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Ayaan Hirsi Ali
According to this press release, USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez presented
Ms. Ayaan Hirsi Ali
with her green card on September 25, 2007, during which he said: "Today, we welcome
her to the United States as a permanent resident. We welcome her to the protection provided
by the U.S. Constitution and encourage her to continue speaking out regarding those
issues she feels passionate about."
However, yesterday, she returned in the Netherlands, because the Dutch government
announced that they no longer want to pay for the cost of her security while is
abroad. Neither the Unites States nor the employer, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research seems to be willing
to pay for her security.
14 balloons
This morning, we found 14 balloons on the table in the living room
(picture). These were
put there by Annabel for our 14th
wedding anniversary. She had set her alarm at five o'clock.
In the afternoon, Li-Xia, Annabel,
Andy, and I went to the city and we had a
dinner at Camel consisting of some donner kebab, falafel, salad,
and fried potato slices. Andy did not want to eat anything, but
he sat very quiet in his chair. It seems he is used to wait while
others are eating. Once in a while he would look at our dishes to
see if we were already finished our meal. Afterwards he wanted to
visit some toy shop. Because it was close to closing time (five
o'clock), we had to rush. Whenever he saw some Pokémon related
toy he would greet is goodbey, because tomorrow is his tenth birthday.
4 dimensions
Today, I read an item on Slashdot about the time dimension becoming space-like, in reference
to the scientifical publication "Is the
accelerated expansion evidence of a forthcoming change of signature?". All
highly speculative. But it made me think about the idea that I got some weeks ago
that time in our three-dimensional world is maybe like an expanding four-dimensional
sphere. That would imply that time has a different direction at each location in
space. The best way to compare this, is to look at a wave in a pond that occurs
when a stone is dropped in the pond. That wave has the form of an ever expanding
circle. The circle could be viewed as a one dimensional space. The "time" on each
point of the circle is moving in a different direction. This too is all highly
speculative. I wonder whether such a model would be consistent with general
relativity, let alone special relativity. Maybe such a model would imply that
red-shift are approaching to infinity at the end of our visible universe.
Playing Go
This evening, I went to the university on my own (because Annabel did not want to go) to play Go. I had to wait
some time before someone else arrived. First Rudi arrived and I asked if we
could analyze a game that I played on Its Your Turn. Just before I left, I had copied the game record by hand,
and it appeared that I had made some mistakes. But we managed to find them.
While we were doing this, Marcel arrived. They found several big mistakes in
the game made by my opponent and me. (A PostScript and
a SGF file
with the remarks). Rudi suggested that he would play simultaniously against
Marcel and me. He played rather quick with Marcel and the managed to finish
two games in the time I needed to finish my game. I had been given eight stones
ahead, which should have been nine. Although Marcel remarked in the middle of
the game that my position looked strong, I lost the game with 70 points.
Afterwards we spend some time talking and analyzing the game. One and half
year ago, I never liked it when others started to analyze my game and telling
me how to deal with certain issues. Now it seems, I can remember large parts
of the game myself and like to ask questions about how to deal with certain
situations. Marcel thinks that I have become 10 Kyu stronger since I started
to play at the club.
Stardust
Li-Xia and I went
to see the movie Stardust. We both found it an interesting movie.
Curly kail hotchpotch
Today, it is the thirteenth birthday of Annabel.
She wanted to eat curly kail hotchpotch for
her birthday. Because she had three friends visiting, I had to made a lot.
One of the friends did not like curly kail, so I made some green beens for
her. I boiled the curly kail in a separate pan because everything did not
fit in one pan. I made two pans with hotchpotch. I mixed the pork cut in
cubes with the biggest of the two pans, because I did not want to eat the
pork. It looks like that everyone liked it, because we almost finished
everything. I think I cut about three kilo of potato.
Blood proteins may diagnose Alzheimer's
Today, I read an interesting article from the BBC about a blood test that
could identify Alzheimer's disease.
They found that the levels
of 18 proteins are different. These proteins are are also involved
in the production of new blood cells, immune processes and the death
of cells at the end of their natural life cycle.
Dr Wyss-Coray
said: "Our hypothesis is that there is something wrong with the production
of certain blood cells, which may be needed to clear that stuff that
accumulates in the brain in Alzheimer's disease."
Yesterday, I came across Peripheral ethanolamine plasmalogen deficiency: a logical causative
factor in Alzheimer's disease and dementia. I do not know whether
these two findings are related. If I understand it correctly, the chemical
ethanolamine
is not a protein. Ethanolamine also refers to a class of antihistamines
containing an ethyl-amine group attached to a diphenyl structure.
Rainbow
This morning, when I biked to my office, I was surprised by a complete
rainbow with in the background a blue sky with
some clouds. I immediataly took some pictures (combined) and when I was finished it
started to drizzle.
This afternoon, I went to the University to talk with some students
who for a certain course have to design a device with a GPS receiver
which could support people with early stages of Alzheimer's Disease (or other
forms of memory problems) in their daily activities such as visiting
friends and doing shoppings. It was a very interesting talk. Afterwards,
I was given a bottle of wine as a reward for my cooperation. One of
the greatest challenges with defining such an interface is that most
people with these type of memory problems have often great troubles
with learning to use a new device. The interface needs to be very
intuitive. We concluded that it should make extensive use of images
and pictograms.
Path of the Shell
Yesterday evening (actually,
early this morning), I finished Uru: Path of the Shell. Especially
during the last part, I made use of the hints, because I got bored.
Last ten unsolved square tiles
Today, I finished the write-up
of the proof that the last ten square tiles do not have an infinite
solution using all possible tiles in the set. With this, I think, I
have determined of all possible square tilings with two values, whether
they have an infinite solution or not.
Pancakes
This afternoon we went to catch Andy from
the place where he says every other week for the weekend. We were
told that when they had pancakes yesterday, Andy kept on asking
for more until they were finished. He ate at least four of them.
This is one of the first time, he himself has been asking for more
to eat of something. Of all places, that place is where he eats
the best. The strange thing is that there he refuses to drink his
liquid formulea, whereas at home it is the only think he wants to
drink.
Playing Go
This evening, Annabel and I went to
the university to play Go. We arrived as
the first, although it was already half past eight. Luckily, we
had brought a playing board, so I challenged her for a game.
She wanted to eat "bitterballen" (a type of croquette served
as an appetizer) and suggested that I would pay her these if
she would win. We played on a 19x19 board. Not much later Araldo
and Rudi arrived, and they started to play with each other. At
the end of middle game, after I lost some stones, I felt I had
lost and I resigned. Annabel went to order the "bitterballen".
We continued the game, and although I still had some chance to
win the game, I made some big mistakes, because I was playing
too fast, and lost the game. She challenged me for another game
on a 13x13 board. Although I was determined to win this game,
I lost it again because I made some stupid mistakes, when I played
too reckless. I challenged her for another game. She complained
she felt tired and was not playing very strong anymore. I won
this game with ease. Then I waited for Araldo and Rudi to finish
their game, because I wanted to ask their opinion about a game
that I played on the It's your turn. (A PostScript and
a SGF file
with the remarks). We left around ten to eleven and Annabel
complained that it was too late. Torrow, she had a test for French.
This months interesting links
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