thought i'd post a nice link

here goes...

plenty of debate about the nobel prizes...

...but these are the nobel prizes that have been outside of the circle of debate recently. well worth a read!

my personal favourite is the research that determined whether it is better to be hit over the head with a full or empty bottle of beer. or, as is the formal title of the research, "are full or empty beer bottles sturdier and does their fracture-threshold suffice to break the human skull?" i didn't have the login, so i couldn't read the full conclusions, but an abstract which serves as an intro is as follows:

"beer bottles are often used in physical disputes. if the bottles break, they may give rise to sharp trauma. however, if the bottles remain intact, they may cause blunt injuries. in order to investigate whether full or empty standard half-litre beer bottles are sturdier and if the necessary breaking energy surpasses the minimum fracture-threshold of the human skull, we tested the fracture properties of such beer bottles in a drop-tower.

full bottles broke at 30 j impact energy, empty bottles at 40 j. these breaking energies surpass the minimum fracture-threshold of the human neurocranium. beer bottles may therefore fracture the human skull and therefore serve as dangerous instruments in a physical dispute."

did you hear that?

plenty of other interesting and life changing discoveries there (ie the bra that turns into a gas mask) and well worth a read. as it says, it first makes you laugh, it then makes you think. also, the bbc articles from the past are a good resource...!

το είχα λίγο καιρό τώρα...

...και είπα να το μοιραστώ. έβλεπα τις εκλογές στο justin.tv εκείνο το βράδυ. όταν πρόσεξα την ατάκα στο chat δεξιά, δε μπόρεσα να αντισταθώ. τράβηξα ένα printscreen για να την αποτυπώσω στην ιστορία. ιδού!

[και αν δε φαίνεται, ένα κλικ στη φωτό θα σε διαφωτίσει!]

και τώρα που κατέβηκα, τι κατάλαβα?

κάπως έτσι ήταν και το τέταρτό μου καλοκαίρι σε αυτή τη δουλειά. ένα 16ώροφο κτίριο που έπρεπε να το κατέβω. για καλό σκοπό? θα δείξει.

αρχικά κοιτάς κάτω, και βλέπεις το τέρμα. αναρωτιέσαι αν θα φτάσεις σώος στις 30 του σεπτέμβρη, ή αν θα χάσεις τον έλεγχο και θα φας τα μούτρα σου. χαμογελάς αμήχανα, κι όταν σε ρωτάνε αν θα τα καταφέρεις, απαντάς "μα και βέβαια, το ρωτάς?...!"

οι 16 όροφοι ήταν οι 16 ώρες καθημερινής δουλειάς για 4 μήνες, με σάββατα και κυριακές στο πακέτο... και δεν είμαι ο μόνος στον κόσμο που δούλεψε τόσο πολύ, αλλά είμαι ο μόνος για τον οποίο μπορώ να έχω τόσο ολοκληρωμένη άποψη. είμαι κοινωνικό ζώον, και δε μου έκανε καλό η απομόνωση από τον υπόλοιπο κόσμο, η έλλειψη διακοπών και η προσήλωση στη δουλειά (και μόνο) για τέταρτο σερί καλοκαίρι. τώρα back to normal που λένε και στο χωριό μου...κι αφού το κατεβήκαμε το κτίριο σώοι (λέμε τώρα) γεννάται το ερώτημα: το ξανακάνεις?

υγ: η photo είναι αληθινή, και η δραστηριότητα ήταν σε ένα lunch break, μετά από το οποίο επέστρεψα πάλι στη δουλειά. και το κατέβασμα από το κτίριο (το πραγματικό) άξιζε, και θα το ξανάκανα.

i won't say i'm back...

but it feels like i have been in an aquarium in the past 4 months. only not as pleasant.

i saw this video and wanted to share it, it looks so beautiful. and i want to visit that place.

back in black

lets see what we got in the last 3 months...

lefteris moving out

myself moving out

myself moving out again

myself looking for a new flat (now)

a trip to poland, with fine weather, countryside, people and food

a trip to gorgeous barcelona

a trip to greece for easter, an excursion to the western part of the country (at last)

pascal and francis visiting in london

an arsenal chelsea london derby

senia in london

a 5k charity run (not mine)

a promotion

seeing 81db live in coventry

some fine dining in london

effie in london

greenwich and richmond

a new record

a barbeque, the brasilian way

re-connecting with nikos in london, after the old army days (4 years ago!)

an AC/DC concert which rocked

going to the royal ascot

a lot of nostalgia and dreams

a new blog on my blogroll

doing an abseil for charity

a lot of falling down, and pulling myself backup

a (new) commitment not to disappear again?

india

it’s been a while now since i returned from india, indeed a bit more than a month. and the concept of time in my mind is a bit blurred, as it happens. eventually, you tend to sink into everyday reality again, no matter how much of an eye opener a trip abroad can be.

two and a half weeks are of course not enough to see anything in that great country. but at least you get a taste. i’ve been wanting to go for a very long time, more than 6 years now, and i finally got the opportunity. and it is as beautiful and overwhelming as I thought it would be.

2 and a half weeks with a week in kerala, 4 days in pune, 2 days in goa and another 3 in mumbai, i have to say we did our best to see as many and as diverse things as possible. from the beaches of goa and panjim to dharavi, from the indian wedding of rohit and carol to the backwaters and the tea plantations in kerala, from elephanta island to cochin.

t was my first time in that land, but definitely not the last one.