Butterflies Dance

New Colour, Old Style

2011-08-30T18:15:00.000+02:00

In May I wrote about the red skirt which seems to pop up in all official ballroom events (Intervarsity, medal tests, socials etc). I've been meaning to make another one in a different colour and my mom beat me to it recently. Turns out the pattern is fairly straight-forward. A simple tube skirt made from Lycra and six full circles inserted at regular intervals. The only terrifying thing is making sure you sew on a straight line (not my forte).

Hail the Victorious Parasol

2011-08-24T13:53:00.000+02:00

I tend to read a fair number of vampire novels in my spare time and am currently awaiting the next instalment of The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger. It is a wonderful mix of werewolves, vampires, Victorian England and Steampunk.

I'd highly recommend the series to anyone who likes British humour and some fantasy thrown into the mix.

Latin Flavour

2011-08-15T16:00:00.000+02:00

As well as my ballgown I've been sewing a Latin outfit. The joke goes about a 1/10 of the fabric and the same amount of sparkle. After much debate I went for blue (options were lumo pink, green, red or blue). You need to be bright and sparkle for Latin, not my strong suit!

I wish I had proper photos of the inbetween steps but I changed design halfway through the process so what I started with is not at all what I ended up with.

Once again I used Swarovski Crystals from Crystal Catalyst and had to Hotfix each crystal on by hand with an applicator wand. Talk about taking forever. The sense of accomplishment when you're done is awesome, the hours prior are just painful. You can vaguely see the starburst pattern on the top and then there are crystals dotted over the whole skirt.

The skirt is two full circles, so it flares nicely when it spins and because it was sewn on the diagonal it flares more on one side than the other.

Ballgown Construction

2011-08-12T15:41:00.000+02:00

I previously wrote that I've been working on a ballroom gown for Intervarsity. Well Intervarsity has come and gone and I can breath slightly and put up my aching feet (you try dancing in 2.5 inch heels everyday!).

I stated that I had learnt a lot while doing the project but my first major learning curve was a lack on any pattern that fitted me. I went browsing online and found this wonderful blog post: Step-by-Step Gown Construction Proje ct but you needed a pattern. Never fear, when you can cut until it looks vaguely the same shape :)

I cut the dress out of Bon Bon Spandex, something I hadn't heard about before but has a beautiful 4 way stretch. My fuchsia/purple/pink fabric was attached to the mannequin (roughly my size) and cut to fit according to the step by step process outlined above.

The basic finished "shell" ended up looking like this. Please Note the black triangles that are added. Each is a quarter circle and makes the dress flare when you turn, looks cool, not so cool to sew.

At this point you can decorate the dress however you like. I ended up cutting out the back of the dress and adding criss-cross straps for my effect (turns out its pretty cold without material on your back) and adding lots and rhinestones and crystals from Crystal Catalyst (and a few sequinned flowers). The result...

A ballgown is not finished without wings (or whatever they are called). There are many different styles, sleeves, bits etc. Given my lack of sleeves I made three bands to slide onto my arms and attached chiffon in purple and black.

Gearing up for Intervarsity 2011

2011-08-03T15:23:00.005+02:00

Its that time of year again. I missed Intervarsity last year due to my jaunt in Europe for the YSSP but as it is my last full year as a student I'm dancing again!

Things have been a little chaotic over the last few months preparing to dance a level I've never tried before: Novice. For those non-dancers, its the first level where you can wear sparkly outfits.

Cue sewing time :)

I've been sewing frantically for the last month to create both Latin and Ballroom outfits for this Saturday. The final pieces are going to a surprise (so no final photos til then) but I've learnt a huge amount in the process. I'll post the full process when I have decent final pictures, I've been capturing the inbetween stages on my phone with its poor excuse for a camera. Sneak peek:

Klein Joostenberg

2011-06-20T14:49:00.000+02:00

Joostenberg is a wonderful venue for an outing on a sunny day. There is a bistro, pork butchery, nursery, honey shop and Ludwig's Roses.

About 35 minutes along the N1, a little before Stellenbosch, the little slice of vibrant colour has some of the most amazing pork you'll find in Cape Town. The prices are very reasonable and the portions large. There are even fires to keep warm in Winter in the bistro.

Ludwig's Roses is also well worth a wonder through. The have all sorts on sale and the names are hilarious. On the last visit there I spotted a "Steve Hofmeyr" rose, you never know what you'll find. My favourite though is still the "Durban July" climbing rose.

Medal Tests 2011

2011-05-11T16:09:00.001+02:00

It is that time of year again, Medal Tests!

This year I did both Gold Ballroom and Gold Latin which proved to be a bit of challenge, mainly in finding time to practice. I'm busy moving, so that has taken up all my free time. I've also learnt something new, Corenza C and Vitathion when mixed will get you through a dance test if you have flu! (it is not advised for more than 1 dose).

Notice the red skirt, it seems to make an appearance at every medal test for the last few years, next time I promise to wear a different colour (my goal is to make another just like it). I'll post the results when I'm done.

Poverty and Equity

2011-02-01T17:25:00.000+02:00

During the IIASA/NRF Poverty and Equity Workshop last week we heard a lot of people talk about Poverty and Equity but really what is the definition of poverty? Should we be focusing on the relative rather than the absolute?

My interest in the workshop was to speak to both IIASA and the NRF on the possibility of a Southern version of the YSSP I participated in last year, a YSSSP if you will. Nimi (the other South African YSSPer from 2010) and I discussed the concept and I wondered afterwards. Why do we as South African researchers try so hard to collaborate with European and American researchers, but what about the rest of Africa, the SADC region or even the other "south" nations, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Egypt? Surely they have more insight into the problems we face and have perhaps created unique solutions that are more indigenous in nature than a possible "north" solution? I've often thought of "North" vs "South" mentality as an Ivory Tower vs African Optimism.

Visiting Research sites in Cape Town

2011-01-31T17:02:00.006+02:00

I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend the joint conference between the NRF, SADC Science government officials and IIASA in Cape Town last week. As part of the conference various visiting officials were taken on tours of some of Cape Town's research centres. We had a glorious walk through Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens where much of the countries biodiversity research is done, as a guide pointed out various species of interest. My favourite section of the gardens is still the Cycad garden and Bird Bath.

Rhodes Memorial and District Six featured as our historical element of the tours. For those unfamiliar with either the context or their meanings I suggest reading up on both. The District Museum is a veritable font of information and the map on the floor that ex-residents have personally filled in on their visits is rather enlightening. The guides are ex-residents and can tell many a story from the time.

Our site visits also included Koeberg Nuclear Power Station(including the inside!) complete with safety boot, earplugs and glasses. Let me just mention at this point that it is loud in there, I do not envy their resident engineers. One of the most interesting parts of the tour was the safety procedures in place and the emergency evacuation strategy in case of an accident.

Another facility that I have done a lot of work with in the past is the Centre of High Performance Computing (CHPC) in Rosebank. Open to research institutions throughout the country and potentially other SADC countries, the CHPC has a number of clusters for simulating various "Grand challenges". A few examples off the top of my head is protein folding, climate modelling, fluid dynamics for planes, ocean current modelling etc. These are applications I have seen presented at CHPC conferences over the years. I am sure there are many more.

Ringing in the New Year

2011-01-02T11:59:00.001+02:00

A wedding on the 1st of January is definitely a nice way to start 2011 and especially when it happens to be in Hout Bay overlooking the ocean.

A new year starts with a new set of challenges, thesis chapters to complete and new dancing steps to learn. Hope everyone had an awesome party to ring in the New Year and made a few New Years resolutions (that aren't going to be broken by the end of the week)

The Sun Sets on 2010

2011-01-01T17:42:00.001+02:00

The perfect end to a interesting and travel filled year...a Cape Town sunset taken across Hout Bay.

Ballroom Comm 2011

2010-10-06T16:36:00.000+02:00

I'd like to congratulate the new committee for 2011. I'm sure they are going to come up with some crazy themes, plan a kickass formal and lead us to the trophy at IV.

Chair: Lara Milne
Vice Chair: Anique Kruger
Treasurer: Alistair Bowen-Davies
Socials: Bryce van de Laar
O-Week: Claire Martens
Medal Tests: Bernie Hubbart
Formal: Lucy Farrow
Intervarsity: Dominic Nunes
IT: Richard Parry

The photo comes from the formal a few weeks ago, the UCT IV winning formation gave a demonstration of their efforts.

ICT in the classroom

2010-09-28T14:06:00.004+02:00

Today has been a voyage of discovery into software and technology available for the 21st century classroom. I had the opportunity to try out a touch screen that could be "written on" and displayed on a screen for the students to see. This definitely better than trying to move the mouse on a laptop screen.

I went to an afternoon lecture on Autograph, a software package for plotting graphs. This is integrated with an electronic whiteboard for a teacher to stand in front of a class and demonstrate the different graphs. I'm still getting used to

The last lecture of the day Peter de Lisle from Hilton College spoke about how Joomla can create a website for schools. From experience Joomla is very restricted to the template being used but I suppose it suffices for high schools. As he spoke he suggested all these extras that cost money, something that goes against his initial message that it is free. The template designer he used is R1000 and then there is the gallery manager etc etc.

ICT in Education

2010-09-27T15:38:00.003+02:00

The second day of Innovate 2010 started with a few interesting applications of smartboards and Nintendo Wiis. It is interesting that they are using Python to communicate between the two. I've recently discovered that smartboards are becoming rather popular at schools around Cape Town (we even had one installed in EGS at UCT) but I'm not sure how effective they can be. I'm very keen to see what type of content teachers are developing to use on these teaching toys.

Robert and I presented Project Umonya today to a number of IT teachers from around South Africa. Speaking to them afterwards we discovered that many teachers are frustrated with the SACO format and how it doesn't fit into teaching IT, that the North West would really like a course of their own and that there may in fact be computer labs big enough to host courses at certain IEB schools (namely in Johannesburg)

While speaking to educators and NGOs who facilitate educational programs I've discovered a few resources that people may wish to browse, namely Living Maths, Free High School Textbooks (FHSST) and Fullmarks (website pending). Its amazing what resources are available. Project Umonya is hoping to feed their upcoming resource packs into the FHSST system for a greater distribution.

Tomorrow is the final day of the conference and I am keen to network a bit more and discover a few more useful contacts to help us on our way.

Innovate 2010

2010-09-27T08:45:00.002+02:00

Yesterday was the first day of the three day conference in Innovate 2010 Schools ICT Conference held in Cape Town at the Cape Academy of Mathematics, Science and Technology. I first started working at this conference in 2001 (when I was still in high school) and today I am presenting for Project Umonya.

The first keynote speaker of the day Masha du Toit discussed Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. I'd never really considered the difference or that the distinction existed, I'd sort of accepted that I was born when computers became ubiquitous but that others had an affinity to technology that could have existed in any age (someone had to invent the stuff)

The second keynote speaker for the event was Johannes Cronje from CPUT. He spoke about the Seven Ages of Technology in Education. It was a highly entertaining experience as he traversed the world of Shakespeare for examples.

During the afternoon I sat through what could have easily been a marketing pitch for Apple. I own an Apple MacBook and still felt both bemusement and despair of the missed opportunity to showcase a proper message. The Parklands Apple One2One project is an experiment in introducing laptops into the classroom. Teachers promoted iLife as the solution to all the learners problems. They forgot to mention that everything they trumpeted on iLife is available as Open Source software (and hence less expensive than buying a MacBook).

The Parklands teachers and IT specialists missed a key opportunity, one I hope others will correct over the next two days, that of user generated content. The team spoke about the learners enthusiasm at generating new content but this doesn't have to be done on a MacBook. I despair that the message was completely lost as the teachers attributed all success to the technology itself.

Rivendell reaches Cape Town

2010-09-26T10:16:00.000+02:00

Saturday night UCT Ballroom Dancing Society held their annual formal at Kelvin Grove. The theme this year was Rivendell and we had a few elves drop in for the evening. My table for the evening could be classified as one of the two "golden oldies" table as we've all been around for a long time.

In true form I only finished my outfit the afternoon of the formal (and it fitted!). Months ago I made a necklace from a pattern called a Curl. Its composed of waves of beads that are woven into a necklace. I matched the beads to directly mimic my outfit (yes I plan ahead of time).

Phd Retreat

2010-09-23T09:25:00.010+02:00

UCT Centre for Higher Education Department (CHED) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) are cosponsoring a PhD Retreat for second year PhD students from all faculties at UCT. We've spent two days talking about the lonely PhD journey, our PhD experience, writing advice and our career opportunities.

Some well-known UCT lecturers shared their PhD journeys and its rather nice to know that not all journeys go smoothly. One lecturer described a PhD as a "series of predicaments" and anothers advice was to "fake it til you make it".

Something for people to think about: What is your PhD metaphor? Mine is a Cape Town city centre road network, with its one way streets, circles, roadworks and no signposts. Regulated chaos :)

For those of you writing a thesis, try write your abstract according to the following:

Once upon a time researchers believed that... (literature review)

But then I thought that maybe ... (aims)

so what I did was ... (method)

and I've discovered that ... (findings)

which [has] changed the way that we ... (contribution)

I thought this set a completely inappropriate tone for thesis writing or paper writing but its meant to be the structure for an abstract, others disagreed and thought it was wonderful. The engineers seemed to agree with me.

Dr Albert van Jaarsveld (CEO of NRF) gave a very interesting talk on creating a "knowledge economy" and the plan of the NRF to create more PhD students every year. I also discovered that the NRF has a science and technology initiative in high school which Umonya may be able to partner with.

Conquering Maties

2010-09-19T20:30:00.007+02:00

This weekend Project Umonya and the University of Stellenbosch co-hosted a Python course at the University of Stellenbosch (Maties). With 90 learners RSVP'd for the course we were in for a long long weekend full of lectures, tutoring and exercises.

The UCT team arrived with the sparrows to Stellenbosch to help with registration and the setup of computers to handle streaming between labs. We were experimenting for the first time with this in preparation for next years increase in students. After a few technical glitches we have found a suitable solution that can be reproduced with 'relative' ease.

Henk, Robert, Graham and I took turns lecturing the fundamentals of Python, from what is a program all the way through variables, loops, lists and even functions. Graham even demoed Visual Python to the advanced students.

Andre kindly came in to talk about Pygame, which I'm now keen to try out (when I have spare time).

If you are keen to get involved, email me and I'll send you the some info.

Chocolate Love

2010-09-17T14:35:00.002+02:00

While I was rattling around Europe there were a few things I missed, Limnos being one of them. Its probably the people that I usually go with but the cakes and treats definitely have something to do with it. Yesterday I got to go and have a Vanilla and Chocolate Mouse cake heart.

Tornado!

2010-09-17T09:59:00.003+02:00

I arrived in the office the other day to this contraption sitting on the conference table. Apparently our IT guy built a tornado simulation. Very cool.

Because this is Africa

2010-09-13T11:39:00.003+02:00

I've arrived home to glorious sunshine (and a frosty wind) on Friday night and have had a wonderful weekend touching base with family and a few friends. Its wonderful to be home, though it is weird being back in the office.

Salzburg II

2010-09-08T10:42:00.004+02:00

I took the overnight train from Zurich to Salzburg and arrived at 4am which is not fun. It was freezing cold and obviously pitch dark which made finding my hostel a little interesting. After arriving at the hostel they told me I could not check in until 10am (even though I made a special request for early checkin and ending up sleeping in the "chill lounge" until it was time to check in.
I've already been to Salzburg albeit for 2 hours in June in the freezing cold and rain. This time I at least had some sunshine (even if it isn't warm) and got to see the sights for a little longer this time around. I still love the gardens of Schloss Mirabell and they look spectacular in the sunshine. Something I seemed to have missed last time was the unicorns at the gates and the weird creatures on the flowerpots.

Walking in Old Town I explored the various platzs with an actual tourbook and discovered a few cool things. The statue of Mary in the courtyard of the Cathedral actually lines up perfectly with the church to look like the angels are crowning her.

The platz behind the cathedral was a giant chess set and board painted on the ground for people to play. The fountain there (which was used for horse bathing like modern day carwashing) has a sign saying something like "The prince built me" but the designer captialised the roman numerals that when added together are the year the fountain was built.

Walking through St Peters Cemetery that the Sound of Music's graveyard was modelled on I came across some really interesting tombstones. Another quirky fact: In Austria gravesites are rented in 10 year cycles, every ten years a rent bill is sent out and if the family doesn't pay the remains are destroyed.

My final destination was Hohensalzburg Fortress (festung) atop Festungsberg. There is a tour within the fortress with an audio-guide that was fairly decent. The main reason for taking the tour was in fact the viewing platform at the top of the tower with a 360 degree view of Salzburg. From here I could see Schloss Leopoldskron (Salzburg Global Seminar) that we attended in June.

The penultimate destination on my journey is Linz and I am going purely for the Arts Electronica Centre with its 3D virtual reality CAVE. Hopefully it lives up the hype on the website (and yes I know this is a VERY geeky reason to stop in a town).

Cheese and Chocolate

2010-09-07T11:35:00.000+02:00

Yum... Our whole day was filled with eating. Traveling to French Swiss territory to the region of La Gruyere we visited a producer of Gruyere cheese and Cailler chocolate factory (the Lindt place is closed on weekends).

You can go through the exhibit on how Gruyere cheese is made and with a rather entertaining audio-guide with a cow as a presenter we discovered that milk from the cows in the Gruyere area can contain up to 86 different flavour coming from the combination of grasses and flowers etc that they eat in the fields. The same region is where the milk is produced for the Cailler cheese. The Gruyere cheese is matured for up to 12 months in 35kg rounds at 14C. A 35kg cheese needs 400 litres of milk (1 cow produces 25 litres per day = 100kg of grass and 85 litres of water). I learnt a lot on the tour. The cellar holds between 4000 and 7000 cheeses at any one time. Given our rough calculations (and I mean really really rough) we worked out that its about 5 million euros worth of cheese in the cellar at any one time.

Callier is in Broc-frabique, a village 1km away from Broc (other side of the hill from the cheese place). All raw materials are brought in by rail (the tracks go right into their offloading warehouses) and all products leaving the factory is also by rail (there are actual train loading stations at the packaging end with rails feeding straight into the national railway system). Callier is the combination of 4 chocolate pioneers in Switzerland that eventually amalgamated into 1 in 1929 under Nestle.

Taking the tour you are lead through a highly dramatic commentary on the history of chocolate making in Switzerland and then to the Centre of Excellence where you can see a mini production station (and taste the chocolate as it comes out). We stocked up on chocolate only to get to the final destination, an entire room filled with all the different brands produced and you can eat as much of it as you possibly can...I felt a little ill after pigging out on lots of dark chocolate.

We overestimated the time all of this would take and managed it fit in Fribourg in on the way back to Zurich. Fribourg is set along a few cliffs (we're still unsure how they were made or what they actually are) and is well worth following the walking tour of (in the clockwise direction...unlike us who took the anti-clockwise direction and hence had to walk UP all the hills).

Lucerne

2010-09-06T14:25:00.000+02:00

Marco organised a full program for my weekend in Switzerland. In his words, "Zurich is not that interesting", so we proceeded to explore a few picturesque towns and villages across Switzerland. Transport in Switzerland seems very expensive (and Zurich even more so). We caught the train to Lucerne to view the lake, visit the transport museum and generally wonder around.
Traveling through the countryside is beautiful as grass covered hills whizz by dotted with cows. There are an abundance of rivers and lakes to see. Arriving in Lucerne we noticed that Pilatus, our intended destination was in fact hidden by clouds and would make viewing problematic.
Never fear, us geeks just spent longer in the transport museum seeing every exhibit, trying out all the options and critically analysing the various components of the trains, cars and space rovers. One of the coolest features was the car feature. Now I am not a car enthusiast but they have a robotic ladder-lift that brings that car you've requested down from the collection on the wall for you to view. This "Car Theatre" had vehicles from 1880 to the present including world record-holders.
Moving on to the "Old Town" of Lucerne we wondered around the pretty Swiss buildings and walked along the wooden bridges (described to us on our Google Map that other interns put together "old" and "very old") which are beautiful though required us to muse over the structural soundness and weird engineering contraption thing in the river it spanned (turns out it was for hydropower somehow).

Traveling back to Zurich I got to wonder around the city and see what they meant by "not interesting". I've decided that Zurich was a very average personality and they have perfected the art of "living normally" so that nothing goes wrong or causes inefficiencies and therefore loss of time.

Google visit

2010-09-06T10:20:00.000+02:00

I didn't know much about Zurich other than its in Switzerland, there is Lindt chocolate and that Google has their European headquarters there. I arrived mid-afternoon to visit Marco at Google and discuss a project with another Google intern that may be useful to Umonya in the future.

The Google office is huge and is highly quirky. Each floor has a different theme, cool kitchens that are fully stocked and their restaurant has a slide... New interns are made to go down the slide on their first TGIF (I visited on a Friday) but thankfully I got to go down without everyone watching.
I did manage to stay for TGIF Pub Quiz (which allowed Androids...cheating!!!) and then hang out with the interns in the evening, first to play Rock Band and then to dinner. Chatting to the various interns Marco and I expanded on Umonya and the logistical problems of following up post courses. As nearly every intern is an ex programming competition participant (between IOI and ICPC) they understand how much the mentorship and sustained training helps. Exciting things are happening :)

Verona

2010-09-05T22:09:00.001+02:00

Verona is an hour away from Venice (by train) but that hour makes all the difference. Nestled in the bend of a river its a beautiful setting with the Alps as a backdrop. The churches are of Italian Gothic Architecture, very different from the abundance of the Baroque style. I much prefer the beautiful arches, frescoed walls and quiet celebration of religion.With one day to see everything I followed the recommended walking tour that took in all the sights. I was thwarted by the Italian long lunch (12.30-3) to see some of sights in the 'correct' order but it meant I got to explore all the side streets and soak up the sun on the rivers edge.
My first stop was the Verona Arena that hosts the opera in Summer (I missed it by 2 days). Built in the first century AD its all pink marble and huge (466-by-400 foot if you believe the guidebook) with 72 aisles. From the outside it doesn't seem that large but it is in fact sunken like the Colosseum.Moving on down the "shopping" street you can still see various Roman era pillars and Medieval reliefs. Moving on past Piazza Erbe with its hustle and bustle and gazebo in the centre with manacles still attached I visited probably the most well-known Verona sight, Juliet's house with its infamous balcony. The walls into the house are covered in graffiti from years of messages from young hopefuls. In the courtyard people line up to get a photo rubbing Juliet's breast, apparently to bring you luck.The Scaligeri family ran Verona and you can see this in their buildings (they made everyone else chop off their towers so theirs was the highest) and especially in their tombs which are beyond extravagant. There is a really funny story that I will have to look up later about some fortune of Khan being thought of as "cane" for dog and that is why there are dogs on their tombs.

Sant' Anastasia is one of the Gothic churches I mentioned earlier. It has two very interesting figures holding up the holy water bowls, a hunchback and a "easter figure". I really liked this church and the ceilings. I've also learnt why there are paintings in Venice instead of frescoes. Frescoes are painted into wet plaster which would melt(?) or fade with the high humidity in Venice. I now understand the abundance of canvas covered buildings.
There are many viewing points along the river that encloses Verona's Old Town but the best view I got was from Castello San Pietra on the hill across the river. I walked up the numerous stairs into lush gardens with spectacular views. I wish I had taken a picnic up there.

S. Maria Matricolare was the last major sight on my list and is yet another church, also Italian Gothic with frescoes. What made this rather interesting was all the different outfits displayed at each altar depicting the various ceremonial robes of the church. Definitely one of the most comprehensive collections seen outside of a museum. I'm currently writing this post from the train to Zurich (via Milan) to meet up with Marco and hangout with the Google interns. It should be a geeky adventure, I've heard rumours of an indoor slide... The countryside is swishing by with vineyards, beautiful farm houses and the Alps to complete this tranquil scene, there is even a massive lake (which I should probably know the name of but don't)

Venice on high

2010-09-02T17:58:00.000+02:00

My last afternoon and evening were spent between two bell towers, one attahed to San Giorgio Maggiore Church and directly across from the Doge's Palace and the other the Campinale on St Mark's Square.

San Giogrio Maggiore Church is a sort boat ride from St Mark's and delivers you to the church stairs. The church itself has yet more Tintoretto's and a really cool wooden statue that used to sit on the steeple but was struck by lightning a few years ago (even churches can face the wrath of the gods). The bell tower offers a 360 degree view of Venice and all the surrounding islands (and the Alps in the distance) without fencing in the way (like the Campinale).

The Campinale closes at 9pm offering a beautiful view of Venice at sunset/twilight. The sun is still setting over the Alps and the markers in the canals are all alight to guide boats through the shallow waters. St Mark's Square looks sort of like a cake full of candles with its hundreds of lights. The music from the duelling musicians floats up to provide the background music as the camera pans over the scene :)

Next stop is Verona (which I am currently on the train to) which is an hour away from Venice and the home of Romeo and Juliet, the Verona Arena and gorgeous Italian fashion (and shoes) :D The train trip through winelands region reminds me of home and I am eagerly awaiting a wine trip once home (at least to Stellenbosch for the Python course in September).

Churches galore

2010-09-02T16:27:00.000+02:00

My last morning was spent gawking at paintings by Tintoretto and Titian in the various churches in the Frari district.

Frari Church was built in about 1492 and in some ways seems like a monument to Titian and Canova (artists of Venice) with all the art they produced specifically for this church.

The same could be said for Scuola San Rocco, the only brotherhood to survive intact during Napoleon's reign. Its a homage to Tintoretto and I actually bought an audio guide to listen to the history of each painting that literally lines the walls and ceiling. You may not take photos within (wiki the paintings or artists if you are that interested) the building though I'm not sure my camera could capture the sheer size and colours of the canvases anyway.

It felt like the churches were groaning under the weight of the art attached to their walls and if Venice would float better without all the art on its walls.

Following this rather history of Venetian art tour I set off to the Rialto Fish Market and my real destination of Arsenale, the old ship building factory at the tail of Venice. It is not listed in my guidebook but I saw an architectural plan in the Correr Museum. Arsenale is guarded by 4 lions at its main entrance and it seems is now a military area and not visitable. I had to make do with sneak peaks through the doors and later from the bell tower.

My lunch was spent in the beautiful gardens on the very tip of the fish's tail basking in the sunlight, watching the cruise ships go by and eating ham and mozzarella paninis. Sometime being a student is so tough :P

Burano

2010-09-01T16:52:00.000+02:00

I was contemplating skipping Burano after almost 5 hours on Murano but I am very glad that I didn't. As you arrive by boat you are bombarded with colour, each house is painted a different colour, very similar to Bo-Kaap, in fact the colours are similar too, none of this pastel stuff. Lime greens, burnt red, bright orange, luminous yellow, the range is endless. I couldn't stop wondering down side alleys into courtyards to get the full effect.

Burano itself is tiny, you can cross it in 10 mins (if you don't stop to shop) but it has amazing character, far more so than Murano. The main attraction in Burano is the lace-making (notice how I mentioned the buildings first). Here they produce the most intricately detailed lace table linen, bedding, clothing and these cute umbrellas (which I'm not sure what their use it, sun maybe?).

I ended up exploring a few stores while watching the lace-makers at work and I have decided I do not envy them in the slighest. The stitching is minute (you practically need a microscope to see what you are doing) and it is painstaking slow to produce. If I actually had a dining room table I would have bought a tablecloth, it would be a talking piece for years.

Murano

2010-09-01T15:43:00.000+02:00

On the way to Murano the boat stops at Cimitero, the cemetery of Venice, created when Napoleon declared that it was unhygienic to bury people on Venice itself. The cemetery forbids cameras so I could not photograph some of the amazing tombstones. The church on the island is beautifully decorated in gold mosaic and beautiful glass. The cemetery is sorted into sections for priests, nuns, military, children etc. Some tombstones even include photographs of the families buried in the tombs. There are a few famous people buried here like Igor Stravinsky (Modernist composer) and Diaghalev (Russian dancer/choreographer)

Visiting Murano is something I have been looking forward to ever since I heard I was accepted into the YSSP. Why you ask? I do a lot of beadwork at home, mostly with cheap Chinese glass but every once in a while I get to use Venetian glass beads as a signature bead. These beads are truly beautiful works of art and to come to the place where glass-making is famous is truly awe-inspiring.

Murano shops are an odd mixture of the very snooty and the very friendly. Glass studios with famous designers practically check your credit limit at the door and look loathe to serve the common tourist. The smaller 1 man shops and workman's benches are happy for you to potter about and look at their handmade pieces. I fell in love with a glass statue of a dance couple done in clear glass with swirls of blue and purple throughout. This colouring seems to be a signature of some designer as most of the work was in these colours. If it was anywhere near my price range I would have bought it but at 2800 euros I had to leave it in the showroom :(

The Glass Museum wasn't worth seeing my opinion. It shows the progression of glass-making over the centuries starting from the 1st century AD by the Romans to modern day pieces. The most impressive items were the centrepieces and chandeliers (which you cannot photograph).

Murano has an amazing array of glass art pieces scattered throughout the island of which I managed to capture a few (I found 6 official pieces, they may be more). One I didn't have a chance to photograph was of a series of birds all in various stages of settling on a branch.

Cruising the Canal Grande

2010-09-01T12:35:00.000+02:00

I followed my guidebooks advice and took a vaporetto to see what Venice's main 'street' looks like at sunset. As I cruised the length of the canal I had a chance to see all the front facades of the fancy buildings that are inaccessible by foot, to go in the front door you need to arrive by water. Venice is a little faded in colour but I can imagine the splendour of yesteryear from the architecture and remaining paint. The sun bathes the buildings in a golden glow and you start to get the romantic feeling that everyone describes.

I strolled around St Mark's Square a bit and had dinner at a fairly hole in the wall restaurant. Italian restaurants (I can generalise after having seen this in Rome) place a cover charge "for bread" AND a service charge of between 10-15% on a bill. You don't need to tip as its already included. In some ways it nice to not have to do the math at the end of evening but it does not encourage waiters to be friendly or efficient, they will receive a tip regardless of their behaviour.

I took the vaporetto for the reserve of my earlier journey now that the stairs were out. Buildings are lit from within by beautiful chandeliers and side canals by decorative streetlamps.

On the note of chandeliers, I will have to revise my opinion on Swarovski crystal versions in favour of Murano glass creations bedecked in flowers. They are truly breathtaking. I also discovered that taking photos at night (which require a stable surface for light exposure shots) on a moving boat is not the easiest task.

Venice: The city of bridges

2010-09-01T11:17:00.003+02:00

I decided to travel 'smart' and take the overnight train to Venice to maximise the number of days I had on holiday. I didn't reserve a sleeper seat and everyone warned me that I had made a terrible mistake. With this in mind I boarded the train in Vienna at 9pm and realised that the train was going through Salzburg on the way to Venice. Anyone who knows any geography will realise that this adds a 5 hour detour. I now understand why the train takes 11 hours. Once on the train I ended up in a compartment for 6 with only 5 people so we shared the extra space and managed to get about 5 hours of sleep.

Arriving at Venice Mestre (not on the island), I had to catch the #2 bus (which I still haven't figured out how I was meant to pay for it, so I didn't) and was dropped at the bus terminal...somewhere. My tour book doesn't provide the most detailed map and the street names on it are in English, not Italian *sigh*. I think I managed to walk over about 10 extra bridges to reach my hostel.

The hostel I'm staying in is Domus Civica, normally a boarding house during school time (i.e. not Summer). They have a student discount even if you didn't book as a student :) This said I have a curfew, welcome to a strict boarding house with rules. You have to be home by 12.30am and cannot leave before 7am...No sunrise of the Grand Canal for me :( I'll have to deal with a sunset instead.

Finally orientating myself I headed off on a random path through Santa Croce and San Polo to the Grand Canal at Rialto and my target St Mark's Square. Along the way I spotted a number of bridges, beautiful canals and 'garages' for boats. The canals do not smell at all, something else everyone had warned me about. I took a Traghetto, a gondola ride across the Canal Grande for 0.50 euro cents, an awesome experience, and something I will definitely do again tomorrow. You stand up while they ferry you across. There are only 4 bridges across the canal and these 7 crossing points serve as convenient transportation.

As I arrived at San Zaccaria (church) the heavens opened and I got drenched, but this is not the end of it. Carrying on to the Doge's Palace I bought my San Marco Musuem Pass (normal price 13 euros, student price 7.50 euros) and froze as the wind whistled through the dungeons and meeting rooms. I can only imagine the enormous heating bill for that place in Winter. The Doge's Palace prohibits photography (a common theme here) and so everyone will have to be content with photos of the facades of Venice.

The palace has these cool letterboxes throughout that people used to slip complaints or anonymous information into for the Doge to follow up, the one shown is called the Mouth of Truth. There is a lot of artwork in the apartments, too many to name, but the clocks deserve a mention. One runs anti-clockwise, one has the phases of the moon and one has the astrological signs.

Stepping out of the palace into the St Mark's Square caused a bit of a problem...squelch...it was underwater after the rains (and a high tide I think). Cue to take off the shoes and run through the calf deep puddles taking photos. The problem was even more evident in St Mark's Basilica that had raised wooden flooring over the flooding, all signs of a sinking city. What concerned me most was the air bubbles rising from the mosaic flooring.

After this rather water-logged experience of Venice I actually followed my tour guide for the San Marco to Rialto Bridge walking guide and then the Rialto to Frari path. Along the way I found a beautiful handstitched in patchwork mask in teal that had to come home with me.

This evening I am going to cruise along the Canal Grande on a vaporetto and take in the sights at sunset and then back again to see the city lights (from the chandeliers inside the buildings).
Tomorrow I'm going to visit Murano and Burano for glass-making and lace-making. They really have the most exquisite craftmanship here.

UCT Ballroom Formal 2010

2010-08-31T11:14:00.000+02:00

It's that time of year again! The UCT Ballroom Formal is on the 25th of September at Kelvin Grove. The theme is Rivendell so prepare yourself for a night of dancing in the world of JRR Tolkien…

Here's what you need to know:

Price: Members - R170 ; non-members - R240
Date: 25 September
Venue: Kelvin Grove

Bookings can be made by emailing Claire Hanley on claire.carebear9@gmail.com.
Payment can be made at dancing from Tues the 24th of August, or by emailing ontheball.uctballroom@gmail.com for our banking details (please send the proof of payment to claire.carebear9@gmail.com).

For a few past years check out 2009 and UCT FB Photos

Y-S-S-P

2010-08-30T08:07:00.000+02:00

This is compliments of Carl Salk, who wrote the lyrics to the tune of YMCA. Roll on Y-S-S-P.

Comrades, there's no need to feel lost.
I said, comrades, get yourself to the Schloss.
I said, comrades, 'cause you're got a new boss
There's no need to be unhappy.
Comrades, there's a place you can go.
I said, comrades, with the bugs in your code.
You can stay there, and I'm sure you will find
Many ways to make it compile.
It's fun to stay at the y-s-s-p.
It's fun to stay at the y-s-s-p.
They have everything for comrades to enjoy,
You can try out new modeling toys ...
It's fun to stay at the y-s-s-p.
It's fun to stay at the y-s-s-p.
You can learn GIS, you can run GAMS with zeal,
You can do whatever you feel ...
Comrades, are you listening to me?
I said, comrades, what do you want to eat?
I said, comrades, how ‘bout meat wrapped in meat?
But you got to know this one thing!
The chef shot it all by himself.
I said, comrades, grab your dish off the shelf,
And just go there, to the schlossrestaurant
I'm sure they can help you believe:
It's fun to stay at the y-s-s-p.
It's fun to stay at the y-s-s-p.
They have everything for comrades to enjoy,
You can try out new modeling toys ...
It's fun to stay at the y-s-s-p.
It's fun to stay at the y-s-s-p.
You can learn GIS, you can run GAMS with zeal,
You can do whatever you feel ...
Comrades, I was once in grad school.
I said, I was down and out with the blues.
I felt science would never meet art.
I felt the whole world would fall apart ...
That's when someone came up to us,
And said, hop on the 566 bus.
There's a place there called the y.s.s.p.
They can start you back on your way.
It's fun to stay at the y-s-s-p.
It's fun to stay at the y-s-s-p.
They have everything for comrades to enjoy,
You can try out new modeling toys ...
Y-s-s-p ... you'll find it at the y-s-s-p.
Comrades, comrades, there's no need to feel lost.
Comrades, comrades, get yourself to the Schloss.
Y-s-s-p ... you'll find it at the y-s-s-p.
Comrades, comrades, there's no need to feel lost.
Comrades, comrades, get yourself off the Schloss.
Y-s-s-p ... just go to the y-s-s-p.
Comrades, comrades, are you listening to me?
Comrades, comrades, where do you wanna be?

Toy Story 3 in 3D

2010-08-29T13:13:00.003+02:00

I've always managed to miss Toy Story when it is on at the cinemas but last night I felt like a happy movie on my 'last' night in Vienna. My options were Grown Ups or Toy Story 3, so obviously I chose Toy Story 3 (3D). I'm not sure it needed the 3D bit but the movie was awesome. I remember having toys like that and their banishment to the top shelf. Barbie and Skipper are probably having tea right now and lamenting my neglectfulness.

I would watch again purely for Buzz's Spanish Mode and the beautifully choreographed Paso Doble at the end of the movie. Yes I know that only I would recognise the style of dance the toys were doing...

Breakfast..More like Brunch

2010-08-28T14:42:00.000+02:00

Today is going to be a series of emotional farewells as we all leave to our various homes. People have been getting teary-eyed all morning. Preeti (my flatmate) and I opened the first floor balcony up for breakfast this morning. The event turned into breakfast/brunch as various people woke up from partying most of the night away.

We had to hijack Ben's kitchen to deal with the massive amounts of food we all brought to cook. The idea was to finish up everything in the fridges...and I ended up with more food than I started with.

The menu for the morning: Pancakes with cinnamon and sugar, Turkish bakery bread (so good), boiled eggs, American style Austrian bacon, donuts, croissants and McDonalds! Quite the feast.

More I have to finish packing before my grand European contiki :)

Positively Dotty

2010-08-28T09:12:00.004+02:00

Elisabeth, Jose and I tried Dots Experimental Sushi last night. It was an interesting combination of traditional sushi with a few twisters.

Jose and Elisabeth shared a Dots Sushi Special with Geisha Lips and Cape Town Bombs. The Cape Town Bombs looked awesome, sort of like Salmon Roses but with a hot sauce on top. I ventured in Mango Maki, which had prawn, avo and you guessed it...Mango. It was a very sweet creamy experience. My other choice was Calfornia rolls which had prawn, salmon, avo and something inside and multi-coloured fish roe on the outside...suitably different.

Moving on we met up with the more party crowd at a heuriger in the 19th district. We missed the food but managed to have a few wine spritzers before moving to the next destination of the evening (there was a fairly ambitious itinerary for the evening).

Everyone was in bright spirits last night but there were these times of great sadness as we say goodbye to to each other. The last photo was the group chatting up a storm on the tram to the next club. It seemed like a nice place though a little pricey, 8 euros for a cocktail!

YSSP Awards Dinner

2010-08-27T17:04:00.001+02:00

The YSSP Awards Dinner last night was our last chance to party as a group and reminisce about our experiences over the Summer. Some YSSPers interpreted "formal" a little more liberally than over...shorts with sandals or takkies is not formal!

The Director, Alumni president and YSSP Dean all regaled us with tales of past years and memories from this Summer. Each YSSPer received a certificate for completing the program and the official photo taken on the grand staircase off the main entrance.

The YSSPers put together a presentation for the dinner which consisted of a few movies from our time here, a song, a dance and the Y-S-S-P (Think YMCA but with scientists trying to spell YSSP). Our favourite moments were captured on film and there were quite a number of photos of us "working" in our offices :P

The second photo is the African delegation :)

The last photo is the IME group, my fellow survivors of the Summer (the Canadian, the South African, the Chinese and the Ukrainian..sounds the like start of a bad joke)

Algorithm Circle: 3rd Python Course

2010-08-27T13:49:00.000+02:00

This afternoon is the start of the 3rd Python Course for learners between ages 11 and 17 at the University of Cape Town. The Algorithm Circle is hosting the course with roughly 100 learners from the Western Cape. Normally I would say Cape Town but we have a few learners travelling from Hermanus and Paarl to join us (and a few from Johannesburg)

As today is the final day of the YSSP in Vienna I am obviously not able to lecture this time round. Good luck to the team in Cape Town, I'll eagerly await feedback on Monday.

The design above is for the new volunteer t-shirts that was very kindly designed for us. Are you a coding superhero? I can't wait to get my tshirt when I get back.

Last Day @ IIASA

2010-08-27T09:58:00.000+02:00

Today is the last day of the YSSP at IIASA. It has been a whirlwind three months here in Vienna and I'm still trying to absorb everything I've learnt while here. I'm happy to be going home to Cape Town and back to my family but I am also a little sad to leave behind this awesome group of talented individuals. Let's hope the reunion is in a place I can actually afford to visit.

I've written a lot about the YSSP experience in the last three months and I'm very glad I can now look back at my musings in fond remembrance of seminars, parties and trips. We're primarily doing admin today (giving in keys etc) before many of us leave this weekend.

I'm off to Italy and Switzerland and probably won't be posting much until I get back to Cape Town (expect a barrage of backposting at this point)

SA Ballroom Social Intervarsity

2010-08-26T10:08:00.000+02:00

I would like to wish the UCT Ballroom Dancing Society the best of luck in the Intervaristy (South African National Student Ballroom and Latin-American Dancing Competition) at Rhodes University, I know you're going to be spectacular as always. As the chairman of the society I would normally be competing but cannot physically be there this year.

I hope everyone has a wonderful time and that the bus ride is both fun and problem-free. I expect a video recording of the formation and some sparkly trophies to come home with you.

Look at previous post for a reminder of last year's competition that UCT hosted.

Reaching the Real World

2010-08-25T11:50:00.000+02:00

Sometimes I think scientists live in this bubble that has small filtered interaction with the Real World. Its like the Ivory Tower idea though only slightly more grounded. We tend to believe our work will promote itself and that innovate ideas will naturally to adopted without resistance. (Yes I know it doesn't work like this in reality, but it would be nice).

IIASA is trying very hard to revamp their communications and marketing with the outside world. I was interviewed yesterday afternoon as part of an effort to provide info videos to future YSSP applicants. The Communications Team have been asking us questions throughout the Summer and have even stopped by for feedback.

This got me thinking, how do you raise the public profile of a research group as diverse as IIASA. It covers so many broad research areas that you cannot market it like you would a small research group with one focus. I mean even explaining "Applied Systems Analysis" takes a while.

Late Summer Workshop

2010-08-24T10:43:00.000+02:00

Today is the start of two full days of presentations by the YSSPs on their research over the Summer. Its been an intense 3 month period and looking back there are many many things I would have done differently. The first was to communicate well in advance with the group I'd applied to. I've noticed that nearly all participants with "Cold Calls" have had far more misunderstandings with their supervisor and spent a lot more time explaining the background to the problem and their motivations.

This year the presentations are grouped a little differently to normal. Presentations are grouped according to research topics instead of research programs. I presented in the "Addressing Selected Problems in Africa, China and India" section along with Arame Tall (Senegal), Nimi Hoffman (South Africa), Xuchao Yang (China), Linke Hou (China) and Sarthak Gaurav (India). Our presentations were 15 minutes long with 10 minutes for questions. As the first group to present, we now can happily sit through everyone else's without feeling any presentation anxiety.

Following our presentations we have an Interim Report to hand in at the end of September which should be more indepth than the presentation.

YSSP Tshirt Design

2010-08-23T11:39:00.000+02:00

Thursday night was the unveiling of the YSSP 2010 t-shirt design by Aapo at the football match. We've been brainstorming ideas a lot over the last 2 months and this is the final product. Its a very YSSP joke in some ways as The Sound of Music featured quite heavily on our Zell am See trip. The hills are definitely alive with the sound of science :P or at least the schloss is.

Tomorrow is the start of the YSSP end of Summer Presentations. I have to present first! My friends who know I am a night owl will be laughing at this fact.

Carinthia

2010-08-23T08:01:00.004+02:00

This weekend I was fortunate enough to be invited to Wolf's birthday party in Pörtschach (which will henceforth to refered to as P-dorf as I cannot pronounce it). P-dorf is situated next to Wörthersee, the most gorgeous lake in Austria. About 3 hours drive away from Vienna, 10 of us trekked by car and/or train to check out what all the fuss was about.

The lake has crystal clear green/blue water and is surrounded by the Alps. We had a few hours free until the party started and went for a dip in the lake. The swimming area (which you pay to get into) has a supertube and diving board.

While posing for a group shot Avery decides to try the tactic used by the photographer for the new YSSP brochure. "Think of a wild science idea"..."Avery keep quiet and look at the camera"..."But..."..."AVERY!"

Then there is always one that messes up a fairly traditional photograph...In our case we have two, aren't we lucky :P

Wolf threw a spectacular Sushi & Saki themed event with some karaoke and loads of sake. I even got to try my sushi making skills again rolling maki (with holey Korean seaweed).

Wolf's friends bought him his first pair of lederhosen, which he proceeded to wear for the remainder of the evening. Being his first pair they required a little bit of explanation and help to put on.

The party raged on til 6am I'm told (I baled at 3.30am) and hence the car trip home was rather quiet...

Farewell S&P pots

2010-08-21T10:19:00.003+02:00

Tomorrow is the end of an era, the Athlone Cooling Towers are being demolished at noon. Having lived in Pinelands for the last 15 or so years I've grown quite attached to the salt and pepper pots nearby.

When I drive home from the airport in a few weeks time I'm going to miss this marker. I'm hoping that someone takes a video for me. The last cooling towers I saw implode were in Pinetown, Durban (Pinelands...Pinetown, noticing a theme here) over 15 years ago (on Red Nose Day I think).

Invading Rome

2010-08-20T16:49:00.002+02:00

This is a taste of my 4 days of walking through Rome. If you're really keen to track the route (which I'm sure you're not), Markus created a KMZ file for Google Earth that tracks our movements and eating spots. It was like having a walking talking GPS

Day 1: Green
Day 2: Red
Day 3: Blue
Day 4: Yellow

Please note the number of circles we managed to complete and monuments/churches we passed a few times Piazza Nova in particular.

A Day in the Life of a YSSPer

2010-08-20T11:01:00.001+02:00

Ben wrote a Day in the Life in June when the days were quiet(ish) so I thought I'd write an update now that the our time is coming to an end (4 days til presentation day!) of what we do on the average day.

7.15am The Early Morning M-Bahn (or Tram/Bus combo on party days)

7.45am Arrival at the Schloss
We generally have to unlock the front door as official hours are 8.30am - 5.30pm. Its actually quite sad getting to the office this early in the morning.

Depending on the day, the Schlossplatz is humming with activity as some group set up stages, booths, stalls for whatever event to being hosted there next. On friday morning we have a few farmers market type stalls.
7.45am - 9am Browse webcomics and online newspapers

9am - 12pm Work on stuff, maybe read a paper, annoy your officemates by starting a discussion on a topic you need help with the other YSSP in the office

12pm Lunch
Lunch in the Schloss Restaurant is a rather social event most days. On sunny days we sit outside under the trees and solve the world's biggest problems over some deep-fried concoction ranging from 2.10 euros upwards. Depending on the day we get to puzzle over how the lunch menu fits together and what exactly they decided to deep-fry on the day. The other day was diced celeriac and cheese patties! The presence of a salad bar is much appreciated (except when its all coated in vinegar).
1.30pm Sleepy time after all that lunch...must work...

3.15pm Mid-afternoon snack (Eissalon anyone?)

3.30pm-5.15pm Work stuff frequently studded with mutterings in foreign languages as the model breaks...again

5.15pm Leave time (unless there is a party planned, see below)

5.30pm Party time
On certain evenings STAC/YSSP organises a party which fits into the "work hard, play harder" philosophy here. Its nice to be able to unwind, chat to staff or fellow students and escape the office.

8.50pm Waiting for the bus

As the sun sinks in the "early evening" we seek to catch the last rays of sunshine after being in the office during the day. The IIASA wireless works at the bus stop and provides an excellent opportunity to catch up on FB and emails.

9.20pm The Last Bus

9.25pm The Commute Home

9.45pm Quellenplatz
The commute home takes 45 minutes if everything is timed perfectly but can take up to an hour if the tram arrival does not coincide with the arrival of the bus at Quellenplatz.

10.20pm Simmering again
View from the 5th floor balcony (at 6pm not 10pm, the sun doesn't stay up that late!)

10.30pm Dinner / Evening snack (or Potluck)

10.40pm Check up on stuff at home

11.30pm Whoops!
Realise you're going to have to get up at 6.30am and should really go to sleep

YSSP vs IIASA football showdown

2010-08-20T05:38:00.001+02:00

Last night was the YSSP vs IIASA Staff football showdown which I gather has become a tradition over the years. I have also heard that the staff have a few players that actually play for clubs unlike the YSSPers. Knowing this I'm not surprised when past scores have been 9-0, 7-1 etc to the staff. This year the YSSPers have been playing every week and have definitely improved from the first get together in June. They have even had secret meetings and been practicing to take on the staff. Paul the octopus predicted a YSSP win in the 4th half :)

This said, they lost 4-3 but only because they didn't stick to their game plan in the first half. In the second and third halves they played beautifully. Those who came to support who very enthusiastic for every goal they scored and every goal Mikko saved.

The photo documentary of the match below:

The meeting of the leaders, please notice the fancy uniforms handmade with love by Avery, Aapo and Markus and Avery's now green shoes after Aapo and Markus "accidently on purpose" decided that they needed to match his uniform.

YSSP first half meeting, its a very international negotiation going on :)

The supporters came out with their new vuvuzelas from Africa Day and did a few mini Mexican waves to cheer on the YSSP team. The IIASA staff were lacking both the noise makers and numbers to upstage them. Its all about the fan base.

The end of match photo

Rome @ Night

2010-08-19T09:08:00.005+02:00

Rome at night is an entirely different city to Rome during the day. I know this can be said for nearly every city but I noticed it far more in Rome. For one the churches hide in the shadows and give over the spotlight to Pizzerias and Pubs and the romantic lighting of monuments.

A trip around Rome at night should not miss the Colosseum which becomes even more impressive with its well placed mood lighting. My camera doesn't have the best night shot settings (or I haven't found them) and I don't have a tripod to still the shakes for slower shutter speeds but I really like the photo of the Colosseum above.

A trip along the river during the day shows a fairly dirty Tiber River with boring banks but at night the river edge comes alive with bars and open air theatres. I can imagine spending a good many hours exploring the riverside (and the small stalls that sprung up between bars).

The Trevi fountain was actually very boring when we visited at night, something I was really looking forward to. It looks nothing like the beautiful postcard shots.

The last photo is of something that I actually never saw during the day, the Pyramid. The photo was taken at dusk and really reminds me of a Stargate landing platform (I know I'm a geek).

1 shell, 2 keys and 3 bees?

2010-08-19T07:37:00.000+02:00

After lunch we wondered down past Colonna Traiana and stepped into a beautiful church not listed on the maps. The Monumente a Vittorio Emanuele II is impressive based purely on its vast size but actually sticks out like a sore thumb against the backdrop of ancient Roman ruins. Built for the first king to unite Italy, it is impressive with the columns and very unimpressive without.

The Trevi Fountain is packed at all times of the day but its not as beautiful as it is in the movies. The light reflects off the white stone during the day and the lamps nearby overpower the fountains lighting at night.

Piazza della Republica reminds me of Karlsplatz in Munich in its dimensions.
Santa Maria degli Angelil church has an amazing feature, some sort of meridional line running through it, cutting through the marble pattern on the floor. The organ as some weird tourist pointed out to us is no situated in the middle but off to the left.

San Carlo Quattro Fontane is an intersection with a fountain on each corner. There is one fascinating fountain featuring the wolf with Romulus and Remus tucked behind some foliage. Its pretty hard to photograph or even admire these fountains as there is no viewing space in front of them, only car lanes (we nearly got ridden over).

Fontana del Tritone on Piazza Barbaerini is wonderful and probably on of my favourite fountains of Rome. This is also the start of my questions, why are there 3 bees on the fountain, again on the Palazzo Barberini and in Castel Sant' Angelo. Next question is why are there 2 keys? Almost everything is in Rome has 2 keys on an emblem, sometimes also featuring bees. My last question is why is there a clam shell featured so prominently in the Vatican (more later).
The Spanish Stairs were pretty crowded when we eventually got there in the afternoon. Notice the large number of obelisks appearing in the photos from now onwards. There are an amazing number of obelisks in Rome that are situated in Piazzas sometimes coming out of fountains or statues.

Piazza del Popolo is this large area flanked by many many churches (not a surprise in Rome) and access to the Pincio (with more stairs) and the Villa Borghese gardens.

When in Rome...

2010-08-19T02:37:00.000+02:00

Rome wasn't built in a day but you can visit it in 2 days. Flying into Rome through some pretty bad turbulence we landed at 7.30am and eventually arrived at our apartment at 10ish via taxi. After getting instructions in Italian because the caretaker doesn't speak English we searched out a good breakfast spot.

After breakfast we parted ways with Markus and I heading into town to visit THE sights of Rome. The first was the Colosseum in which we skipped the massive queue with our Roma Pass and ended up a trifle damp from the thunderstorm hovering over Rome.

The Colosseum was fascinating after years of Latin classes. I half remember the tales of gladiator battles from setwork translations. After reading the touristy info I also discovered that they could flood the arena for mock sea battles. How cool is that. I was very impressed by the pulley models that built to show how they worked in this mostly forgotten era.

After a wet Colosseum we visited the ruins of the Forum and Palatine Hill. Without a proper guidebook we guestimated a lot of what the structures looked like before. Following these pretty impressive ruins we visited the most unimpressive Circus Maximus which is just an empty green area that was once a racing ground.

The Domus Aurea, once Nero's Golden Palace lies in ruins close by but lacks any real impact. Walking down Via S. Fr. di Paola I got the sense that it was used as a movie backdrop complete with musical serenading from a street performer.

At this stage we took a break for lunch a cute Pizzeria on the intersection with Via dei Serpenti.

The photo on the left is from the side of a building. These appear throughout Rome either with places for candles or lights in front to light it day and night. I think they are blessings for the various buildings but if someone can explain the true meaning I would be most grateful.

Schloss Tour

2010-08-13T14:56:00.004+02:00

We finally received an official tour of the Schloss this morning including the normally off-limits areas. I've written about the history of Schloss Laxenburg back in June but now I have previously unseen photos to show.

Our tour started with a building no longer connected to the Schloss, the Orangarie (Winter Garden) that housed the oranges and plants in the Winter months and provided fresh fruit to the castle when the royals were in residence.
As we walked back you have a nice view of one of the wings of IIASA with the Belvedere (tower). The next stop on our tour took us through the Conference Centre that used to belong to IIASA and was sold off in the 80s when IIASA had some financial difficulties. The conference area has a stunning entrance way and stands outside the old stables for housing carriages.

The conference centre has a series of rooms all painted or wallpapered in lavish splendour, perfect for a ball. Pity about the price tag though. With reductions the hire of the 2 rooms in the venue (no services or catering) is 3000 euros.

The conference centre also houses a small concert hall that has been altered a fair bit from the original design. The photo below shows the royal box which is now directly over the stage when previously it was in fact facing the stage.

All the buildings were in terrible disrepair about the world wars and Nazi and then Soviet occupation (there was a mini battle in Laxenburg Park) and the everything had to be restored from photos and notes. All the chandeliers, paintings and furniture are imports from museums or were stored somewhere else during the wars.

One area that is strictly out of bounds normally is the Directors Office and Breakfast Pavilion. While the director was out for lunch we snack in to see the famed picture of Maria Theresa in the Elisabeth Room. Snazzy office :)

The view of the park and conference centre from the pavilion is beautiful to behold. I'm told the people with offices in the Park Wing (APD) get to see weddings in this area on a regular occasion.

The last photo is taken from the top of the Belvedere and if you look closely enough you can see Vienna.

Asia Day

2010-08-13T07:05:00.001+02:00

Asia Day was a gastronomic delight as food from every corner of Asia was prepared for us to feast on. As with Africa Day the food queues were really long as people asked questions about the food and how it is prepared etc. I saw a lot of heaped plates.

I can't even begin to name all the food prepared. I can however name some of the countries represented: Japan, China, Korea (mmm... bbq), Iran, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Nepal.

As with any Asia party, the traditional costumes were beautifully colourful, sort of like birds of paradise. I really wish I had managed to organise a sari for the evening.

The Asia staff and students organised a series of cultural exhibitions which included a play written by one of the staff. Though plagued with a few sound issues, they performed beautifully and it made for some fun.

Cultural Program:

IIASA-YSSP Musical Group “Pro-Tempore“ : The Snow at the Feet of the Maharaja.

The staff and students have been practising in secret for weeks now to present a play. Various members of Forestry were talked into playing bodyguards for the beautiful queen. Our YSSP coordinator even sang for us :)

HSC: Flash Mob Dance

Elena Rovenskaya : Belly Dance

Suchi Subramanian : Bollywood Dance
Subramanian Family : Indian Melodies
Haiguang Hao : Tai Chi

Sarthak Gaurav : Indian Rhapsody

Another World Is Possible

2010-08-12T11:15:00.000+02:00

"In the world we live in, the bad wolf of climate change has already ransacked the straw house and the house made of sticks, and the inhabitants of both are now knocking on the door of the brick house where the people of the developed world live” - Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Climate Change, developement and energy problems in South Africa another world is possible is a report by Earthlife Africa Johannesburg (Oxfam International) is an interesting summary of the current state of South Africa in terms of CC. (Thanks go to Arame for pointing out this report)

South Africa is reported to be the highest emitter GHG in Africa. As it currently stands South Africa is under no legal obligation to cut emissions but they should be under a moral obligation, SA is on the edge with respect to Climate Change as it is.

The executive summary stated that SA reducing its emissions would send a clear message to the world that would increase its negotiating power. Given what happened in Copenhagen where SA was sidelined, can we say this?

I'm always curious as to how the international community views South Africa when discussing various conccepts like poverty, disadvantaged, third world, African, political power etc

An interesting experiment suggested by Nimi (the other SA YSSP):
Google: 'poverty' or 'township' or 'development' and see what images you get.

Then check out this Youtube ad.

Involved?

2010-08-10T14:13:00.002+02:00

I had a discussion the other day about the involvement of graduate students in organisations and societies both on and off campus. This discussion developed out of a feedback session on the YSSP application process and people asking what type of experience is taken into account when selecting the participants.

If you look at the application process, a lot of space is given for previous academic experience in terms of published papers and conference talks but none is given to involvement in your research community or non-profit organisations. Would you could consider this a valid measure? Some students here are very new to graduate research (this is a Young Scientists program) and haven't had time to publish. Do you think involvement in a research community or outreach program important to personal growth?

Another interesting observation are the participants who signed up for the Media Training, nearly all had experience in an organisation that required interaction with a broader community and saw the value of communication. Those who didn't participate were "pure" scientists. A question to those who didn't attend: Is this because you didn't think you'd ever have to communicate to a broader audience or because you've already done a course before?

Finally: If you could add anything to the YSSP application what would it be? I'm curious

Inception: Seeding an idea

2010-08-10T07:50:00.011+02:00

I've heard a lot of things about Inception from various people but have tried very hard to avoid official reviews. I have seen an amazing array of posters advertising the movie which seem truly warped. *spoiler alert*

I finally got a chance to see the movie last night with a few other YSSPers at the English cinema in Vienna, the Hadyn. The Hadyn was huge seats and the screen has a curtain in front of it that opens like on a stage in time for the movie. It felt strangely like going to see a play. A little side note: The Americans find assigned seating strange.

I'm a fan of Christopher Nolan (director) after seeing Memento and The Dark Knight and hoped that Inception lived up the very high standard set by both.

Inception was mind-blowing, the concept of dreams within dreams was something I've not really considered before but in hindsight could see it. There were a few plot holes but the movie explicitly shows you where you are in every level with different sets. I'm not sure they correctly calculated the time expansion across levels but it made for high drama at the end.

I definitely think it is worth the hype surrounding it.

Since we are at IIASA and studying systems analysis, have a look at the flowchart. Its a spoiler alert for those who haven't seen it yet, though I'm not sure that after reading the flowchart that you'll have any more idea of the movie than before.

*there is an updated version after the artist saw the movie for the third time*

For those who didn't get the synchronisation of the kicks: try this picture by a deviantArt user.

Weinviertel and Lipizzaners

2010-08-09T09:50:00.001+02:00

We continued our tour after a rather large lunch at yet another English Garden and some museums. The highlight for me was a tour of the Summer Riding School of the Lipizzaners from the Spanish Riding School. Its like Summer camp for horses, they certainly have an awesome life out there. Along the way I learnt how they name their horses, the training process and how they pair the horses with their riders.

Did you know that all Lipizzaners are born brown and that they changed to white from about 4 years, sometimes up to 12 years old. Some horses never change to white. These horses can still perform in the shows and they are said to bring luck to the school. There have been a few years that have not had a brown horse like 1938 but currently there are 3 brown horses performing which must mean they are very lucky :)

Lipizzaners start training from the age of 4 and it can take 6 years before they are ready to perform. Lipizzaners live well into their 30s and perform until they're about 28. We got to meet a few of the horses and man are they tall but absolutely beautiful.

After all the horses we finally had a chance to drink. We toured the Obenaus winery, a local winery in Glaubendorf. The owners son shepherded us through the various rooms. It was interesting to see an small operation with the cellars, bottling line and presses (the people here would probably be annoyed when I call it small, but I consider it small in comparison to Vergelegen, Welmoed, Spier etc where I've previously done tours).

Following the tour we got to taste the various wine the winery produces including Gruner Veltliner, Roter Veltliner and Muskat. The menu said a cold meat supper and that is exactly what we got, LOTS of cold meat and nothing else. We thought they were joking when they handed us each a plate of meats, eventually we begged for a vegetarian plate to split. The party table made a valiant effort to consume our months worth of meat in a hour but it proved impossible.

I asked a lot of questions about the growing conditions here, temperatures, grape types etc because they make such different wines to South Africa and Australia which is what I typically know. The grow their whites in clay soil and reds in gravel. The temperatures are below freezing (-18C) in Winter and they harvest white in the morning and red in the afternoon. The really interesting this is that they use acacia instead of oak as they don't like the favour it gives to the wine.

Disney and Dr Who

2010-08-09T09:20:00.000+02:00

IIASA's staff association organised a tour of the Wine Tour and Cultural Sightseeing trip for the staff and YSSPers interested. For 15 euros it was definitely worth it. A group of us dragged ourselves out of bed at 7am to get to the bus in time as we journeyed to Graffenegg and Glaubendorf.

Our bus trip started with a buck's fizz, champagne and orange juice and choc-chip mini cakes, I could definitely get used to this.

We started our cultural excursions with a tour of Schloss Graffenegg (yes another castle), a Tudor style castle. Why is there an English style castle in Austria? The Count who owned the castle spent some time in England and loved the style and had his castle remodelled in the Tudor style of whimsy. From the outside it looks like you've arrived at the Disney fairytale castle complete with turrets, dragons guarding the entrance and drawbridge of the (drained) moat.

The side of the castle was over the top, we could have spent hours in each room exploring the tiny carpentry details, the artwork etc. The chapel in the church was a sensory overload with bright blue ceilings (complete with stars), dragons and dolphins carved into the seating area, gold paintings over the alter and stained glass windows.

The English garden that surrounds the castle was yet another interesting experience. Graffenegg is very proud of their musical reputation and have recently built a new open-air concert arena that seats 1750 people. What they didn't mention until we found it is that it looks like a firefly class spaceship ready for take off. This was the icing on the cake after discovering an abandoned TARDIS between the trees...I wonder if we should tell them the aliens have landed :P

East meets West

2010-08-08T19:40:00.000+02:00

My second day in Berlin got off to a rather late start after dancing the previous night. I had decided to explore Potsdam Platz and the surrounds for the day and walk the path of the former Berlin Wall.

I started at Brandenburg Gate, the victory gate on the edge of Tiergarten. It was crowded with tourists all eager to pose with a the fake German soldiers (which you have to pay to do!).

I quickly headed for the parliament in hopes of a quieter space but alas the queue to get into the parliament (the glass dome offers a spectacular view I'm told) that looked a few hours long. With the weather looking fairly ominous I skipped the wait and decided I'd try later (which didn't happen because the rain finally appeared).

Walking through the Tiergarten I found a beautiful monument to Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn done in marble with gold trim. The monument has a rather sad history as it sits very close the the former wall and was neglected after the wall and left to decay. A fair amount of damaged was sustained including bullet holes and lost mouldings. The monument has recently been restored to its former glory (with bullet holes intact as a reminder).

Walking along the path of the wall I came across the Holocaust Memorial featuring thousands of concrete slabs of various heights. I'm not sure what to make of it, all I took away from it was drab grey blocks the same shape. The tour leader I walked past stated that everyone is affected by WW2 but to me it seems so far removed from South Africa.

My afternoon was mainly spent in the Sony Centre with its beautiful glass roof and multitude of restaurants before seeing Dirty Dancing on the Potsdam Platz Theatre. The Sony Centre houses an IMAX cinema and Lego Discovery Centre (which I nearly gave in to the temptation to spend the afternoon playing in).

I have to say in retrospect that I cannot think of a single world or phrase that encompasses all of Berlin, it is a juxtaposition of old and new, polished and rough but it is all welcoming. I loved Berlin and would happily return again and again. Its a wonderful city that made me feel more welcome in 2 days than the 2 months I've spent in Vienna.

Bear Hunting in Berlin

2010-08-07T18:04:00.007+02:00

Most people know that at times I choose somewhat unconventional touring techniques. Today was no different. I discovered that the cute bears that they sell in the tourist shops are actually replicas of bear statues situated throughout the city. I'm sure you can now guess, I went bear hunting (this is very reminiscent of my Norwich Safari spotting elephants).

There are lots of them and with no clue with how many or where I set off to find as many (guessing they would be in touristy places). I managed to find an abysmal total of 9 bears (not all pictured here). I photographed each discovery triumphantly but one discovery photo eluded me, the American Bear situated IN the US Embassy (they got a little cross with me for trying to photograph the embassy).

One my bear hunting I explored Potsdam quite thoroughly, the little side streets, famous buildings, walked the path of the wall and got thoroughly rained on in the process.

I particularly liked the olympic bear and the lottery bear, though my absolute favourite was the scuba bear. I found a few more online for those curious. After exploring during the day I googled the strange creatures are discovered their names are Buddy Bears.

Dirty Dancing in Deutschland

2010-08-07T09:46:00.005+02:00

As a ballroom dancer and a huge fan of Dirty Dancing the movie from before I even started dance classes, when I passed the Theatre Am Potsdamer Platz and saw the lumo pink sign proclaiming "Dirty Dancing...Das Original Live On Stage" I knew I had found my Friday evening activity. The show was a mixture of German dialogue and English songs (from the movie). Given that I can almost recite the original dialogue I could translate the German dialogue enough to follow. I had amazing seats level with the stage for 39.90 euros (R380) which is actually less than I'd probably pay back in South Africa.

The general cast dancers were amazing, good ballroom dancers and fantastic free-styling. Their lifts, spins and moves were executed with such precision. The leads were another story. "Johnny" was a very talented dancer but "Baby" was quite obviously not a trained dancer. I realise this is the idea behind the story, but she looked awkward even in the closing dance.

Lets hope the production goes on tour in English somewhere near me.

Mitte

2010-08-06T09:54:00.000+02:00

I started my first day in Berlin wondering around Mitte starting at Alexanderplatz. I had no real preconceptions of Berlin besides my knowledge of the world wars. I purposefully didn't read up on the city as I do normally. So map in hand I left my hostel (A&O Hostel) and set out on a great adventure. The downside of not reading about sights beforehand is the lack on orientation.

My first discovery was Neptune's Fountain that is certainly befitting of Neptune. He is flanked by four maidens and held aloft by a clam shell. Why am I spending so much time of a fountain...I love fountains, there is something calming and whimsical about the cascading water. Soldiering on I passed the Rotes Rauhaus obscured by building material and an excavation site. Bypassing this sight I wondered the backstreets and found a little corridor into a courtyard full of tiny shops and a beautiful church/museum. One shop had family of bears sitting on the pavement watching the world go. Imagine the stories they could tell if they could talk.

Something I have noticed from both Hungary and now Berlin is the amount of woodwork, available here in ornaments, candle holders and toys. They are truly beautiful if very delicate and alas I'm not sure they would survive the trip home in my suitcase.

Moving onwards to Museuminsel I started playing with my camera's settings and found the Monochrome setting just in time to document the grandeur of Berliner Dom. There is a minimal entrance fee (3 euros for students) to get in which includes access to the dome, crypt, gallery and museum. I've seen a lot of churches recently, Europe seems littered with them in fact but I'm a sucker for giant copper domes and 360 degree viewing points.

The inside is just as ostentatious as other churches, not notably the Budapest St Stephens Basilica but I did find the crypt interesting. The crypt holds quite a few notables including a few kings and queens but the true eye opener was the number of royal children who died with the first 2 years, many actually within the first 3 months. A quite sobering fact.

I had this brilliant idea to leave the museums til the evening as all the museums stay open on Thursdays til 10pm but it turned out everyone had the same idea (the queue was 1 hr long when I went back).

I wondered through a local evening festival with a few sound stages and stopped for a snack of giant crepes with lemon and sugar. With renewed energy I took on Oranienburger and Auguststrasse to look at the local night-life.

Quite by accident (really) I decided to use the advice of eat where all the locals are and followed a German crowd into what I thought was a restaurant. Turns out it was a restaurant with a huge wooden dancefloor in the middle for Ballroom and Latin dancing for free! I was in heaven, they didn't even mind that I had no shoes (flip-flops don't count). I spent the rest of the night dancing with the locals. Happy happy times :D

Climate Change Negotiation Simulation

2010-08-05T09:19:00.005+02:00

Today IIASA staged a Climate Change Negotiation Simulation as part of our YSSP. YSSP participants we assigned a country to represent one of: Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Grenada, India, Japan, Russian Federation, Sweden, Sudan, UK, USA, Australia, Poland, Hungary etc etc. Basically a mixture og G8, G20 and G77 countries.

My initial reason for taking part was to experience a negotiation situation as I am always frustrated by the reports in the newspapers of failure following these negotiations. I can now understand why. We were each assigned a country, or given NGO status to observe the proceedings. I was assigned Australia, an environmental activist of sorts that was campaigning for tough emissions targets and to introduce the concept of "climate change refugees". My simulation tip notes featured some countries I should negotiate with and some that needed more persuasion. I was told to criticise African countries (which goes against my personal feelings) and push for developing countries to accept that they are not exempt from the guilt just because they are still growing economically.

M&M Negotiations

Before the official negotiations began we played a simple negotiaton game where each person is given five pieces of paper in different colours, you have to negotiate to get 5 pieces of the same colour. It was hilarious as some people walked around talking your way into a colour while others just sat and waited for people to come to them. Quite interesting to try.

Negotiation Simulation

Throughout the negotiation process we discovered other's country mandates, game instructions and a few hidden agendas. Ariel as game master observed the proceedings and pushed forward negotiations with ad-hoc instructions for countries to carry out. Examples of these were criticising the chair for bias, not following due process, changing stance mid negotiation, stage a walk out, start forming a coalition. It made the process quite baffling at times.

There are few keys thing I have learnt from the experience. When negotiating, there must be a clear language for all parties, such as what emissions means vs emissions intensities, what does respected mean etc. I also learnt that one needs negotiators with technical know-how to negotiate, not political figures that do not understand the implications of the various proposals tabled for discussion.

Waving The African Flag Proudly

2010-08-04T09:26:00.011+02:00

Africa Day was officially a great success. We ate, danced and drank...a typical African party.

YSSPers and a few staff slaved over stoves, watched ovens, shopped up a storm to bring African cuisine to the IIASA ignorants. Arame and I planned (or were told to plan) for 60 - 70 people and so with this in mind we made enough food for leftovers. The problem was (we don't consider it a problem really) that almost double that number attended, so much for Arame's and my plan to eat the leftovers for lunch. We have absolutely nothing left. There were queues for food! I've never such a thing, though to be fair I think that was because everyone required an explanation of the food which made the selection time a lot longer than normal.

The quiz Ben designed apparently taxed the minimal knowledge people had about Africa, including their flag knowledge. Highest score was 26/100!

The menu for the evening included:

Beef Bobotie (South Africa)
Chicken Tajine (Morocco)
Lentil and Brinjal Curry (South Africa)
Yassa (Senegal)
Thiou Guinar (Cote d’Ivoire)
Ugali/Msima (Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia)
White Jasmine Rice
Pine nut couscous
Malva Pudding (South Africa)
Koeksisters (South Africa)

Drinks:

Bouye (Baobab Tree fruit drink)
Bissap (Sweet Hibiscus fruit drink)
Springbokkies (South Africa)

We had a bit of a music problem, how to represent the entire continent's music in 3.5 hours? Make a playlist of 16 hours worth of all our favourites and put it on shuffle, the computer can be the unbiased selector :P Let the dancing begin!!

My mom posted me a few vuvuzelas which provided much entertainment as partygoers tried to out perform each other, talk about noise!

Overall I think it was a great success and the kitchens of Vienna can breathe a sigh of relief as they go back to being unused.

YSSP Group Photo

2010-08-03T11:22:00.006+02:00

Today was the official YSSP 2010 Group Photo on the grand staircase in the Schloss. We all arrived, some of us more awake than others depending on the kitchen we were cooking in last night, to commemorate our spectacular presence here in Laxenburg :P

The funny thing is that some of the YSSPers we hadn't seen in a while, either cause we've been hiding in our offices or they have. It was nice to touch base and hang out for the fifteen minutes it took to organise us all.

If you're wondering why PhD students are suddenly colourful its because most came dressed for Africa Day as it had the directive of the more colour the better :)

Africa Day!

2010-08-03T07:15:00.002+02:00

Africa Day has arrived :) The food is all cooked (and there is lots of it) and we're getting into the party mood. The African YSSP participants and adopted African students are going to be frantically setting up for Africa Day this afternoon. If you see a stressed organiser, lend a hand!

Malva Pudding

2010-08-02T17:45:00.001+02:00

Malva Pudding is one of my favourite desserts and something I seem to make/requested to make fairly often. The recipe I have comes from Boschendal and makes enough for roughly 10 portions. The reason I say 10 is because no matter the amount I make the guys make space in their dessert stomachs to finish it. Malva Pudding can be served with either Custard (UltraMel) or Vanilla Ice-cream.

Cake
1 cup sugar (250ml)
1 egg
1 tablespoon apricot jam
1 cup flour (250ml)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
generous pinch of salt
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vinegar (5ml)
1 cup milk (250ml)

Beat egg and sugar well in a mixer.
Add the jam
Sift flour, bicarb and salt.
Melt the butter and add the vinegar.
Add liquids to egg mixture alternatively with the flour
Beat well and bake in covered dish (tin foil works) at 180C/350F for 45mins to 1 hour. (If the cake comes out white, try baking it for another few minutes with the cover off).

Sauce
1 cup whipping cream
180g baking butter (4oz)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup hot water

Melt together the ingredients for the sauce and pour over the pudding as it comes out of the oven.
(A side note, you might think there is too much sauce, but it DOES soak up all of it, release the cake from the sides of the dish to let the sauce go under and maybe create a few air holes in the cake if you're in a hurry)

Philosophy for a United Earth

2010-08-02T12:54:00.003+02:00

Professor Joseph Agassi of Tel Aviv University gave a talk on the Philosophy for a United Earth this morning. While I'm not sure if I would buy into the argument for a global institution I did appreciate his comments on if only... Think back to the last time you said If only, it is an escape clause, something one says when one expects failure. I hadn't really considered this before.

Schnapsmuseum

2010-08-01T23:09:00.007+02:00

Long before I came to Vienna people kept telling me to go to the Schnapsmuseum in Vienna. Now I didn't now that Vienna is famous for its Schnaps but apparently they are. A group of 6 of us went on a tour through the 'museum' and got to taste the various types available.

Its a very short tour, only a few rooms but the information garnered is worth the visit. I learnt not only about the process of producing Schnaps but also about Absinthe, Brandy and Liqueurs. We also received a history lesson on Austria and its alcohol laws.

I also learnt that the original distillery was much larger but was bombed in 1945 and they lost 11 buildings in just minutes. There are a series of photographs on the walls from various eras that show the destruction and the history of the family. One of the family was a driver for the Emporer, another an advisor.

Our tour guide is actually the owners son who only does tours on the weekend as a favour to the family. Imagine having the keys to a Schnaps distillery as a student...the parties must have been fabulous.

The tour concluded with a tasting of all the different varieties and a demonstration on how to tell the difference between proper Schnaps and the artificially sweetened stuff. Needless to say that the real stuff smells just like rotten fruit...wonderful.

Following our tour our guide decided that some food would be a good idea to soak up all the alcohol we'd manage to consume. Our choice came from the Lonely Planet: Kokoma, a seafood restaurant that was actually fairly decent. Definitely one of the better meals I've had a Viennese restaurant.

Koeksisters

2010-08-01T19:36:00.001+02:00

I'm currently trying to get through my mammoth cooking tasks for Africa Day. The list includes double quantities of bobotie, malva pudding and an attempt at koeksisters. I last made koeksisters in a home ec class way back when. That being said I googled it and found a few recipes one of which I am currently attempting. The recipe I found doesn't have an indication of the quantity it makes so it is going to be a surprise. If anything, this will be a baby taste of home on the day (if I don't eat them all beforehand)

Koeksisters

The secret of the crisp syrupy outside of koeksisters is that they are taken straight from hot oil and dipped into ice-cold syrup. This seals the syrup outside and leaves the inside dryish in contrast.

Ingredients:

375ml water
800g sugar
2ml (1/2t) cream of tartar
2ml (1/2t) ground ginger
3 cinnamon sticks
500g cake flour
30ml (6t) baking powder
2ml (1/2t) salt
50ml (4T0 butter or margarine
2 eggs
250ml milk
oil for deep frying

Instructions:

To make syrup, heat water in a saucepan, add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add cream of tartar, ginger and cinnamon.
Boil, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Do not stir, remove from stove and chill.
While syrup is chilling, make koeksisters. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.
Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
Beat eggs and milk together and add to dry ingredients. Mix dough well, then knead lightly for 2 minutes to make it pliable.
Cover basin with wax paper and leave for 1 hour.
Roll dough to a thickness of 7.5 to 10mm. Cut into strips about 8 cm long and 2.5 cm wide. Cut each strip into three lengthwise, leaving one side uncut. Now plait the three pieces and press ends together firmly.
Heat oil to 190ºC and deepfry koeksisters for 1 minute. (Do not fry too many at once)
The syrup will warm up about halfway through, so divide the syrup into two bowls.
Remove from oil, drain on brown paper for 1 minute and dip in cold syrup for 30 seconds. Remove from syrup and place on a dish to dry.

You'll probably see lots of recipes posted in the next few days as dishes are prepared.

Safety First: Stochastic Decision Problems

2010-08-01T09:52:00.000+02:00

Vladimir Norkin of the Glushkov Institute of Cybertronics in Kiev gave a very interesting (and very equation based) seminar on mixed integer approaches in stochastic optimisation on Friday afternoon. Norkin has been a visitor in IME for the last week. Titled "Safety First Class of Stochastic Decision Problems: Mixed Integer Approach" he explored examples of portfolios with critical thresholds.

Portfolio selection is a relatively new area for me, something I have learnt since arriving at IIASA. Its interesting to see how the idea is used in a variety of sectors and the philosophy of risk minimisation by selecting a diverse portfolio. Safety first means the minimisation of the probability of bad events.

Norkin started the seminar with a quote from Ulrich Beck (1986) that "society starts to realise its exposure to changes including those that appear due to its own development..." and then moved on to AD Roy's (1952) paper on "Safety first and the holding of assets". Its interesting to note that while mathematical techniques and computational capabilities have increased since then, the idea and fundamental theory still holds true.

Norkin also discussed techniques associated with a finite scenario set that relates directly to my YSSP project. He intimated that all finite scenario set probability optimisation problems can be reduced to a mixed Boolean programming problem building on Korbut and Finkelstein (1969).

Oh the 80s

2010-07-31T21:37:00.003+02:00

As I child of the 80s I wasn't really around for the major musical developments of the time but it seems I caught enough the highlights to survive 80s night fairly well. Chelsea in Vienna has an 80s night on alternating Fridays. I decided to brave 'clubbing' in Vienna and check it out with what turned out to be half of the YSSP and some of the younger IIASA staff.

There is nothing like signing along to Billy Idol, Bonnie Tyler and Kenny Loggins at the top of your voice and I will be continuing in "Holding Out For A Hero" for the foreseeable future :P

Backtracking a bit, the Turkish restaurant Kent was the venue of choice for dinner and their food is definitely worth the 'trek'. We ordered so much food as everything on the menu looked so yummy. I'd definitely be keen to go back, their Hummus is to die for.

Recreating the African experience

2010-07-31T10:18:00.003+02:00

Recreating the African experience (or how not to shop). The organisers of Africa Day went shopping for ingredients on Friday afternoon in what should have been a fairly organised experience. People know I do not have the best of patiences at the best of times, but chaos grates on my nerves instantly.

We ended up in the chaotic landscape of communal decisions but distributed buying, a major mismatch of methodology. This was also done on African time, as in take your time. Those of you who don't know the idea behind African time, count yourself very lucky especially if you're a punctual person.

The elephant on the right is an old version of the poster I posted last week. I think its super cute but the rest of the Africa Day crowd didn't want to promote Africa that it is just about animals. I have nothing against promoting the richness of the natural resources in Africa, in fact I think we should celebrate it.

Bibliothek

2010-07-30T12:56:00.004+02:00

I know I've written about this before but I love the library at IIASA with its self check-out system, long-term loans (minimum 2 weeks, maximum a few years) its a marvel of efficiency in comparison to home. Maybe it is the contents I appreciate, the service just makes it better. The library is almost entirely made up of systems analysis, statistics, policy, modeling and decision-making textbooks, all helpful to my research.

The library has two reading rooms which in today's world of electronic journals and online books may soon become a thing of the past. The lighting fixture in the room is worth taking a peek at.

If you zoom in on the photo (not compulsory I promise), you'll see a multitude of yellow slips sticking out from between books. These indicate a book has been borrowed and by who.

Korea's Science and Technology Policies

2010-07-30T08:23:00.002+02:00

Yesterday IIASA hosted Prof Chan-Mo Park, the president of the National Research Foundation of Korea. Prof Park detailed the vision of Science and Technology in Korea under the new government. He emphasized Green Growth, the integration of Green Technology into all sectors and believed this is the future for a developing nation. As a result the government is rapidly increasing their S&T budget with a large percentage going to R&D. It is nice to see governments pushing the Green vision and a belief in Science as a way to empower a nation. The Korean government has set very ambitious targets for the next 5 years which may be impossible but the philosophy behind this shows a nation that is very serious and not just paying lip service to the Green vision. I look forward to seeing the results.

Prof Park also detailed some of the work on S&T co-operation between South Korea and North Korea. Earlier in the Summer we had talk on Diplomacy in Science and this is definitely a fine example diplomacy in action. One very interesting thing I learnt was about the strength of North Korea's software developers, with the right resources I believe they could seriously compete on the international stage.

Rate of decay of enthusiasm levels

2010-07-29T15:33:00.006+02:00

This is a dedication to all YSSPers and particularly to Stefan who sat through an incredibly geeky conversation with me about decay rates of enthusiasm post-YSSP. I'm sure each of you could add to the graph to make it more accurate. Disclaimer: The numbers are completely false!
I had a conversation last night with Warren about a portal for communication between YSSP 2010 participants post August. He was asking me as a CS geek to suggest possible means to facilitate long-term communication and sharing of news, reunions and resources. Now Facebook does not allow for resource sharing but does provide support to share photos and create events and has a discussion forum. Google groups can cater for both the forums and resources but not the photos. Any suggestions? This needs to be an already developed tool.

Spying from a house of God

2010-07-29T08:48:00.001+02:00

Austria is a predominately Catholic society with more churches than you can count. This led to a large number of Abbeys for nuns, however there are now very few nuns left. A case in point is the Laxenburg Abbey, a once thriving establishment that now houses a handful of nuns.

This trend is leaving a multitude of empty buildings around Austria and in Laxenburg they have the answer. Laxenburg Abbey is the future home of Interpol. Its true, I learnt this on the Art meets Science tour of Laxenburg (which IIASA hasn't yet organised for us).

Russian Invasion

2010-07-28T21:32:00.005+02:00

Today we had a new addition to the YSSP social calendar: Cheburashka Wednesday. The Russian and Ukrainian participants and staff laid out a party full of food, facts and fun.

I was late in arriving due to a supervisor meeting and missed the quiz but got to see the games and they provided great entertainment! Musical chairs, egg and spoon races and find the clothes peg on the body while blindfolded.

I'm not going to even attempt to spell the names of the various dishes on offer but one was similar to pasta filled with meat, another was potatoes stuffed with cheese or meat and cooked on coals. The coals were manned by my fellow IME member Sergey who confided that the meat filled potatoes were better because that is more traditional Ukrainian :) and having tasted both I now trust his judgement.

We now have 2 more continental themed days ahead: Africa and Asia. Bring on more good food, music and fun!

PPA: Implementation and Evaluation

2010-07-28T18:09:00.002+02:00

This seminar really should be title "Mind the Gap" which fits perfectly with the new overall course title "How to analyse the Ministry of Magic". Public Policy Analysis seminars offer a vast range of odd examples

Today we discussed the Implementation and Evaluation of policies and tools available to facilitate this. There are two approaches; Top-down and Bottom-up that cover the horizontal and vertical policy space.

The top-down approach is the one I am most familiar approach. A policy is formulated by a high-power (government? Ministry of Magic?) and then the orders for implementation are filtered down a change of command. This can lead to a Broken Telephone effect with information leaking at each step (Is it geeky to admit that I like the visual of heat equations that lose energy in each direction?). How can one improve this? Perhaps offer implementation incentives, improve communication channels. This is an ideal type, there is no policy that fits perfectly into this approach but it is interesting to note why policies failed using it such as poor formulation or power issues. The analysis can show the implementation gap...or Mind the Gap!

The bottom-up approach seems to be a bit more haphazard in nature which conflicts with my personality. The policy is dependent on a network of street-level bureaucrats that share resources and have a level of discretion. How do you analyse this? With great difficulty, there is a horizontal layer with weak structure from what I can gather. Policies are negotiated and there is a great deal of uncertainty. Policies have very vague goals with no associated metrics.

What have I learnt from this 6 seminar course dip into the world of social science? I am very much a quantitative scientist who likes structure, people are confusing and politics even more so. Do I ever want to enter the minefield of policy design, probably not. I think I'd offend too many people by telling them their process sucks.

Suggested Reading:
Paul Sabatier (1986), Top-down and Bottom-up Approaches to Implementation Research: A Critical Analysis and Suggested Synthesis”,Journal of Public Policy, Vol. 6, No. 1. (Jan. - Mar., 1986), pp. 21-48.

Full steam ahead

2010-07-28T16:42:00.000+02:00

It is full steam ahead for Project Umonya and the UCT Algorithm Circle. Advertisements went out last week for the Python course from 27-29 August 2010 hosted by the UCT Algorithm Circle. If you want to apply or know anyone who would like to attend visit www.umonya.co.za. We are currently revamping notes, sorting out the logistics and its going to awesome fun. s1 has graciously sponsored the weekend course and we are very thankful that SA companies are so keen to get involved in initiatives as these.

Project Umonya is also progressing at the speed of light. We're in major logistical planning mode with universities for hosting course in KZN and Gauteng. Once these are confirmed we'll move on to flights, advertising, accommodation etc. The CMS is up and content is slowly being added as and when it fits into our schedules.

If you know anyone that would be willing to sponsor printing course notes for 1000 students please contact me.

Sixes and Sevens

2010-07-28T14:41:00.000+02:00

Vienna has the most amazingly comprehensive transport network that includes U-Bahns (undergrounds), S-Bahns (schnell-bahn), trams, buses and night buses. In Simmering where I'm staying we have access to all within 100m of our front door. The U-Bahns and S-Bahns are very well documented, the trams and buses not so much. I'm still not sure where most of the trams go, only that I have to catch the 6 to Quellenplatz and then take the 566 bus (The one not labeled Eisenstadt if its from Suidtiroler Platz - that takes the freeway etc) You guessed it, they have multiple buses with the same number.

The transport network has been unfailingly reliable since day one. If you get on the tram at 7.35 you will get on the 8am bus and be dropped in Laxenburg at 8.25am. Awesome. Not so awesome when you get on the tram 6 and the driver forgets its a 6 and drives the 71 route in the wrong direction :( as happened this morning. One bonus of this slight detour (it took less than a stop before the locals volubly complained) was that I finally got to take a picture of the Enkplatz Church.

Is the MEAN meaningless?

2010-07-28T08:44:00.001+02:00

After a rather heated debate last night about climate models, betting on the model runs and trying to analyse the data from these massive collections of model runs (ensembles) I have a few thought provoking questions for people:

Is the mean meaningless or useful?
What would you do if the mean is consistently wrong?
Would you bet on the mean of an ensemble?
How do you cater for the variability shown by the forecasts, especially if they encompass extreme that can feasibly happen?
Do you feel its responsible to give a policy-maker or decision-maker the mean without a proper feeling for the envelope of possibilities? Could policy-makers design policies that used that variability? Would these be more robust than the current solutions?

The Seeds of Time

2010-07-27T15:43:00.001+02:00

"If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then unto me." - William Shakespeare, Macbeth Act 1 Scene 3

What farmers want and what forecasters provide are two vastly different sets of information. I'm becoming increasing more frustrated with researchers who say 'but its not possible'. Well then why did you give the farmer the chance to ask for it in the first place, you're creating false expectations of the capabilities of science.

With this in mind, what can we the forecasters offer? Tailored forecasts for one. Industry specific? Individual time frames? Spatial resolution? These products seem to be lacking in South Africa and to some respect the rest of Africa.

Pop quiz: Would you trust the mean of the data below to tell what is going to happen in the next 3 months?

The trouble with (weather) forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it. - Patrick Young

We as a scientific community are improving our climate models to accurately reflect the climate conditions but they are not so accurate that we can rely on them completely. Would you place a bet based on your forecast?

There must be a way to create a robust solution that can cater for the inconsistencies in model skill. What is it? I'm not sure, that is part of the reason I came to IIASA, to discover, to explore. Its turning into a long path to an even more distant discovery but when have I ever chosen the easy path in the past.

We are the dancers, we create the dreams

2010-07-25T15:50:00.009+02:00

I can slowly feel my sanity slipping away everyday I don't dance. For those who know me well, I have been dancing since I could walk, it is not really an hobby, its a passion. I haven't been dancing at all since being in Vienna bar one evening of Salsa. This probably the longest absence since my last injury 6 years ago and I can feel it. It like compulsion gnawing away at me.

My favourite dance quote reminds me daily why I dance:
"We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness, we dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams, we are the dancers, we create the dreams"

I'm actually very disappointed with the dance scene here or people's responses to me asking about it. Maybe its just the environment I currently find myself in. No-one seems to care to help. Every city I've been to has Ballroom socials open to the public (I'm not counting Jhb in this, they are weird), not closed to certain dance schools or partners only. For a city that is famous for its Viennese Waltz, they're terrible at welcoming individuals. I'm slowly resigning myself to hanging up my dancing shoes(and I bought some shiny new Supadance ones) til I get back to Cape Town. Thankfully CT has an amazing array of dance events in September/October for me to make up for the abysmal scene here.

PPA: Decisions: Power and Rationality

2010-07-24T19:08:00.007+02:00

Friday our ever decreasing group of public policy students debated the process of making decisions and what types of rationality exist. As the penultimate seminar we have almost completed the policy analysis cycle. Our reading list for the seminar included Lindblom and Dahl. Dahl argues that a key characteristic of a democracy is the continuing responsiveness of the government to the preferences of its citizens, considered as political equals. A political system which has the characteristic of being almost or completely responsive to all its citizens.

You can for the sake of argument and analysis divide most governments in four categories based on Contestation (C) and Inclusion (I). High C / High I, High C/ Low I, Low C/ High I, Low C/Low I. From this can further analyse with respect to:

How the power is distributed
Role of the state
Nature of conflict
Whose interests prevails
Basis of power

The other topic up for debate was Rationality. Now this interests me, I've been reading up on rationality in decision-making for modeling purposes. The two we explored were Incrementalism (Partisan Mutual Adjustment?) and Bounded Rationality.

I'm really interested in Bounded Rationality and how people cannot considered more than a certain amount of information, important when asking decision-makers to pick based on multiple criteria or systems with multiple implications.

If by this point you're wondering when I became a social science convert I can quite adamantly profess to this being my only foray into the world of qualitative, mumble-jumble in which there are few wrong answers...I'll even take statistics equations over this world.

Reading List:

Charles Lindblom (1950), “The Science of Muddling Through”, Public Administration Review, (19), Spring 1950, pp.79-88.
Robert Dahl (1971), Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition, Yale University Press, Yale., Chapter 1: “Democratisation and Public Opposition”

Graphviz

2010-07-24T09:08:00.004+02:00

Have you ever had to model a decision process or flow diagram with Visio (or non-Windows equivalent) and wanted to automate the process cause it was a waste of your time drawing every arrow?

I've recently discovered Graphviz which caters for my geeky inclinations of 'just draw it' to see the structure, I don't care if the thing is perfect. I'm currently trying to map a decision process and the decision that are dependent on external data and influences. Now in a standard tool I'd have to redo the arrows carefully for every change, but not Graphviz. I can just add another connection line and regenerate. Cool beans :)

The nicest part for me is the specification of nodes, connections and labels, it makes sense! (In a CS way)

node [shape=box, color=green, style=filled]; Pesticide; Hectares; Fertiliser; CropType; Cultivar; PlantingDate; Livestock; SoilPrep; Hedging;
Climate->Weather;
Weather->CropType

There Be Science

2010-07-23T11:37:00.001+02:00

As some of you know I have been fighting with my research topic for the last two weeks with respect to its validity, relevance and feasibility in the context of southern Africa. I'm still not convinced and hope the work I do here is not in fact 3 months of 'wasted' work as I potentially go back to the drawing board when I get back to CSAG.

If you walk into my office at the moment you'll notice a blackboard. When I arrived it was filled with financial equations and I laughed thinking I'd never need to start writing equations...famous last words. The board is now emptied of finance equations and now filled with DSS equations and (its an old record photo) goal functions with safety constraints for STO. Are you filled with as much enthusiasm as I am...

Africa Day Announced

2010-07-22T09:13:00.003+02:00

Africa Day preparations are well under way, the recipes decided, the music coming together and soon the vuvuzelas will arrive all the way from South Africa. Aapo made the coolest poster to promote the event, one that truly embraces the colour of Africa. I'll be sure to post the recipes after the event, its going to tour of our favourite African cuisine.

A View from Above

2010-07-20T10:18:00.004+02:00

Budapest has a few vantage points available to view the whole city. Having been to Castle Hill, Citadella and St Stephen's Basilica I have to confess I loved the 360 degree view from the dome of the Basilica. It may cost money to get there (400ft or 2euros) but it is worth the climb.

Its amazing how much one can gleam from a 360 degree view, like the contrast in Bratislava between old town and new town and in Budapest, the difference between Buda and Pest. I'm now even more motivated to climb the South Tower of Stephansdom to scope out Vienna from above.

Buda and Pest are jam packed with buildings of different architectural styles, sizes and colours. One thing is clear, the city administration didn't have a standard to people had to stick to. The other interesting thing is the lack of skyscrapers.

Bathing in Budapest

2010-07-19T09:40:00.008+02:00

Over my two days in Budapest I visited two baths, one huge and happening, the other quaint and quiet.

Szechenyi Baths

The first, Szechenyi Baths, is situated in a giant park and feels like you swimming in the courtyard of a Schloss. The buildings are painted yellow and the outdoor pools are surrounded by fountains and statues. There is a total of 15 pools of varying temperatures ranging from 18C to 38C.

The group experimented with plunging into the cold water and then the very hot, made a whirlpool in one of the hot pools and had a peek in a sauna. Overall it was a nice way to soak off the sunscreen and relax after walking most of Budapest. Our feet were grateful.

Gellert Baths

The second set of baths was Gellert Baths attached to Gellert Hotel. The entrance way is worth a visit on its own, the ceilings are a network of coloured glass domes and mosaic work.

The baths themselves are much smaller than Szechenyi, with only 5 indoor pools and a few outdoor pools. The baths have a very calming atmosphere, brought on I suppose by the carved pillars and glass roof. I splashed out for a Hot Stone Massage which was fantastic.

In both baths you are given a plastic armband with what I assume is an RFID tag embedded in it. Your locker number is encoded on it and your can only get into your locker by touching it to the sensor. Towel rentals are also encoded onto the armband. Any extras like massages are also encoded on it. Those who remember our CS Hons network security project should get a kick out of this system.

Soaring Spires and Sore Soles

2010-07-18T08:19:00.003+02:00

Budapest has a very different feel from Vienna and Munich. There is the same architectural style and number of churches, but the city has an edgy feel like it hasn't quite been polished off at the edges. After arriving in Budapest much later than anticipated (broken S-Bahn, wrong train, missed actual train, broken computer system) we made it to the hostel. While some more energetic members went barhopping I crashed in preparation of an early start the next day.

Saturday dawned bright and early and warm at 5.30am (a little earlier than my alarm clock was set for). Ben and I set off on our sight-seeing adventure at 6.15am. The logic was the earlier we leave the more we'd see before temps reached the forecast 38C (we were right, it was 37C at 11.20).

Our first stop was the Central Market, a fresh produce market with touristy stuff on the second floor, I say stuff cause they had just opened at 6am and not ready for people when we breezed through. The building is a converted train station and is absolutely gorgeous and huge and the roof is covered in the colourful ceramic tiles that seem popular on buildings here.

We joined the first walking tour laid out in Ben's Lonely Planet guide that took through the streets of Pest and highlighted some interesting features. A few things we came across (not in the book) was the gleaming twin buildings that we presume we once flanked the Elisabeth Bridge. The other gorgeous sight was the building marked MCMIX. We have no clue what it used to be but its currently a warren of shops. The front (not captured well by my camera) is covered in mosaic tiles. The interior was a delight of glass ceilings, decorated pillars and ornate arches.

As we proceeded the water spout of a fountain caught my eye, I love the fish design (seems popular in Europe). You'll see lots of fountain photos in my collection, I love the detail of each.

Walking over the Chain Bridge we slowly wound our way up to Castle Hill and through the streets towards the Fisherman's Bastion and Buda Palace (pic below from across the Danube) .

By now its 9.10am, the sun is beating down on us and the first tourist bus arrives.

We proceeded through the second walking your in the guidebook and found a Lutheran church, some touristy shops, many horse statues, fountains and the a panoramic view over Pest. We also came across what I've decided is my favourite building in Budapest: Fisherman's Bastion with its spires and colourful ceramic roof sits nobly on Castle Hill looking down on Parliament and the Danube.

We eventually walked down the hill and went for lunch and then explored the Szechenyi Baths and surrounds (more details to follow)

Official Google Blog

2010-07-17T07:55:00.001+02:00

Project Umonya (University of Cape Town) was specifically mentioned in the Official Google Blog. They have high hopes for us and we are currently working hard to deliver.

I'm melting

2010-07-16T10:02:00.003+02:00

I never thought I would be one to complain about the heat, I've grown up in it but this last week has been a rather warm experience. My temperature widget keeps telling me the maximum temp would be 32C, so imagine my surprise that the current reported temp is actually 37C... This would be fine is there was in fact airconditioning in the office but these palace offices missed that technological advance in favour of open windows and puny fans. People have taken to working in the conference rooms, the only airconditioned rooms in the building.

Last night was the second potluck dinner at the Simmering dorm, lots of food, even more mosquitoes and a thunderstorm with hail to end the evening. I made Dark Chocolate Mousse with Peppermint Liqueur, a change from Orange Liqueur which I couldn't find and after sourcing Amarula from the UN Commissary I made some test Springbokkies.

Springbokkies:

1 part Peppermint Liqueur

1 part Amarula Cream Liqueur (could use Bailey's Irish Cream)

Pour over the back of a teaspoon to retain the individual layers.

The other experiment of the evening was a recipe I found for Chocolate Vodka from the Food show Cooked. Its based on the Long Street drinks we all know and love.

Chocolate Vodka

1/3 bottle vodka

200g plain chocolate

Stand the vodka in a container of warm water. Chop the chocolate into small enough pieces to fit into the neck of the bottle. Slowly swirl the vodka and the chocolate will melt into the vodka as it heats up. The recipe didn't say shake afterwards but it seemed to mix it up properly. Comments from the guinea pigs say that dark chocolate might be better (I used milk) and some milk/cream. I do have 2/3 of a bottle of vodka to try it again...

Media Training - Know Your Media

2010-07-14T19:50:00.000+02:00

IIASA offers a voluntary 4 hour workshop of how to present oneself to the non-specialist community, in this case journalists. The motivation is derived from the theory that the media is a powerful influence and creating a positive media profile can help with funding. Another is that if you fail to communicate your work others may do it for you and get it WRONG. Science is uncertain and we need to communicate the uncertainty better.

Before going into an interview remember the following:

Know your interviewer
What is your target audience
What is your key message
Why are you being interviewed?!

I've discovered through this process that scientists should have a 30 second pitch, the classic "elevator pitch". If it is prepared then you do not have to promote oneself (as scientists are notoriously bad at it) but the research area and implications/value for the public.

Remember:
"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother" - Albert Einstein

As the sun sets on another day at IIASA we have officially completed half of the YSSP. Scary thought. Yikes.

Paper Review

2010-07-12T20:55:00.003+02:00

I've been approached to do my first ever paper review. Now normally I would cringe at the thought of more work but at the moment other people's work is looking far more interesting than doing mine.

Obviously I can't say who, what or where for but I can say that I now realise you need to be very well read to actually do a review properly.

The process did however remind me of the PhD Comic: Paper Review Worksheet.

In other news we had a visit from the Franz-Schubert-Instituts bei Wien for the morning. A group of YSSP participants strolled around the Schlosspark and had lunch with the group. The purpose: For art to meet Science. They even got a Schloss tour which the YSSP group didn't including the ballroom and breakfast room off the director's office.

As the sun sets over Laxenburg I have discovered something awesome: the IIASA wireless works all the way to the busstop :) That means you can sit and catch while waiting for the bus...or do work.

The Vienna Whirlwind

2010-07-12T06:30:00.005+02:00

Blake visited this weekend and in two days we managed to tour both Bratislava and Vienna. We started at Stephansdom and moved basically walked a fair amount of the Ring, with a traditional Austrian lunch near MuseumsQuartier.

The Vienna Museum sparked a lot of awe at the royal jousting armour and city models as it grew. Its really impressive to look through the history of the site that Vienna sits on and the growth in wide and height of the city over the years.

The Hundertwasser House caused a fair amount of amusement but we realised that if we were to actually live there we might in fact go crazy. It needs to be seen to be believed.

We also stopped off for some dessert along the Danube Canal complete with fancy glasses.

Bratislava

2010-07-11T19:16:00.007+02:00

Yesterday I ventured to Bratislava, Slovakia. It is 55km from Vienna which meant an hours train ride. My fellow explorers included Blake, Markus, Aapo and Alma. We arrived at 9.30 AM, and decided to have a stroll around the town before meeting the bicycle group for lunch at noon. Cue failed communication take 1.

I took my role as "Minister of War" very seriously and led the group through the guided walk in my guidebook. We managed to see practically all the sights listed by lunch...

Some of the memorable sights are a few whimsical statues of a Napoleonic officer peering over a bench in the Main square (with the French embassy right behind him). The Schoner Naci greets visitors to Kaffee Mayer with a smile and a top hat.

Cumil or "the Peeper" grins at the tourists from an open manhole. There is even a Man at Work sign just in case you had failed to notice him.
The last statue caused much hilarity as a Paparazzi peers around the corner of a building. Pictures of the photographers taking pictures of the paparazzi.

The other strange sight was a cannonball lodged in the wall above the chocolate shop (wonderful chocolate truffles...they were yummy).

Eagerly stepping into the traditional Slovak pub for lunch we thought the bikers would be impatiently waiting for us but alas no. No sooner had we sat down that Jack planks down with a sigh. The first question that springs to mind is where are all the others? Well he left them early on into the ride and they would probably stumble in in about an hour. Oh well, we'll have lunch an wait. Tick tock, tick tock and 1pm arrives and no bikers. Cue first sms, they'll be there at 3.

We took off the Castle we'd reserved to see after lunch and had a look around. The view encompasses Old Town, the Danube and the part of Bratislava you'd rather not see, the Communist built prefab housing.

After our climb we rewarded ourselves with afternoon tea and some more sightseeing. We bumped into the Jakaranda Children's Choir from Pretoria, they told me I don't sound South African...

Since we'd seen all the sights we did them again and then tried some off the beaten track streets and ended up on a grassy patch next to the Danube. Why hello Mr killer mosquito, I would love to be eaten alive. Suddenly the shady patch didn't look so great.

Moving on to the UFO (I'm not kidding, its called the UFO) we suddenly meet the Team Bicycle, at 4.30 PM. We rose into the UFO to take in the famed 360 degree view offered by the observation deck. After a drink and some dessert we parted ways to the park or the pool and met up for drinks before dinner.

We rushed through Old Town to a restaurant (and hence the touristy sights for the third time) before catching the Twin City Liner (Catamaran) home at 10.30 PM.

Face2Face meetings: a thing of the past?

2010-07-09T16:47:00.001+02:00

As some know I'm now a part of Project Umonya, a Google CS4HS initiative at UCT. Since it is being run by essentially computer geeks we seem to have moved away from face to face meetings (this is difficult at the moment with 1 in Austria, 1 in Switzerland, 1 in USA, 1 in Stellenbosch and 1 in Cape Town). Instead we have moved entirely into the realm of online meetings and planning tools.

Firstly meetings are scheduled on Doodle to find a time that suits everyone. The time is then decided and a Google Calendar invite/iCal event is sent out as a reminder.

Meeting agendas are posted on Etherpad for comment and editing a day or two before the scheduled date/time, you can save revisions, highlight changes by different people in different colours (the only drawback are no attachment/image facility).

The meetings themselves take place on IRC or Google Group Chat (depends on the SA internet connection). Any supporting documents are posted on pastebin for review. A bot on the IRC channel then takes minutes (I'm not kidding, you set it to meeting mode and tell it to record decisions and full log and attendance). If we need to conscript volunteers, we create a Doodle form with time availability options.

Minutes are compiled at the end and sent via email for review of decisions and todo lists and then the cycle starts again for a progress meeting. I know it sounds crazy but it seems to be working

Wine country

2010-07-09T10:58:00.002+02:00

When I think of Austria wine farming doesn't really spring to mind, meat and beer and anything deep-fried yes but not wine. There is in fact a large winelands area near to Laxenburg dotted with Heurigers (wine taverns), most of which produce young wines as their house wine that isn't Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling. I can't place it.

Last night the IME group (we're rather colourful for a bunch of scientists) frequented a proper (read not touristy) heuriger, you can tell because it only opens at specific times of the year unlike the touristy ones.

Nestled into the side of the hill and almost completely obscured by plants, the heuriger Rotes Mauerl is an ideal place to relax and enjoy the view of the valley below.

The menu is meant to be fairly simple but I don't think anyone told the owners. There is a lot of meat and bread, like a large tower available to choose from.

We drank the house white and red, delivered in large carafes, while catching the last rays of sun. Oh what a charmed life we lead :)

The dessert here is interesting, they seem to leave out the sugar from many a thing, namely cheesecake. The cheesecake here, otherwise known as topfenstrudel, is almost savoury in my opinion. I think the next step is to try make a little slice of home for comparison.
Our evening ended after the last bus back from Laxenburg so we were dropped at the Modling train station and caught the train back to Vienna.

Overall a wonderful way to end a working day.