Cybertron Flower

Each of this things was supposed to be a post of it's own or a part of a thematic post. Oh well ... You'll just get a wild potpourri from a picture of what remains of a spacecraft after a rocket failure over food in Prague to random impressions from living in the Netherlands and food hauls from the market:




This one is from the visit at the main mission control center of the European Space Agency ("European Space Operations Centre" in Darmstadt) - they invited me to give a talk and gave me a nice tour of the facilities, including this showcase with what remains of Cluster I spacecraft after the failure of its carrier rocket. Cluster II went into space four years later, in 2000, and is still used for very cool science by some of my colleagues.


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And now I'm off to Amsterdam to eat some Georgian food with friend/acquittances (somehow it's mainly afterwards, once they or I moved away that I know what of the two people are ...). Maybe more photos of that, who knows?

Yesterday, I spend a good part of the evening/afternoon reading on the balcony, with the Hoellenbecq book and its discussion of art and my RXTE cup with coffee:



I did, at a point get rid of my long-sleeve shirt and the socks and would have, if I weren't too lazy, put on shorts. It wasn't that warm in general, but that particular corner of the balcony, warmed by the sun and protected from the wind was perfect.

And then the neighbor's cat came to visit and did even let me pet it for a bit - it also finally dared to come in and got exploring, particularly my bookshelf:

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Today, I woke up to this piece of anxiety-inducing news: U.S. May Ban Laptops on All Flights From Europe. I do not have immediate trips lined up (I did have one roughly planned but was anyway likely not to do it this year given the trip in April that I did not originally plan for), but all the US-based people I know who are in Europe right now (J. and L. and D. and finally my dear N. who is to arrive on Saturday in the early morning) and all the people in transatlantic relationships I know (the other J. who is flying over every third week or so and F. who is married to an American but has a job here in Europe) and all the people I was looking forward to seeing at some point this year (M. in Rome, J. and L. and N. in Warsaw, one more J. in France, another M. in Prague ...), all the reviews that you need to be present for in person. This is a catastrophe on both personal and work levels. (And I've just been telling people who plan to organize a certain conference in the USA next year - this year it was in Europe - how they should keep an eye on the overall political situation and whether some people would not be able or willing to travel to the States. Jinxing much? I hate being Cassandra.)

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The day after tomorrow, eight people will meet for brunch at my place: two Americans, two Germans working in the USA, a Dutch person working in the USA, a Venezuelan/Argentinian working in Germany and USA, a German working in Spain and married to an American woman, an American working in the Netherlands, a Canadian working in Germany a German working in the Netherlands but for an international organization. It is going to be amazing - and sad, because I don't know when I'll see all these people again. Even though some of us had elaborate plans for how and when we would meet.