Harmonica

14.02.10

Yesterday I bought myself a harmonica. More precise, a blues harmonica in the key of E. Since I have never played this instrument in any detail (read: in any other way than just emptying my lungs into one, trying to make as much sound as possible), I look forward to start learning it. Hopefully YouTube or other video-sites will provide useful teachers. Till I get the hang of it, I should consider buying my flatmate some hearing protection.

Here is a picture of the harmonica. Wish me (and it) luck.



That is all; have a good day!

CERN

11.02.10

I am just on my way to listen to CERN talk about themselves, here at NTNU. I finally get the chance to listen to what someone from the inside can tell us about the famous Large Hadron Collider.



For those of you who doesn't know what the Large Hadron Collider is (shame on you, by the way) it is basically a large tube (see image) which is really cold where they will smash together very small things at very VERY high speed. And by "things" I mean atoms. And by "very fast" I mean almost the speed of light (!!!). And by "really cold" I mean close to the absolute zero of temperatures. There are, as you might have deduced, a lot of extremes involved. The funny thing about this experiment is the extreme range of results it can produce. On the one side we have the case that nothing happens, while on the other side we have APOCALYPSE!! A BLACK HOLE IS CREATED UNDER SWITZERLAND AND LIFE AS WE KNOW IT WILL TERMINATE WITHIN SECONDS! (Or so the media say.)



To be realistic (and therefore, by definition, boring) we can rest assured that this will in fact not happen - the things that they are trying out in this tube is happening all the time in the atmosphere. The only change is that now we have an insane amount of computer power to observe it all. Alas, the most exiting thing we can hope for is that we find something really obscure so that theoretical physics as we know it must be altered dramatically... which, now that I think about it, isn't so boring after all. At least not if you are the kind of person that write blogposts about CERN. Or if you are the kind of person that read this far. ^__^

But I should be going. Take care and have a good day.

Sleepy Sundays

07.02.10

It is indeed a lazy Sunday. The kind of day when you know you have nothing important to do, and therefore has an excuse for not getting properly dressed. The kind of day when it is OK to lie half-awake in bed for hours listening to sweet jazz. The kind of day where you look outside to see the snow fall while enjoying the fact that you are inside with a big cup of hot beverage (read: coffee).

Oh yes, life is good.



I was at Macbeth yesterday - what a brilliant, cozy pub that is. The guy was playing the guitar while the whole bar chipped in on the lyrics. I think it must have been the night of good live-music yesterday, because the people who were playing at Cafe Dublin (where the journey continued) absolutely blew me away. The experience was, however, somewhat bittersweet. After playing a superb rendition of "Smoke on the Water" (by Deep Purple) they suddenly changed to "Ut mot Havet" by Rune Rudberg (Norwegian singer). For those unfamiliar with Rune, his genre doesn't exactly match Deep Purple. At all. I regained faith in the end, though, as Jimi Hendrix was the last artist they visited. The guitarist actually pulled of some pretty decent Hendrix-riffs. Now that is awesome.

Well, that is all, take care and have a good day!

Coffee Cravings

05.02.10

It is hard to imagine how my life at NTNU would be without coffee. Luckily people here tend to think the same (about them, not me, I should hope) making coffee one of the most accessible fluids on campus (only followed by tears of frustration). Just as I am writing this I am enjoying a big cup of "extra dark" coffee and I suspect this won't be my last. Today. Or this hour.

So tell me, how is your relationship with this extraordinary beverage?

Nachos

02.02.10

After reading this, my concentration disappeared like... something... with melted cheese on it. Well, at least I know what I'll be eating for dinner today.