Google masters time travel

Eeyup !

Talk about the power of Google !! This morning I noticed that Google has managed to modify their privacy policy in the future:

Google must be secretly experimenting on time travel allowing for even better search results -- preemptive searching: look into the future see what the user wants to find and then return the required search result (only one result is then necessary ?) for an even better experience.
Otherwise they have a database issue. Groan.
It must be raining outside.

Weer terug naar school !

De zomervakantie van 2011 zit er weer op -- helaas -- en vanochtend moesten de kinderen weer vroeg op: voor Timothy geen probleem, maar voor Sophy en Sebastian ging het wat minder makkelijk.
Hoe dan ook -- het lukte om keurig op tijd op school te zijn:

Timothy zit nu in klas 7A, bij juffrouw Anneke .. en speciaal voor school had hij (weer) besloten om zijn haar maar eens niet te kammen.










Sophy zit nu in klas 5A bij juffrouws Joeska en Anja en had van de drie kinderen het meeste zin om weer te beginnen ...










En Sebastian had van de drie het minste zin .. (aan het einde van vorig schooljaar had hij heel veel heimwee) .. maar vanochtend ging het goed, nu in groep 2A bij (dezelfde) juffrouw Renske.

Total eclipse of the moon

Last night the moon gave a free show. Contrary to expectations, the sky was nice and clear allowing a reasonable view of the eclipse of the moon (well, it was more of an un-eclipsing).
First shot at 23:04 local time:

And here's a bit of an experiment - I discovered that Lumix TZ7 can take time-lapse shots: here's one with a 60 second shutter opening -- see how the moon has moved !!

And here's the final shot at 23:20. By then I was convinced that the moon could manage the un-eclipsing without my help -- so I headed to bed.

Simplicity

(I don't know who to credit for this but kudos to them nonetheless - the image is hosted all over the place - and now here).

Regarding Libya and the imposition of the no-fly zone

Modern government and thus the UN appear to govern on basis of whimsies. Whimsies which make good media, to impress us, the people.

Regarding the no-fly zone: what is the end situation the UN desires ? All I see is the application of tactics without a strategy and this is bound to go awry.


How long does the UN want to stick this out - and how will the participating nations finance this ? Looking at most western governments (e.g. the UK), the one moment dramatic cuts are being made to the military's budget, the next moment that same military is being asked to engage on extremely expensive operations. How many wars do you have to fight simultaneously before realising you're overstretched ?
(A cynical thought pops to mind, does this then allow the budget to be increased surreptitiously through emergency funding ?).

Libya is now in a state of civil war - the UN's external influence will benefit one side (a rebel organisation of which we know next to nothing) and disadvantage the other side (a government with which the West was very happy to deal up to just over a month ago).

Unfortunately for the innocent, only the parties involved will be able to end this. External military might won't help - external diplomacy might.

Disclaimer: this is a more serious post than normal - but I was triggered by the media focusing on the military porn of the Western intervention in Libya. As long as it makes good video, it must be good. The above comment was submitted to the BBC's "Have your say"; I wonder if it gets posted ...

Guess what ?

Yes -- of course, it could only be that I've had to replace the carbon brushes on the washing machine again. I must say, this last pair lasted slightly longer (since 7 November 2010 - an upward trend I hope).

No photos as it's now "same old - same old" (see previous posts). Should I ever need to find a new job, I mustn't dismiss my ample experience at repairing washing machines (...). (And quickly - it took me just over 45 minutes this time).

And now .. as this needs to be celebrated .. a nice glass of whisky (Glenmorangie).

Spot the difference

As it was such lovely weather yesterday, I just had to get out in the garden and move earth. Here's the result.

Before

After

Spot the difference (and no, I don't mean my gloves, shovel, bucket or 2 orange cricket stumps).

Yes, I moved the flowering shrub to a position where it has more place to grow. Unfortunately, I still haven't found out the name of it yet - help! - but I'm thinking along the lines of an Azalea (or another deciduous subspecies of the Rhodendron family (subgenus Pentanthera ?)). I'll have to place some close-ups of it so you can help me discover what it is.

Anyhoo .. it was quite a job as with a sizeable clout it weighs a tonne. But thanks to Timothy & Sebastian we got it over, fertilized the hole we'd (I'd) dug for it and soaked the ground underneath and around it. So now it has room to grow -- when it was next to the path, I had to keep pruning it, because it kept blocking the path and the apple tree.
(Of course, it's a bit of a risk to move a plant when it's flowering, but hey, it was a job that had  to be done -- and my green fingers work magic (I hope)).