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Friday, March 3, 2000
Moving at the speed of light
While shaving, I suddenly though that maybe it is the case
that everything is always moving at the speed of light, or at
least at the same speed. Strange thought.
But later that day, I realized it was a stupid idea.
Sunday, March 5, 2000
When I looked out of the window this morning there was a
small layer of snow on the ground. Yesterday, there were
big snow clouds in the sky. We had alternating showers of
snow and an almost clear sky overhead and large clouds at
the horizon. (But as usual, it was to warm for the snow to
stay at all.) Today's snow was virtually gone before noon.
Lately, Li-Xia and I often play FreeCell.
It is quite an addictive game. So far, we haven't come across hands
that we could not solve, although for some we did need
more than one try.
Some years ago, I used to listen to the 10th of
Dimitri Shostakovich almost every day. Whenever I listen to
a piece of music repeatedly, there always comes a moment that
I start to dislike it, even to the point of abhoring. I take
is as a measure for the quality of a piece how often I can
play it before this is reached. Although I hoped that the
point of abhoring would never come with the 10th
it did come, and even my attempt to delay it by not listening
to it so often anymore failed in the end.
To night, after not having listened to it for at least more
than I year, I decided to give it a try. I was happily surprised
to find out that I could listen to it, and enjoy it. I even
felt that I understood the piece better than before. At the
same time, I also sense that the point of abhoring might
return quickly, if I would listen to it again too soon.
Isn't this true for many things in life, that you can only
enjoy them, if you do not give in too often.
(follow-up)
Adalia Bipunctata
Someone of Customer Support noticed that there was a
Adalia Bipunctata walking on our desk when I came
to ask some questions. This little insect is also
known as a ladybug. This one did not have two spots
as the name would suggest, but that is often the
case with the Adalia Bipunctata, that the spots become
much larger, and are no longer recognizable as spots.
He told us that there are also Ladybugs with seven
and twentytwo spots.
Arround 20:30 the light went off in our home. First I
thought we had a short circuit. But when I looked out of
the window, I they were dark as well. And everywhere
in the homes, I saw beams of flash-lights going round.
Around 21:15 the light flashed on again, but only to go
off again. It was only after 22:20 that the light went
on, and remained on.
(follow-up)
Wednesday, March 15, 2000
Going to the sea
The weather was very nice this morning, which made me think about going
on holiday when I was a small child.
I was getting the wild idea of instead of going to my office, take
Annabel and Andy to
the beach, and spend the rest of the day there. They never have been to
the beach again.
When walking to the canteen at lunch time, I saw a shining
chestnut, and when I picked it up, I noticed that it had a
small root coming out. Of course, I took it home, and put it
a pot with earth. I did not know if the root should grow up
or down. I though it was best to let it grow up.
(follow-up)
Thursday, March 16, 2000
I asked a colleague if he had any experience with grown a
chestnut tree from a chestnut. He told me that the root
should grow down, and not up as I had thought.
I could not help myself from checking if there were some
more sprouted chestnuts under the tree where I found one
yesterday. And yes, I found three more. I put these in the
garden, roots down, of course. (I also turned the other one
upside-down.) I hope that at least one of the four chestnuts
will grow into a tree.
Friday, March 24, 2000
It's growing
The root of the sprouting chestnut that
I found last week, has grown to at least three times its
original size. I hope it will continue growing like this.
But, if I really want to let grow it into a tree, I have
to think about where I want to put it in the garden. The
problem is, that my garden is not very big, and I am afraid
that my neighbours will not like the idea of tree taking
away all the sun light.
(follow-up)
Saturday, March 25, 2000
New pair of glasses
This morning in the public library, I accidently dropped
my pair of glasses. I hear the sound of a glass rolling
away, and I immediately knew that the frame must have been
broken. When I picked up the pieces, I found out that my
observation was correct. The frame was broken on the left
side near my nose. Luckily, I could still put in the glass
and walk around with it, otherwise, I would have been
severily handicapped.
We decided to immediately buy a new pair of glasses, although
I still might be able to fix it with a piece of tape and
walk around with for another half year. But the chances that
the glass would drop out again and be destroyed, or that
the frame would break at another spot, are simply to high.
First my eyes were checked. As a still can see perfectly
with my current set of glasses, it came to no surprise to
me that the strength was still the same:
- Right: -8.75 with a cylindric correction on 180°
of -2.75.
- Left: -9
After some hour looking around, we picked a frame by Jeep,
model Drummond 3 08x0485-140. Looking at the price of the
frame (not too expensive), I thought that the glasses would
be cheaper than the frame. I was wrong. For a strenght of
-11.5 (sum of -8.75 and -2.75), I had to go for the highest
quality Zeiss lenses, the Clarlet 1.67 AS Ø65 Carat Hard, which
have a refraction index of 1.67.
It turned out that each of the glasses costed more than
the frame.
(follow-up)
Monday, March 27, 2000
10:04
I was there, at the historical moment when for the first time
SuperQ application connected with a PW1480 XRF spectrometer.
Growing from 4 to 6 cm
In just one day the chestnut grew
from 4 to 6 cm. In the morning it was 4 cm high, and in the evening
it measured 6 cm.
(follow-up)
Wednesday, March 29, 2000
Tonight, we were all sitting at the table, when Andy dropped his
plate on the ground. Luckly, it was a plastic plate, so nothing
broke, but still this is not behaviour we want to encourage.
So, Li-Xia beated him softly in the palm
of his hand. Beating is really a too strong word for what she did.
But the messages was clear, the corners of his mouth dropped, and
he looked very sad, a big tear rolled down his cheek. Tears come
very easily with him. It broke my heart see him like this. So,
we quickly comforted him.
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