Archive for Britain
Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine [not a book review]
Posted in Books, Statistics, Travel with tags Advances in Computers, AI, artificial intelligence, Bayesians, Bletchley Park, book review, Britain, doomsday argument, Eurostar, high speed train, I.J. Good, New Statesman, not a book review, Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine on November 6, 2023 by xi'an
back to horizon
Posted in Travel, University life with tags academic research, Adrian Smith, Brexit, Britain, ERC, EU, Europe, European Union, Horizon Europe, international collaboration, Northern Ireland Protocol, public funding, Royal Society, UK politics on September 8, 2023 by xi'an
“[the UK rejoining Horizon Europe programme is] fantastic news not just for the UK but for scientists across the EU and for all the people of Europe”. Sir Adrian Smith, president of the Royal Society
The EU and the UK Government have come to an agreement on the UK rejoining the Horizon Europe funding programme after a gap of one year or so, after they resolved the dispute over the Northern Ireland protocol. With a further five months wasted by the UK Government seeking a more favourable “underperformance clause”. Although this reopening will not impact our ERC Synergy OCEAN grant, which is already running and is partly funded by substitution funds from the UK Government, this is great news for science and research.
The Fursty Ferret
Posted in Travel, Wines with tags amber beer, beer, Britain, Coventry, Dorset Brewery, English ales, ferret on June 20, 2023 by xi'an
a journal of the [experienced] plague and pestilence year
Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel, University life with tags Argentan half-marathon, Belgium, book review, books, Britain, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, fantasy, film review, Game of Thrones, House of Dragons, Journal of the Plague Year, pandemics, Russian invasion, short stories, Ukraine, Università degli studi di Padova, young adult books on November 4, 2022 by xi'an
Read The Cybernetic Tea Shop, by Meredith Katz, which is a short and rather clever (if YA) novel about the hazy boundary between humans and humanoids. Plus involving tea addicts! (Which is presumably why Amazon suggested it to me following my reading A Psalm for the Wide Built). And further read over a few sleepless nights the terrible Isandor series starting with City of Strife, by Claudie Arseneault, which had an interesting built of characters and fantasy universe, only to collapse into the usual cracks of super-evil villeins, a massive imbalance of power and a focus on the mundane (like foods and romantic attractions) when their society is under attack. The writing style is also heavily handed, to the point that I found myself skipping more and more paragraphs as the story unfolded. And will definitely not consider the incoming volume.
Went smoothly through my first (?) COVID positivity, which only caused a mild fever over one single day, amidst common cold symptom. Luckily did not pass it to anyone in my immediate vicinity, and resumed running if not swimming almost immediately (if not hard enough to train for the Argentan 1/2 marathon!). But sadly missed the 800th anniversary conference in Padova, as I was still testing positive the day before. I may have gotten infected in Britain or Belgium, despite my constant use of a mask (except in restaurants!).
Watched three more episodes of House of the Dragon, with great characters but a definitive lack of scope (when compared with Game of Thrones). The story remains at a highly local level of power fights and bickering, with existential threats inexistent. Still relatively enjoyable.
send off the clowns!
Posted in pictures, Travel with tags Britain, clownomics, conservatism, economics, Labour, Lizz Truss, political advertising, The Guardian, Tories, UK, UK politics, United Kingdom on October 19, 2022 by xi'an
