Monthly Archives: July 2004

12) The Story of Alice, by Mavis Batey Picked this up off the in-laws’ bookshelves thinking it would prove just an attempt to rip off the Alice in Wonderland fans, but in fact it’s rather good, especially given the length … Continue reading →

Fergal’s bithday party went well, thanks for asking; just two hours of exhausting work for us. I actually spent most of the time looking after his sisters, while he and his three little friends played under the supervision of Anne … Continue reading →

The journey here yesterday was more hassle than expected. We set off a bit late, and picked up B from her respite care place on the other side of Brussels. At that point I had to decide whether to head … Continue reading →

OK folks, blogging has been a bit slow this week as I tried (and ultimately succeeded) in getting a Macedonia paper off my desk before heading back to Ireland for three weeks. We’ll all be in Ireland from Sunday night … Continue reading →

David Owen on illness and political leadership Physics theories and girlfriends Ann Coulter’s piece about the Democratic Convention that USA Today thought was of insufficient quality (plus USA Today’s editorial comments) with thanks to the usual suspects.

…in 208 different languages.

Bold the ones you’ve done, then add five more at the end of the list, three of which you’ve done. (From .) Here goes.01. …bought everyone in the pub a drink02. …swum with wild dolphins03. …climbed a mountain (haven’t climbed … Continue reading →

I don’t know if anyone reading this is interested in random international relations stuff: As the world’s largest private intelligence company, [firm] is on the lookout for the best, brightest and most iconoclastic to work as analysts on issues ranging … Continue reading →

From (who got the same answer): You speak eloquently and have seemingly read everybook ever published. You are a fountain ofendless (sometimes useless) knowledge, andnever fail to impress at a party. What people love: You can answer almost anyquestion people … Continue reading →

11) The Politics of Serbia in the 1990s, by Robert Thomas. I found this 400-page hardback remaindered at €10 in the local English language bookshop yesterday, bought it, and managed to devour it while keeping an eye on B during … Continue reading →

Fergal turns five today, and we’ve put all his presents in a mini-tent in the front room, waiting for him to wake up. In the afternoon he’s having a couple of little friends around for a party. In seven years … Continue reading →

I have on my friends list, and usually it’s not fantastically exciting (“went to work, talked to Very Important People, came home late, argued with my wife” kind of thing) but yesterday’s entry is particularly revealing. His uncle has just … Continue reading →

Gettin’ it reg’lar helps students pass exams Ten silly moments from SF cinema

I hope everyone else was as outraged as I was by John Humphries choosing to question one of the contestants about some bloke she slept with twenty years ago. None of the others were asked about their personal lives. It … Continue reading →

I see Peter Mandelson has got the UK Commission spot, and Charlie McCreevy the Irish one. I imagine they’ll both get economic-related portfolios, so not of much concern to me.

Terrific storm last night, vast downpour of rain, crashes of lightning from right overhead, unable to hear Radio 4 clearly because of the incessant EMP-type interruptions. And this morning the sun is shining, the centimetre or so of rain that … Continue reading →

I signed up ages back for the service that alerts you when interesting Euro-jobs are coming up. Unfortunately the service in question seems to have looked only at my primary degree (in astrophysics), and ignored the fact that I gave … Continue reading →

This page lists offensive stereotypes purportedly held by various European countries about their neighbours. It is not completely accurate. http://www.exile.ru/transient/151/europeans-chart.html

The South-East European Research Centre in Thessaloniki has just appointed me to their Advisory Board. This is on the basis of two evenings’ brainstorming over pints of Guinness in Sean O’Casey’s round the corner from my office with one of … Continue reading →

Well, in an unexpected burst of creativity I’ve updated the results graphs on all my constituency pages: East Belfast, North Belfast, South Belfast, West Belfast, East Antrim, North Antrim, South Antrim, North Down, South Down, Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Foyle, … Continue reading →

I’ve never met Conal Kelly, but he sends me lots of nice graphics for my elections website. I’ve just finished putting up the nice new maps of the 26 local councils that he sent me last week: Antrim | Ards … Continue reading →

Try it. I got nine out of ten. (The one I got wrong was “above board”.)

My Best Friend is Our 12 common interests are: books, fantasy, ian mcdonald, internet, james white, neil gaiman, reading, sci-fi, science fiction, sf, tolkien, writingWho is your best friend? Username: Created by and share 12 interests. and share 9 interests. … Continue reading →

Today is the 35th anniversary of the first moon landing.

B was up from 4 am, and U too off and on; and we found it impossible to sleep, so I’m taking the morning off work. Anne’s gone back to bed to try and get a bit more sleep, my … Continue reading →

10) J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, by Tom Shippey. I ordered this from Amazon because I thought I’d picked it up and read the first half last summer at my in-laws’. In fact this must have been Shippey’s other … Continue reading →

Inspired by ‘ recent entry: Many years ago, I was listening one morning to my Rocky Horror Show tape in the kitchen of the student house I lived in at the time. One of my housemates came into the romm. … Continue reading →

This inspired by and a vague memory of something seen on usenet a few months back): Giulio Pignatelli, Prince of Noia, lived from 1587 to 1658. He married his first wife, Zenobia, in 1601, and their son Fabrizio, duke of … Continue reading →

http://www.livejournal.com/tools/recent_comments.bml (Thanks to .)

9) River of Gods, by Ian McDonald. Another one of my review books from infinity plus. Actually the best one so far. That leaves only Beyond Infinity and the zine to read. I’ll have to start writing the reviews soon. … Continue reading →