Skimming the Surface - Again

Take a boy to the edge of a lake and watch him looking for a stone to send skimming over the surface of the water. Later he grows up into a physicist who somehow manages to get paid for skimming stones. So now we have a new field of scientific investigation. Shin-ichiro Nagahiro and Yoshinori Hayakawa used a virtual lake front called Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics. This helps them to verify the 'magic angle' for stone-skip”. I am glad to note that they give my friend, the jesus-lizard, a mention. It seems he knew all along.
(via news is free)

The Fibonacci Serendipity

The dilemma? I'm completely hopeless when it comes to "... the different branches of Arithmetic - Ambition, Distraction, Uglification and Derision... " (Lewis Carroll). Nevertheless I sometimes get a vague idea what it is all about. Take the strangely beautiful Fibonacci series. Only recently I gushed about them to some friends and then couldn't explain what they are all about. Now I'll only have to refer them to this wonderful (flash) site, which I found here.

Taxi Drivers and Journalists

Yesterday, talking about the upcoming elections in Palestine Eddie Mair, radiopresenter on BBC4s PM, asked a correspondent, so what are people saying in taxis (tiny pause), on the streets?

Realising that "the man in the street" is really a taxi-driver, I instantly dreamed up a whole new career for myself. I would get a taxi license and hover near journalist haunts. Faking a broad local accent or extra broken English I would then pour my most cherished opinions into their inebriated minds. And hey presto I'm into international politics.

World leaders relax. I don't drive.

Something Alive and Kicking, feminism?

I seem to be obsessed with dragging the outside world into the blogosphere. Take this quaint little story. The news agencies announce the death of an actor who peaked in the early 80ties, but was never into stardom. A (female) editor tries to convince her male editor-in-chief that this definitely is a story. She is seconded by two (female) assistants. The editor-in-chief: 'Don't push me too hard'. 10 Minutes later the female editor gets the go ahead to write up this news. A miracle? Not quite. The boss took the advice of another (male) editor. I'm not sure about feminism, but masculinism is alive and kicking.

The Colour of Global Slush

There I was, shopping for a thermos flask and my smithereen-fragmented brain thought it had some extra capacity to wonder whether it was ok for me to write an English blog although I'm German. Then the corner of my eye caught sight of a poster for slush. Amazingly, this solved my moral dilemma; I'll go on writing English while I can. The poster offered slush in blue, red and green. Yet you could only buy the stuff in the German regulation sirop colours red and green (have a care, this is supposed to be woodruff (Waldmeister), not lime). Red and green, green and red, and as far as I know this has been going on from time immemorial.

There must be a whole universe of slush colours out there: lime, tangerine, blue, if need be. The Italians drink a pale white almond slush. I won't be stuck with the eternal choice of green and red. I'm global. Well, ok European. Alright, alright, I may admit to the odd hyperlocal prepossession, but not when it comes to slush!

Just a Surface

Hypersuperficial Animal

Recently I've heard about the jesus or basilisk lizard. This wonderful animal can walk on water (seeing is believing). It seems to be a perfect symbol of blogging. You may have difficulties totally immersing yourself into anyone topic, but you're certainly not going under either.

And has everyone please looked at this stunning photograph of two jousting (or was it jostling) black presidential knights? Thank you, wonkette!