A fascinating article about why sea snakes are to be found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans but not the Atlantic. Also, who knew that there were snakes that live exclusively in the water, and they drink freshwater by sipping ‘lenses’ that collect on the surface of the ocean after rain?
Hindustani roots
Somewhat belatedly in life, I have started learning to read Hindi. I’m now over a week in and going strong. The turnaround has come thanks to a lesson on an app for teaching the Hindi alphabet to Urdu speakers. It’s much clearer, having the Urdu next to it instead of going via English or the […]
Never forget
I was woken in the night, rather unusually, by the sound of voices and music from an adjacent flat. The song, from the very first words, tugged at my memory, it was definitely something from my teenage years, something that I had not been fond of, nor disliked, but it was ubiquitous and had sunk […]
Empire and academic speech
A good article on remembering and talking about empire.
News
To think the Guardian is one of the best of the lot.
Sepang stockpile
The delivery company says that the reason my laptop has spent the last 10 days in their warehouse in Sepang is because someone somewhere forgot to pass on the appropriate documentation to customs. This, they say has now been done. I have not received a daily update about the laptop being in the warehouse, so […]
Cecilia must die
Having just trawled through the Amazon’s December deals for Kindle books I ask again why I was born in this cursed month. Amazon UK, full of the sort of rubbish books people give each other as presents, with the prize perhaps being ‘The Dinosaur that Pooped Christmas’. Amazon US with an even greater proportion of […]
Today is
Here in Malaysia it’s 12 Rabi al Awwal. In Pakistan it was yesterday, shadowed by what had gone before. In the day’s honour, here is Amjad Farid Sabri singing Bhar do jholi, one of my favourite naats. Since this Youtube link may not work forever, and in any case it is improved (as are all […]
Prawn mayonnaise
I have, since I last posted, done a little more on the job application, the rest will have to be done in Singapore. I have also done more packing, with only shoes left to be selected. The one victory of the day was the arrival of my new trainers, a pair of Vivo barefoot trainers. […]
Grrr
An unsatisfactory day thus far. I completed most of an application for a consultancy, with one final bit left that I kep putting off. I did a bit of packing but haven’t finished it. I couldn’t bring myself to go for lunch, then felt ravenous and had a bowl of microwaved corn, then felt even […]