Looks like Gallery Remote glitched on the upload of the pictures that I took of Iasi. I’ve just finished filling in the gaps.
Unmitigated B.S. quote of the day.
Lewis Hamilton dominated today’s Chinese Grand Prix. He led from pole, and steadily extended his lead to about 16 seconds, being careful not to over-stress his tyres. Kimi Raikkonen was in second place, unable to catch Hamilton, and Felipe Massa was third, unable to keep pace with Raikkonen. But since Raikkonen was no longer in contention for the title, he deliberately slowed and allowed Massa to take second place at the finish. Raikkonen explained what he’d done and why, but Massa came up with this nonsense:
“I was strong enough to catch and pass [Raikkonen] and that was the best part of the race for me – but it was not enough.”
Pure B.S. What a wanker Massa is…
Strolling the streets of Iasi on a warm autumn Sunday
Today was my one free day on this trip, and the weather cooperated. After watching the Chinese Grand Prix on television (go Lewis!!), I spent several hours this afternoon strolling through the streets of Iasi. The sun was out, the sky was blue, the traffic was light (and some of the streets were closed off), and it seemed that all of Iasi was out for a walk, or sitting in the parks, or fishing in the (vestigial) river. I’m uploading the photographs even as I type this.
Just for the record, let me sketch out where I went. I’m not going to attempt to get the accents right, so my Romanian colleagues will wince when they see this.
I started at the Ramada Hotel, next door to the Palatul Culturii. After admiring the Casa Dosoftei, I walked up B-dul Stefan cel Ma si Sfant, past the Catedrala Catolica and Catedrala Mitropolitana. I crossed the street, went past the Primaria, and through the park leading to the Teatrul National. From there I zig-zagged my way to the big square called Piata Unirii. I cut up Maxim Gorky to the Piata Independentei, dominated by a huge and very forceful statue. I continued north-east to the Piata Mihai Eminescu, then turned south on Str. Gavril Muzicescu and made my way all the way back to the Palatui Culturii. I followed Str. Palat south around the Centru complex until I reached the river at the Piata Podu Ros. By now I was quite warm, and was starting to obsess about the bottle of sparkling water in my hotel room. So I headed up Str. Sf. Lazar (checking the location of the Amazon office for tomorrow), until I reached Str. Grigere Ureche which leads to the hotel.
More anon.
And speaking of Transylvania….
Here’s an interesting piece about a castle that’s often associated with Vlad the Impaler (DBA Count Dracula!), and how it’s up for sale.
The Thin Guy would probably insist that I highlight the fact that this story was produced by Al Jazeera. So I will. And it’s worth reading the comments at YouTube which suggest that the reporter was misled by the sales pitch, and managed to get the history completely wrong.
Emotion Vs. Reason
In an interesting riff on Emotion Vs. Reason, Michael Batz argues that….
…part of the reason that Obama is winning is not because he is speaking about policy, but because he has won the argument that we SHOULD be talking about policy. He has managed to convince people that in these times its important to vote with our brains, and that he’s the right guy for that vote.
There is some irony here. Obama won the primaries based upon very strong rhetoric and some hopeful idealism that had, at its core, a very emotional pull. His public persona before the convention was the lofty speaker who glossed over specifics, but he has pivoted substantially into the serious let’s-talk-numbers guy. It is pretty remarkable, when you think about it.
Underestimation
A thoughtful observation from James Fallows:
I remember how often, how vehemently, and with what certainty Obama’s detractors during the Democratic primaries said that he could not, possibly, in any way, in any real world, withstand the onslaught of GOP negative campaigning once it geared up against him. That he’s been seriously underestimated twice — by the Hillary Clinton camp, and now by McCain — doesn’t prove his potential in office but is interesting.
Sorting out history
When I was planning to visit Iasi in Romania, I looked at a map, saw that it was in the northern part of the country, and casually assumed that this meant that it was in Transylvania. Well, no. I’ve spent the last hour reading up in Wikipedia on the history of Iasi, Romania, Transylvania, and Moldavia, and I think I have it sorted at a superficial level. And calling someone from Iasi (Jassy) a “Transylvanian” would seem to be a bit like calling someone from Durham a Scot…
Another thing I’m sorting out is geography. I had looked at Google Maps images like this, and had assumed that Iasi was in a mountainous region – part of the Carpathians. Well, no. If I’d zoomed out a bit, like this, I’d have seen that it’s well to the east of the mountains, in what looks like a prime agricultural region.
Speaking of agriculture, can someone explain why all of the fields show this fine-grained irregular striping pattern. The link’s to a Google map zoom-in satellite view of fields just to the east of the Iasi airport, but I saw this pattern all over the country. (Here’s the same kind of thing just outside Bucharest.)
"Beautiful Slough"
My colleague Ben Elliss responded to my last travel posting by saying “I’m looking forward to reading your upcoming posts about beautiful Slough, Geoff”. So what should I say?
I’m staying at a hotel about a mile and a half from the office, 
and the weather’s been nice, so yesterday and today I left the car at the hotel and walked. The route takes me from a relatively leafy area, through slightly run-down suburbia, along a major artery, and then through a pedestrianised shopping district. My first impression was that I could have been anywhere in the south-east of England, from Windsor to Basildon, from Watford to Croydon. Lots of traffic, lots of construction activity in the shopping district ((just in time for consumer spending to take a nose-dive as people tighten their belts and unemployment jumps)), lots of young mothers with push chairs and preschool children. Fewer pubs than I expected – but apparently that’s another trend: lots of pubs are closing across the country.
The hotel is good, the restaurant is excellent, and all of the wait-staff have impenetrable Eastern European accents. A “glass of wine” is 250mL, which is huge – over half a (US) pint. (And that reminds me: I need to find an opportunity to enjoy a pint of bitter before I leave the country. Maybe this evening.)
Meanwhile, I’m enjoying my meetings with my colleagues here in Slough. (And no door desks….!)
Anathem – first thoughts
Over the next week or so I plan to gather together my thoughts about Neal Stephenson’s new book, Anathem, so that I can write a full review. But here are my preliminary reactions:
Anatham is (at least) three books in one. It’s a science fiction yarn, in which geeks indulge in amazing feats of derring-do to save the world(s). It’s a dialogue about the thorny questions at the intersection of many-worlds quantum science, consciousness, and causality. And the background to both of these is a treatise on the role of science in society, and how the two magisteria – the secular and the scientific – might react against each other over the long haul.
I enjoyed and appreciated it immensely. It deserves careful and patient consideration.
Palin's base
No comments required….
Well, maybe one comment – from John McCain:
Let me just say categorically I’m proud of the people that come to our rallies… I’m not going to stand for people saying that the people that come to my rallies are anything but the most dedicated, patriotic men and women that are in this nation and they’re great citizens.