Librarything.com is awesome! I've set up my own virtual library, still got lots of books to put on there yet though. Anyone who likes making lists or alphabetising their record collection will love this, it's so easy to use! View my library and check it out!

 edit to add: yeah bit scared of what people will think of my taste in books. but hey, whatever.

Carnaval del Pueblo
Mood:  caffeinated

Yesterday was the Carnaval del Pueblo in Burgess Park - the largest Latin American Carnival in Europe and it was in Southwark! Wow.

Me and A went on the obligatory Big Wheel ride with ice cream, then watched the carnival come into the park. We must have missed some of it somehow because we only saw about 8 floats. I scoped out (stole) some photos off the interweb because my camera batteries had died. This is what it looked like to us, the Aylesbury Estate (home!) in the background:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The brazilian dancers looked like this: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But of course the Bolivians stole the show with their fantastic costumes. I remember seeing similar (but a lot more of them) in La Paz a few years ago:

 

The God of Respiration
Mood:  hug me
The God of Respiration has not been smiling on me lately. Asthma has been BAD. Never really had much of it before this year, maybe it's related to trying to finish a thesis. How come the BBC website says air pollution in London today is low, when the London Air Quality Network says it's high? I know who my lungs believe.

This is wicked...
Mood:  spacey
... no idea what it means though...

Don't ask me about my thesis!
Mood:  don't ask
I am fed up of people asking me when i finish or how my thesis is going! grrrrrrr

The next person that asks will get covered in tea. You've been warned.

This website is cool. Type in a web address and see how it draws a nodal structure of the page. Not sure what it means, but it sure looks pretty!

Telemark skiing...
Mood:  a-ok
This past (ski) season i've got into telemark skiing - the more natural, original form of skiing. It is great fun, especially if you're a bit bored of alpine skiing. A great website for finding out more is telemarktips.com.

I only managed 18 days of skiing this year, of which i think 7 i did tele. It feels so much freer being able to lift your heel. Alpine skis, though they feel 'safer', especially going fast, also feel more restrictive. Bending one knee on the turn can be a little tiring after a couple of hours though!

more on PoE...
PoE = Philosophy of Engineering see this website for the discussion summaries that Andrew Fox of Coventry University has posted on the web.

New blog eh?
Mood:  cheeky
Ah... so new blog. Well, i say new but i never had one before. So stuff i've been doing that may be interesting... I've been taking part in an online discussion group at the ICE called "Engineering and Philosophy". I posted the other day on the subject of whether engineering is an art or a science, and how using the scientific method can help engineers make defensible decisions. You can view the discussions on the ICE website, although i'll have to post the link because they are very very hard to find.

Work and religion
Mood:  lyrical
null