smell of burning arm hair.
Today I read the paper, did 4/5 of the crossword, went for a jog and went shopping. This evening I juggled three torches. A man walking past said that his dog found it fascinating. I practised spinning torches round in my hand and learnt to recognise the smell of burning arm hair.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Standing on Stairs
The campus of Bochum university has lots of stairs. It's a concrete monster of several layers covering a large area. Each layer is connected to the others with concrete steps of various designs, and I keep finding myself stood on the top step, or sometimes on the middle step, wondering what to do.
There is a large protest today in Bochum against the closure of the Nokia factory. I hope that the protesters know what they are letting themselves in for. A lesser known event of the Second World War was the winter war between the Soviet Union and Finland.
There is a large protest today in Bochum against the closure of the Nokia factory. I hope that the protesters know what they are letting themselves in for. A lesser known event of the Second World War was the winter war between the Soviet Union and Finland.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Clock Watching
Every minute I spend in my office drags me down. I can feel my mood worsen as soon as I wake up on a work day, and by the time I sit at my desk I feel sad and annoyed. I then surf the internet, drink coffee and watch the time slowly go by. This is my favourite clock. It shows the time in America, but has a nice picture of the earth, so I can look out of the window and compare the darkness/light with that on the map. The sun just set over Bochum.
Friday, January 04, 2008
New Year's Equivalent of "Bah, Humbug"
I got a bad cold and spent New Year's Eve in bed. I was awoken by a barrage of fireworks and spent the next three hours listening to bangs and whizzes while trying to get back to sleep. In this time I saw the air fill with fog, so that the tree at the end of the garden became faint and blurred. Eventually I fell asleep.
I was therefore delighted to read that I wasn't the only one to have a bad time. Bochum was covered by a smog so bad that buses stopped their service and taxis only went for special rates: "Sorry mate, I can't even read the meter in this fog". Car drivers often gave up, as described in a comment from kindly citizen Ralf Kelm.
Now I can't prove that the fog was due to the fireworks, although I suspect it was. Smog, as seen for decades in cities such as London (and probably Bochum and the whole of the Ruhr) was caused by air pollution from houses and factories. The London smog is described here by lost motorcyclist Arthur Musson.
A useful measure for air quality is PM10 concentration. PM10s are particles less than 10 micrometres in diameter, and their concentration can be described in micrograms/cubic metre (μg/m³). A typical concentration of these particulates is 30 μg/m³ . During the great London smog of 1952, which killed around 12,000 people, the concentration was estimated to be 4000-14000 μg/m³. The German federal ministry for the environment measured the PM10 concentration over the last-but-one New Year, and found that in a city area the concentration rose to almost 4000 μg/m³ just after midnight, which is the lower estimate for the concentration in the great London smog. Congratulations, fellow citizens, you've created a minor environmental disaster! The ministry's recommendation is that people
Happy New Year!
I was therefore delighted to read that I wasn't the only one to have a bad time. Bochum was covered by a smog so bad that buses stopped their service and taxis only went for special rates: "Sorry mate, I can't even read the meter in this fog". Car drivers often gave up, as described in a comment from kindly citizen Ralf Kelm.
We were stood on the pavement when a woman stopped her car and asked if we knew where we were. She thought she was still on the motorway, but was surprised to see so many houses. The motorway exit was about half a mile away. You could see absolutely nothing. We took her with us for the next five hours. After 7am the visibility improved enough for her to continue her journey.
Now I can't prove that the fog was due to the fireworks, although I suspect it was. Smog, as seen for decades in cities such as London (and probably Bochum and the whole of the Ruhr) was caused by air pollution from houses and factories. The London smog is described here by lost motorcyclist Arthur Musson.
On one occasion, I was motor cycling down Queens road Yardley on my way home from Mary’s, when I realised I was not on the road. I stopped, put my foot down, and found that I was in a field.
A useful measure for air quality is PM10 concentration. PM10s are particles less than 10 micrometres in diameter, and their concentration can be described in micrograms/cubic metre (μg/m³). A typical concentration of these particulates is 30 μg/m³ . During the great London smog of 1952, which killed around 12,000 people, the concentration was estimated to be 4000-14000 μg/m³. The German federal ministry for the environment measured the PM10 concentration over the last-but-one New Year, and found that in a city area the concentration rose to almost 4000 μg/m³ just after midnight, which is the lower estimate for the concentration in the great London smog. Congratulations, fellow citizens, you've created a minor environmental disaster! The ministry's recommendation is that people
limit their personal use of fireworks, or even do without them completely.
Happy New Year!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Marvels and Mysteries
As I explained in the last post, my dad is quite generous in his presents. In addition to a free seven-mile run, he bought me a second-hand copy of "Marvels and Mysteries of the Unexplained" by Nigel Blundell and Allan Hall for an estimated 50p.
The back cover explains what the book does:
Among the many mysteries, the book describes the life of the great seer Mother Shipton, who lived in Knaresborough, only 15 miles from Otley.
She must have been a supreme fortune teller, for not only could she see into the future, she could also see The Past. The French had already lost the Battle of Agincourt 73 years before her birth.
Sometimes the book comes closer to solving mysteries than the authors themselves realise, such as when they search for possible reasons for the Hindenburg disaster.
What could be the reason for the airship bursting into flames? The picture editor seems to have laid his finger on the problem. His caption below a big picture of the airship explains:
More seriously, the authors have picked some genuinely interesting unsolved mysteries, and the cause for the Hindenburg igniting is still debated. They also have included many great pictures and there aren't many factual inaccuracies. There is, however, a lot of suggestion, and a distinct lack of respect for Occam's Razer.
The back cover explains what the book does:
We do no more than present to you the facts. We give you the evidence. We pose the questions. Only you, the reader, can provide the answers.
Among the many mysteries, the book describes the life of the great seer Mother Shipton, who lived in Knaresborough, only 15 miles from Otley.
She must have been a supreme fortune teller, for not only could she see into the future, she could also see The Past. The French had already lost the Battle of Agincourt 73 years before her birth.
Sometimes the book comes closer to solving mysteries than the authors themselves realise, such as when they search for possible reasons for the Hindenburg disaster.
The vessel had a proud record to live up to ... and the safety standards were of the highest.
What could be the reason for the airship bursting into flames? The picture editor seems to have laid his finger on the problem. His caption below a big picture of the airship explains:
The Hindenburg. It was 245 metres long and contained 198 000 cubic metres of inflammable hydrogen.
More seriously, the authors have picked some genuinely interesting unsolved mysteries, and the cause for the Hindenburg igniting is still debated. They also have included many great pictures and there aren't many factual inaccuracies. There is, however, a lot of suggestion, and a distinct lack of respect for Occam's Razer.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Chevin Chase
My dad didn't skimp on christmas presents this year: he bought the family entry into a seven-mile running race called the Chevin Chase. The race starts in the town of Guiseley, rises to the top of the Chevin, drops to the Otley side, then goes back to the top and down into Guiseley for the finish.
I've never run seven miles before today, so I started cautiously, but at the half-way point I decided that I was feeling quite well, so I sped up a bit. I still finished over five minutes behind my dad, who is pretty quick for a 60-year-old.
I've never run seven miles before today, so I started cautiously, but at the half-way point I decided that I was feeling quite well, so I sped up a bit. I still finished over five minutes behind my dad, who is pretty quick for a 60-year-old.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Otley 42 - Wharfedale 9
I'm in the small North Yorkshire town of Otley, staying with my parents, who have moved here. The sporting highlight of Otley is the Rugby Union club, who even hosted a Rugby World Cup game between Italy and the USA in 1991.
In the first frame of the clip, you can see the flank of the Chevin to the left of the main stand. Right behind the end where Francescato scored his try is a small farm with hens and pigs. The crowd today was much smaller than in 1991, and the ground looked bare in comparison. Otley ground down their opponents at the end of the first half, pushing for the corner inch by inch. After five minutes of sustained charges and pile-ups, they forced their way over the try-line to take a 14-9 half-time lead, before running in four second-half tries without reply.
In the first frame of the clip, you can see the flank of the Chevin to the left of the main stand. Right behind the end where Francescato scored his try is a small farm with hens and pigs. The crowd today was much smaller than in 1991, and the ground looked bare in comparison. Otley ground down their opponents at the end of the first half, pushing for the corner inch by inch. After five minutes of sustained charges and pile-ups, they forced their way over the try-line to take a 14-9 half-time lead, before running in four second-half tries without reply.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Has the Cat Died?
I got dressed in a bit of a hurry last night and accidentally tucked half of my trouser leg into my sock. I only noticed after 20 minutes of walking around with one trouser leg hitched up. This took me back to my school days, where I would have been greeted with the inquiry "Has the cat died?". A trouser leg tucked into a sock is "at half mast", and the mourning was then presumed to be for the family cat. There are lots of phrases for too-short trousers, either from growth spurts or rushed dressing, described here: "half-masts", "budgies", "catsdieds", "noahs".
According to this dictionary, the Germans call them "Flood Trousers", but I've never heard it.
According to this dictionary, the Germans call them "Flood Trousers", but I've never heard it.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Mills Mess (with an effect of vagueness)
There is a very good explanation of the juggling pattern known as the Mills Mess here. It's in slightly garbled Frenglish, but the advice given is pretty much how I learned this trick. I would recommend just skimming over stage 1, as I think the author does too. Don't be put off by the complicated instructions: the trick is famous for being easier to do than say, and has a lovely rhythm so that it sometimes feels less like a trick, and more like the natural way to juggle.
Trying to be clever, I bought three glowing balls, which alternate between red, green and blue, so that you can see the paths of the three balls, and compare them to the animation. Unless when you take the photo all the balls all happen to be blue.
Thanks to my photographer.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
I've walked out on another Ceremony!
My best friend in Bochum just passed his PhD exam. I'm really happy for him, but I just left his PhD party during his Laudatio (the bit where everyone says how good he was). I couldn't be bothered to laugh at the unfunny jokes of his professor. I will join him for a beer in 20 minutes, and shake him heartily by the hand. At the risk of sounding like Holden Caulfield, these official celebrations are all so phoney.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
The Rock and Roll Years are Over
I'm in a better mood today, mainly due to the psychotherapy, which has been embarassingly simple so far. We've discussed things that have been worrying me, then agreed a time and a way to solve them. So far I have found my income tax card and told my health insurance, the German Physics Society, my bank, and Amnesty International my new (since February) address.
The only beaurocratic thing I'm really scared of is my tax declaration. I so far refused to fill one out, thinking that it wasn't Rock and Roll. I thought of it as being the saddest and squarest part of German life: all those people running around reclaiming tax. The German tax system is so complicated that people buy computer programs to help fill in their tax declaration. These programs used to be (and maybe still are) tax deductible.
I was going to try to find a citation to back up that last claim, but failed. I can't even write income tax in German. Neither can the Germans. The word for income is Einkommen, and the word for tax is Steuer. If you put them together you get Einkommensteuer, but if you like you can add an extra 's' in the middle to get Einkommenssteuer. I just bought a book which tries to explain this kind of thing, but usually ends up by giving a seemingly arbitrary rule
As the figure below shows (red with one 's', blue with two), the german speaking world is as confused as I am in this matter.
Anyway, I dislike the tax system (I don't mind people taking money off me; I just dislike filling in forms), but I'll try to fill out a form this year. May seems to be a popular date according to the graph. I have a cast-iron tax deductible donation to Amnesty International. Now the clever bit is this: I'll give the tax that I get back this year as a donation next year, in addition to the regular sum. I did a calculation on the back of an envelope, and found that by continually giving the original sum plus all tax returned from the previous year to a charitable organisation I would be able to achieve roughly 30% year-on-year growth in donations until I pay no tax at all. Rock and Roll! I'm not quite sure that this will work, but I'm going to give it a try.
p.s.
It's interesting to see the way the world searches for "income tax". The British seem to have no massive peaks, because most people don't declare taxes. The average employee has tax taken at source and never sees the money. The Americans, in contrast, go income-tax crazy once a year. Still, at least they can fucking spell the word!
United Kingdom
United States
The only beaurocratic thing I'm really scared of is my tax declaration. I so far refused to fill one out, thinking that it wasn't Rock and Roll. I thought of it as being the saddest and squarest part of German life: all those people running around reclaiming tax. The German tax system is so complicated that people buy computer programs to help fill in their tax declaration. These programs used to be (and maybe still are) tax deductible.
I was going to try to find a citation to back up that last claim, but failed. I can't even write income tax in German. Neither can the Germans. The word for income is Einkommen, and the word for tax is Steuer. If you put them together you get Einkommensteuer, but if you like you can add an extra 's' in the middle to get Einkommenssteuer. I just bought a book which tries to explain this kind of thing, but usually ends up by giving a seemingly arbitrary rule
The middle 's' is added if the first word to be joined contains an even number of Umlauts or the second word begins with three consonants in alphabetical order.and then includes a table of 200 exceptions.
As the figure below shows (red with one 's', blue with two), the german speaking world is as confused as I am in this matter.
Anyway, I dislike the tax system (I don't mind people taking money off me; I just dislike filling in forms), but I'll try to fill out a form this year. May seems to be a popular date according to the graph. I have a cast-iron tax deductible donation to Amnesty International. Now the clever bit is this: I'll give the tax that I get back this year as a donation next year, in addition to the regular sum. I did a calculation on the back of an envelope, and found that by continually giving the original sum plus all tax returned from the previous year to a charitable organisation I would be able to achieve roughly 30% year-on-year growth in donations until I pay no tax at all. Rock and Roll! I'm not quite sure that this will work, but I'm going to give it a try.
p.s.
It's interesting to see the way the world searches for "income tax". The British seem to have no massive peaks, because most people don't declare taxes. The average employee has tax taken at source and never sees the money. The Americans, in contrast, go income-tax crazy once a year. Still, at least they can fucking spell the word!
United Kingdom
United States
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