September Pieces Of My Mind #1

• Learned a neat German expression: Eier kraulen, lit. “to fondle the eggs”, means “to fondle someone’s testicles”, that is, “to stroke a man’s ego”.
• Lithuanian plumbers put the hot water to the right even though the colour coding on the taps is the reverse.
• This Romanian researcher thinks that the Yamnaya Culture is an ancient “people” that can be identified in graves by a combination of archaeological data, genetic markers and radiocarbon dates. This is backwards. The Yamnaya Culture is a modern analytical entity resting entirely on archaeological data. No genetic data can prove or disprove that a burial belongs to it. Typical Eastern Europan ethno obsession.
• My conference session went well except the computer couldn’t display PDF files. So I had to give a talk without manuscript, rehearsal or visuals. I think I did OK though.
• The family has gone full Chinese while I was away. Not a single table knife in the dishwasher, though plenty of spoons and chopsticks.
• Translationale Magnetresonanztomographie
• Buttons are already coming loose from my new Lithuanian linen shirt. /-:
• Rode a Dash 8 Q-400 to Vilnius and back. Napped.
• Turns out that this weird hippie bran I’ve been putting into my bread (to get rid of it after my wife lost culinary interest in it, sigh) isn’t just bran. It’s psyllium seed husk: mucilaginous anti-constipation bran. No wonder my bread has been like a wet sponge lately.
• My buddy gave me some of the venerable yeast levain he’s been keeping alive over years of baking. I have now arranged a cage fight between it and the humble spontaneous sourdough I make on the kitchen counter for flavour in the days before each baking night. Those are some pretty confused microbes right now.
• Cousin E teaches me Chinese middle-school English. “Recite” means to study or do homework, as in “recite maths”. “Nerd” means someone who focuses entirely on work and has no hobbies. Cousin E, who is passionate about maths and video games and is not into sports, was very surprised to learn that I consider him a fellow nerd.
• Had a nice sunny sailing trip and then a swim in Lake Lundsjön on 10 September. Both may be the latest in the year that I’ve done.