I'm alive for those of you who heard about the train wreck on the way from Mons to Brussels this morning. The closest person I knew that was close to it was the cousin of my coworker, Joëlle. He was in the train that left from Mons after the one that crashed, so he was only delayed.

Jeff ( Read more... )

Warning: total geek post ( Read more... )

Okay, so I just spend a short while assessing my situation with the stolen computers, and though I'm desperately sad about the missing photos and source code, and the loss of my PhD research may close off some career options, I'm going to be okay. I also believe that I am at very little risk in terms of what the thieves can do with my data, mostly ( Read more... )

Over the weekend, I went to Vienna with gosaru and ddf, but when we returned, we found that one of my worst nightmares had come true. Along with ddf's laptop, someone stole both my personal and work computer and the harddisk that I back up everything on. EVERYTHING IS GONE. I felt like I was made of plastic and my entire world had been ripped out from under ( Read more... )

Two quickies ( Read more... )

( pics of this and that, including... HAIR! )

Okay, so it's been a while since I updated. Recently, I've been kind of hunkered down in Mons, spending a lot of time studying French and working. I've been spending more time with French speakers, too, which has been great!

( I have a bunch of pictures worth sharing that don't have a particularly long story with them, so here are a bunch of old )

This is a 17 page article in The New Yorker that took me an hour to read, but it is a well-told, informative, and disturbing story which is worrisome argument against capital punishment. I highly recommend the read unless you are a closed-minded supporter of the death penalty (in which case, I don't think it would be very enjoyable to read).

( Read more... )

Just before heading to Italy, I went to Souch Carolina for a short trip. One of the main reasons was that my mother's family has gotten together at Pinestraw Mills (my immediate family's lakehouse) on the July 4th weekend over the last several years and I didn't want to miss out on that.

( relatives, and the other reason )