Scientific Ink

Category: Life

  • The way to travel

    My husband and I just returned from a one-week trip to Austria. My husband works for an Austrian firm, he travels to the head office several times a year, and we have often spoke about me coming along for a visit, maybe to the wine country south of Graz, maybe to the Alps to ski…

    The Wilder Kaiser from the Chapel

    Now, I’m not a downhill skier, and, in 1991, when deciding whether to have surgery to repair my blown-out left knee, whether or not I skied was a decision criterion (no downhill ski? maybe don’t need to cut into knee). The list of vacation destinations on my bulletin board is:

    1. Quebec City,
    2. Cape Breton,
    3. Iceland,
    4. Trieste, Italy (largely because of Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere),
    5. return to Alaska,
    6. return to Hawaii, and
    7. Austria.

    So, how come Austria jumped to the top of the list and we elected to go to the Alps to ski?

    Friends.

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  • Eagle in Flight

    We took to the air around lunchtime today. There was a bit of wind, so the plane wanted to fly, pulling up in response to the gusts as soon as we rolled it from the hangar. The wind also created somewhat nauseating turbulence in flight, but the combination of wind and the thermals off of unevenly warming ground and frozen lakes brought out soaring birds. We saw more birds on this trip than I’ve ever seen, including a bald eagle.

    eagle in flight

    The eagle was below us, at maybe 2000 feet, its black wings and white tail fan outstretched and immobile – in full soar. It was big, even from far away. No, it isn’t my photograph, but the words of the post seemed insufficient without the image. Imagine inverting the photo and seeing the eagle from above, it was farther away than this, but the wings seemed just as wide and even darker.

    (photo credit: Eagles 2 050, originally uploaded to Flickr by FadderUri.)

  • Reunions anyone?

    So, anyone considering going to our 15th reunion? Cheesy themes and ugly websites aside, I’m potentially interested in attending, to see long-lost friends and to get into NYC to visit my terrific aunt Christie. But, before I commit myself and my very reluctant husband, I wanted to check to see who was thinking of coming. Drop a note!

  • The Morikami Museum & Japanese Gardens

    I have spent a fair bit of time in south Florida, my family purchased a condo there in the late 70s. When I was a kid, we’d visit go to Parrot Jungle, Monkey Jungle, the snake place (Serpentarium?), Lion Country Safari, all the crazy kid places. We also spent a fair bit of time in the Everglades, admiring the egrets, herons, and anhingas and watching for crocs. We used to go to a seafood restaurant (Joe Muer’s) that was located on or near Yamato Road. I was always intrigued with the exit off I-95 for Yamato – a Japanese name among the more standard streetnames Atlantic Blvd, Sample Road, Gateway Blvd, Boynton Beach Blvd.

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  • Another “War Book”

    Naples '44: A World War II Diary of Occupied Italy

    Continuing in the vein of the Art of War, I read Naples ’44: A World War II Diary of Occupied Italy on the plane today. I brought it along with me to Florida because it was a thin volume, eminently packable, and because my sister, who gave it to me for Christmas off my Amazon wish list, asked to borrow it.

    The book chronicles Norman Lewis’ year as a British intelligence officer (field service officer) in occupied Italy. I can’t quite tell the backstory, but it seems he was pressed into service there because he knew Spanish, which was deemed close enough to Italian. He must have learned enough to get by because, among other things, he negotiates the finer details of an arrangement between an English officer and his Italian mistress. He tells fantastic stories, such as about his informant/friend who makes a meagre living posing as an uncle in from Rome at local funerals, making the deceased appear more important than he is.

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  • The Art of War

    The Art of War, Special Edition

    I finally got to The Art of War. I had been intrigued by this book for a while. Tony Soprano praised it in one of the first seasons of the Sopranos. Someone else recommended it to me as a book for people interested in management.

    Maybe I’m just unimaginative, but most of The Art of War really is about war, about strategy, spies, misleading your enemy, and obtaining a military advantage. It’s not so much a management primer.

    Sun Tzu advocates burning the boats, breaking the cooking pots, and setting fire to the stores of grain to motivate the troops (Chapter XI, aphorism 23). While effective, these options are typically unavailable to me. He also advocates hiding information from the team (Chapter XI, aphorism 35-36), and using spies (Chapter XIII). Perhaps the opponent’s spies make hiding info from the team a necessity, but I’m hoping I can skip both of those instructions.

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