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New discoveries
Well, well. Today I drove past the former Soviet former Nazi barracks at Kramnitz. My eye was caught by the athletic Soviet mural facing the main road. I didn't stop the car to take the photo, but of course someone else (Remoto13) has done it for me.
This was a part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, which at the end of the Cold War ( Read more... ) -
Snow report
This year's snow came later than ever - on the night of the 25th. A couple of inches in Görlitz, somewhat less in Berlin. I'm not sure the few flakes of two weeks ago count as the first snow of the winter. Either way, this year was the second latest yet. As in 2010, we need to get our heaters in order.
Year First snow
2014 11 December
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(Untitled)
Snow flakes yesterday. [I need to update my list] -
We are, all of us, made of star-stuff
My long-lost birthday present to myself, the DVDs of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" series (1978-79) arrived recently. Episode One is easy to summarise: "Space is big. Really big. And old too. Also, Eratosthenes was a clever guy with good library access." Sagan spins a good yarn though; and his love of learning comes through. His wardrobe must have looked ( Read more... ) -
(Untitled)
The thing that brought me back here is perhaps interesting. While trying to get signed up, I saw that bitbucket.org supported OpenID, and couldn't remember my details here. After some twiddling, it don't work. The Internets is broken. I'm shocked. -
Should really
paste here more often. There is more to say than I want to share with facebook. -
Ice, ice, baby
Of course General Frost hadn't forgotten us here this winter. Yesterday he brought freezing rain to make the footpaths treacherous, and today came the snow. In typical Berlin fashion, it comes in slow dribbles, and there's no brilliant sunshine afterwards, but the idea is in the right direction ( Read more... ) -
What do we want? Persistent identifiers! When do we want them? NOW!!
I find myself suddenly in the position of trying to understand the persistent identifier meme for our data centre. This is a perilous environment. DOI ("de-oh-eye"? "doiy"?) and their ilk are ostensibly about the more-perfect implementation of the scientific method - supporting reproducible research and acknowledging sources - but really seem to be ( Read more... ) -
breaking my own rules
Frost on the ground this morning. Not as exciting as my annual snow report. -
Invoking Steve Jobs
Presentation accomplished, and went adequately, thanks to the first rule: practice, practice, practice.
Not so happy with the Ubuntu 12.x desktop now though.