in vino veritas

The fuzz in Oxford

The following is a critical question for students everywhere. Despite the effects of globalization, the answer remains persistently local:

What are the best cheap wines?

In British Columbia, the best wine at around four quid a bottle is Farnese red, an Italian wine. (It is important that you let it breathe for at least half an hour.) It seems to be completely unavailable in the UK. The best wine in B.C. under seven and a half quid is Yellow Tail Merlot (red label), though some other Yellow Tail fans prefer the Shiraz Cabernet (purple label).

What are the equivalent wines in the UK? This question is especially pressing because I have been charged with bringing wine to a birthday party likely to be well populated with clever, highly cultured sorts of people.

Draft RDE complete

Two hours before my self-imposed deadline (to be brutally enforced by Claire), I finished a solid first draft of my research design essay, including two appendices. Weighing in at about 5000 words, sans appendices, it is right in the middle of the range from minimum to maximum length, leaving me some space to correct errors that my two much appreciated peer-editors point out before Sunday.

Many thanks to Meghan and Claire for throwing themselves in front of that bullet.

If you feel left out for not getting a copy, download one here (PDF). Please leave me comments ranging from “this word is spelled incorrectly” to “the entire methodological construction of this project is hopeless, for the following intelligent and well-articulated reasons.” The linked PDF doesn’t include the appendices because they are separate Word files and I don’t have software to merge PDF files with me. They really shouldn’t be necessary, anyhow.

[Update: 27 May 2006] I have a slightly revised version up, based on my own editing. Still waiting for comprehensive responses from external readers.

Nearly a year in the Oxford system

Boats on the Isis

Of course, ‘a year’ in this context means just 24 weeks, with some work done in the breaks between the eight week terms.

The academic life of a graduate student can seem rather sparse. As an undergraduate, I would have five lectures a week, plus an equivalent number of seminars, plus anything optional. Here, I have two seminars a week, no lectures, and a somewhat greater variety of optional things. Mostly, that consists of the strategic studies meetings, events put on by STAIR, the global health group, and the global economic governance program, as well as anything miscellaneous that comes up. Because basically all lectures are one-off affairs, they don’t provide the kind of progression of knowledge that accompanies a two-month lecture series. While I know graduate school is meant to be about deepening knowledge within an established base, I still feel as though there are so many areas where my knowledge and understanding are still at a rather basic level.

At UBC, I would write about five research papers in a four-month term: based on several weeks worth of research. Here, terms only last two months, and I will write about eight papers of similar length which are nonetheless much less creative and extensively researched. At UBC, you had to find a topic, to some extent, in senior courses. Here, you just need to find a satisfying way of answering a set question.

All told, I am very glad to have gone to UBC before I came to Oxford. I think my level of education, in the end, will be rather higher than if I had done both degrees here or at places like here. The significantly greater reputation of Oxford should be an aid towards getting into jobs and other academic programs later. Likewise, the level of discussion and general accomplishment among members of my program is far above the UBC mean. Even so, I think I learned rather more there than I am here, both in aggregate and per unit time.

Anticipating summer

Over the course of a day so gloriously warm and bright it made me astonished to think I was decked out in Gore-Tex yesterday, I dropped off my first summer job application at Blackwells. I will follow it up with applications at lesser bookshops, tour guiding agencies, and possibly pubs. With a bit over two weeks left in the term, now is definitely the time. I want something interesting that will pay the cost of living and include enough flexibility for me to do thesis research and undertake between two and four trips of a week or so in length.

Another thing I am seeking is voluntary organizations with which to be involved over the summer. I am looking for things that will stand in for classes as opportunities to get to know people and spend time with them on a regular basis. Possibilities include walking or cycling groups, photographic societies, or anything else that corresponds with either an existing interest of mine or one I might develop. Suggestions would be most welcome.

Ten songs you should hear

I am extremely grateful to the many friends of mine who have introduced me to new music over the course of the last few years. Below are a list of ten songs that most people probably will not have heard, but which I heartily endorse. Unfortunately, I cannot actually give you the songs, because goons from the RIAA would break down my door in the night. The list is therefore provided for the benefit of those in search of new music, and capable of acquiring it for themselves by means that satisfy the legal and ethical codes that apply to them.

Since most of these artists are relatively unknown, I would definitely think better of you if you actually went out and bought their albums.

1) Nina Simone, “Feeling Good” from the album Nina Simone in Concert

This energetic song was sent to me by Lauren Priest. I have always been an appreciator of strong female vocalists and, along with her jazz accompaniment, Nina Simone definitely rises to that level. This is the kind of song you’ll find yourself singing automatically while walking briskly home from something really enjoyable.

2) Idan Raichel
, “Mima’amakim (From the deep)” from the album Mimamakayim

While I can’t speak or understand a word of Hebrew, I love the complex melodies in this song, as well as the interesting texture of the language itself. The interplay between vocals and instrumentation in this track is really fascinating, in a way that reminds me of Robert Miles transported into an entirely different genre and mood. I got it from Lindi.

3) Antony & the Johnsons, “Beautiful Boyz” from the album Noah’s Ark

Alison introduced me to this sombre and mournful, yet beautiful, track. This is the kind of music that wanders into my mind during really long solitary walks of the sort that it’s sometimes advisable to take when sad.

4) KT Tunstall, “Black Horse And The Cherry Tree” from the album Eye to the Telescope

Almost the exact opposite tone from the previous song, this song is energetic to the point of being positively jaunty. I could easily imagine Astrid dancing to this track, after she lent it to me.

5) Neko Case, “Hold On, Hold On” from the album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

This is the only really superb song that I ever got as a free song of the week from the iTunes music store. From Neko Case’s new album, this autobiographical piece has the same combination of powerful female vocals and enigmatic lyrics that I so appreciate from Tori Amos. A video of this song being performed can be viewed here.

6) Lorraine a’ Malena, “Just Me and Eve” from the album Mirror Mirror

A somewhat comic retelling of Genesis, this song was apparently written by Neil Gaiman and is performed by his assistant. It may be my appreciation for Paradise Lost manifesting itself again, but I quite enjoy the tune. I am grateful to Jessica for introducing me to it. This one is actually available free online. How cool is that?

7) Feist, “When I was a Young Girl” from the album Let It Die

Many thanks to Jonathan for sending me this song. I love the rhythmic interplay between the drums and vocals. It reminds me, to a certain extent, of a few songs from the Oh Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack, insofar as it accompanies a kind of moralizing message (probably ironic) with really enjoyable sounds.

8) Mad Pudding, “First We Take Manhattan” from the album Grand Hotel

This cover of Leonard Cohen’s song is done by a Vancouver folk/celtic band that is somewhat similar to Spirit of the West. The contrast between their energetic interpretation and Cohen’s determinedly poetic style of delivering is striking. I first heard this song from a CD owned by my father.

9) The Vincent Black Shadow, “This Road is Going Nowhere” from the album The Vincent Black Shadow

Since Neal gave me the superb debut album of this Vancouver band, I have listened to it more than sixty times. This is the kind of song that alters the way you experience everything for a good fifteen minutes, at least, after you hear it. I especially like the musical interludes with strings and saxophone.

10) Rae Spoon, “To Find You” from an unknown album

On the first CD from which I ever heard Tori Amos and Tegan and Sara, my friend Jenny also included this wonderfully downbeat vocal and guitar track by a Vancouver artist. A complex and evocative piece of music.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, so please don’t feel insulted if a song you sent me isn’t listed here. These are just songs that happen to have found particular resonance with me, during the time when I’ve been in Oxford.

[Update: 25 February 2007] Since so many people were looking for them, some Idal Raichel lyrics translated into English have been added.

Spring deluges

In four consecutive cycles today, I got drenched, hailed upon, and the progressively drier in the period leading up to the next drenching. Between intense downpours of hail and icy rain, the day has been alternatively overcast in the cheerful way or actually sunny. While raining, the sheer volume of water falling in the air around me was enough to make me fear electrocution by the iPod standard headphones I’ve had to fall back upon since my better headphones broke.

Unwilling to get tricked again, I responded in the afternoon in a manner familiar to all Vancouverites: Gore-Tex shoes, pants, and jacket – topped off with a waterproof hat. If you haven’t noticed, I am the sort to occasionally revel in the technical solution of problems. The shoes, I thank my mother for. She was kind enough to equip me with them while she was in the UK. The jacket I’ve had for ages; the pants, I recall testing with Meghan on a particularly stormy day along Wreck and Tower Beaches, on campus at UBC. The hat did sun protection service in Malta, as well as rain protection service on canoeing trips.

Naturally, now that I am thus equipped, the chances of it raining heavily again on the way to or from the Saint Antony’s International Review (STAIR) launch tonight are virtually nil.

PS. My congratulations to the newly-minted Louise Little, B.Sc (Hons), on the completion of her undegraduate degree.

PPS. Stir fries comprising olive oil, dried chillies, ginger, tofu, bell pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes, and black bean sauce are quite delicious. While they take approximately forty times longer to prepare than the caloric equivalent in bagel-cheese form, it’s probably a worthwhile investment, if only because it makes the house smell like black bean sauce.

General update, in a brightening hour

Port Meadow Cow

After an even more marathon Tuesday than is the norm, I am left feeling as though I understand the nature of Oxford a bit better. More an intersection between curves than a zone of space, it imbues a fleeting quality to much of what transpires here. Papers and sources will be forgotten, names will become little more than long archived emails. I suppose this is true of all places, save that the volatility is usually concealed by the ongoing existence of a large group of people with whom you relate. That purpose here is served to a good extent by the program and the college: both institutions which I value highly for generating a kind of cohesive social framework to accompany essay writing and all the rest. Likewise, my enduring appreciation extends to those individuals who have helped make this phase of life feel more grounded in all the rest of it, by being willing to share something of themselves.

Five days remain until the submission of the dreaded research design essay. It feels as though the whole program is holding its breath: feeling guilty for every moment not spent churning away at the thing. The wise thing to do will be to finish a draft quickly, tweak it over the course of a few days, and then relax at the time when many other people will begin to get overcome with anxiousness. We shall see if such prudence into policy translates.

Unintentional auto-satire

For a while, I was planning to simply ignore these videos, produced by the ‘Competitive Enterprise Institute,’ but they have now been sent to me enough times to indicate that this hopelessly disingenuous message is getting out. Let’s go through them, one by one:

Energy

Nobody in their right mind denies that carbon dioxide is “essential to life” or that “we breathe it out.” What any competent scientist will tell you is that releasing masses of it affects the way in which the atmosphere deals with the radiant energy from the sun. Higher concentrations of gasses of certain kinds (CO2, methane, etc) in the atmosphere cause the planet to absorb and retain more solar energy. That raises the mean global temperature and reduces the ratio of frozen to liquid water on earth. CO2 isn’t a pollutant, in the toxic sense, but it does affect how the earth is affected by the sun.

Regarding the issue of whether fuels that emit CO2 have “freed us from a world of backbreaking labour,” they probably have. That said, that doesn’t mean they are the only way we can avoid such suffering, nor does it mean that such alleviation comes without a cost.

Glaciers

Producing two scientific papers that show that specific ice sheets are growing or increasing in density doesn’t mean that the world overall isn’t experiencing global warming. While there is plenty of dispute about how bad global warming would be and how much it would cost to stop, to deny that it is happening on the basis of such a flimsy argument is worse than irresponsible.

It’s almost astonishing that anyone would be driven to respond to such absolute malarky. Likewise, I can’t believe that anyone who participated in the creation of these videos did so with genuine intent. They are absurd at the level of the “Amendment Song” from The Simpsons or many Monty Python sketches. If such things actually have the power to shape public opinion, we are in even worse shape than I thought.

Do you think these people are on crack? Whether you do or don’t, send an email to Myron Ebell, their Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy. It seems that messages to him need to go through this email address.

the blonde was called ‘freedom; the dark one ‘enterprise’

Crane in VancouverGrim gray rainy Oxford day. My supervision went well: a written paper praised and two unwritten ones anticipated. A week remains, now, to finish the research design essay – from preface to methodology to bibliography. Negative time remains before my ‘great power’ paper should have been submitted, but I shall endure. I’ve discovered three clever axes across which to answer the question, the strategy that seemed to find such favour with the ‘domestic sources of American foreign policy’ paper, two terms ago.

It’s really too ugly a day for a photo, but I will try extra hard to get something excellent, next time I see something intriguing or beautiful. (This from someone who actually enjoys and misses the rain for which Vancouver is characteristic.) Anyhow, the photo above was taken on my last day back in Vancouver.

Towel Day: a curious but entertaining memorial

Fans of Douglas Adams may appreciate being reminded that this coming Thursday, the 25th of May, is Towel Day. Created after his untimely death in 2001, the event is meant to mark his memory with good humour of the kind always demonstrated in his writing. Learning about his death was personally difficult in a way I don’t think it could have been for almost any other stranger.

For the unfamiliar, Douglas Adams is was best known as a British writer of science fiction, though much of his career was devoted to radio work. His most famous books are the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy “trilogy in five parts” and the Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency duo (trio if you include the unfinished segment in The Salmon of Doubt). If you haven’t read them, you are a lucky person: you have the chance to spend the next few days experiencing something exceptionally amusing for the first time. Personally, I’ve read them at least six times each – including going through most of Dirk Gently’s aloud.

On the matter of why towels are relevant, I shall quote a section from the first Hitchhiker’s book:

A towel, [the Guide] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value – you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you – daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost”. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Carrying a towel on Thursday is therefore both a way of marking your appreciation for Adams’ work and setting yourself out as the very example of a well-prepared and capable individual. Given that the world’s most interesting English-speaking people are all either present or future appreciators of Adams, you stand a decent chance of meeting some new ones if you carry the towel obviously enough.

To the many people who have already read and loved the books listed above, I recomment having a look at the lesser known non-fiction book Last Chance to See: written about a slightly mad worldwide expedition in search of endangered species, including the Kakapo parrot of New Zealand, Komodo Dragons, and Chinese river dolphins. The book has all of Adams’ characteristic wit, as well as quite a forceful conservation message. The fact that he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro while wearing a rhino costume definitely contributed to my own ambition to find my way to that lofty summit. Widely available in the UK, you may need to order the from here or wander through a few libraries to find a copy in the US or Canada.

Also worth noting is that Douglas Adams had one of the most amazing funerals possible: with the eulogy delivered by Richard Dawkins and a live performance of Wish you Were Here by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. That’s my favourite song of theirs, as well. Dawkins also wrote a touching article in The Guardian praising Adams.