Vera Rubin

December 28, 2016

Among all the more famous deaths of 2016, I want to mention Vera Rubin. She was the only person graduating with an Astronomy degree from her class in 1948. She wanted to do her PhD at Princeton, but they didn’t accept women for post grad studies at the time, so she went to Cornell. That’s where she discovered that galaxies didn’t seem to be flying straight out after the Big…

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An unusual Nativity

The nativity scene in Las Nieves church on Christmas Eve with a kitten in place of baby Jesus
December 27, 2016

Most churches on La Palma have nativity scenes. The custom here is to put baby Jesus in at midnight on Christmas Eve, during midnight mass. (I think this is a general Catholic custom). On Christmas Eve I was guiding an excursion from a cruise ship which included the lovely church at Las Nieves. And there was a kitten keeping the spot warm for Jesus. If I remember rightly, nativity scenes…

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German oral exam

My exam was this afternoon, and on the way into town I saw thislovely rainbow. I think I passed the exam. The others are in January

December 20, 2016
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Finland’s Independence Day

Dec 6th is Finland’s national day, so of course all the Nazis came out for a parade. But there’s also good news. People pledged small sums of money to charities for every Nazi reported taking part in the marches. Together they raised 1223.94 euros per Nazi. The police estimated that 180 Nazi turned up, so that’s 220,309.20€ to causes in support of a more gender equal, democratic and diverse Finland!…

December 8, 2016
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