Slowly being seduced by Portugal 22 Apr 2009 I gave my talk today on tree thinking at the local science museum for kids and the general public, which is amazingly popular. The Portuguese seem to hold science and knowledge in high esteem. Which is great. The Ciências Viva helped pay for my ticket, so I hope they liked my presentation. It will be online as a podcast, and they apparently simulcast it at the time, too. I didn’t let you know that because I want to check it before I tell my loyal readers about it. Oops… I am overwhelmed by the hospitality and food here. If I could learn another language, or they all spoke English, I’d happily live here. I have to thank Nathalie Gontier of the Faculdade de Ciências of the Universidade de Lisboa, who has gone above and beyond the call of hosting visiting Australians. I hope she gets well from her unfortunate dose of flu, which I deny having brought with me. Administrative History
Administrative My present work 10 Oct 2010 Life can be … interesting, for Chinese values thereof. No, I don’t mean the Nobel Prize, although good choice. I mean that I’m presently undergoing some kind of curse. I think it’s called “work” . Work!? So what I’m doing doesn’t translate to meaningful blog posts. Not always (but eventually,… Read More
Administrative Cloudy 15 Jul 2008 Not the Simon and Garfunkel song, this: Just seeing if it works. Read More
History The Blue Book is in PDF 10 Sep 2009 Systematists know the tome by Gareth Nelson and Norman Platnick, Systematics and Biogeography (1981), as the Blue Book (shades of Wittgenstein!). It was published once and is now so hard to get that I have been unable to find a copy in ten years of looking. Now, Malte Ebach tells… Read More
So did you have to speak through an interpreter? And are there many Portuguese interpreters who speak Strine?
So did you have to speak through an interpreter? And are there many Portuguese interpreters who speak Strine?
So did you have to speak through an interpreter? And are there many Portuguese interpreters who speak Strine?
So did you have to speak through an interpreter? And are there many Portuguese interpreters who speak Strine?
So did you have to speak through an interpreter? And are there many Portuguese interpreters who speak Strine?
So did you have to speak through an interpreter? And are there many Portuguese interpreters who speak Strine?
We are submonoglots. Thank you John for giving me the best laugh to start the day for a long, long time 😉
We are submonoglots. Thank you John for giving me the best laugh to start the day for a long, long time 😉
We are submonoglots. Thank you John for giving me the best laugh to start the day for a long, long time 😉
or they all spoke English IME they do, for values of ‘all’ such that you can always find someone who does. The first time we visited Lisbon, we walked past a picket line outside a factory and, being nosy, wondered what was up. So I spent about five minutes researching my phrase book and came up with something which I hoped meant “Excuse me, do you speak English or French?” I tried this out on the shop steward. He replied in perfect BBC accents, “Certainly, which would you prefer?” What a great country.