Since my life isn’t exactly scintillating (get up, type chapter, plan lecture, eat, sleep), this meme as seen on Dr. Four Eyes is much more fun…

Just follow these simple rules….

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/

The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result.

I have to say I rather like mine…

I’d like a cup of gobble-de-gook

A wonderful comment in reaction to an article on Coffee on the BBC website…

I enjoy my friendly, confusing trip to Starbucks in the morning:
“Hi sir, what would you like?”
“I’ll have a bucket of milk with a tiny drop of coffee in the bottom please.”
“What silly name would you like for your coffee, sir?”
“Let’s see, how about a skinny-venti-mocha-frappuchino.”
“Certainly, one silly-named coffee drowning in a bucket of milk coming up.”

Pinched Ideas – A Year in Pictures…

Pinched from A Long-Ayelander because it was such a funky idea even if its a little late in the New Year. So here it is, a year in pictures…

January

Back home in the north east, from a day out in Dunstanburgh, look at the sky…

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February

Being silly while ill… lets leave that there…

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March

Enjoying the views (and the weather), easter break in Greece, where I ended up at Acrocorinth

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April

Orchid fair… pretty!

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May

A perfect spring day, Sweetheart Abbey.

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June

Jousting at Linlithgow… scary stuff, one of the jousters dislocated his shoulder in the first session…

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July

Back in the trenches… Pollok excavations. Always fun being an archaeologist on public digs, conversation usually runs along the lines of “You’re a PhD Student, that is great, what do you study?”, me: “Greek pottery”, and then either silence or “why are you digging in Scotland?”

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August

Edradour distillery… I had to include this one, didn’t I?

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September

Edinburgh Zoo and hyperactive honey badger… of course…

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October

Undergraduate field trip to Dunnadd, we didn’t loose any students… well at least not this time. It has been known…

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November

Castle Campbell, looking all autumny and ever so slightly depressing…

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December

New Year in Ireland, at Glendalough

So Et Voilà! A year in pictures…

From the People at the BBC

I was flicking through the BBC News website this morning and saw an odd little reference to the Greek Myths so had a look, as it turned out it was kind of funny and thought I’d share it here.

Paper Monitor
Posted on Wednesday at 10:51 UK time
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.

The poet laureate Andrew Motion (no wait, bear with us) notes in the latest booklet of the Guardian’s series on Greek myths (really, it’ll be worth the effort) that “myths become memorable because they tell us fundamental truths about human behaviour”.
Fitting, then, that the Times quotes the judge who likened Andy Kershaw’s fall from grace as a “Greek tragedy” as he jailed the former Radio 1 DJ for breaking a restraining order.

Greek myths. A judge might be thought to be on sure ground with such a topic, more so than, say, who “Gazza” might be or how to shizzle a nizzle. But the paper’s resident brainiac, Philip Howard, pours cold water on High Bailiff Michael Moyle’s allusion as “hyperbole”.

Whereas Oedipus killed his dad and bedded his mum, “visiting one’s ex-partner is a petty offence,” says Mr Howard. And when the ancient tragic heroes got drunk and acted up, “they committed monstrous sins, such as killing their children”.

Then, in Greek tragedy proper, Nemesis strikes. “Three months in jug are no fun, but they hardly compare with self-blinding or being burnt to death with a poisoned robe (Hercules)… Kershaw’s punishment cannot be classified as a Greek tragedy in the extreme acceptance of the words without some risk of terminological inexactitude.”

Paper Monitor cannot help but think that for a judge, to be accused of terminological inexactitude by the Times – the Times of London, the paper of record – must feel like angering the gods.

First Post from Persia

So my class started today, I did my usual trick about completely confusing how long it would take me to talk about each thing but I managed to fill out the two hours, just perhaps not as I originally expected. The class seem good, they’re enthusiastic and ask questions, but…

I’m teaching this course at an adult education centre, and I’m not that old for a PhD student. Hence I spent a few embarassing moments at the start when people were making sure they were in the right room and then looking at me strangely when I said it was, and then they asked that wonderful question, “You’re the tutor?” You could feel the question marks hanging in the air.