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  • Socks: an addendum

    I wrote in my post concerning socks the other day that I didn’t like my Sealskinz waterproof socks one little bit.

    Today, when I ended up taking my daughter and her friend sledding this afternoon, having thought and written about those Sealskinz recently, I thought I might try them out again. Lo and behold - they were fine.

    The secret this time was to wear a pair of summer ankle socks underneath; quite why I didn’t come up with that idea before I don’t know, but it helped no end to ‘normalise’ the Sealskinz to something akin to socks.

    And the sledding was great fun, of course!



    (I also notice that the Sealskinz sock range has been refined somewhat since I bought mine all those years ago... worth another shot?)
    → 9:24 PM, Dec 9
  • The subtle tyrrany of the sock logo

    What will they think of next?
    Like so much in life, there's not, superficially, much to say about socks. They, by and large - and not wishing to denigrate their designers or manufacturers - simply are. We notice them only when there's something not quite right about them, something that makes them stand out, something that takes us out of our comfort zone, and into a state of alertness, like wearing a watch on the wrong hand.

    Mine, as you might now expect, have been bothering me lately - but in a way that only socks can.

    It's not that they are uncomfortable; far from it. From experiences both good and bad throughout my sock-buying life I know what I want and have settled on one main source: whenever I'm back in the UK, I stock up on socks from Next. I know that they fit, they're decent quality and - well, they just work.

    So, what does a sock have to do to work? Well, first and foremost, a sock can't work unless it's one of a pair. Certainly, odd socks can be and often are worn, but that function if they are both of the same make and if the wearer is either oblivious to the fact or is being aggressively contrarian. A business sock and single cotton, knee-length Bavarian Lederhosen sock would be so wrong that the combination wouldn't make it out of the bedroom door, or the wearer is an artist. But one brown sock and one black sock? It happens. If one of a pair has a hole in it, that pair becomes separated into two individual socks - the pair is dissipated and both will be thrown away sooner rather than later. I've tried darned socks, and they're awful, the new threading putting a strange pressure on the pampered, sensitive balls of my feet: fortunately I'm not poor enough that putting up with them is a necessity.

    I've tried cheaper socks that felt like cotton shopping bags - something designed for carrying potatoes rather covering feet. I also own an expensive pair of Sealskinz waterproof foot coverings (I daren't bless them with the honourable title of sock) which are so uncomfortable, they feel like a Lenten penance rather than a sporting luxury. Wet feet are more comfortable than that. They seemed a good internet purchase at the time. And most "technical" fabrics simply don't belong on feet. Some may make the promise of "wicking" sweat and all of that - but there's nothing better than cotton for me. So the precise form of a sock, the material selection and the quality of the stitching are all key.

    And socks have to look good.

    What is a good-looking sock? Fortunately, there is no single answer to that question. Some people can get away with massively contrasting socks, like a combination I recall seeing at the Paris Motor Show in September: blue socks against pink trousers - I think it worked brilliantly, though it's not even remotely my style. Others go for the traditional Burlington diamonds, but I find that too fussy.

    No, for me it's about a single, muted colour that can theoretically work with any combination of clothes I might happen to have thrown on in the morning. The problem with socks as part of the early morning on-throwing is that, as I mentioned, for them to function properly there have to be two of them.

    For the vast majority of socks that I have owned, this has not been a problem. Socks are normally symmetrical, so on they go without any further mental effort on my part. But now more often than not, socks have logos on them and that, finally, is what has been bothering me.

    The problem with these logos is that I know that they they are there to be displayed - either as a vaguely personal statement of sartorial individuality or of sartorial belonging to a particular tribe; in either case, they are, as any logo is, also a form of advertising.

    So, logos are there to be displayed and to be seen, meaning they should be worn on the outside of the ankle where, when you're sat with one leg crossed over the other and the trousers have rucked up to the top of the sock, others can glance at said logo and appreciate it for whatever symbol that is.

    The thing about these logos is, though, that they are nearly always sewn on one side of the sock only. And, appreciating the necessity of displaying the logo, one sock always has to go on one dedicated foot, every time.

    Everybody applies the pressures of footfall to particular areas on the foot, in their own way, but usually it starts with the balls of the feet. With the socks now dedicated to one foot each, it means that these socks are no longer being eroded on the "inside" or the "outside" of the sole at random times, like flipping a coin - no, they are being pressed and rubbed and squashed at the same point each and every time, meaning that one of these socks is going to wear out more quickly.

    I have no idea if the rate of erosion to a hole is significantly greater with a foot-dedicated sock than for randomly applied socks, but the theory holds, and that's been bugging me of late.

    Am I man enough, then, to throw the shackles of logo duress? Or shall I go meekly back to buy the next pair of replacements, and the ones after that? You know, I think I will - it's a small price to pay for the comfort of conformity...
    → 11:16 PM, Dec 6
  • Hit or miss: fun on the mountain bike

    Mountain biking (an all to rare occurrence for me these days) is not a purely physical exercise; the brain is given a real workout, too. I’ll concede straight away that it’s by no means an intellectual exercise - I’m not necessarily thinking of anything at all (also a rare occurrence, one to be encouraged). But sometimes I become aware of the sheer mass of calculations that the brain is performing whilst I’m on the bike. It’s thinking almost as hard as the legs are pumping.

    Of the many types of calculations buzzing around in my head, the most satisfying for me is the “hit or miss” question. I’m pedalling along a trail, at best upwards, and there’s a rock in the way. Now, I can miss the rock with my wheels simply by steering away from it. But if things are tight and there isn’t much room for manoeuvre, I start wondering if I’m going to bottom out with my pedals - which is usually a worse situation than hitting a rock with the wheel.

    Is that pedal going to hit that rock (and who's going to come of worse?)

     Pedals don't have big fat tyres or squishy suspension. What they feel, you feel.

    With the pedals entering a zone of uncertainty, the brain embarks upon a series of vector-style calculations, that goes something like this:

    - my current gearing (including wheel size) is such that
    - if I keep pedalling at the same rate
    - from this current rotational position
    - and with my pedals at this height from the ground, I will
    - miss / just miss / hit that rock

    If I am going to grind the pedal on that rock, with all the ensuing discomforts, I can take action with a few more calculations:
    - at this vertical incline I have sufficient momentum to be able to stop pedalling briefly without completely losing forward motion
    - I can change gear to change the rate of rotation of the pedal in question
    - I can incline the bike to one side, raising the pedal height
    - I can attempt to raise the height of the whole bike (by trying something silly like a bunny-hop)
    - I will need to ride over the rock (thereby starting a new set of calculations)

    But by far the most satisfying result of all of this is the near miss. It's a confirmation that everything the brain worked out was correct, and that gives it an immense sense of pride - whatever that means in brain-speak (hormones, of course).

    So, whenever you're next out on your bike, even if you're out and about in town rather than downhilling, just be aware of and amazed at all the things you don't hit.
    → 11:09 PM, Nov 24
  • Variations on the theme of Rock-a-bye baby

    One of the lullabies that I sing to our daughters has, by necessity, developed over the years. When our eldest was old enough to express her thoughts and consternations, it became clear how the original lyrics of Rock-a-bye baby (originally not intended to be a lullaby, I believe) were deeply worrying to her:

    Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree-top
    When the wind blows, the cradle will rock
    And when the bough breaks, the cradle will fall
    And down will come baby, cradle and all

    It sounded very much like at least a big “Ouch” for the baby, and L was uncomfortable with that. Now, I know that there will always be howls of protest at how traditional childrens' songs are being softened, made more “correct” and in a way neutered - but English childrens' songs in particular are a strangely brutal bunch with lots of head choppings and smashings to pieces and I’m not totally at ease with that. So, over the years, our version of Rock-a-bye baby changed and gained a few verses as I sang, waiting and hoping for the child finally to go to sleep. There are often more ad-libbed verses, often to do with the day’s events, but these are the current standards:

    Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree-top
    When the wind blows, the cradle will rock
    And when the bough breaks, the cradle will fall
    Down into the arms of Daddy so tall

    Rock-a-bye baby in- the car,
    Wheels going round and round so far
    And when the car stops and we take out the key,
    We’ll all be back home in time for our tea

    Rock-a-bye baby on- a bike
    Pedalling so fast to places we like
    To the butchers and the bakers, to get our croissants
    Then off to the Hostig* to play and sing songs

    Rock-a-bye baby on- a boat
    We like our toast and Marmite afloat
    But when we find out we’ve less tea than we thought,
    We turn the boat round and head back to port

    True, there’s a certain fixation with cups of tea: but what else sums up the goodness of sitting together and having a chat about nothing in particular?

    *Hostig is a local playground.


    → 9:50 PM, Nov 11
  • Bruckner's Marvellous Eighth


    In the spirit of catching up on some drafts, I felt I had to get this one out sooner rather than even later. The impressions left upon me by Bruckner's Eighth Symphony, though very much attenuated by time, still resonate, amplified a little by completing this post - which is, of course, one of the key points of a blog.

    It was on the 22nd May 2012 that we left our daughters in the capable hands of Oma and Opa and cycled down to the Stadthalle in the warm evening sunshine to (watch? Hear?) experience the symphony played by the Heidelberg Philharmoniker under the baton (and hair) of Cornelius Meister in his final series of concerts before leaving for the richer delights of Vienna.

    The symphony is an enormous, programme-filling late romantic beast of a piece, very much on the cusp of a new era. Written between 1884 and 1887, when Mahler was hitting his stride and starting to redefine symphonic performance, with Stockhausen and his ilk were not far behind, it feels like the final roar of a romantic classical alpha-stag. It uses many idioms that are well known in Romantic music, all of which I find unbearably cheesy: I was ready to despise the piece, yet, one or two slight excesses aside, it all made wonderful sense, like a language newly understood (now, in November, barely remembered).

    The ninety minutes of symphony went by without the faintest hint of impatience stirring within me. The drama and the pathos felt sincere rather than overblown and only the repeats in the third (slow) movement were noticeable as musical devices rather than being in my mind integral to the narrative arc. And yes, Bruckner could write for brass (as well as for toffee).

    The concert, while of course being about the music, was almost principally about the conductor. It was his final hurrah with the orchestra in Heidelberg and a bold choice from an aptly arrogant young conducting talent. Much can be said of Meister's fluid conducting style, which I at times found rather distracting, but he did achieve a very strong sound from the orchestra. This can't be put down solely to the brass section, which carried so much weight both musically and physically, adding such warmth and power to the palette: the whole mix was very convincing and felt utterly appropriate for the music being performed. My only critique of the performance was that I too often felt a lack of pulse, a slight unsteadiness with the beat. From the audience, I found it hard to discern a beat, it has to be said.

    But those were the most minor of quibbles pitted against an overwhelmingly excellent evening of music. We left the concert hall impressed, filled with a renewed love for symphonic music - and ready for sharing a bottle of wine with the Großeltern back home rather than finding a noisy bar somewhere.

    As an aside, I spoke with the cor anglais player in my own orchestra a few days after that performance. She is married to one of the oboists in the Heidelberger Philharmoniker and told me how he would get back home after each of the three concerts and simply slump exhausted onto the couch. The symphony is certainly extremely taxing physically - but I can imagine those players having invested significant amounts of emotional energy into the performances, too.

    As a final aside; in perhaps a rather unfair comparison with my own orchestra, it was wonderful to be able to listen to the string section without any sense of unease, expectation of disaster or simply dread... Long may professional orchestras continue!

    I am grateful for having had and taken the opportunity to experience (yes!) that piece live and look forward to living music more often. (Are you listening, kids?)

    Ah, no. Not yet.
    → 10:20 PM, Nov 9
  • My blogging state of the union


    I think, after more than 18 months of maintaining this online presence, I can now confirm that blogging is not a trivial activity. Translating thoughts to series of words that have both meaning and flow can be surprisingly hard work. Perhaps I make too much of a meal of it, revising and editing my posts to the point of never finishing them, but neither am I comfortable with the splash and dash method: a blog is a document of some permanence, and is therefore worthy of being done correctly. Whilst blog posts can (and, really, should) be edited after publication, I still hold to the old concept of the publishing date bearing some relation to the date of an particular thought or event.

    Still, jamais être content is a burden (umm, that’s content in the sense of satisfaction, rather than information). I can see eight unpublished drafts listed behind the scenes of this blog, plus another two or three on my On Engineering blog. It’s manageable, but there are strong indications that I’m not a great finisher. I would by no means call myself a perfectionist, but there’s something that blocks me from hitting that post button.


    One key blocker is not actually the text, but images. I have tacitly taken on the idea that each post should have an image associated with it. The images used should act as a kind of visual abstract, a simultaneous summation and an enticement to read. Just text looks a bit dull, goes the thinking, so it's a good idea to pep up each post with some artwork. The problem is that there are so many difficulties with images: the sourcing, the copyright and the aesthetics, thereof, that I sometimes spend more time on searching for images than I do writing. I want to break away from this constraint, so I'm going to follow the path of ownership: if I didn't take the photo or make the sketch myself, then it's not mine and it doesn't belong in my blogs. Alas, I'm not a graphic designer or even particularly much of a visual type, so there will be a distinct lack of cool sketches; but at least you will be able to read published text rather than not read a collection of drafts. In any case, it's the words that are important to me. There are also some good examples of well-respected bloggers that eschew images, including Rands in Repose, so I'm not alone.

    Then there's the question of time and inclination to actually dedicate thought and effort to the creation and revision of these posts.

    Creation and editing - they do rather seem too grand a pair of words to be associated with blogging; but since I'm writing neither novels nor poetry, they'll have to put up with being squeezed into the blogging box. And that box really has often to take a back seat.

    The worlds of work and family, segueing seamlessly into one another, fill up so much time that I have precious few hours to myself. And there are very few of those few hours in which I feel I have the energy and concentration to write cogently.

    I started this blog in May 2011 and have written a grand total of 46 posts plus 12 over at On Engineering (since Jan 2012); not a particularly high strike rate, I'll admit, but it feels worthwhile continuing, both here and at On Engineering.

    So, if you are reading this; don't hold your breath for the next exciting instalment and don't expect particularly worthy artwork - but do expect cogently presented thoughts and observations as I continue ambling through life, pausing every so often for breath and a bit of a chat.
    → 2:53 PM, Oct 30
  • Heidelberg is not in China, and neither am I

    Shanghai. From words-chinese.com
    So, after a totally manic Monday, racing around Bürgeramts, HR departments, getting signatures from executive directors, answering technical questions during a telecon and then driving up to the Chinese Consulate in Frankfurt, only to arrive after their 11:30 am closing time...

    I don't have a visa.

    And, thankfully, I don't need to go. Not yet, anyway.

    The main justification of sending me to China this week was to pacify the customer and to show that we have people who know what they're talking about, technically. However, I am present in nearly all of the meetings via telecon, so they know who I am and that my company has me on board.

    The benefits of standing back a little and waiting to do things better are now clear. Firstly, somebody realised that by the time I arrived in Chongqing early next week, the people I'd need to talk to would be on holiday, leaving me with not much to do other than some sightseeing. And parts that were sent to me from China have just arrived today, so I'll be testing them in our labs, too, rather than watching films on a plane.

    But more importantly we can now think about how best to move things forward so the issue that we're having doesn't happen again. So we're going to design a training programme, of which I'll be part of, with measurables to assess progress (a little test afterwards, some practical lab experience, for example) throughout China - and probably Asia Pacific. Once that's in place, there's nothing to stop me (hahaha!) going on to conquer the world - well, my little company world, anyway, and making sure that we level up our skill-set.

    (Recruiters - see those buzzwords fly!)

    But, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I'm still at home, in Heidelberg. My wife's out saying farewell to some friends going to Berlin, the children are asleep upstairs. I'm eating a steak sandwich and my Rothaus Pils is beside me as I type.

    Ah, this is the life, visa or no.
    → 9:35 PM, Jul 24
  • Somewhere between Heidelberg and Shanghai


    I'm in a strange sort of limbo this Sunday evening. On Friday I was directed to go to China this weekend to help our colleagues who are in a bit of a technical pickle. The trouble is, I need a visa and the normal application process takes two weeks. So I'm sorting out my travel to see when I'll be able to get there.

    [googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Shanghai,+China&daddr=Chongqing,+China&geocode=FbmJ3AEdqIo9BykzPPWxQHCyNTGhZMMjlBKVAg%3BFYIYwwEdBdlZBilDT-bzujSTNjEhs4jcFoaf3g&aq=0&oq=Chongqing&sll=29.630771,114.257813&sspn=11.979525,19.753418&hl=en&mra=prev&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=29.630771,114.257813&spn=11.979525,19.753418&output=embed&w=425&h=350]
    There is a procedure for obtaining an express visa, but this entails heading up to the Chinese consulate, which I will do tomorrow. However, the application itself involves a paper chase that isn't yet complete.

    Currently -


    • I need evidence of health insurance (which the company should provide on Monday morning - I don't know what time).
    • I need an invitation letter (received) and a letter of urgency (not yet), plus a travel itinerary from my colleagues in China - again, hopefully that'll be waiting for me when I wake up on Monday.
    • I need my "Anmeldungbescheinigung", Registration certificates, which I couldn't find over the weekend, so I'll need to get one of those on Monday morning, too. I hope my local friendly bureaucrats don't put up too many barriers...


    ... and then there's the Consulate itself. Goodness knows how that will go...

    And then I'll be able to book my flights, without knowing precisely when I'll be back, as it looks like I'll have to visit suppliers near Shanghai and customers in Chongqing.

    It's with mixed feelings that I get to fly out to China again. In the old days before the family, it was simple. Now I'm leaving my wife to look after the kids on her own for an as yet unknown length of time; it's harder now for sure than it was back then. And the unknowns don't make things much easier right now...


    → 9:55 PM, Jul 22
  • Daydreaming and winning

    Source: Getty Images via BBC
    I'm certainly succumbing to the elation surrounding Bradley Wiggins' current lead in the Tour de France; he's looking like becoming a great winner as part of an amazing team. What sums it up for me is the photo of him slipping into a winning reverie as his colleague Chris Froome drives them both up to the mountaintop finish at Peyragude. Such daydreaming can be fatal to a sportsman's chances, but in this case, Froome woke him up again soon enough that he didn't drift off the side of a mountain or simply let the competition drift past him. Nothing is certain until it's over - but it's looking good so far!

    Allez Wiggo!
    → 11:43 AM, Jul 20
  • The Musikfreunde and me: Ravel, Grieg and co keep us together

    It’s the end of another series of concerts with the Musikfreunde Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra; one I was very close to skipping entirely. At the end of the previous concert, I’d had enough of orchestra for a while, and overall I was feeling uncomfortably stretched. Orchestra had become another stress raiser rather than reliever and I needed to give myself some breathing space for other things in life (like composing, biking and “just” family, for example). In the end (of the beginning of term), a lack of alternative trombonists meant that I stuck with MFH for this programme, too.

    Through house searches, potential job offers, overloaded drudgery at work and general family life, I managed to attend most rehearsals - and the three concerts this semester made it all worthwhile.

    We played in the Neubausaal in Schwäbisch Hall, then at a school concert in the Gymnasium in Neckargemünd and finally in our standard main venue, the Stadthalle in Heidelberg. There was something about the programme, especially the Ravel and the Grieg that reminded me of the joy to be found in music.

    The Grieg in particular is too easy to dismiss as one of the standards these days (and, judging by the audience in the Stadthalle on Saturday evening, it can still pull the crowds). However, it’s still simply wonderful music to be part of and, at the hands of a decent pianist, as we had in Randolf Stöck, it has everything: lyricism and a positive dynamism that are hard to match. Ravel’s La Valse is witty and very difficult to pull off for an amateur orchestra - I think we did a decent job of it.

    It was also rewarding for me personally to get to a relatively decent playing quality again. I didn’t feel too outgunned by the hired hand, a trombone student from the Mannheim Musikhochschule, who helped out on bass. As always, the psychology of performing is tricky to master: everybody’s pumped up and tends to play on the edge in terms of volume, losing control in the process. I certainly fall into that trap, but I am at least becoming more aware of it. As always, though, “negative” corrections are difficult: if only one person plays more quietly, he’ll still be swamped by the mass, whereas if one plays more loudly, he’ll stand out and can pull the orchestra along with him. It’s something our principal conductor, René Schuh tries to remind us of each time - we still forget.

    So, we’ll see if I end up taking a break for the winter semester instead (it’s more conducive to evenings in, anyway). There’s plenty of time to decide upon that, however, with rehearsals starting again in October. In the meantime, hopefully I’ll get some duet or trio playing in, to keep the trombone chops in half-way respectable working order…

    → 12:41 PM, Jul 16
  • Figuring auf Deutsch

    Arithmetic, from University Department of Computer Science


    Years ago, Dad bought a lovely little book called Figuring, by the arithmetical genius Shakuntala Devi.

    It's a book on the joys of numbers. According to the rather short Wikipedia article on her:

    "On June 18, 1980 she demonstrated the multiplication of two 13-digit numbers 7,686,369,774,870 x 2,465,099,745,779 picked at random by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London. She answered the question in 28 seconds. However, this time is more likely the time for dictating the answer (a 26-digit number) than the time for the mental calculation (the time of 28 seconds was quoted on her own website). Her correct answer was 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730. This event is mentioned on page 26 of the 1995 Guinness Book of Records"

    I am of course light years away from such talents, but I was never really terrible at it. However, I notice more and more that I have given up on trying to work out multiplications in my head. It's not that I have become mentally lazy - well, I have, but it's not in the way that you might think.

    The problem is German numbers. They are so backwards and incoherently wrong that I have simply given up on trying to work with them.

    683 is spoken in German six hundred three and eighty. The hundreds number, 8 is easily buffered in my memory. However, I have to hold the final three in my head until I hear the tens "eight" before I can actually do anything with the number. In English, I can directly translate "six hundred and eighty-three" into 6-8-3. This has so confused me over the years that I have swallowed my pride and reach for the calculator as soon as I can.
    → 8:47 PM, Jul 11
  • A holiday refresh

    A dramatic day in Hannover

    After what seems like an age, I've been on holiday. And after what seems like an age, I am blogging here again. Loads, and and not much has happened since I last managed to post anything here; drafts started and never completed, a few posts written and published on Engineer Blogs and Canny Engineer, many thoughts thought and not brought to maturity.

    It was time to enter into the spirit of the holiday refresh; physically and emotionally to slough away the encasing skins of work and immerse myself with the family in discovering the city of Hannover, catching up with friends in Rastede and then off to the beach and onto a fishing boat in Eckernförde were great ways of getting the drudgery of work out of the system. Equally, it was good to get the kids to sleep, leave my wife ensconsced in a book, and to set myself at a keyboard to type. Most of the four thousand words and upwards were written in a holiday diary, offline. But I was able to chip away at a few online thoughts, too. Now it's time to get words out, in more or less the right order, onto the Internet.

    Most of the holiday was spent offline, which was refreshing, especially for my diary. I had no need to think about format, spelling or trying to find appropriate pictures - it was liberating, but I missed the "edge" of posting to the public, even if the public is looking elsewhere.

    So, here we go again. It's nice to be back.
    The good fishing boat Ecke 4 which we sailed on to catch plaice
    → 8:22 PM, Jul 9
  • The Long Way Round


    My cycle to work takes only eight to ten minutes. Usually I need it to be that short in order to get to work at a reasonable hour after the long pre-work rituals of getting everybody's breakfast ready, getting myself into some vague semblance of work-like shape and taking the eldest to Kindergarten.

    But sometimes the commute - to or from work - is simply too quick. Sometimes I feel the need for some sport, for some time to myself between family and colleagues, and for some rather nice scenery. In those cases I ride the long way round.

    Instead of 3 km I ride 13 km, along the Neckar to Edingen, then up into Grenzhof and through the wheat and barley fields to... Well, Eppelheim can't be described as being the nicest place on the planet, but it's still not work, and that's the main thing.

    I noticed that the scenery is nicely varied, and riding it often enough makes me realise how the seasons affect the scenery. So I now try to take a camera with me, stop riding and take some photos as I go. Here are a few, in no particular order or camera (some noticeable mobile phone shots in there, too!).



























    → 10:21 PM, Mar 4
  • The joys, the noise - and the silence - of cross-country skiing

    Stopping for a minute recently from our cross-country skiing in the middle of a snowy Black Forest and listening to the near silence - yes, really listening - was an exquisite experience that reminded me how seldom we get to enjoy the absence of noise. To me it felt strongly of the silence being a clean, fresh and eminently restful pillow for my ears and thence to my brain.


     Of course, it was but a fleeting experience and of course we were soon scraping and poking, huffing and puffing, snow-squeaking and technical clothing rustling through the forest, but those few moments of silence, interspersed with the occasional thud of snow falling off the branches and even a timid soundbite of birdsong, provided me with memories that are far more powerful than the photos could ever reproduce.



    → 10:49 PM, Feb 19
  • Mixing the senses


    There was an article in the Economist this week that strongly resonated with me. It concerned the "condition" of synaethsesia, whereby the signal from one sense is interpreted by another. The most famous example is that of seeing sound in colours. The Economist article reported a study into how people link taste with sound.

    This is something that I have long experienced. Whilst I could never claim to be a good taster, whenever I try to describe a taste, it is usually in terms of a graphic equaliser or in the choir voices - soprano, alto, tenor, bass. The research described in the Economist article ascribes particular taste sensations to types of musical sound - bitterness with the higher strings (I can agree with that on so many levels!), vanilla was most associated with the woodwinds - and brass? Well, they got musk, which I don't fully understand.

    Photo from Thara M Flickr page, Creative commons license


    Not only that, it worked the other way around too, in that sounds could affect the way people tasted things. They ran the experiment of people eating toffee with varying high or low pitched music playing in the background. Indeed, that led to different descriptions of the taste, even though it was always the same toffee variety in all cases.

    I cannot claim that there is any direct link betwen their findings and my own experiences, but it was a great feeling to see it all confirmed in print. I spoke about it with my wife that evening and found her questions personally enlightening. I had always felt that I had a very poor taste memory. I can't even imagine a Chardonnay wine "taste". Yet when she asked me about how I would describe various foods (or drink, especially this Madog's Ale I had recently) directly in terms of sound, I found it astoundingly easy to recall them (apart from water).

    So for 2012 I will try to be more active in "saving" my impressions in those terms. In particular I want to see if I can recall the wines that we'll be drinking this year, or at least the archetypes. Let's see / taste / hear how I get on...
    → 11:43 PM, Feb 6
  • Thinking is hard to do, doing makes it hard to think


    If there is one principal criticism I would have of my job at the moment, it would be that I do very little thinking at all. Everything I do at work is basically and simply "doing". I feel that I have lost the art of concentration, of battling with difficult problems, of really thinking things through.
    Photo by Karola Riegler photography Flickr

    What doesn't help at all at work is that there are too many distractions for me to work effectively. In an attempt to remedy that, I have taken to leaving the phone on its charging station, set to silent, finding an empty meeting room, keeping my email client unopened focussing on a particular task for an hour or two. It seems to work quite nicely, so I'll keep that up as far as I can (or until I get my own office). But the basic problem remains that what I am doing involves very little analytical thinking at all.

    I am positive that it a good thing to accept back some strain on the brain, something not felt since university, and that discipline. So, I when I am not just wandering about the site at work looking for meeting rooms (just wandering usually results in me thinking of a solution to a particular problem) I have taken to doing some coding.

    The wonderful Code Academy is a great starting point. It teaches JavaScript via a series of little lessons and projects that get progressively more difficult. It is also a bit trendy with those "gamification"badges and points that you can send or tweet to the world.

    I am still at the stage of learning the syntax, but already the challenges have got me thinking harder than any problem that I face at work. Clearly, the stakes are much lower than with my largely trivial but business-critical issues. But I am finding it rewarding to do, and in a way that is significantly beyond the scope of those badges.

    It remains to be seen if I can maintain the mental loads of coding alongside work, my blogging, and my music and my family, but it's just about doable at the moment, so we will see. As for when I'll barrel on into Project Euler...
    → 10:50 PM, Jan 28
  • On Engineering

    On somewhat of a spur of the moment thought over the Christmas holidays, I ended up starting a blog that will focus on my thoughts and observations on engineering; it is what I spend a fairly large amount of my time doing, after all.

    It’s here.

    Have a look in, though it’s fairly unbaked at the moment!

    → 12:07 AM, Jan 16
  • Farewell to 2011

    This isn't a deeply thought-through review of 2011, merely a list of a few personal highlights from an eventful year for the family...

    Meeting up with the family in Istanbul to celebrate Dad's birthday

    Getting married in the Heidelberg Standesamt

    Having a second daughter (with complications soon thereafter, but all coming good in the end)

    Enjoying two months' parental leave during an alas rather insipid Heidelberg summer.

    Coming along with work, particularly the methods side (drawings change system) and DFMEAs. Not travelling too much or too widely, but still experiencing a blown taxi engine in Romania, seeing a little of Naples, Genoa and Maastricht.

    Losing my passport just before Christmas.

    Seeing Saab Cars disappear.

    Enjoying a wonderfully relaxing Christmas and New Year with the family in Ipswich.

    Roll on 2012!

    → 2:54 AM, Jan 1
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