Snart i Danmark
Jeg skal snart til TÅGEKAMMERET’s 50-års-jubilæum, så jeg kommer til Århus torsdag 12/10 om aftenen og tager hjem igen tirsdag 17/10 om morgenen.
FCK
På vej hjem fra arbejde i dag stødte jeg ind i en flok småberusede FCK-fans – FCK skal spille mod Celtic i aften. Jeg var ved at støde ind i en af dem og sagde “undskyld” på dansk, men da jeg kom slæbende på bæreposer fra Asda, kunne han jo se, jeg boede her, så vi snakkede i fem minutter. Han var meget flink, også da jeg sagde, jeg ikke var fra København. 
The truth about flying
The Economist had a great article recently (”Welcome aboard”, subscribers only) about flying, in the form of a welcome-aboard announcement that airlines should really be making. A few quotes:
“[Y]our safety is our first priority. Actually, that is not quite true: if it were, our seats would be rear-facing, like those in military aircraft, since they are safer in the event of an emergency landing.”
“Your life-jacket can be found under your seat, but please do not remove it now. In fact, do not bother to look for it at all. In the event of a landing on water, an unprecedented miracle will have occurred, because in the history of aviation the number of wide-bodied aircraft that have made successful landings on water is zero.”
“Please switch off all mobile phones, since they can interfere with the aircraft’s navigation systems. At least, that’s what you’ve always been told. The real reason to switch them off is because they interfere with mobile networks on the ground, but somehow that doesn’t sound quite so good.”
In the most recent issue, there were some letters to the editor elaborating on this article. I quote:
“[A]t today’s cruising altitudes passengers are exposed to a considerable amount of radiation, especially on transatlantic flights close to the pole.”
“The bright-yellow life-jackets are not intended to act as flotation devices. They are there to make it easier for the recovery services to spot the bodies strewn across rough terrain. [...] And the advice to adopt a head-down fetal position in the event of a crash landing does nothing to preserve life [...] However, the position does tend to preserve dental data, useful for identifying dilapidated corpses.”
Mobile phone
I’ve been using pay-as-you-go from Tesco Mobile with an ancient Nokia phone for ages. However, I just realised that for the amount of money I spend every month topping up my mobile, I can move to a monthly payment plan with O2 and get a new Samsung D900 for free. So I just ordered that. Hopefully I won’t regret it…
Bagsiden af en solsikke
Jeg anede ikke, man kunne få fat på solsikkefrøene fra bagsiden af blomsten, men den her fugl ser ud til at være klogere end mig! 
Ryder Cup
I’m watching the highlights from today’s Ryder Cup on BBC2 as I write this. Although I know almost nothing about golf, and although I’m not generally much into spectator sports, I must admit I secretly enjoy watching the Ryder Cup (just a shame I don’t have access to a channel showing it live). I think there are two reasons for it. First, it’s really different (but nice) to see the EU flag being used in a positive and non-political way, accompanied by shouts of “Europe! Europe!”. Second, it looks like much more fun than ordinary golf tournaments – the players actually looks like they’re out there having a good time with their friends.
Just a shame Thomas Bjørn wasn’t included in the team.
INTP
I just took a Jung/Myers-Briggs test, and the result was INTP (or more precisely, slightly expressed introvert [11%], very expressed intuitive personality [88%], moderately expressed thinking personality [38%], slightly expressed perceiving personality [22%]). I’ve taken similar tests several times over the past decade or so, and the result has always been xNTx, but the first and last letter have varied (that is, I’ve also had ENTP, INTJ and possibly ENTJ), so it makes good sense that those two are only ’slightly expressed’ here.
We could hold the balance
My blog seems to be turning into a redirection site for The Times today – and it’s not even among my favourite newspapers in general. 
This time it’s about how the LibDems can sell the idea of a hung parliament to voters. It sounds very convincing to me.
Irish interpreters
There’s an article in The Times this morning about the difficulties of finding Irish interpreters for the European Parliament. As it says in the article:
Despite the Irish campaign for language recognition, there is not a single specialised conference-level interpreter’s course in the Republic. [...] The problem is that, in most EU countries, most people speak their own language. Irish is one of the official languages of the Irish Republic but maybe only 1 or 2 per cent of the population truly speak it on an everyday basis.
No Access
I tried The Squinty Bridge for the first time today. It’s really nice (except for the prohibited left turns that Phyllis mentioned on her blog, but as a non-driver, that doesn’t affect me), but I was really annoyed by the way access is denied to the south east of the bridge (see the photo on the right, and also this and this).
Having lived in that area (the Festival Park) for three years, I do know that the owners regard that bit of the river front as their private garden. It’s really annoying people living there – they have a suburbian mentality that just is no good in the city centre!
Fortunately, there was a notice that the city council are still trying to open up the area. I really hope they’ll succeed!