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Monday, July 11, 2005

Long Time No Blog 

Not really any good reason, just haven't felt like saying much. There are one or two people I really ought to say stuff to, but I haven't quite worked out how to yet.

So, another Wimbledon over. This one's been memorable for its complete lack of Henman nailbiters which, while annoying, are also very good entertainment, because you really never know who's going to win. His 2 matches this year were pretty lacklustre though. In keeping with his currently perfectly symmetrical Wimbledon record, I expect him to lose in next year's first round and never come back.

An excellent ladies' final, and one of the best ladies' matches I can remember for a long time (although by the sounds of things - only heard it on the radio - Venus v Sharapova in the semis was even better). I was glad I put the "subject to tennis" caveat in about my arrival time for sausages!

The men's final was even more one-sided than Sampras v Pioline in 1997, despite Federer's opponent being the world number 2 (and despite the more even scoreline). As he himself said afterwards, it was possibly the best match he'd ever played. What's scary is that he plans to go away this year, develop a true serve-volley style, and come back to win Wimbledon "properly" next year - and he'll probably be able to! Having seen last year's final, I really expected Roddick to put up more of a fight, and possibly even to have a chance of winning, but Federer is pretty much untouchable if he plays like he did in that match. Some of his shots look like someone's doing on-the-fly CGI to make the ball go where it does. He's definitely the most beautiful tennis player to watch I can think of - even better than Navratilova.

Failed to win a couple of quizzes the last week - Swan and Old White Swan. I was a bit pissed off with myself for not getting the astronomy question (which constellation is represented by the keel of a ship? Answer:CARINA I'd even got the first two letters right in my head.)

I was asked tonight how long I'd had my beard for, and it turns out it's exactly 10 years tomorrow. I shaved it off for my graduation photos, immediately started growing it back again, and haven't lost it since.

In another example of fine timing, while walking back from the quiz this evening, I saw an unanticipated Iridium flare. These can be quite spectacular (the brightest flares can cast shadows and be seen during the daytime), even when you know where to look (see the link), but I've not seen them by accident before - when you have about 10 seconds 2 or 3 times a night to catch them, you have to be pretty lucky to have your head pointed in the right direction at the right time.

What could be described as poor timing would be the length of time it's taken me to get my latest CNPS spot. 245. 11 days! A new record, by 2 days. And I don't have a handy 246 lying around anywhere to go look at either.

Finally, (and I mean finally in several senses!) I own a copy of Ash Ock, which I obtained from biblio.com. Highly recommended if looking for a particular book, very fiddly to use for browsing! Still, it came up with the goods - I think I may have been looking for a copy for longer than I've had the beard...

3 comments
Comments:
I'd say at least 1 and 2 are valid. The same was true of Emergence - I found a copy fairly soon after looking on the Net for it.

Isn't 1 = 1^2?
 
So it's still a square number ... i^4 = (i^2)^2.
 
He has. I've tried to stop him about the same number of times too.

I was quite pleased when there had been no unanticipated DIY when I came back from Oz.
 
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