onwards and upwards

As usual after the end of a 4x4 Lecture Series, the diverse group of architects, planners, urban designers, engineers, environmentalists and others disperses for another 11 months in anticipation of meeting up again at Leeds Met the next year.

Clearly there's something wrong with this - not with the 4x4s themselves, which are excellent, but with the fact we all go back to our little silos again and do whatever it is we do that messes up what everyone else in their other silos do. Argulably, we're not going to make much progress in planning and managing cities if we carry on with this; and this position was argued at Thursday's lecture, suggesting all Built Environment degree courses should start with a common first year. But what is a Built Environment degree, and who is a Built Environment professional? Aruably the guy who collects the wheely bins from the end of my street is as much a Built Environment Professional as the Mayor, not to mention everyone in between.

Anyway, to sidestep the issue and begin to make whatever small steps we can, I am proposing a new event, along the lines of the very successful Café Scientifique (which also started in Leeds), where we have a speaker every month, introducing an idea or topic for 20 minutes, followed by a discussion. I'm off in the next few weeks (after Easter) to talk to a lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan's School of Built Environment, and Leeds' most high profile architect, Ian Tod; both of whom are interested in the idea... because as much as it hurts our professional pride, the bin man (for example) can probably see things we can't.

be careful what you wish for

I passed my upgrade viva today, so now I get to study for a PhD... except, I don't get to change my supervision regime, so it's probably going to go the same way it's been going for the last year an a half. I might as well have failed. Never mind, eh...

This evening's Café Scientifique was "Science: A 4,000 year history", which was Cambridge academic Patricia Fara taking us through the last 4,000 years of science history as she saw it, recognising the contributions of lab assistants and the important and unsung scientists' partners (usually wives, and of course with the tactful omission of Millie Einstein...). While the connections were made between 'science' (meaning the natural and physical sciences, she being from Cambridge after all) and arts (meaning predominantly painting, literature and history), the social sciences (which I would argue include history) were ignored. There wasn't enough time for the discussion on this though.

I have always maintained that I have something 'in the blood' that makes me want to learn dressmaking. My mother is a 4th generation (at least) dressmaker, and nobody of my generation of the family has taken up the cause. After an abortive attempt a few years ago, when I nearly went into business with a friend making corsets and dresses, and another abortive attempt to learn dressmaking at Swarthmore, I went back to concentrating on my upgrade report. When I saw George Davies on TV talking about how he felt fashion design was in his blood from having dressmakers for a mother and aunt, I understood. I don't like to use the word 'fashion', it's not something I care about, but what appeals is the art, the engineering, and the sensuality of clothes. In a sense it's the same kind of work as my PhD - how to create a physical object which surrounds a person, and affects the way they feel by interacting with various senses. My Mum is going to teach me a bit over Easter, and I'm quite excited!

Think about impending doom, don't think about impending doom...

So, Sunday I went off with fellow Green Drinks organiser Adam and eco-home builder Heimir to see The Age of Stupid, which of course is about the impending doom of climate change and the necessity to do something about it (says me, who really needs to get lower power lightbulbs, these 11 Watters are doing my head in)...

...and today, I am sitting here, watching telly and writing my blog, trying not to think about tomorrow's impending doom - the Upgrade viva. The end of my first year at University (a year of 18 months!) with an oral exam on a report that's taken me 3 months to write (since the last time I scrapped the text) and has turned out 3 times the guideline length. A lot of it doesn't make sense, and it is self-contradictory in many respects. Never mind, I am not scared of failure now, I just need to do some more reading and commenting... and so to lounging in front of the TV with a pencil and a cup of herbal tea. See you on the other side.

Police Profiling

After the London bomb attacks in 2005, various crazy suggestions went round about making all train passengers (and their luggage) go through a security scan when entering a station. This was before it was realised that 6 million journeys are made a day from some 3,000 stations and tram stops. Oh.

Anyway, West Yorkshire Police, in their infinite wisdom, and under the guise of an attempt to reduce knife attacks in Leeds Ciy Centre on a Saturday night, decided to pull over male passengers coming out from the ticket barriers - presumably on the basis that they looked shifty, aggressive, or Asian (I'm making this up, but it sounds better that way). I got pulled over, had to deposit the contents of my pockets (mobile phone, cards, cash, keys, iPod, torch) in a tray, and walk through a metal detector. Never mind I was carrying a heavy backpack and a jute shopping bag which weren't searched. Both of them contained sharp objects which could be used to cause injury (swiss army knife, screwdrivers, sharp nosed pliers)... but hey, they were the West Yorkshire Police - I wasn't exactly expecting them to be thorough, or effective.

Research Workflows on the Mac

A really brief, skimming introduction to a basic research workflow (ie mine) on the Mac, published in Yorkshire Mac Users' Group's magazine "Enigma".

It's available for download now

Return from the dead

After some prodding from the editor of World Streets, I have had to resurrect my old Blogger account, which means looking at this old blog. I might as well do something with it.

What's probably going to appear here are random musings about my research, and about life in general (everything from my MythTV setup to Sufi spirituality and environmental stuff). I'll get to witter on far more than I do on Facebook, which probably isn't a good thing, but there you go.