climate change activist and science communicator; photographer; mapmaker — advocate for a stable global climate, reduced nuclear weapon risks, and safe human-AI interaction
With my departure from Oxford coming up in about one hundred days, I am getting nervous about how much stuff I have picked up while here. Since it seems that shipping things back to Vancouver would be excessively expensive, I am planning to sell as much as possible before leaving.
Here is a list of what will be for sale. If you are interested in anything, let me know.
Today has been fairly productive, with one excellent break out in Oxford’s sunlit gardens and along its warm paths. I am well on the way to having the structure of chapter two revamped, though my introductory sections for chapters three and four still need to be finished. The most difficult thing is staying focused for any length of time. It is all too easy to find a more immediately satisfying way to use one’s time.
Speaking of immediate satisfaction, this week’s Economist features their Technology Quarterly (most of the links below require a subscription). Most of it is stuff that is pretty familiar: cellulistic ethanol, solar power (mentioned here recently), data visualization, display technologies, and climate engineering. One thing that was new to me is the emergence of ‘haptic’ touch screens that are able to simulate the feeling of various materials by slightly stretching the skin of the fingers touching them. It is possible to make tapping on a screen feel like pushing a button, or even make a flat screen feel like a sharp edge. It doesn’t take much thinking to imagine some really interesting applications for such technology, particularly in terms of making technology more comprehensible and accessible.
I received my replacement headphones from Etymotic today. After sixteen days using the standard iPod headphones, it is like stepping into a new world. The Etys don’t hurt your ears, even after several hours, they block outside noise almost completely, and they sound amazing. I can read in coffee shops again, regardless of how grating the background music and ongoing conversations. The new pair is black, and has a more durable connector than the original white ones, though the wires feel even thinner and more insubstantial.
When my lifestyle becomes less peripatetic, I will get some big ear-covering headphones that draw a lot more power. For now, I am happy with these tiny, light, sharp-sounding earbuds.
[Update: 17 January 2008] I replaced my second filter today. I also changed the white eartips. The old ones were getting pretty grungy and yellow. Ordering supplies from Etymotic involves very high shipping fees, so I bought them on eBay instead. I had to spend an awful week listening to iPod headphones; I am so glad to be back in the world of beautiful sound.
Welsh landscape with sheep, taken on the third day of walking.
Small lake, halfway up a mountain.
Welsh valley, viewed from the highest point we reached on the third day.
Snowdonia does not suffer for lack of moss. I like the colours.
A gloomy view of Snowdon, as well as the two other peaks we climbed on the first day. This is the last photo from Snowdonia that I will be posting.
Bridge in the nature reserve we visited on the second day. Because of the low altitude and protected status, there was far more vegetation there than elsewhere in Snowdonia.
Pool at the base of a waterfall
Another group photo, this one with me in it
Creek flowing from the waterfall
View uphill to the ‘barn’ in which we stayed. Nearby was a small power plant, with turbines operated by water pressure. A long pipeline – resembling those for natural gas – ran down to it from a lake somewhere above us.
Today’s meeting with my supervisor was very useful – the flaws in my draft second chapter were discussed, and a route forward proposed. As soon as possible, I am to submit a revised chapter two introduction, as well as draft versions for the opening sections of chapters three and four. These are to lay out the central purpose of each chapter, the three or four main arguments that will be made, and the structure that will be used:
Once that is done, I am to revise chapter two into a more logical form, then write the draft of chapter three that was originally due tomorrow. The objective of all this is to have the structure of all three chapters finalized by the end of the month, as well as their introductions and conclusions. Then, when Dr. Hurrell leaves for Brazil and I go to Dorset, it will be a matter of tidying things up, adding some footnotes, and generally polishing the finished work prior to submission.
Of course, that leaves me with eighteen days to write two more chapters, as well as discuss and edit them. Amazing how the period in which the bulk of the work on a project actually seems to get done always lumps up at the end. Hopefully, all the background reading I have been doing since last year will percolate into my analysis.
Keeping my hat on was a constant challenge, given the lack of a chin-strip and the strong winds.
Because the winds on the second day prevented us from going up any peaks, we visited this nature reserve instead. It was nice to see some trees.
In the reserve, some of us climbed along a steep hillside to see a large waterfall from above. We also got some nice views of the valley below and the seashore.
The Welsh landscape is dominated by bare rock, separated by grassy sections. Often, you see veins of quartz in the shale that look like snow, from a distance.
Shed beside a Welsh lake.
All over the Welsh countryside there are walls and paths made of slate. The amount of labour involved in building them all must have been colossal.
Our first group photo, in front of the view we had from all three peaks on the first day.
Climbing Snowdon was a foggy business.
On the third day, we hiked up to a ridge but found it too windy to continue. On the way down, we walked around this lake.
Wales was not without surprises, two of which I will quickly detail now.
The first concerns the ‘barn’ in which we were to stay. When I heard the term, I thought about the barn that Meghan Mathieson’s family has in Duncan: uninsulated wooden walls, big swinging doors, hay, and the rest. What we actually got was a ‘hut’ belonging to the Pinnacle Club – a group of women climbers. It was the size of a house, warmed by a coal stove. It had fridges and stoves and showers and a special room for drying sopping gear (though our numbers and level of soppingness challenged it). When compared with my initial expectation – better than a tent, with the possibility of rats – it was downright palatial.
The second surprise should be evident from the videos I posted last night. We were almost constantly buffeted by gale force winds during the first two days, and still encountered moderate winds at high altitudes on the third. I spent much of the trip literally holding on to my hat. Since it has no chin-strap and I could not come up with a way to tether it that did not risk either destroying the hat or garroting me, I had one hand on the brim (or atop my head) for the better part of all the hiking. On Snowdon, the cold and relative thinness of my gloves meant that my non-hat-holding-hand was always desperately trying to recapture warmth in a fleece pocket, before I did the switch – mindful that a pause could send the hat flying off into the foggy abyss.
As is so often the case after a vacation, things have piled up in my absence. I have two issues of The Economist to read, two letters to respond to, several dozen emails to deal with, and a thesis chapter ostensibly due on Wednesday (with all the reading and writing that entails). Forgive me if I am a less prompt correspondent than usual for the next while.
This short clip was made when the Oxford University Walking Club reached the peak of Snowdon – the highest point in Wales – on March 10th, 2007. As you can see, we did not get a terribly good view for all of our upward marching.
Here is another short video, and some photos on Facebook. I will post some nicer versions here soon. For now, I need to prepare for my meeting with Dr. Hurrell tomorrow.