Robert Williams

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s89FqNpXO4&feature=player_embedded

We recently observed the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Perhaps the most famous words spoken on that date were only four:

“Tear down the Wall”

Seems that my mother’s side of the family is descended from Mary Shelley, the famous author of the Franenstein novel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein

So we visited the family grave site (over near Allentown, PA).  Now I can’t sleep nights, thinking about DNA and stuff.  Is it environment, or genetics?  Are we born to do certain things, or are we shaped by circumstances?  Hmmmm, each fall at Stevenson during VillaFest we have a haunted trail…. Wonder what I’ll dress up as………………  AaaaHaaaaaaaHaaaaaaaHAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Each summer there is a unique festival in Hamden, a few miles from campus.  The street is closed, etc. etc and everyone dresses up in late-50’s weirdness (beehive hairdos, and such).  Quite a fun time to see the lengths people go to get into character.  This shot shows an interesting way to set up a quick bandstand, or other AV situation.  The truck pulls up, the doors swing open, the roof rises, and bingo – a stage.

Party on Wayne!  Party on Garth!

honfest stage

While at the University of Leeds Met, Leeds, UK, my conference room looked out to the dorms.  Seems there was a slight problem with students from adjoining dorm rooms could open their windows and….  Solution was to install barriers.  They artistically painted them multicolor, and now this dorm is one of the most frequently pictured, especially by artists and architects.  But I suppose now the students have to use their doors to meet!

While in Edinburgh, Scotland last summer I stopped at Waverly rail station.  If you look to the right of the hanging basket you’ll see a construction tarp on the outside of a building.  Instead of

just putting up a traditional construction tarp, this one actually looks like the original building behind it.  Maintains the city visual-scape.  Edinburgh (and the castle) is a top UK destination.

On a recent trip to present a paper at a conference in Cambridge, stopped at the British Library near Kings Cross, to use their wifi.  Interesting table and chairs.  Actually very comfortable to use.

I think SU should install a pool, and establish a Division III ladies swim team.

Go Amanda!

BRUSSELS – Conservatives raced toward victory in some of Europe’s largest economies Sunday as initial results and exit polls showed voters punishing left-leaning parties in European parliament elections in France, Germany and elsewhere.  Some right-leaning parties said the results vindicated their reluctance to spend more on company bailouts and fiscal stimulus amid the global economic crisis.

“We are the force that is acting level-headedly and correctly in this financial and economic crisis,” said Volker Kauder, the leader of Merkel’s party in the German parliament.

Time will tell whether the “U.S. government credit-card binge” works.  Or shall we say works in the interest of the american people.

Ok, right now the harbor stinks – literally!  I live 3 blocks away in Fells Point (above the cafe at www.smedlys.com ).  Seems the natural algae bloom in the water this time of year sucks up all the oxygen in the water, which kills the fish, which causes the stink.  Soon it will all pass.  Unless of course “global warming” is, in which case everything will stink all the time!  Maybe we should just kill the all the algea.  Or get ahead of the curve and kill all the fish now.    Unintended consequences are usually never considered by the politicians.

Would Spongebob Squarepants be affected by algae bloom????