Category: Hmmm

‘Twas spooky: I was driving to work, and at 9am EDT I turned on WBUR to listen to the BBC World Service News, and heard them talking about “incidents at three tube stations and on a bus”. For a minute (probably less) it sounded as if they were replaying a tape of the news from 7/7… until someone made a reference to “the events of two weeks ago”.

All of this is unfolding right now, and it seems likely that the final account will bear little relation to the initial reports, speculation, and contradictions. Right now the BBC is reporting that: “A number of Tube stations have been evacuated and lines closed after three blasts in what Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair says is a ‘serious incident’.” However further down in the same report we see that “Police in London say they are not treating the situation as ‘a major incident yet'”. Serious but not major. Let’s hope that it’ll turn out to be neither.

I first donated blood way back in 1969, shortly after I arrived at Essex University in Colchester. My memory is that it was an amazing feeling: doing something that felt really good that also helped people. Over the next 20+ years I gave blood regularly, twice a year. Then came the “Mad Cow” (vCJD) crisis, and the American Red Cross added “residence in the UK” to the list of proscribed categories for blood donors. Deeply frustrating.

The other day, I received the regular email announcing the next blood donor session here at Sun. I was talking to a colleague, and he said, “Oh, I think they’ve relaxed the rules. Why don’t you check?” So I did. Sadly, no. Here’s the relevant text

At this time, the American Red Cross donor eligibility rules related to vCJD are as follows:
You are not eligible to donate if:
From January 1, 1980, through December 31, 1996, you spent (visited or lived) a cumulative time of 3 months or more, in the United Kingdom (UK),

So I still can’t donate. And thinking about it, I know a number of US citizens whose UK vacations over that 16-year period would probably rule them out too.

This morning I had breakfast at a Hobee’s in Mountain View. When I came out of the restaurant, I noticed that there was a Supercuts next door, and that it had just opened. On a whim, I went in for a haircut. Maybe it was the breakfast burrito I’d just eaten; perhaps it was a side effect of the Flexeril I’ve been taking for a pinched nerve in my leg. Whatever the reason, I threw caution to the winds. Not only is the ponytail gone; I’m pretty sure that this is the shortest my hair has been in at least 20 years….

[UPDATED: In response to requests, I’ve added a crude phonecam pic. The beard’s a bit fluffy around the edges; I won’t be able to trim it properly until I get home.]

A huge storm has been pummelling New England for the last couple of days, and isn’t going to move out until later tonight. (There’s a low of around 995 hPa that’s been stuck just south of Nantucket, blocked by a Greenland high.) The folks at the National Weather Service office in Taunton, MA, say that it’s the most severe storm in late May since 1967. Just down the road there’s a huge tree (a London plane, Platanus x acerifolia) uprooted, leaning at 45 degrees and resting on the roof of a house. This means that my street is blocked off while things are cleared up. Elsewhere around the Boston area there are numerous reports of flooding, power outages, trees down, and other storm damage. In our neighbourhood, we’ve had about 3 inches of rain; last night we experienced sustained winds of over 35 MPH, with gusts around 50 MPH.

A good day to work at home, I think.

Over the years I have gradually expanded my horizons where single malts are concerned. I started with Macallan, went down-market with Bowmore Islay (excellent value), then ventured into the salty mysteries of Laphroaig and Talisker. Glorious! And I’ve tried various others, never straying far from familiar territory. A few were disappointing, but none were undrinkable.
Last week I was in my local liquor store picking up gin and tonic, and I decided on a whim to get a bottle of Springbank, a 10-year old Campbeltown. I naively expected that a Cambeltown might be comparable to an Islay: peat, brine, a hint of iodine. After all the two are practically neighbours.
It was AWFUL: a cloying, honey-like sweetness that just wouldn’t let go. I tried with and without water: it was no good. So yesterday I picked up some Laphroaig and started looking for recipes using whisky. Any suggestions? And how do I avoid this embarassing mistake in the future?

Enough. Please.

The first episode of the new Doctor Who series just aired in the UK. Reports from colleagues such as Chris and Dave are positive. So why are we in the US having to wait? From the BBC’s FAQ:

Q. Will the new series be aired outside the UK?

A. So far, we only have confirmation that the new series has been bought by CBC television in Canada, who air it on Tuesdays at 7pm, starting on April 5, and Prime TV in New Zealand, who have not yet announced an air date. No Australian or US broadcaster has picked up the series yet.

AARGH!!!!

Merry complained that I’m always blogging about unpleasant things – why can’t I blog about something nice? How about the crumb test dummy? I think that qualifies. Now, how do I get my hands on some of those McVitie’s Milk Chocolate and Orange Digestives?

Today is the Spring Equinox, the first day of Spring*. It’s the season when people have honoured various deities: Aphrodite from Cyprus, Hathor from Egypt, Ostara of Scandinavia, and others. Here in Brookline, Massachusetts it’s a beautiful, sunny day, around 48°F or 9°C. It’s really bright out, in part because the sun is reflected off the high banks of snow left by the snowploughs. In such circumstances, it seems almost churlish to note that the weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow calls for snow….

Oh no, not MORE bloody snow!!!
OK, I’ll stop whining. I really will. It’s a beautiful day, and the snow won’t amount to anything, and the first robins have appeared…. **
* However when I was growing up, I was taught to reckon these things by the month. So winter was December, January and February, while spring included March, April and May. C’est la vie.
** Robins. That’s another thing that’s hard to wrap my head around. Back in England, robins were these cute (yet fierce) little birds that were resident the year round; many Christmas cards included pictures of “robin red-breast” in the snow. (Obvious religious connotations.) Here in the US, robins are simply a variety of thrush, with vaguely rust-coloured breasts, and they’re wimps when it comes to severe weather. I find it hard to think of them as robins. Hmmm: perhaps this was all part of a fiendish plan by the first professors of Philosophy at Harvard back in the 17th century: they wanted to set up an ambiguous referential situation for their lectures on cognition. “Consider the mental representation robin. In England, this refers to…”. Cue Jerry Fodor (closely followed by Dan Dennett).

I was reading a story in the Guardian about the British government’s reaction to the latest IRA announcement*, and I read: “No 10 has never resiled from its view that the IRA was involved in the bank robbery”

resiled?! What’s this? Is the Grauniad** up to its old tricks? Apparently not: to resile is, inter alia, “to abjure: formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure”. Dates back to 1520-1530, from the French resilir and before that the Latin resilire, to spring back. Same root as resilient. And I’d never seen it before. Neat.

* The IRA is throwing a hissy fit because it was caught robbing banks, so it’s withdrawing its commitment to decommission its weapons. Makes perfect sense….?

** I think it was Private Eye that dubbed the Guardian “the Grauniad” on account of its frequent typos.