Hello again, Sorry it’s been so long since I wrote, I have been lazy. I’m having a great time here. My days are really full and I go to bed tired which is something that I thought was not going to happen. But you know that life is what you make it and I’ve decided that I’m going to have a good time here no matter what. This brings me to what I have been doing these last few weeks, getting in trouble. If there is trouble that can be found, I have found it. Not that I am maliciously looking for it, it finds me with no problem. Sometimes I think that I am wearing a neon sign that says, “I’m doing something wrong please go tell me First Sergeant!” J I’m kidding but lately I have been on his bad side for things that, perhaps are bad decisions, but not necessarily my fault! (more…)

I love the BBC. While browsing through the offerings they have for viewing the Winter Olympics, I came across this ‘alternative’ form of ski jumping. The mission, to get a Mini to jump as far as a person off of the Lillihammer Ski jump. It only (might be) possible with the assistance of rockets

To view it, click on the image to the left. then select the link on the right of the page labelled ‘Top Gear: Ski Jmuping with a Mini’. And enjoy.

I’m giving a talk in London in a few weeks on my research, including an outline of my project and current status. The seminar series is called New Directions in WMD Proliferation, and is sponsored by the ESRC.

There’s a catch, though. I’ll actually be in Vienna that day. So, the conference organisers (the Harvard Sussex Programme at the University of Sussex, whom I’ve visited before) have kindly agreed to let me give my talk in absentia. I’ve sent them a 10 minute DVD and transcript, hoping everything goes well. I also have a quicktime movie and transcript of the talk available if you’d like to see what I’m up to and have ten minutes to kill.

YAY! I finally have a new digital camera, just in time for my trip to Austria. It’s a snazzy Olympus FE-110.

Expect lots of pictures in the next few weeks to make up for lost time.

An in this responsible streak I can’t seem to get out of lately, I even bought accidental damage insurance for it!

I had a great night at Templeton on Friday. There are always plenty of opportunities around here to dress up, but masked balls are a little harder to come by. The business school students always pull it off with a flare, though.

You may have noticed the lack of photos lately. Well, my camera broke a few months back and I haven’t had a chance (or the money) to get it fixed. So for now, it’s a matter of borrowing photos off of others. This one is courtesy of Maja.

The Herald Tribune had an interesting article on Thursday about the leaked resolution from the WTO's dispute settlement body over the EC-Biotech case. Apparently, they have ruled in favour of the US. This case was the topic of my MSc dissertation…

Jack, a friend from IIASA last summer, has decided to explore China for a while. He's just arrived and has a blog to keep us updated on what happens. You can find a link to him in my 'Other People' section in my sidebar. Travelling has always been a love of mine, but rather than be a tourist, I prefer to move. If I want to know what Austria's like, then I want to spend at least a few months there. If I want to learn about Hawaii, how about a few years?

The James Martin Institute (my office) is part of the James Martin 21st Century School, a collection of ten research centres in Oxford with the task ‘to think imaginatively and positively about the problems and the opportunities that the future will bring.’ The School includes, for instance, the Oxford Future of Humanity Institute and the Environmental Change Institute.

Recently, it appears that Baroness Susan Greenfield, head of the Royal Institute and Director of another section of the School, the Institute for the Future of the Mind, has been trying to make South Australia an international partner with the 21st Century School.

The School, like the Martin Institute, is keen on developing international links with similar institutions. The Martin Institute, for instance, has good connections with the University of Wisconsin, Madison’s Initiative on Nanotechnology and Society, Harvard’s Program on Science, Technology, and Society, and Arizona State’s Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes.

Back in the glory days of my youth (I’m not so young anymore, you know), I, shall we say, obtained control of the Society of Physics Students at St. Olaf. I declared my victory by announcing the Year of Newton, in which all SPS events had to be based on Newtonian mechanics. Tom, my roommate, along with a bunch of other physics students decided this warranted a contest of who could master Newton best. The challenge? Build a catapult to launch various fruits and vegtables as far as possible. We had a good time.

And so, it warms my heart to see that Purdue’s chapter of SPS is up to similar shenanigans. The students there have built a car. . . out of their old and fading couch in the Physics Lounge. Watch it in action, and check out the /. post where I discovered it.

One of my friends from St. Olaf, Anne, has just decided to sign on for another year with the Peace Corps in El Salvador. She’s really been making a difference down there. Find out more from her own blog.

One of the reasons that Anne is special to me is her artwork. After graduating from St. Olaf, she won the chance to stay on for a year to establish her portfolio. Her work has an intertwining of intellectual and emotional currents that make it change depending on the observer’s mood and thoughts. Simply phenomenal. Her old site, with some of her work, is still up. Why don’t you head on over and have a look?

Good luck on your 3rd year, Anne, and I look forward to how this experience will shape your art!