Blame the scientists!
France was hit the last few days by a storm. The storm Dirk was not particularly powerful and France is normally well prepared to face those situations. What was not well anticipated was the flooding that hit a few cities. The controversy arose because...
Painting and astronomy, 2
The Christmas period is special for those of us who work far away from their family and friends. For me it is going back to Paris. I was looking forward to go new exhibitions or stare again at few of my favorite paintings. The Astronomer by Vermeer is...
What would be the world’s best blog ever?
My vote will go to the Anne Frank’s diary. Yes, this was before the age of Internet. But Anne Frank planned to have it published as a testimony of her life during the Second World War. Her name came to my mind because her hiding place (Prinsengracht 268)...
Past, Present, Future
Doing science is learning something everyday. But recently I am learning a lot about myself and about human behaviour by joining a theatre club. One requirement for being a good actor is presence. At the theatre course we trained ourselves to focus on...
ALMA proposal aftermath and Geek relooking
Finally I did propose only once to ALMA. If she accepts, the “wedding” will not be before summer 2014. For two days, I was in my telescope-observing mode with enough caffeine in my blood to feel like constantly falling in love at first sight. It was time...
ALMA night
First here is a small story. A female non-astronomer friend connects (the conversation was in French): - Can we chat? - I am making a proposal. (Instead of I am writing a proposal) - Why don’t you propose to me? :-) (she meant marriage) - Because you...
Spuistraat, Amsterdam
When I was living in Amsterdam and was working at ESTEC (Noordwijk, close to Leiden), I was commuting every day. I was walking twice a day through one of street with the most bizarre combination of shops and institutions you can imagine. The name of street...
