Lungwort
My New Year posting made me read up a bit on the French revolutionary calendar. It turns out that each day was associated with an animal, a plant, a mineral or a tool. I was born on 19th Pluviôse 180, so according to Wikipedia, I was born on the day of the lungwort. Not sure whether that’s better or worse than having been born on the day of the cow (Phyllis), the cat (Miriam), the apricot (Sebastian), the silkworm (Mum), or the nightingale (Dad).
Political Compass
I just found a site called the Political Compass, which lets you fill in a questionnaire and then places you on a grid with both a economically left/right axis and an authoritarian/libertarian (it’s an American website, so that would be socially liberal here) one. I got values of -3.38 for the former and -7.08 for the latter – in other words, a bit to the left, but strongly liberal.
Happy New Year!
A very happy new year to all the readers of this blog!
And no, I’m not mad: Today is the first day of the year 215 according to the French revolutionary calendar. If it had been almost universally adopted, like the metric system, we would all have had the past five days off – Sunday was le Jour de la Vertu, Monday le Jour du Génie, Tuesday le Jour du Travail, Wednesday le Jour de la Raison, and Thursday le Jour des Récompenses.
Web traffic statistics
I’ve added a web traffic counter from Webstats4u (click on the small chart icon on the bottom of the screen to see the most recent statistics). It’ll be interesting to see whether my readership is wider than the three people I know of.
Hand-luggage restrictions mostly lifted
The stupid hand-luggage restrictions in the UK have been mostly lifted today, so we can again bring a decent-sized bag. It’s only one bag, though, and toothpaste is still forbidden.
Genetisk fejl at være ekstremt A-menneske
Der er en interessant lille artikel i Jyllands-Posten i dag. Det har vist sig, at “nogle menneskers indre ur er stillet fire timer frem ved en genetisk fejl.” Artiklens overskrift er dog misvisende, da det kun drejer sig om ekstreme A-mennesker, ikke om den mere normale slags.
Geogen
Ich habe eine Webpage gefunden, die eine Karte über die Verbreitung von Familiennamen in Deutschland zeichnen kann. Widmann ist sehr südlich (und viel häufiger in Bayern, als ich gedacht hätte), und das gilt auch für andere Namen in meiner Familie, wie z.B. Kohler und Pfisterer.
Phyllis, weißt du, warum Buchanan in einem westlichen Bezirk verbreitet ist?
Abe ny politisk leder i Japan
Dette var overskriften på en artikel i Jyllands-Posten. Jeg véd naturligvis godt, det drejer sig om Shinzo Abe, men det forhindrede mig ikke i et halvt sekund at læse overskriften, som om det var en abe, der var blevet valgt. 
How to tell if you’re European
I just had a look at my old European culture test. I wrote it before I moved to Scotland, and I must admit that some of my generalisations don’t hold in this country. I still think much of it is fine, though.
Just a shame Mark Rosenfelder didn’t want to add it to his list… 
Læsehest på 11 måneder
Jeg er vild med det her billede af Léon. Han ser grangiveligt ud til at have brugt eftermiddagen på at læse Krig og Fred.