I can’t help myself…

(from 🙂

OK, this is absurd. I currently have 146 books on my unread list on LibraryThing. That is in fact an increase of 13 over the course of 2006. (Though I am comforted to see one person on my f-list with three times as many.)

I have the following half-starts and obligations:

• Am halfway through Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton – liking it very much, but it is looong.
• Am reading A. Merritt’s The Moon Poll on my Palm T|X when waiting around for meetings to happen, stuck in traffic, etc.
• Started Delany’s Dhalgren back in January, put it aside half-way through, need to decide if I am actually going to finish or not
• Have committed to to review Živković’s Impossible Stories, which is massive
• Will as ever read all Hugo nominees to write up for website – not doing badly so far, got through three novels, two novellas, three novelettes and all short stories
• Have been promised book about Greek/Turkish relations for review here also (a cut-down version of an earlier review from this blog will appear shortly in Survival)
• Have ordered two more books about Cyprus for work purposes
• Am almost two years overdue with certain reviews for Infinity Plus.

In this post I set myself certain reading targets for 2006. Since then I have at least:

• finished Little Women, but not even bought The Brothers Karamazov, Catcher in the Rye, In Search of Lost Time, Mrs Dalloway, Things Fall Apart or The Tin Drum
• I have read A Clockwork Orange, The Space Merchants, and started Dhalgren, so to meet my target for 2006 I need only finish it and read two of A Princess of Mars, Tau Zero, Grey Lensman, Again, Dangerous Visions, The Female Man, Last and First Men and/or Deathbird
• no more “great comics” since New Year.
• The Einstein Intersection. Six (or maybe seven, depending what happens next month) more Nebula winners left, I can probably manange three of them.
• precisely eight out of the 133 books I had listed as “unread” three months ago. The other 25 books I have read so far this year were all obtained since 1 January. Since the unread list has had a net increase of 13 since then, I am at least reading over 45% of the books I acquire.

OK, well, I shall try and work through the unread list a bit more thoroughly. I think I shall try starting from both ends of the popularity scale: the most popular books on Library Thing that I haven’t so far read are The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Persuasion by Jane Austen, and my most recently acquired books that nobody else on LT owns are William Heinemann by Frederic Whyte, The Mark of Ran by Paul Kearney, and Irish Tales of Terror, ed. Jim McGarry. Maybe I can read those, along with the other aspirations mentioned above, in the next few months.

grew out of sf as a teenager, her father having read Dune to her when she was 4. But Stanisław Lem showed her the way back.

A message from the Master.

Just watched Saturday’s Doctor Who Confidential, following on the first episode of the new season. The first time I’d ever watched a DW Confidential, as we don’t get BBC3 in Belgium and I have only recently found a way of getting hold of these (and am not really inclined to watch all of last year’s run – we have excerpts on the DVD set after all). Two points leapt out:

1) Good heavens, David Tennant’s real accent! You really would not guess from his Doctor (with slightly odd Estuary English) that he really sounds like that! A real revelation!

2) Anne wonders, why no interview with Billie Piper? I suppose there can’t be an interview with everybody every week; but was she interviewed for the post-“Christmas Invasion” DW Confidential? (And will she be featured next week?)

Other points to note – I thought there was a slight tear in David Tennant’s eye when he said, of choosing his costume, “That was a real TARDIS moment!”

And going back to the actual programme, Billie showed that she can do accents too!

In response to a hail of requests (well, two, from and ), I’m posting the two Georgian recipes I did for Saturday dinner.

The main dish specifies pheasant (or cornish hen, whatever that is, at a pinch) but I substituted guinea fowl and the results were satisfactory. I think the key is to have two birds of about 2.5 lb, 1.2 kg each, preferably with a flavour of their own. The sauce base is, er, unusual – I think it is the first recipe I have ever seen for a rich sauce using tea – but very easy.

Moshushuli Khokhobi

¼ cup hazelnuts (I used peanuts; ¼ cup is 60 ml, but I just judged it by eye.)
¼ cup of really strong tea (ie using 60 ml of water)
2 birds of about 2.5 lb/1.2 kg each
salt and pepper
butter
1 tangerine
2 tablespoons/30 ml wine
2 tablespoons/30ml unsweetened grape juice

Garnish
Tangerine segments
Toasted hazelnuts (again, I used peanuts)
red and white grapes

        Preheat oven to 350° F/180&deg C
        Toast the hazelnuts, then grind them.
        Make the tea.
        Rinse the birds, salt and pepper them inside (if possible) and out, rub them with butter, put them in a greased casserole just large enought to hold them (breastside up).
        Throw the segments of the tangerine on top or around.
        Strain the tea, add the wine, juice and ground-up nuts. That is the sauce (easy, like I said). Pour onto the birds, making sure some bits of nut stay on top.
        Cover and put in the oven for an hour. Then uncover and put back for another 10 minutes.
        Take the birds out before serving (sauce can thus be served separately).
        Eat, accompanied by tangerines, nuts and grapes.

That was not bad at all, if I say so myself. I did rice with it, and also this Georgian bean recipe, which was very herby and flavoursome in the best Georgian tradition, and uses that very scientific measure of herbs, a sprig (good excuse to lay in some fresh herbs though):

Mtsvane Lobios Chirvuli

2 sprigs basil
1 sprig tarragon
2 sprigs summer savory (which we couldn’t get; rocket is the nearest local equivalent, but I couldn’t find that either, so did without)
1 sprig dill
1 sprig parsley
½ pound/250g green beans
1 small onion
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (which I judge to be 150g) butter in lumps
1 egg

        Chop the herbs, trim and chop the beans.
        Put the beans in a big flat saucepan with enough water to half cover them. Chop the onion.
        Bring the water to the boil and add the herbs, onion and salt.
        Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the beans are soft and the water has been absorbed. Beat the egg.
        Add the butter and lightly saute the mixture until the butter has melted.
        Stir in the egg, cook until the egg has set. Turn into a bowl.
        Eat.

All from Darra Goldstein’s book. Will report back as I do more.

The distant planet Xena (aka 2003 UB 313) reflects 86% of the light falling on it, according to New Scientist (hat-tip to , “making it about as bright as fresh snow and brighter than every other solar system body except Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Spectral observations suggest its surface is covered with frozen methane, like Pluto.”

I reckon it’s actually a large alien spaceship, which has got covered with methane dust over the centuries. Abandoned? Dormant? Awake, and preparing to come and say hello? You decide.

Several months ago, I posted about my frustration at not being able to get hold of the music of the Moldovan Irish music band, Ann’Sannat. Well, they now have distribution into continental Europe, here and here. (Heads off to look for credit card.)

F driving car. Again. Now on a boat. (1.3, 1.3 and 1.4 MB avi files.) All at Kessel-Lo.

We tried the planetarium near the Atomium earlier, but it was less successful – a little too advanced for F, and not awfully exciting I thought.

Jolly good, both.

Am trying another Georgian recipe. Unfortunately, after I had blithely bought all the other ingredients in the expectation that I would pick up a brace of pheasants somewhere in Leuven, I realised that there are in fact no pheasants to be had. So I bought two guinea fowl (parelhoenen) instead. Will report back.

Certain circumstances have enabled me to watch the 1965 Doctor Who story, “The Crusade”, this evening. (With a break to watch a BBC2 documentary about, er, the Crusades.) Sadly only episodes 1 and 3 survive in full, but we have the audio of episodes 2 and 4 with reconstruction via photographs etc. It is rather enjoyable.

In particular, there are three strong guest stars – Julian Glover as Richard the Lionheart, Jean Marsh (ex-wife of future Doctor Who Jon Pertwee) as his sister Joanna, and Walter Randall as the fictional villain el-Akir (Randall’s career seems to have been otherwise not awfully memorable bit parts but he did this pretty well, I thought). I’ll put in a word also for Viviane Sorrell as Fatima, who (according to IMDB) never played another role on-screen. And the regular cast are good (though Vicki not given much to do).

The plot is a fairly basic “time-travellers get caught up in real historical events and spent most of the story untangling themselves” one but done effectively, with a real sense of different places as between Crusader-controlled Jaffa and Saracen-controlled Lydda. (Though the thicket in which the Tardis lands does not look in the least Palestinian.) Of course, because the Doctor and Barbara know their history, this gives rise to the usual potential for time paradoxes, though with a certain air of wistfulness:

VICKI: Doctor, will he really see Jerusalem?

THE DOCTOR: Only from afar. He won’t be able to capture it. Even now his armies are marching on a campaign that he can never win.

VICKI: That’s terrible.

THE DOCTOR: Hmm!

VICKI: Can’t we tell him?

THE DOCTOR: I’m afraid not, my dear. No. History must take its course.

A particularly striking aspect is the use of rhythm in the script. I found one website claiming that parts of it were actually written in iambic pentamenter, and, well, it’s nearly true; see what you think.

RICHARD: We think our words were plain enough.

THE DOCTOR: It is
a good scheme, sire, if the princess agrees.

RICHARD: (quietly) Joanna knows nothing of this matter.

THE DOCTOR: Will she agree?

RICHARD: (firmly) You should rather ask
how can she refuse? To stem the blood,
bind up the wounds and give a host of men
lives and futures? Oh, now there’s a marriage
contract to put sacrifice to shame
and make a saint of any woman.

LEICESTER: Sire,
with all the strength at my command I urge you,
sire, to abandon this pretence of peace!

THE DOCTOR: (angrily) Pretence, sir? Here’s the opportunity
to save the lives of many men and you
do nought but turn it down! Without any
kind of thought. What do you think you are doing?

LEICESTER: I speak as a soldier. Why are we here
in this foreign land if not to fight?
The Devil’s horde, Saracen and Turk,
possess Jerusalem and we will not
wrest it from them with harried words.

THE DOCTOR: With swords, I suppose?

LEICESTER: Aye, with swords and lances, or the axe.

THE DOCTOR: You stupid butcher! Can you think
of nothing else but killing, hmm?

LEICESTER: You’re a man for talk, I can see that.
You like a table and a ring of men.
A parley here, arrangements there, but when
you men of eloquence have stunned each other
with your words, we, we the soldiers
have to face it out. On some half-started
morning while you speakers lie abed,
armies settle everything, giving sweat
sinewed bodies ironed life itself.

THE DOCTOR: I admire bravery and loyalty, sir.
You have both of these. But, unfortunately you haven’t any brain at all. I hate fools!

LEICESTER: A fool can match a coward any day.

(Leicester pulls out his sword and faces the Doctor.)

RICHARD: Enough of this! (to Leicester)
You dare to flourish arms before your King?

(Leicester reluctantly sheaths his sword.)

Perhaps I should start writing my livejournal entries in blank verse. I know of two people who do all theirs in haiku – which is all very well, but I tend to have more to say.

A spanking new recommendations system. Log in and click here.

Fasinating piece from Transitions On-Line describing a new film about Šuto Orizari, The Shutka Book of Records. It is indeed an extraordinary place – I visited during the conflict in 2001 – and my friend Thammy Evans describes it memorably in her book. Knowing the politics of it all I’m not surprised that the film has drawn some controversy. I note, however, the sensible comments of one guy from an extremely credible NGO quoted in TOL, “The protests should be directed towards the bad policies of Roma parties that are not able to deal with the problems of the Romani community.” I’ll be looking out for this.

News from one of the peace processes I follow:

New talks on Moldova’s rebel region scheduled for 19 April in Moscow

Chişinău, 13 April: A new round of Dniester settlement talks will be held on 19 April in Moscow, Ukrainian Deputy Interior Minister and envoy to the Dniester settlement talks Andriy Veselovskyy has told a news conference in Odessa [Ukraine].

Veselovskyy did not rule out that either Moldovan or Dniester representatives will attend the talks.

It’s good to hear that he thinks one of the two sides might show up to the talks, isn’t it?

One of our neighbours was murdered by her husband last weekend, stabbed with a kitchen knife during a row. We didn’t know her well, but she had been part of the organising team for the annual village fair. Very sad.

(And while I am noting this kind of thing, the gentleman in this story was a friend of a friend. Apparently he took out his hand-grenade to frighten some people he was arguing with, and accidentally set it off. Memo to self: don’t wave hand-grenades at people.)

“I saw things you wouldn’t believe!”
“Try me.”
“Mummies.”
“I’ve met ghosts.”
“Robots. Lots of robots.”
“Slitheen. In Downing Street.”
“Daleks!”
“Met the Emperor.”
“Anti-matter monsters.”
“Gas-mask zombies.”
“Real living dinosaurs.”
“Real living werewolves.”
“The Loch Ness Monster!”
“…seriously?”

(Presumably the werewolves reference is to the story with Queen Victoria next week?)

The former Swedish prime minister, Carl Bildt, has a blog at http://bildt.blogspot.com/ – I have just syndicated it as . I don’t have a view on his impact on Swedish politics (except that I suspect my Swedish readers may not be big fans of his) but I think his international impact, especially in the Balkans, has been pretty positive.

I don’t believe that there is any other political figure of equivalent seniority from any country who takes it as seriously as Bildt does. Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission, and (like Bildt) a Swede, though from a different political party, blogs too – but unfortunately it is a) anodyne and b) infested by trolling comments from British Eurosceptics. Her colleague Vladimir Špidla, also like Bildt a former prime minister (but Czech rather than Swedish) also has one, featuring seven whole entries since last November. Like Bildt, he has wisely disallowed comments. I will not bother syndicating either for livejournal readers (though don’t let me stop you).

Edited to add – Hmm, though I thought it was me that had syndicated it, turns out someone else already got there! Doesn’t affect the inforamtion above anyway.

April 1967 – summer 1984: 54°33’32” N, 5°59’23” W
(but summer 1973 – summer 1974: 42°29’22” N, 71°6’43” W)
(and summer 1979 – summer 1980: 52°09’00” N, 4°24’15” E)
summer 1984 – summer 1985: 54°19’15” N, 6°18’27” W
summer 1985 – summer 1986: 53°17’50” N, 6°13’41” W
(but October-November 1985: 52°20’35” N, 0°32’12” W)
(and December 1985-February 1986: 54°21’15” N, 6°28’19” W)
(and April-August 1986: 49°8’58” N, 9°6’38” E)
September 1986 – Summer 1987: 52°12’17” N, 0°6’37” E
Autumn 1987-Summer 1988: 52°12’42” N, 0°6’51″E
Autumn 1988-Summer 1989: 52°12’43” N, 0°6’57″E
Summer 1989: 52°11’38” N, 0°6’31” E
Autumn 1989-August 1991: 52°12’47” N, 0°7’10″E
September 1991 – July 1992: 54°35’11” N, 5°55’42” W
July – September 1992: 54°34’39” N, 5°55’51” W
September 1992 – September 1993: 54°34’31” N, 5°56’28” W
September-November 1993: 54°35’43” N, 5°51’16” W
November 1993-August 1995: Malone Rd, Belfast
August-October 1995: Jordanstown Rd, Newtownabbey (two different houses in the street during a two month period)
October 1995-January 1997: Serpentine Parade, Newtownabbey/Belfast
February-April 1997: 44°46’9″ N, 17°11’36” E
April 1997-May 1998: 44°46’38” N, 17°10’46″E
May-December 1998: 45°48’51” N, 15°59’1″ E
February 1999 – August 2001: 50°44’20” N, 4°22’18” E
August 2001-present: here.

1) Male and female reading meme:

Originally from here here. (And I think a couple of others, but can’t find them.)

I rather agree with much of the criticism of these lists, but here goes anyway.

The girls’ list:

Jane Eyre
Wuthering Heights
The Handmaid’s Tale
Middlemarch
Pride and Prejudice
Beloved
The Golden Notebook
Catch-22
Remembrance of Things Past
Persuasion
Frankenstein
Oranges Are Not The Only fruit
One Hundred Years Of Solitude
Mill On The Floss
Little Women
Madam Bovary
The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe
Gone with the Wind
Heart Of Darkness
To Kill A Mockingbird

That’s 13 out of 20 – am a bit surprised to see Catch-22 and Heart of Darkness on that list, I wouldn’t have thought of either as being particularly appealing to women.

The boys’ list:

The Outsider
Catcher In The Rye
Slaughterhouse 5
One Hundred Years Of Solitude
The Hobbit
Catch-22
1984
The Great Gatsby
The Book Of Laughter And Forgetting
To Kill A Mockingbird
Lolita
Lord Of The Rings
Crime and Punishment
Brighton Rock
High Fidelity
Ulysses
Huckleberry Finn
Heart of Darkness
Metamorphosis (presumabvly Kafka rather than Ovid, though I have read both)
Grapes of Wrath

That’s 17, and I suspect I may in fact have read Brighton Rock though I’m not sure. Rather surprised to see L’Étranger on this list. I have always thought of it as more of a “girl’s book”, largely because I read it at the urging of a former girlfriend. But I see Marcel Berlins singing its praises.

2) Women’s writing meme

Originally from , I think, but I saw it chez here (and again I think elsewhere but can’t find it right now). This one is a bit more confessional – includes the possibility of saying not just what you have read but admitting what you haven’t.

Instructions: Bold the ones you’ve read
Italicize the ones you have wanted/might like to read
* = Another book by this author read, but not this
?? = Any titles/authors you’ve never heard of
*** = I’ve tried it and abandoned it
XXX = Life Is Too Short

Alcott, Louisa May–Little Women
Allende, Isabel–The House of Spirits
Angelou, Maya–I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
* Atwood, Margaret–Cat’s Eye
* Austen, Jane–Emma
?? Bambara, Toni Cade–Salt Eaters
?? Barnes, Djuna–Nightwood
de Beauvoir, Simone–The Second Sex
* Blume, Judy–Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret
Burnett, Frances–The Secret Garden
Bronte, Charlotte–Jane Eyre
Bronte, Emily–Wuthering Heights
Buck, Pearl S.–The Good Earth
Byatt, A.S.–Possession
Cather, Willa–My Antonia
Chopin, Kate–The Awakening
* Christie, Agatha–Murder on the Orient Express
?? Cisneros, Sandra–The House on Mango Street
Clinton, Hillary Rodham–Living History
?? Cooper, Anna Julia–A Voice From the South
?? Danticat, Edwidge–Breath, Eyes, Memory
?? Davis, Angela–Women, Culture, and Politics
Desai, Anita–Clear Light of Day
Dickinson, Emily–Collected Poems
Duncan, Lois–I Know What You Did Last Summer
DuMaurier, Daphne–Rebecca
Eliot, George–Middlemarch
?? Emecheta, Buchi–Second Class Citizen
?? Erdrich, Louise–Tracks
Esquivel, Laura–Like Water for Chocolate
Flagg, Fannie–Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Friedan, Betty–The Feminine Mystique
Frank, Anne–Diary of a Young Girl
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins–The Yellow Wallpaper
Gordimer, Nadine–July’s People
Grafton, Sue–S is for Silence
?? Hamilton, Edith–Mythology
Highsmith, Patricia–The Talented Mr. Ripley
?? hooks, bell–Bone Black [Having looked the author up on Wikipedia, I’m fascinated]
?? Hurston, Zora Neale–Dust Tracks on the Road
?? Jacobs, Harriet–Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
?? Jackson, Helen Hunt–Ramona
Jackson, Shirley–The Haunting of Hill House – in fact I think I bought it in Dublin last month
Jong, Erica–Fear of Flying
Keene, Carolyn–The Nancy Drew Mysteries (any of them)
?? Kidd, Sue Monk–The Secret Life of Bees
?? Kincaid, Jamaica–Lucy
Kingsolver, Barbara–The Poisonwood Bible
?? Kingston, Maxine Hong–The Woman Warrior
?? Larsen, Nella–Passing
L’Engle, Madeleine–A Wrinkle in Time
Le Guin, Ursula K.–The Left Hand of Darkness
Lee, Harper–To Kill a Mockingbird
* Lessing, Doris–The Golden Notebook
* Lively, Penelope–Moon Tiger
?? Lorde, Audre–The Cancer Journals
XXX Martin, Ann M.–The Babysitters Club Series (any of them)
?? McCullers, Carson–The Member of the Wedding
?? McMillan, Terry–Disappearing Acts
?? Markandaya, Kamala–Nectar in a Sieve
?? Marshall, Paule–Brown Girl, Brownstones
Mitchell, Margaret–Gone with the Wind
Montgomery, Lucy–Anne of Green Gables
?? Morgan, Joan–When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost
Morrison, Toni–Song of Solomon
Murasaki, Lady Shikibu–The Tale of Genji
Munro, Alice–Lives of Girls and Women
* Murdoch, Iris–Severed Head
Naylor, Gloria–Mama Day
Niffenegger, Audrey–The Time Traveller’s Wife
Oates, Joyce Carol–We Were the Mulvaneys
O’Connor, Flannery–A Good Man is Hard to Find
Piercy, Marge–Woman on the Edge of Time
?? Picoult, Jodi–My Sister’s Keeper
Plath, Sylvia–The Bell Jar
?? Porter, Katharine Anne–Ship of Fools
Proulx, E. Annie–The Shipping News
XXX Rand, Ayn–The Fountainhead
?? Ray, Rachel–365: No Repeats
Rhys, Jean–Wide Sargasso Sea
?? Robinson, Marilynne–Housekeeping
?? Rocha, Sharon–For Lac
Sebold, Alice–The Lovely Bones
Shelley, Mary–Frankenstein
?? Smith, Betty–A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Smith, Zadie–White Teeth
Spark, Muriel–The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Spyri, Johanna–Heidi
?? Strout, Elizabeth–Amy and Isabelle
Steel, Danielle–The House
Tan, Amy–The Joy Luck Club
Tannen, Deborah–You’re Wearing That
?? Ulrich, Laurel–A Midwife’s Tale
?? Urquhart, Jane–Away
Walker, Alice–The Temple of My Familiar
Welty, Eudora–One Writer’s Beginnings
Wharton, Edith–Age of Innocence
Wilder, Laura Ingalls–Little House in the Big Woods
Wollstonecraft, Mary–A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Woolf, Virginia–A Room of One’s Own

I obviously have some way to go.

Yes, I admit it; I splashed out on the new Genesis of the Daleks DVD, and it arrived today, and we watched the bit from Blue Peter (with John Noakes, Peter Purves and Lesley Judd) and the first three episodes tonight. And it is Great.

I couldn’t help but feel that Nyder is just ever so slightly Peter Robinson to Davros’ Paisley. But perhaps that is an Evil Thought.

Do you see what I mean?

A rare post about Northern Ireland politics from me. In contrast to the pathetic begrudging comments elsewhere in the blogosphere, I was rather glad to hear the news that Eileen Bell has been appointed interim presiding officer of the Northern Ireland Assembly (suspended since a year before the November 2003 election). To appoint a well-known moderate Catholic woman to chair the Assembly’s first meeting on 15 May is well within the Secretary of State’s powers. If the Assembly decides that it wants someone else to be the Speaker thereafter, that is its members’ business.

More particularly, it makes the recall of the Assembly on 15 May look that bit more realistic. The arithmetic decrees that the only actors whose agreement is needed to get devolution up and running again are the British government, the DUP and Sinn Féin, with a walk-on role for the Irish government and the smaller political parties. Hain, as Northern Ireland secretary, has been setting up the machinery for the Assembly at least to function. While Eileen does not have the gravitas that John Alderdice brought to the job (I regard him as one of the most exceptional political figures I have worked with), she is entirely capable of chairing meetings; and anyway, now that the DUP are on the winning side, the assembly’s inaugural meeting is unlikely to be as chaotic as, say, 1973.

This is a response to ‘s fascinating post about time zones and ‘s Singularity Sky. (Hat-tip, as so often, to .)

Ireland was 25 minutes behind Great Britain until 1916, “Dublin Time” being based on the meridian of Dunsink Observatory. In the wake of the Easter Rising of that year the clocks went back only 35 minutes in the autumn rather than an hour, thus putting Ireland on the same time as England, Scotland and Wales. In 1919 a couple of the early meetings of Dáil Éireann, the revolutionary parliament, kept minutes in both standard and “Irish time”, but this did not survive into the era of independence.

Once independence had arrived and the civil war was won, the Dáil got around to passing a new Summer Time Act in 1923. The debate, precisely 83 years ago today, featured proposals for going back to the old Irish summer time in summer only, and also for local councils to possibly opt in or opt out.

In the 1960s Ireland decided that it would be on Central European Time in the summer, and Central European Time minus an hour in winter. Completely different from the UK, which of course is on Greenwich Mean Time in winter and British Summer Time in summer.

The choice of time is obviously political in other parts of Europe. the entirety of the Benelux countries and almost all of France are west of the 7°30′ longitude which should really be the cut-off point for Central European Time; most of Spain, indeed, is west rather than east of Greenwich, but they have all opted to go with the Germans, Swiss, Italians and neighbours further to the east.

The 45° line, which should give you three hours’ difference from the UK, cuts through Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, but after independence all three kept the Soviet practice of putting the clocks another hour ahead anyway. After the 2003 revolution in Georgia, President Saakashvili moved the country an hour to the west, so they are now in line with Moscow and Iraq, and the shift at the Turkish border is only one hour instead of two. (This doesn’t seem to have been picked up by on-line sources.)

There is a nice animation of world time zones here.

on-line survey about holidays – for a friend of a friend.

F and I had an excursion to Mini-Europe and the newly re-opened Atomium two weeks ago, but I’ve only just got around to putting the picures on-line here. You can see most of the important bits in the preview version of the gallery apart from one shot of the 25 EU member state flags:

(Apologies to Lithuania which has got lost).

The Atomium is basically a funfair ride through a weirdly-shaped structure, and that’s about it. The top level isn’t open again yet, and they obviously plan to put in more exhibits (I remember there being at least something to look at when I was last there, aged 12 in 1979). So we’ll go bak in a year. Mini-Europe, however, never palls!

Seen in passing:

has collected lots on The Gospel of Judas.

The judgement in the case known as The Da Vinci Code vs The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail is discussed by here and here. I skimmed the entire 71-page judgement and found it surprisingly badly presented – could have done with a lot more commas and better sentence structure. However there were some passages that caught my eye, such as:

It is a testament to cynicism in our times that there have been suggestions that this action is nothing more than a collaborative exercise designed to maximise publicity for both books. It is true that the book sales of both books have soared during the course of the trial (in the case of HBHG it is said to be a tenfold increase)… I am not in a position to comment on whether this cynical view is correct but I would say that if it was such a collaborative exercise Mr Baigent and Mr Brown both went through an extensive ordeal in cross examination which they are likely to remember for some time.

and

Mr Baigent was a poor witness. Those are not my words: they are the words of his own Counsel in his written closing submissions (paragraph 111). Those words do not in my view do justice to the inadequacy of Mr Baigent’s performance. His evidence was comprehensively destroyed by the thorough and searching cross examination of Mr Baldwin QC for the Defendant. It is no good for Mr Rayner James QC in closing submissions to say that Mr Baigent was “over awed by the circumstances and agreed almost without exception anything that was said by the Judge”… I do not understand the implied criticism in the Claimants’ closing that he accepted most of everything the Judge put to him. If it is to be inferred that he was somehow browbeaten by me in to meekly accepting everything I said I reject that suggestion.

Memo to self: if I am ever in that position, remember not to try and make the argument to the judge that my own witness was wrong to agree with him!

As someone said, one wishes they could have both lost. Edited to add: See also in The Guardian, though they mysteriously omit to mention the judge’s mocking of them as the Grauniad.

If you are completely mystified by the words “Doctor Who”, Alex has a good explanation here. He has followed up with his take on last year’s stories, recs of DVDs of the old series and of the novelisations.

is probably sick of reading sentences that start “I’m not a big fan of vids/Coldplay/the Eighth Doctor, but…” – however, that is not going to prevent me from saying that I am indeed not a big fan of vids, Coldplay or the Eighth Doctor, but I really loved her montage of Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Doctors, plus little bits of the Seventh, to “Clocks”. (Hat-tip to .)

Am struck that only Europe-based readers have had a go. Are my readers elsewhere not so much into Buffy? Or not so much into quizzes?

1) What was the address Buffy gave when she phoned for an ambulance in ‘The Body’? 1630 Revello Drive – well done, and .

2) Who was Xander’s best man in ‘Hells Bells’? Willow – well done, , , and .

3) Which episode was Dawn introduced in? The correct answer is “Buffy vs Dracula”, as she does appear and have one line (“Moooooooooommm!”) at the end of the episode. The contestant said “The Real Me” which was understandable but incorrect. Well done, , , , and .

4) Who did Anya think was she engaged to in ‘Tabula Rasa’? Giles – well done, , , , and .

5) How did principal Flutie die in ‘The Pack’? Eaten by his students – well done, , , and .

6) How did Buffy kill the Judge? With a rocket launcher – well done, , , and (more or less) .

7) How did Buffy prove that Kathy was a demon in ‘Living Conditions’? Her toenail clippings kept growing – only got this exactly right; and gave an answer that is close but not 100%. I just watched this episode a few weeks ago and had completely forgotten this point.

8) What did Anya think apart from bunnies might be causing the singing in ‘Once More With Feeling’? Midgets – well done, , and . ‘s answer rather stunned me until I realised she was answering the next question. , no, that’s what Xander thought it might be.

9) What was Ted’s job? computer salesman – nobody got this, both and (in her answer to #8) being close but not quite there. It’s one of the very few epsiodes I haven’t actually seen, so I have an excuse. The contestant on Mastermind answered correctly.

10) What was the name of the oracle that Giles and Anya consulted in ‘Showtime’? Beljoxa’s Eye – the contestant got this completely wrong; only got it, with close and a bit further off.

11) In which episode did Giles and Joyce kiss, Buffy drive a car and the doctor body surfed? “Band Candy”, of course; well done , , and .

12) How many hearts did the Gentlemen have to get in ‘Hush’? Seven – sorry, , , and .

13) What happened to Amber the cheerleader in ‘The Witch’? Her hands caught fire – well done, and had the right episode but wrong character.

14) Who played Joyce? Kristine Sutherland – well done, , and will be kicking herself.

15) What kind of statue did Brad steal for Harmony in ‘Real Me’? A unicorn – well done, , and .

16) What was the name of the character who was Buffy’s boyfriend between Angel and Riley? Parker Abrams – well done and , the time-frame is important here I think!

17) What three word message did Ethan Rayne leave behind in ‘Halloween’? Be Seeing You – well done and .

I won’t be so ungentlemanly as to give final scores, but thanks for playing.

1) What was the address Buffy gave when she phoned for an ambulance in ‘The Body’.

2) Who was Xander’s best man in ‘Hells Bells’?

3) Which episode was Dawn introduced in?

4) Who did Anya think was she engaged to in ‘Tabula Rasa’?

5) How did Flutie die in ‘The Pack’?

6) How did Buffy kill the Judge?

7) How did Buffy prove that Kathy was a demon in ‘Living Conditions’?

8) What did Anya think apart from bunnies might be causing the singing in ‘Once More With Feeling’?

9) What was Ted’s job?

10) What was the name of the oracle that Giles and Anya consulted in ‘Showtime’?

11) In which episode did Giles and Joyce kiss, Buffy drive a car and the doctor body surfed.?

12) How many hearts did the Gentleman have to get in ‘Hush’?

13) What happened to Amber the cheerleader in ‘The Witch’?

14) Who played Joyce?

15) What kind of statue did Brad steal for Harmony in ‘Real Me’?

16) What was the name of the character who was Buffy’s boyfriend between Angel and Riley?

17) What three word message did Ethan Rayne leave behind in ‘Halloween’?

As seen here. Anyone want to have a go at answering them in the comments? No sneaky Googling now…

As seen at and , among others.

Planning a longer version of this soon (indeed did a longer version several years ago):

Go to Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org/). Type in your birth date (but not year). List three events that happened on your birthday. List two important birthdays and one interesting death. Post this in your journal.

Events:
1937: Guernica
1986: Chernobyl
1994: South Africa’s first multiracial elections.

Births:
121: Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor
1912: AE van Vogt, sf writer

Death:
1865: John Wilkes Booth, assassin of Abraham Lincoln