As a riff on the Institutes’ Bits of Intelligence and How to Teach Your Baby Math programs, inspired by Joseph’s joy in looking at those dots and in reading books with simply an object and its name, I have published a few counting books for children at Blurb. Visit my permanent Dots in Books page for further information!
I came across an article on why married women cheat. It isn’t a scientific study, but a sampling of different stories. Not usually my kind of article or theme. What pleasantly surprised me is the strong anti-affair stance – strong for mainstream media, at least. Most interesting is the What you can learn section that follows each vignette, which seems to reiterate the importance of communication every time – here usually the importance of telling your husband your needs and desires, but I take from it the equally important admonition to receive Janet’s communication not as accusation, but as a means of improving our marriage.
More my kind of article, here’s an article (in German) on the basic problem of the Eurozone. The most interesting bit was Dani Rodrick’s trilemma. Rodrick has stated that the Eurozone has three goals, one of which can never be fulfilled if the two others are. These are the goals: first, a strong economic integration of the member countries; second, politics aligned with the interests of the individual nations; third, democracy. And that’s why Papandreou’s announcement of a referendum shook the markets.
The German version of this song has been in my head all week. Am I the only one to whom it feels like an incantation? Isn’t that a subtle form of idolatry?
Another German article, this one on Shakespeare. (I hope Google translate is of help with these articles.) The most interesting points to me: First, Shakespeare avoided current issues, or at least made them abstract issues in Arcadia, and that is in large part why we still perform and enjoy his works. Second, looking for biographical elements in the author’s work is a modern obsession and certainly not on the Elizabethan radar, so those scholars who would describe the man based on his sonnets are badly misguided. Third, “he who insists on the biographical component underestimates the power of imagination.”
Just the thing for a certain well-disguised oldest nephew of mine.
A pair of researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich chucked the data on about 43’000 transnational companies into their computers to find out who owns the whole ball of wax. Turns out it’s a group of about 150 mostly British and American banks and financial institutions that control 40% of the market; 750 firms control 80%. They also showed that these companies at the wheel are heavily interconnected, which led them to the conclusion that they’re “too connected to fail.” Here’s an abstract.
Received from a friend: a video of an owl coming in for the kill, right at the camera. The video is taken at 1000 frames per second and shows the intricate flight mechanics of this bird of prey.
For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
Pimp my necktie: If you want to dress for success, nothing says power necktie quite like the necktie the folks at EMPA have developed, a necktie woven of silk plasma-coated with 24 carat gold. Don’t let the price tag of 7’500.- Swiss francs deter you – you’ll be wearing eight grams of gold that glitters in the sun like liquid metal, bound to get the attention of that special someone. If there’s a gift out there for the father who already has it all, this is it: they are manufacturing only 12 this year.
I know it’s a little late for Halloween, but if you like dressing up and the gold necktie isn’t your cuppa, our lab information management system software programmer’s wife sews costumes. Her selling point right now is price, not necessarily perfect authenticity, but if it’s good enough for LARP, it ought to be good enough for Halloween.
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately thinking about analyzing particles. One important parameter is the Feret Diameter, the longest distance between any two points along the selection boundary, also known as maximum caliper. The other day I came across someone who had called it the Ferret Diameter. Because it would take too long to find a photo of a ferret and draw a diameter, here in its place is a micrograph of Bakelite.
I recently read C.J. Mahaney’s “Christ our Mediator.” The good part: There’s very little beef to have with the book theologically, and it is concerned with a crucial topic. I do have some concerns with his approach to emotion. He spends an entire chapter explaining that belief must precede emotion, and emotion must thus never be a reason for belief. The danger I see is not in that, but in his emphasis that emotion will necessarily follow belief and meditation. It seems to me that thus emotion becomes the end and proof of belief, and that I think is untenable, for if emotion was too unreliable to serve as a foundation for belief, how can it be reliable enough to serve as its evidence?
One of the five love languages is acts of service. I’ve been thinking about that lately: who decides which acts of service need to be done, and how? Clearly, the act of service is a gift, so one would think the giver has every right to decide how to serve. The problem occurs if the giver and the recipient have different ideas of what service needs to be done. If I decide to sort our CD collection alphabetically, that is an act of service, but it won’t mean much to Janet. (If I sweep the floor, that’s another story.) As with most gifts, this one needs to be given with the recipient in mind, and that means letting go of my idea of what ought to be done or how something ought to be done.
Now, talking about a gift before giving it robs it of a lot of its joy, but when you’re getting to know someone, I think that can’t be avoided. Or can it? How?
Have you heard of chemtrails? The first time I heard of it was at the NanoBio conference in Zurich, when a guy reeking of alcohol came in off the street and started telling me how the real nanoparticles were in the chemtrails like those on the conference poster. The idea is that somehow “the government” or “the military” gets regular jetliners to distribute nanoparticles in their wake, thereby changing the weather or raining chemicals on us or otherwise controlling the world. Of course, there’s no plausible way to do that – not that I know of anyway – and condensation does a wonderful job of explaining all the phenomena described. Then why are there more contrails up in the sky than you remember from your youth? Not because chemicals make them more persistent, but simply because flights have increased drastically.
Instead of chemtrail images, have a look at a regular cloud and its odd optical effect!
Thematically related to the above topic is that today is National Start a Rumor Day. I’ll have you know I’ve done my duty.
For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
Here’s another post for archival purposes. I came up with this recipe a few years back, wrote it on a scrap of paper, and stuck it to the radiator in the kitchen. In our new apartment, that was no longer practical, so I’ve had 45 square centimeters of recipe floating about ever since. Now it’s coming off the desk and onto the blog.
So, here goes: Boil 2 liters of water and brew four heaped teaspoons of loose-leaf Mate tea. Add a squirt of lemon juice and four heaped tablespoons of natural brown sugar – I think US-style brown sugar should do fine, and of course the sugar content can be varied: the four tablespoons are on the sweet side. Chill and serve.
As a side note: I included the image here, because it shows the German terminology: “Rohzucker aus Zuckerrohr.” The actual sales page on migros.ch says “Rohrzucker aus Zuckerrohr,” which translates to “cane sugar from sugar cane,” losing half the information in the process of adding an “r.”
Slow and steady wins the race, but probably loses all interest in the meantime. If you still want to see a selection of our wedding pictures, they are up in the usual place. E-mail me if you don’t know the login and password. E-mail me, too, if you would like a picture of yourself at the wedding (for I cut many, many photos), or want the high resolution version of one of the photos in the album.
I attended a metallography convention in September, which included a dinner event as well. The photos have been published, and one shows the dinner crowd. If you look closely, you can find me in there.
Here we go again with a few videos.
Joseph plays with the bike light, which behaves a bit unpredictably due to low battery.
Janet had cut a slot in the yogurt lid a few months ago. It turns out now is the right time for him to play with this toy.
Joseph practising for the modern pentathlon.
A bit of a surprise for all of us, Sendak’s Night Kitchen is a current favorite. We can identify the key phrases, “Milch! Milch!”, “Kikerikiii”, and “Ruhe da unten!”
Impeccable fashion sense and poise.
Joseph can say “apple.” (This video has nothing to do with Steve Jobs.)
Joseph’s ability to communicate is exploding. He can understand requests to get things or put them away, and he can identify things by their name, as in this memory set. His concentration still needs a little work…
Another discipline for the modern pentathlon.
We also have another video of Joseph running crazy circles in the hallway wearing nothing but legwear. If you want to see that, e-mail me.
It’s a perfect storm situation: My mother-in-law posted her first Quick Takes last Friday, and I’m in need of a catch-all for a number of bloggable items that have accumulated. Will this be my last, or just the last for a good while? I don’t know, but it’s my first. Here goes.
Let’s start with a question. Was Moses humbler than Jesus? Read Numbers 12:3, discuss. (Bear in mind the author of Numbers.)
“No offense, but that was a stupid question. First, it’s apples and bananas. Second, Numbers 12:3 only refers to humans alive at Moses’s time. Third, even if we could figure out an answer, what would be the benefit? There’s no reason to spend time on that question.”
“Lord knows I’m not perfect, but I don’t see how I did anything wrong by asking. It’s a perfectly legitimate and logical question!”
So, questions number two to six: Does the speaker of the first statement mean offense? Is the statement offensive? Will the hearer be offended? Is the second speaker perfect? Does he believe he is, or at least so close that he needs to point out he isn’t?
We all say things that contradict what we say or how we say it. I have to continually remind myself that what I say gains its meaning not just from the naked words I use, but from context, tone of voice, body language, and other factors on my end. And that’s the part of the conversation I can more or less control.
Today is World Standards Day. The motto is “Creating Confidence Globally,” and the presidents of the three main standards organisations begin their address as follows: “In today’s world we need to have a high level of expectation that things will work the way we expect them to work.” They go on to mention things like telephones, cars, and healthcare equipment to make their case.
Considering Quick Take #2, maybe we should work on ISO 137353 Speech Protocol for Human Oral/Aural Interaction.
Or maybe there’s a better way. Maybe we can take solace that even Jesus struggled with communication: many couldn’t or wouldn’t understand his message. And maybe we can be inspired by his consistent willingness to reach out to everyone who made even the smallest effort to understand. Jesus said: “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side,” and not “Come on, Thomas, don’t you trust me?”
And then there’s Paul’s command to “love [my wife], just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Jesus didn’t only die for the church, he loved it in many other ways, too. Why do I have the hunch I’m more likely to die for Janet than wash her feet?
And now for something completely different.
Amazon.com has introduced a Universal Wish List. This is not a new or original idea, but because I already have a wish list on Amazon, it’s convenient. Convenient, that is, if you live in the US.
I installed the button add-in for my Firefox browser and tried to use it for an item on a Swiss website. It turns out the “Add to list” button redirects to the UK Amazon site instead of the US Amazon site. I tried with the following sites, just for fun:
Basel T-Shirts on a German website — redirected to UK
A Spitz CD on rakuten.co.jp — redirected to UK
The book I meant to add — redirected to UK
A Basel T-Shirt on Cafepress — redirected to UK
and the kicker
Amazon.com’s own kindle — redirected to UK
So I can’t use the Universal Wish List until they fix the button. It’s taken me three e-mails to Amazon to get the problem across, and another to get someone to not just suggest alternate products. I’m curious to see if they fix the button, and stop deciding for me where I ought to have my wish list.
Speaking of deciding for me, the EU has re-issued its Toy Safety Directive. One item on it has been making the rounds: the EU is requiring all manufacturers of latex balloons to warn against letting children under the age of eight blow them up without adult supervision (see page 36 of 174 in the slightly older copy I found). Newspapers are talking about the EU banning balloons – but the warnings are apparently neither new, nor stricter than in the US.
So what’s the take-home message here? First, fact-check your newspaper, and second, remember that “international standards for products and services underpin quality, ecology, safety, reliability, interoperability, efficiency and effectiveness,” so those 174 pages clearly are 174 pages of all-around blessing.
For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
There is really no reason to combine a review of Masuji Ibuse’s “Castaways” and John Ortberg’s “If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat,” other than my having read them in sequence and a superficial nautical thematic connection. But why would that stop me?
“Castaways” was my first book by Masuji Ibuse, and I don’t remember why I placed it on my Amazon wish list, but I’m glad I did. Ibuse seems to have an interest in historical themes, and in particular the time around the dawn of the Meiji era. Japan had been in self-imposed seclusion for four hundred years under the Tokugawa regime, but in the 19th century the shogunate’s grasp on power was beginning to wane and foreign powers were increasing their efforts to break into Japan. Of the two stories in this book, one is set in the first half of the 19th century, before Commodore Perry landed in Japan, and the other straddles that event.
The first story, “A Geisha Remembers,” is aptly titled. Ibuse has a retired geisha relate her encounters with Takashima ShÅ«han, one of the first to import Western arms to Japan and study Western military strategy. As a geisha, she gets glimpses into his nature that would remain invisible to the casual observer of the public figure, and because she’s smitten, we get to follow Takashima’s trajectory in a little more length than if she had been a mere acquaintance. Through her narration, we not only get a glimpse into pre-modern Japan, but also get a peek into the independent character of this geisha. Ibuse’s storytelling is an example of how artful restraint in the imitation of spoken narrative makes for a much more compelling read than a verbatim transcript of real speech with all its redundancies, rabbit-trails, and incoherencies. I thoroughly enjoyed this short novel.
The second story, “John ManjirÅ: A Castaway’s Chronicle,” is based on the life of Nakahama ManjirÅ, a young fisherman who with his shipmates was shipwrecked on a desolate island and rescued by an American whaling ship. His four friends were dropped off in Honolulu, but ManjirÅ continued on to Fairhaven, Massachusetts, where he learned a trade, learned English, and from whence he went forth on adventure. Here Ibuse is the narrator and tells the story in the third person, which allows him to compress several decades into 80 pages. An unfortunate effect thereof is that once the other four are dropped off in Honolulu, Ibuse tells more than he shows, and the novel at times feels like a string of facts, a mere summary. I cannot help thinking a longer novel might have done ManjirÅ’s life more justice, but it’s easy to read, short, and interesting even to readers not particularly interested in 1853. ManjirÅ’s story does make me wonder who the adventurers of today are. Does anyone still go whaling, settle in a foreign country, prospect for gold, navigate a sailing vessel, and serve as an ambassador these days? And with 2012 in view: would we ever dare elect someone like that into office?
“If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat” was another of my 80/20 reads. It looked like a prime candidate and proved itself worthy. Ortberg is probably an entertaining and inspiring public speaker, but he writes like he’s talking to me, and that frequently irritates me. I wouldn’t mind being addressed directly, but I’m reading a book here, and don’t expect all the fluff required to keep an audience entertained. Ortberg could have taken a lesson from Ibuse’s “A Geisha Remembers,” trimmed the book by half, saved many many trees, and still have gotten the message across. In fact, the title is the main point, and Ortberg spends 200 pages explaining the analogy.
But there are a few points I found interesting. One is the Quaker idea of assembling a clearness committee before making big decisions, and letting these friends and mentors ask the important questions to obtain clarity regarding the pending decision. That, to me, is one aspect of community that we largely ignore: we read our Bibles, pray every day, and decide for ourselves, depriving us of the wisdom of our fellow believers.
Another is the idea of praying for something big for six months. Now, that sounds dangerously like trying to manipulate God into something, but I think it’s a good way to get into a habit of persistent prayer. I might start thinking I’ll do it for six months, which feels manageable. But by the end of those six months, I should have a habit of praying that can either continue or be used for another prayer item.
His chapters six and seven encourage me to think about how I model fear management and failure management to my children. How I react when faced with danger or failure will have a strong impact on how they react in similar situations. Ortberg has questions at the end of each chapter, and here lists a few common responses to failure: shame, fear, increased determination, denial, and blaming someone else. Clearly, some are more productive than others, and if Joseph sees me making excuses and blaming others for my failures, he’ll learn the same habit.
Ortberg has this thought on waiting: “Waiting is, by its nature, something only the humble can do with grace. When we wait for something, we recognize that we are not in control.”
So that’s about it – but the book also contained the first chapter of his book “Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them,” where I found almost as many points of interest as in the entire water-walking book, though they are all quotes from other writers:
“Community is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives.” (Henri Nouwen)
“But God’s grace quickly frustrates all such dreams. A great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with ourselves, is bound to overwhelm us as surely as God desires to lead us to an understanding of genuine Christian community…. The sooner this moment of disillusionment comes over the individual and the community, the better for both…. Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest, and sacrificial.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
“Whoever cannot stand being in community should beware of being alone.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
Both books are available for lending, and, in the case of Ortberg’s, taking.
They are all over Japan and starting to show up more frequently here as a way of fostering customer interaction. Take a photo of the QR code with your cell phone, and it sends you straight to a website with more information.
So here I am, jumping on the bandwagon. Kaywa.com offers a free QR code generator, which I used to create the following image:
So… who will be the first to follow the above code and claim the victor’s crown?
