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The Little Book of Stars, James B. Kaler (ISBN 9781475767599, Springer)
I started reading this book during the summer holidays but then got a bit stuck after summer. It is a literary survey of the sky and the stars in them and our place in the universe. No formulas but still written from a scientific standpoint. It is well written and serves up a strange mix of science and poetic appreciation of the subject. The book starts with a wide view of the sky and then zooms in more and more on galaxies, star types and then individual stars. Although well written I did not enjoy it as much as I…
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Terminator 2: Judgment Day
After Terminator comes … Terminator 2: Judgment Day. This movie came out some 6 years after the first Terminator movie and the improved special effects are almost unbelievable. If you watch both movies directly after each other then the effects in special effects in Terminator 1 almost look amateurishly clumsy. The story in Judgement Day is a reboot of the first one with the same main characters that survived Terminator 1 and a terminator double bill. The old one that is now the protector and a new, advanced model set to kill a teenage John Connor. The new liquid metal…
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Bonifacio and Lavezzi Islands on Corsica
On the second weekend we booked a snorkelling trip to the Lavezzi islands from Bonifacio with a catamaran. After searching a lot of searching we finally managed to book this via GetYourGuide. This is an easy service where you can search for all kinds of activities and make bookings and get all kind of information after you booked right inside the app. Price was OK and we shared the catamaran with a couple of other families, around 16 people in total were on the boat. The captain was also the guide and a volunteer could steer the catamaran while he…
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Quadratic Equations
Every now and then when I am surfing I see these mathematical “challenges” passing by that are supposedly part of entry exams at one or the other famous university. The most recent one I saw is the one below As usual the claim was that only a few people could solve this. Most examples ask to factor a polynomial that requires some tricks, substitutions and lengthy calculations. Because of the length alone I can imagine most people don’t have the stamina to see the calculation through even if they know the tricks and substitutions to apply. But for this particular…
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Learning Tkinter
In the 100 Days of Code course there are projects early on using graphical user interfaces. This starts in the intermediate section after day 14 and uses Turtle first. As this is more a learning library than a real GUI library the course switches to Tkinter near the end of the intermediate section on day 27. I found Turtle very informative for animated graphics but Tkinter more useful for actual user interface design. The course doesn’t tackle the Tkinter module in a structure way but introduces widgets as needed. I learned enough to apply it to a project at work…
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BE Heroes: a Belgian David Bowie Tribute Band
Recently we went to a concert in the village of BE Heroes. This is supposedly the sole Belgian David Bowie tribute band. I mainly went because the proceeds were going to a good cause and I didn’t have high expectations. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The singer did a decent job to imitate David Bowie’s accent and voice timbre. This alone is a remarkable feat. A while into the concert I thought to myself that it is not surprising that there is no other David Bowie tribute band. To use a famous movie quote: “the SOB gave…
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Virus Alert
‘The single biggest threat to man’s continued dominance on the planet is a virus.‘― Joshua Lederberg
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Miel Van Kest
We recently went for dinner at Miel Van Kest in Tremelo. It had been a while since we had last been here and wondered if the place had changed much. The interior was still the same and the owners also hadn’t changed. The type of food you get here and the quality was still very good luckily. We had a mix of variation dishes: Ceasar salad, tuna salad, steak haché. They serve a good mix of Belgian classics and ‘World’ kitchen traditionals so you can always go for the burger, pasta or wok dishes if you are not in the…
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The Terminator
After having watched the Daniel Craig James Bond movies I decided to “binge” watch another franchise. I saw the original Terminator movie in the theatres when it came out in 1984 as I was 15 year old and at the time it blew me away as a revolutionary movie. Watching it again after a couple of decades the special effects are definitely dated but luckily this is only visible in a couple of scenes. Most of the movie we just see Arnold Schwarzenegger whose acting is also “awkard” at times but that is not due to special effects. At the…
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A Pota Marina
After a day visiting Bastia we stopped for dinner on the way back to our apartment in Santa Lucia di Moriani. We ate at A Pota Marina right next to the sea. They describe the setting as idyllic but that is slightly exaggerated. I consider the neighbourhood too touristic and crowded. Plus, too many people were smoking at their tables. Even while sitting outside we had smoke regularly wafting across from another table. Luckily staff was friendly and the food was good as well. And when you looked away from the boulevard in the direction of the sea you could…
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