EuroTrip '08:
Recordings from the Open Access panel in Trieste are now available online. The order was a little different - I went last....
Posted on May 8, 2008 10:11 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
My daughter collects snowglobes. Or, to be precise, we collect snowglobes for her when we travel. She has a few from New York City, one from San Francisco, one from Murtle Beach, one from Milwaukee. I badly messed up when...
Posted on May 7, 2008 10:08 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Grunewald station in Berlin is a small, unasuming train station that looks like thousands of such stations around the world. But it is at this spot that thousands of Jews were loaded onto trains to Auschwitz and other places, initially...
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Posted on May 4, 2008 11:57 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe where, by design, concrete slabs that are initially perfectly aligned, due to sinking of the soil, adopt all sorts of different angles. Looking down the "aisles", one sees people, children playing hide-and-seek, and...
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Posted on May 4, 2008 11:46 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
More pictures from the Museum:...
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Posted on May 4, 2008 10:43 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Catriona and I, obviously, had fun here:...
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Posted on May 4, 2008 10:33 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Time to put up some of the pictures. Catriona took me around Berlin, for whatever one can see in just a day and a half - the Brandenburg gate, a slab of the Berlin wall, etc.......
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Posted on May 4, 2008 10:14 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
For dinner, we went up high, really high - 230 meters, to a rotating restaurant, perhaps the highest blogger meetup to date?! There I met Cornelius Puschmann, Martin Fenner and his lovely wife, Catriona McCallum, Randolf Nesse, Bjoern Brembs...
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Posted on May 1, 2008 3:49 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
After lunch, Catriona McCallum and Randolf Nesse (who, yes, writes a blog) met and discussed evolution and medicine and blogging and Facebook and Open Access and PLoS, etc.:...
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Posted on May 1, 2008 3:38 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
After a lovely flight, Catriona met me at the airport. We went to the Institute where I checked in my room, set up my wifi, then went down to meet the people and have lunch: various cold cuts, true Coca...
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Posted on May 1, 2008 3:30 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This morning I had to get up early to go and give my interview for Radio Belgrade 1, at the same time when my Radio Belgrade 2 interview was on. This one will be broadcast in ten days or so....
Posted on April 29, 2008 10:17 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
After watching the show jumping classes and chatting with my horsey friends, I went back to the city center, explored the place and saw that unlike most other types of stores, the bookstores are still there where I remembered them,...
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Posted on April 29, 2008 9:55 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Yesterday I went to the Belgrade Racecourse and the barns and was happy to meet many of my old friends, including my old trainer (with Professor Steve Steve below) as well as some good new kids, including two sisters who...
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Posted on April 29, 2008 9:23 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Today is Orthodox Easter. Most everyone here will have lamb for lunch today. We did something different.... First, for breakfast I had snenokle (here is a recipe from a delightful Balkans food blog Palachinka) and I ground some chocolate on...
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Posted on April 27, 2008 10:24 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
My 'kum' Miroslav (see the previous post) is working in Nigeria right now. A few weeks ago he went to Lagos on business and took this picture from the car:...
Posted on April 27, 2008 4:50 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
'Kum', in Serbo-Croatian language, denotes two things - godfather to a child, or the Best Man at the wedding. Well, I was a Best Man at a wedding some 20+ years ago. So, yesterday morning I went to visit them....
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Posted on April 27, 2008 4:33 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I walked around town a little bit these days. My feet know the way, even if all the names of streets were changed from WWII National Heroes to saints and medieval princes. It has changed a lot - there are...
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Posted on April 26, 2008 6:45 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
After the 1999 Clinton/Clark bombing of Belgrade, almost all of the ruined buildings were quickly torn down and replaced with modern buildings, perhaps out of spite (which is the national character trait). After all these years, the city is unrecognizable...
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Posted on April 26, 2008 6:30 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
There were quite a lot of events and actions in Belgrade for the Earth Day last week. I came in on that day so I did not have time to see anything. But I loved the balloon they placed in...
Posted on April 26, 2008 6:02 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I already mentioned my friend Srdjan Milovanovic before. Like his father, he is a psychiatrist now, but we go waaaaay back. We have been friends since we were really small - he was two and I was three years old....
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Posted on April 26, 2008 5:46 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
It took a century to build the St.Sava Cathedral. I remember playing on its foundations as a kid - a great fortress to play in. But the enterior has just begun to be worked on - I am not sure...
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Posted on April 26, 2008 5:10 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Beef soup with cream, eggs and lemon - today's lunch:...
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Posted on April 26, 2008 4:49 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Last night's dinner - crepes filled with a mix of cheese, eggs and sugar, baked in the oven with some sweet cream:...
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Posted on April 26, 2008 3:27 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I was kicking myself all day yesterday because I forgot to take my camera with me for most of the day. First, my mother and I went to the bank to do some business which, of course, made us hungry...
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Posted on April 25, 2008 10:52 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
OK, I posted a lot of pictures of Belgrade and my Mom's food so far, but the real business was on Tuesday, when I gave two talks about Open Access, PLoS, Science 2.0, the future of the scientific paper, Open...
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Posted on April 24, 2008 4:07 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Museum of Natural History in Belgrade is 113 years old. Tomorrow, I will go to the main building to talk to people and perhaps check the library and some specimens - there is no real exhibit there. But today I...
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Posted on April 23, 2008 4:58 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Food is probably the most nostalgia-inducing facet of life.......
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Posted on April 23, 2008 3:52 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Cathedral of Saint Sava: Kalemegdan:...
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Posted on April 23, 2008 2:57 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Nothing better than coming back home after a long time (13 years since my last visit), seeing my family and eating Mom's food:...
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Posted on April 23, 2008 11:49 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
In the end, late at night, I had dinner (goulash - excellent) with the Director of FEST and a bunch of young science journalists, all graduates (Masters) of the Trieste program in Science Communication (SISSA) and most of them involved...
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Posted on April 21, 2008 1:22 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
FEST ended with a (excellent) keynote lecture by Lawrence Krauss:...
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Posted on April 21, 2008 1:17 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The podcast of the radio interview with Derek Law and me about Open Access is now available online. Most of the show is in Italian, but if you cannot understand it, our interview is in English and it starts at...
Posted on April 20, 2008 11:53 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Some more pictures.......
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Posted on April 20, 2008 11:28 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Professor Steve Steve went to FEST with me yesterday and made many friends (I told his story 50 times at least). Here he is with Lawrence Krauss: And I hope Mrs.Coturnix does not click on the "Read on...." button, as...
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Posted on April 20, 2008 4:43 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Here are some even better pictures from the panel:...
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Posted on April 20, 2008 4:36 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The science blogging session yesterday was really fun. I am wearing headphones as everyone else was speaking Italian, so I listened to the simultaneous translation. The locals also listened to me via the interpreter:...
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Posted on April 20, 2008 4:27 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Not many people know that James Joyce spent 11 years in Trieste as a lecturer at the University. Now, his bronze statue still walks the bridge across the canal on Ponte Rossa:...
Posted on April 19, 2008 12:27 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I love how many dogs I saw roaming FEST and learning about science.......
Posted on April 19, 2008 12:22 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Yes, that is Lawrence Krauss on the left.......
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Posted on April 19, 2008 6:20 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Last night, Derek Law and I were taped for about 15 minutes for Radio3, about Open Access and the world of publishing:...
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Posted on April 19, 2008 6:14 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Yesterday afternoon, Sely Costa and Derek Law did a fun session, where she pretended to be an unconcerned citizen and he tried to persuade her that OA is a good thing. It was a fun way to demonstrate how OA...
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Posted on April 19, 2008 6:06 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
One of the highlights of the visit to Trieste was the opportunity to finally meet an old blog-friend of mine. Franc Nekrep is a professor of Mikrobiology in Ljubljana, Slovenia and we have been reading each others blogs for a...
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Posted on April 19, 2008 5:22 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Here are, quickly for now, some pictures from the yesterday's panel "Open Access; let's do it: top down, bottom up or both?" Stevan Harnad did his presentation first via Skype (from Montreal) which was, unfortunately, not recorded. The rest of...
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Posted on April 19, 2008 5:01 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
It's nice to get to know your fellow panelists REALLY well over a dinner and wine the night before the event. So we got together and had great fun: Sely Costa from Brasil, A.R.D. Prasad from India, Derek Law and...
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Posted on April 18, 2008 5:14 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Trieste at night. Smell of the Adriatic sea, in which I learned to swim some decades ago, just two towns (and two border crossings) away from here. Ponte Rossa, where I got my first jeans, back in 1970 or so....
Posted on April 18, 2008 5:09 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Professor Steve Steve went to FEST with me today and saw some impostors that came all the way from China, some nice FEST employees (good - I realized I did not do enough teasing of Mrs.Coturnix by posting pictures of...
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Posted on April 17, 2008 10:52 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The entire thing is happening in a large building on a pier (Molo IV). I was impressed by the crowds on the first day. I also got vouchers for four nice restaurants in town for meals. Last night I went...
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Posted on April 17, 2008 5:37 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Here are some more pictures from the Science FEST:...
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Posted on April 17, 2008 5:27 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Today is the second day of the Science FEST in Trieste. Yesterday, I went around, looked at everything and took a lot of pictures (under the fold). Later today, I will see some more specific sessions and will let you...
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Posted on April 17, 2008 5:15 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Yesterday was my last day in Cambridge, so here are some pictures from the PLoS office - Chief Editor Mark Patterson and the new Managing Editor of PLoS ONE Peter Binfield (and the beer pictures are under the fold):...
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Posted on April 16, 2008 5:28 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The weekend at La Maison de Girrafes was absolutely brilliant. Henry and I could not stop talking for two straight days. We tried to elicit the End Of The Universe by starting a cycle of infinite regress by repeatedly linking...
Posted on April 14, 2008 6:59 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
These two entire days chez Gee, surrounded by many strange animals, I kept looking for the girrafes and they were nowhere to be seen. But now I know why - they are not allowed in here any more, at least...
Posted on April 13, 2008 4:43 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Another member of the Gee menagerie:...
Posted on April 13, 2008 3:58 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
It was a wonderful day this morning so the entire Gee family (including the dog) got in a car and went out to Holkham beach for a little walk, then to the Stiffkey Red Lion for lunch.......
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Posted on April 13, 2008 3:22 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Henry and I took Heidi the dog on a long walk around Cromer and East Runton, enjoying the scenery.... Cromer: More under the fold......
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Posted on April 12, 2008 6:08 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This explains why Henry is a Blogger:...
Posted on April 12, 2008 6:03 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Now I know where Henry got the name for his blog - Cromer is the only place in the UK with a pier that has a theater on its end: More under the fold:...
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Posted on April 12, 2008 5:58 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Yes, it is possible to get non-blurry pictures of Henry's lovely dog:...
Posted on April 12, 2008 5:48 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Friday night dinner, in a nice Italian restaurant, with Mico Tatalovic:...
Posted on April 12, 2008 5:38 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
On Friday, we all went to a nearby pub for lunch and passed Watson's old place, with a single helix (probably denoting one half of the pair): By that time, what little jet-lag I had was gone, and I was...
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Posted on April 12, 2008 4:01 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
So, around midnight we decided we were not tired and sleepy enough yet, so we found a pub that was open and had another round.......
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Posted on April 12, 2008 3:43 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
After a beer or two at The Eagle, we went for dinner to a nice place where we had to wait a little more, but the wait was worth it as the food was good and the company even better....
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Posted on April 12, 2008 3:31 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Thursday night after work, the Plossians took me out for Guinness at The Eagle: ....more under the fold.......
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Posted on April 12, 2008 3:17 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Steve Steve and I got a desk at the PLoS office to work at: Bex is the one who really keeps PLoS ONE together:...
Posted on April 12, 2008 3:11 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
More pictures from Daquise, as the alcohol levels in circulation rose... and everyone started singing.......
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Posted on April 12, 2008 2:53 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
After we froze at the pub, Karen, Malcolm, Mo, Joe, MissPrism, Nick, Matt, Kara, Professor Steve Steve and I went to a Polish restaurant called Daquise, where we had good food and too much to drink, including a couple of...
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Posted on April 12, 2008 2:40 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
After the Museum visit, we went to a nearby pub (Queen's Arms) where we could not get a table, but could get beer and stand outside, until we froze. We were joined by several other people, including Joe, MissPrism, my...
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Posted on April 12, 2008 3:20 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Karen, aka Nunatak from the Beagle Project gave us, the science bloggers (including Professor Steve Steve) a special tour of the Darwin Center, a new wing of the Natural History Museum in London. This is where millions of specimens are...
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Posted on April 11, 2008 1:48 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Mo, Ed, Selva, me and Kara in front of the Darwin wing of the Natural History Museum in London....
Posted on April 11, 2008 12:29 PM •