plugrules's Xanga

Rome

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:04:49 GMT

For those of you not in touch with me:

I am moving to Rome on the 30th of April.

All are welcome to visit!

Back

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:13:52 GMT

I am back in Glasgow. It's wet, windy and wet and windy.

I had a great time on the continent. Thanks Anika for the wonderful hospitality. Jonny and Chloe it was grand meeting up for Basel, hopefully see you soon. Poland was fun, a friend showed me Warsaw's nightlife and I learned the difference between Ostraw and Ostrava, much to the detriment of birthday celebrations. Christmas in Lithuania was splendid but rushed and Italy was, well, Italy, with a wonderful farewell from Rome with compliments to Leanne.

I'll post some pics when they come.

m

Away on the continent for a month.

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:08:01 GMT

I'm off tomorrow to visit my dear friend Anika in Karlsruhe.

I'll be in Lithuania for Christmas.

Afterwards I'll be heading south.

You'll find me back in Glasgow on the 12th of January.

Ciao ciao!

Cocktail costs £35 000

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 09:20:46 GMT

The drink (described as refreshing) is made up of Louis XII cognac, Cristal Rose champagne, sugar, angostura bitters and 24-carat edible gold leaf. Fine, whatever, but it also has an 11-carat white diamond ring at the bottom, so that doesn't really count as foodstuff, does it?

The buyer got it as a Christmas present for his girlfriend and the best bit of the story comes towards the end, in a quote from "social commentator" Peter York. I can't better it, so I won't try to:

"It is so gauche, so crashingly crass, that everyone else will see the buyers as barely literate, as one step up from a potato."

It will be one of those things that unite both the middle class and the old rich in a belief that the super-rich come out of some kind of primeval ooze.

The Observer

Ever Wonder About This?

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:21:24 GMT

Jon Henley in Paris
The Guardian
Thursday February 24 2000

US and Russian astronauts have had sex in space for separate research programmes on how human beings might survive years in orbit, according to a book published yesterday.

Pierre Kohler, a respected French scientific writer, says in The Final Mission: Mir, The Human Adventure that the subject is taboo both at Nasa and at mission control in Moscow, but that cosmic couplings have taken place.

"The issue of sex in space is a serious one," he says. "The experiments carried out so far relate to missions planned for married couples on the future International Space Station, the successor to Mir. Scientists need to know how far sexual relations are possible without gravity."

He cites a confidential Nasa report on a space shuttle mission in 1996. A project codenamed STS-XX was to explore sexual positions possible in a weightless atmosphere.

Twenty positions were tested by computer simulation to obtain the best 10, he says. "Two guinea pigs then tested them in real zero-gravity conditions. The results were videotaped but are considered so sensitive that even Nasa was only given a censored version."

Only four positions were found possible without "mechanical assistance". The other six needed a special elastic belt and inflatable tunnel, like an open-ended sleeping bag.

Mr Kohler says: "One of the principal findings was that the classic so-called missionary position, which is so easy on earth when gravity pushes one downwards, is simply not possible."

The VVO

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 09:36:34 GMT

I really appreciate this, it made my morning.
Truly organic compositions from the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra.

Ah, those quirky central Europeans.

Two more weeks of studies (three papers to write and a dissertation to ignore) and then a wonderful month on the continent. Sigh... good things to come.

m

Vocab tests feeding the hungry

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:39:07 GMT

test your english, feed the poor.

FreeRice

Celebrations...

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:03:20 GMT

Happy Guy Fawkes day!

outside my window fireworks are banging and booming and flashing. It's all very nice to procrastinate to. Oh, there goes another one. They're really quite loud.

Damn it, I was supposed to see the film Heima tonight but it was sold out. But, I most likely have tickets to see Beirut (the band) at the Arches (amazing venue) on Wednesday. This boosts my mood. Plus I overheard a shop girl at the local fruit/vegetable stand refuse to give a man a plastic bag for his produce because he could easily fit it into his satchel. A dispute followed. The F-bomb was used. I was entertained.

The weather is crisp. Night falls early. I found a new and really good option for Sunday night jazz (a personal institution).

Again, Happy Guy Fawkes day!

(they really don't let up with these fireworks, I don't know how I'll get much reading done tonight)

Canada makes it into the Guardian

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:31:22 GMT

I am acutely aware of the lack of coverage of Canada in European media. Indeed, Canada is not the most colourful and exciting country, we really only make the news with our significantly higher death tolls in Afghanistan compared with our NATO partners and lately with the paedophile in South Asia. But, to my surprise, this morning Canada had a prominent front page placing in the Guardian's web edition (although not so much in the printed edition).

Here's the article, it investigages the effects of the tar sands. I have found it interesting how several Europeans have confronted me on the environmental hazards posed by the operations in the tar sands when yet I never heard such debate in Canada. The only debate I was aware of was the discussion over energy security and the squabbles over whose pockets were to be lined with this black gold.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:19:17 GMT

"the imperative we face to care for this one and only earth by mitigating global warming is moral as well as environmental and social: it is a question of justice as well as sustainable life, relationships between people and planet as well as self-interest, human solidarity and security as well as lifestyle." Camilla Toulmin

The degradation of the Earth is a moral issue. Perhaps it's time to view it through something other than the lenses of science.

In the words of an Orthodox Archbishop e view the engagement with global warming and ecology as part of the struggle to recover our vocation?which is to care for the earth as God cares for it.?br />