Natural Selection
I've been in England for about a week now. Even more than last year I've noticed the amount of care that's being taken to ensure that everything in the environment is ... SAFE!
Well, England, if you're done padding every sharp corner, marking every edge, signaling every step, to put it quite simply making yourself absolutely IDIOT-PROOF I'd like to express a simple thought.
Maybe some of the more obvious perils of day to day life (see enclosed picture) aren't supposed to be marked so evidently. I mean, if you're not going to be able to figure out that you need to duck to avoid the branches your place on Earth might require some consideration. I mean, we've known this is how things work for a very long time. It's called natural selection.
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| Christian Nasulea - 23.11.2009 | |
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Tower of London Ice Skating
I've crossed off a new city on the "skate in all the world's capitals" list. As I was marching past the Tower of London tonight I came across this banner advertising the Tower of London Ice Rink. Can you imagine the chance? An ice rink AND an astonishing historical location at the same time!
It was really good. I learned a couple of new tricks too, from Saul, one of the local Ice Rink marshalls.
You can see the Ice Rink official website for more details.
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| Christian Nasulea - 23.11.2009 | |
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Measureless Dictionary Fun
It will sometimes arrive to me to come up with a more-complicated-than-necessary way to say something. It might be a strange word line-up or simply an odd or rare word in the middle of a simple sentence.
When and if I realize what I'm doing I might try to explain things by resorting to the use of a dictionary definition. Unfortunately definitions for complicated words tend to contain more complicated words. Just to give a simple example:
inexorable - not capable of being persuaded by entreaty; relentless
entreaty - an earnest request or petition; supplication; plea
earnest - marked by or showing deep sincerity or seriousness
Then if you need to make things really clear there might be simpler words in need of clarification as well:
relentless - unyielding in severity or strictness; unrelenting
unrelenting - having or exhibiting uncompromising determination; unyielding
supplication - to ask for humbly or earnestly, as by praying
Some of these simple words then leading on to absolute monuments of advanced vocabulary:
unyielding - not giving way to pressure or persuasion; obdurate
obdurate - hardened in wrongdoing or wickedness; stubbornly impenitent
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I'll stop now although the game could easily go on. All definitions above extracted from various sections of The Free Dictionary.
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| Christian Nasulea - 20.11.2009 | |
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On Development, Romania and Romania's Level of Development
Funny, how just last week on Wednesday, around this time, I was teaching about development levels and dividing the world into this and that. I was met by a wall of skepticism and discontent when I asked my students to give marks to Romania's economy and tell me where it fit in the grand order of things.
Well, here's a piece on the subject (in Romanian) that I enjoyed thoroughly:
Romania = la acelasi nivel cu occidentul
Thanks, Silviu, for pointing it out!
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| Christian Nasulea - 18.11.2009 | |
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Wispington Geocaching
Yesterday I used my lunch break to go for a short bike ride 2 miles up the road to the village of Wispington. There, among the endless fields I found a cairn commemorating the 1984 World Ploughing Competition and accross the road from it my first non-Romanian geocache. That would be the first geocache I've ever found outside of Romania's borders.
Facebook Photo Gallery
Geocaching.com Cache Details
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| Christian Nasulea - 18.11.2009 | |
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Media Convergence
It's late night in the wolds, the sky is clear for a change letting the stars shine through to reveal the subtle accents of the fields around William's Spinney. I'm researching things on the Internet as I come accross this:
Thank you, Nilly!
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| Christian Nasulea - 17.11.2009 | |
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The Dyslexic, Agnostic, Insomniac
Do you know the joke about the dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac?
He just lay awake at night wondering if there really was a dog!
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| Christian Nasulea - 17.11.2009 | |
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The Best Road in the World
I've had a pretty busy day today. Yet the leitmotif of every encounter seemed to be yesterday's Top Gear episode wherein Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May drove an Aston Martin, a Ferrari and a Lamborghini through the windy curves of the Transfagarasan in Romania.
This is the You Tube bootleg version:
The thought that crossed my mind with pride seeing the footage was "I've been there. I've raced around those corners too! ... A Lamborghini would be nice..."
They also drove the cars through the underground parking lot of the Romanian parliament, Casa Poporului. You can find that on the Internet too but the funnier thing I'd like to show you is a transcript of the meeting in which they approved the filming of the show inside the parliament. You can find it in italics under Point 10 on the Top Gear Romania website.
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| Christian Nasulea - 16.11.2009 | |
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Psycho Geek Humour
So, I'm in England. It's been an interesting start to the trip. I've got a lot to do and yet I find myself deciding that the best thing to write about is my sudden outburst of laughter, just 5 minutes ago, as I was reading this web comic:
Donald Knuth
Enjoy!
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| Christian Nasulea - 15.11.2009 | |
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Off to Lincolnshire
It's that time of the year again (and not a moment too soon) when I pack my life in a couple of suitcases and head out to far away lands I have and have not visited in the past.
This time I'll start with a week in Lincolnshire. I'm heading off Saturday morning and I'm very much looking forward to seeing everyone again. The trip won't stop there but I'll be making a few stops to refuel (some even back in RO) and I might give everyone a heads up on my next port of call when I do, if I feel like it.
Godspeed!
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| Christian Nasulea - 10.11.2009 | |
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