The place where lost socks go...

Since it came up in conversation today, I retook the Political Compass test for the first time in many years.

Here is how I scored:


For comparison, I was able to find my results from December 2001, not long after the test debuted. I was wondering how my views have evolved with time. So... how does Nomad v.2015 compare with his past self from thirteen and a half years ago?

DATE	Economic	Social
2001-12	-8.63	-9.18
2015-06	-9.75	-8.10

Interesting! I'm still lodged quite nicely in the bottom left corner of the compass. This is no surprise. But my economic views have moved even further to the left, nearly maxing out the scale. Meanwhile, my social views have become marginally more authoritarian. In fact, the shift on the two is almost equal in magnitude, if opposite in direction (-1.12 for the economic scale, +1.08 for the social scale).

Politically speaking, my two most signficant events of the past thirteen and a half years would be (a) my time as an activist, and (b) my experience as an expatriate and immigrant.

The December 2001 score was logged just as I was beginning to get active. I've been an Anarchist since at least age 17 (back in 1992), but I was only an activist from 2001 - 2007 -- with peak years from Feb 2002 to May 2006. So that's where I sat just before things ramped up.

Meanwhile, I'm sure that the shift in my social score was affected by answering "agree" with the statement that "First-generation immigrants can never be fully integrated within their new country." Back then, I probably said "Disagree" or "Strongly Disagree". Today, I said "Agree". I presume this question labels one as more socially conservative, as that tends to be the anti-immigrant faction of society. In my case, I'm not at all anti-immigrant -- I am an immigrant! But, being one, I know that I've not been able to fully integrate with my new country. Going from one English-speaking country to another, the transition was easier than most. Even so, I've been in the UK for nearly a decade, I've naturalised, I've taken up the English folk art of church bell ringing, I've seen more of England than most English people I know (and every Shakespeare play)... but I still stand out as a foreigner. Just two words out of my mouth and folks assume I'm "on holiday".

Last week alone, I had one person ask where I was visiting from (at an Oxford museum), another person who presumed I was moving to the States when I said we would soon be leaving Oxford (I'm not -- I'll be going up North to Sheffield), and a third person who spat at me in the street. Yeah, last week. (This week has had none of the above, but that's because I'm in Japan right now...)

So, yeah, not fully integrated yet. I'm seriously considering taking up elocution lessons, just so I can stop standing out like a sore thumb. Most people asking about where I'm visiting from are just being friendly. I don't blame any one person... but you sure get tired of explaining yourself over and over again, several times each week. Nevermind the accent, I'm British, thank you very much.

Anyway, I'm sure this made me seem more "socially conservative" and probably drove much of the shift in score. Although, given the circumstances, I would argue that being an immigrant has made me more aware of what we go through -- not less sensitive to it!

Meanwhile, it's nice to see that I haven't gotten to be more of a conservative right-winger with age!

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ETA: Here is how I compare with the UK parties in last month's general election:





Is it any wonder, then, that I joined the Green Party?

Today's Guardian has an article about outrage over a high school maths problem. Seriously?

The question in question was described as "disastrously hard", "especially unfair", and "proving impossible even for the most able students". Really??

I was intrigued, so I had a look at the question. It read:

There are n sweets in a bag. Six of the sweets are orange. The rest of the sweets are yellow. Hannah takes a random sweet from the bag. She eats the sweet. Hannah then takes at random another sweet from the bag. She eats the sweet. The probability that Hannah eats two orange sweets is 1/3. Show that n²-n-90=0.

So... what's the big deal? It's a straightforward and easy question. I solved it in under two minutes. Could have taken half the time, but I set it up carefully, under the impression that it was difficult. Thought perhaps it was a trick question, but it's a rather straightforward bit of elementary probability.

Then I went on to show that n = 10. The question didn't ask for it, but I was curious.

I really hope they let the question stay. It's perfectly fair, and I think it's reasonable to expect children to learn how to think in school.

I just wrote a long and detailed post... which LJ promptly ate. Grrrr!

Short version is this: As of today, your friendly neighbourhood Nomad is officially a triathlete!

I completed the Little Beaver Olympic distance triathlon at Belvoir Castle. My times were as follows:

• Swim: 0:33:24 (1500 meters)
  
• T1: 0:05:07
  
• Cycle: 2:15:20 (40 kilometers)
  
• T2: 0:01:37
  
• Run: 0:53:42 (10 kilometers)
  
  
  
• TOTAL: 3:49:10

These times are about the same as in the practice triathlon that I completed in December, except that there is a 5-6% improvement in my running speed.

Compared to the Chicago 2012 triathlon, for which there is data online, I was faster on swimming (37 m average), running (1h 1m average), and transitions (8m average). However, my running was much slower (1h 22m average) -- more than 50% slower, in fact! (Guess I know where I need to train... and a proper racing bike wouldn't hurt, either!)

My original goal had been to complete an Olympic distance triathlon before I turned 40. I missed that deadline by about 9 weeks... but got there soon after!

On the way, I also set other nifty personal records: In February, I completed the Hampton Court Half-Marathon in 1:46:58 (average pace of 5:04 per km), and last week I completed the Oxford Town & Gown 10K in 47:44 (average pace of 4:46 per km).

My next physical challenge is the Bristol-to-Bath marathon, coming up in October. I'd like to complete it in under 3h 45m.

I would also like to do another Olympic distance triathlon, maybe next year after I've had some time to train up my cycling a bit. I'd like to break the Chicago average of 3h 9m... and I would really like to do an Olympic triathlon in under 3 hours. That involves an improvement of 50 minutes over my current time. My cycling time is 53 minutes longer than average, so just getting to average would do the trick.

I also aim to complete the next major triathlon distance up, which is a "middle distance", or "half-Iron Man". That's 1.93 km of swimming, 90 km of cycling, and then a half-marathon (21.1 km running). I can do the swim and the run now. Need to work on my cycling!

Anyway, it was really satisfying to reach a goal that I've been training towards for the past three years. Huzzah!

And now I'm going to post this, before LJ eats it again...

Gentle readers,

Ten days ago, your friendly neighbourhood Nomad hit the big FOUR-OH. Wowza -- how did that happen? Seems like only yesterday that I was celebrating my 30^th birthday at the Event Horizon!

I firmly believe that if one is going to grow older, one should do it in style. Ten years ago, I resolved to throw the biggest Event Horizon party to date... and I succeeded.[*] For forty, I raised the stakes and decided to make it my absolute bestest birthday ever!

So what does that mean? What are the ingredients for a spectacular birthday?

Well, first is location. I love Oxford, but celebrating at home wasn't going to do. I wanted somewhere that would be warm and sunny in mid-March. No point in partying somewhere cold... and, besides, I wanted to go scuba diving! My first thought was the Mediterranean, possibly Corsica or Sardinia. Maybe Sicily. Then I checked: Average highs of 50F? That won't work!

Further South, then, which brings us to the Canary Islands. Yeah, that could work. Average highs in the mid-70s? Now that's more like it!

A plan began to take form: Rent a large villa in Lanzarote and invite everyone I know to join us there for a week. Although not the largest of the Canary Islands, the volcanic landscape and the César Manrique architecture was highly appealing. What's more, the entire island has been designated as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

In the end, I didn't end up inviting everybody I knew. We topped out at sixteen people, filling two private holiday villas. That seemed like a wise place to stop; coordinating an international week-long trip with sixteen people from two continents was one heck of a lot of work! Lots of logistics to arrange, including accommodation, transportation, and activities.

Lots of work... but it was totally worth it!

So what did we do in our week on the "Island of Fire" (as Lanzarote is known)? Well, we rode camels over the volcanic landscape:



(click on picture for full version)

and we ate food cooked with geo-thermal heat:




(click on picture for full version)

The picture above was taken at the El Diablo restaurant in Timanfaya National Park. The grill is set over a hole in the ground. That's all. No fire below; the heat of the volcano cooks your food for you!

(Also acts as a nifty underfloor heater, too!)

What else? Well, I got my scuba dives -- two off the coast of Playa Blanca (one day dive and one night dive) and another from Puerto del Carmen. We spent time on the beach at Arrecife, the capital of the island. We also took a bus tour around Timanfaya National Park. On another day, some of us went horseback riding (not me), whilst others took a bicycle tour (me!).

On one afternoon, we chartered a private pleasure cruise for five hours; on a different afternoon, we visited a few of César Manrique's architectural masterpieces. My beloved cheshcat lined us up an excellent sampling of his work, including his Volcano House, his Cactus Garden, and the lookout point Mirador del Rio.

Some of us also made time for hiking. I went on three hikes, around the Montaña Caldereta, along the Timanfaya Coastal Route, and a sunset hike on my birthday itself, climbing the red mountain Montaña Roja, which was just behind our villas.

Here is a shot of yours truly atop the Caldereta (a volcanic crater):



(click on picture for full version)

Plus, there was lots of chill out time at the villas. Besides the two heated pools, we had a jacuzzi, sauna, and steam room. So it became a regular pattern to go out and be active during the day, then come together for a big meal in the evening -- coordinated by my darling miss_amaranth. After dinner, we would soak up the amenities and be social in the evening.

By chance, the folks who went horseback riding ran into a masseuse; she was then hired to come to the villa on two separate days, working on half of our party during that time -- some people used her twice!

The penultimate day of the trip was my actual birthday, March 13^th. After days of rushing about, the big day was spent at the villas. Pancake brunch, afternoon tea by the pool (served by miss_amaranth in a bikini), and lots of good company!

Was my plan a success? You betcha! As you may recall, dear friends, the goal was to make turning 40 my best birthday ever. Spending a week on a subtropical volcanic island with more than a dozen of my closest friends? Riding camels and scuba diving and eating geo-thermally cooked food? You bet this was the bestest birthday ever![**]

Now then, what can I do to top it for turning 50?

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[*] Eventually, as I made more friends in Chicagoland, the regular parties would grow to be larger than that special one... but at the time, my goal was met with 25 people celebrating in a two-day party.

[**] Sixteen hours before I left for this awesometacular holiday, there was one extra development that made it even better. "What might that be?" you may ask. Ah, but that's the subject of my next LJ post...

Just over ten years ago, I posted this entry, entitled "Grounded". It starts off by saying:

As of today, I no longer have a valid US passport. As alien as it feels to me, I can no longer leave the [United States].

Ten years on, the passport that I applied for at that time has recently expired. Once again, I no longer have a valid US passport. The weird part is that I can now go to just about any country in the world... except the United States.

My British passport is valid until 2023, and this is the primary passport that I use when travelling these days. However, US citizens are not permitted to enter the United States on a foreign passport. This is true even if they hold multiple citizenships and citizens of their other country (or countries) may travel to the United States without a visa.

The United States does not forbid dual nationalities (like, for instance, Japan), but they don't recognize them, either. To quote from the webpage of the United States Embassy in London:

Under U.S. regulations, dual nationals must enter and leave the United States on valid U.S. passports; they are not eligible to apply for visas or travel visa free under the Visa Waiver Program.

So I find myself in the strange situation of being able to go anywhere except for the country where I was born and lived most of my life. How odd.

Thankfully, I have no upcoming travel planned for the United States. Next trip, in three weeks, is to Japan, and the one after that will be to Spain.

Meanwhile, the passport renewal application was collected by courier today. I expect the current oddity will be cleared soon with the arrival of my next passport.

I'm writing this entry from the Oxford Tube, making the commute into London. One of the nifty things about this 24-hour bus service is that it has laptop tables, power outlets, and free Wi-Fi. Makes a fairly long commute bearable, by allowing productivity.

Anyway, I tried to respond to the comments on yesterday's entry... only to find that the content blocker on the new buses won't allow me to access my LiveJournal. Hurm.

Tried to access the LJs of others -- no problem. Which means that I'm being blocked specifically because of the "anarchist" in my username. Good grief!

Wonder if I should take issue about this with the bus company. As a regular rider for the past six years (and holder of the £1000 annual bus pass), my words may carry some weight with them. On the other hand, there is a lot going on right now and with only 24 hours in the day, one must choose one's battles; things like the pension action are much more important and a better choice for where to put my energy.

Also, although it is annoying, I can still access my LJ on the coach by using my phone as a hotspot or tether -- like I'm doing right now, to write this entry. So the practical effect of this block for me is basically non-existent.

Even so, tis annoying to be blocked from my own LJ, especially on account of my name.

Not on LJ much these days, but today needed to be noted:

First. Half. Marathon!

Oh, yeah!

I ran today in the Blenheim Palace Half-Marathon. I deliberately refrained from making any ambitious goals -- the main aim was to just finish the race, running 13.1 miles (or 21.1 km) for the very first time.

My secondary goal was to complete the course in under two hours... which I accomplished. My race time, as measured by RFID chip on my shoe, was 1:58:50 (or an average pace of 5:38 per kilometer).

Nothing to write home about, but not bad for a first-timer. I came in 727^th place, out of 1566 runners. So at least I was in the faster half.

Um, that was surprisingly fun. I think I'll do it again.

I returned upstairs to Chiron Beta Prime, our flat, and consumed said breakfast. Then it was time for a run. Normally, setting out for a 60 minute run would no longer qualify as newsworthy. After all, I do these a couple of times each week now. However, I was determined that today's run would be different.

As mentioned above, I live in the neighbourhood of Headington. Headington sits at the top of the similarly named Headington Hill. Headington Hill is steep. Intimidatingly so. Only once have I successfully ridden my bicycle all the way up the hill; normally I make it halfway before dismounting and walking the bike up the rest of the way.

When I took up running in 2012, I was very careful to choose routes in East Oxford that would avoid running down the hill. After all, what goes down must come up! As my runs got progressively longer, these proto-routes merged into what became my "standard run" -- a 12 km loop around the eastern portion of Oxford. This is all fine and good... but running the same route eventually gets dull. A few months ago, I broadened my horizons with runs that start by going down the hill in the first five minutes, then spend the rest of the workout running up a gentle gradient that takes me back home without ever needing to climb the steep hill.

This, too, was good. Tis a nice route and sometimes allows me to run past my darling miss_amaranth when she walks to work. Nothing wrong with this route -- or the original -- and I plan to continue using them both.

That said, I have been running for nearly eighteen months now. In my travels, I have encountered hillier locations than Oxford. My standard run in Tokai, Japan has a steep section; when visiting Mom in Staten Island, NYC in December, I also ran up a couple of hills (e.g., Forest Hill and Todt Hill) that I estimate are steeper than Headington Hill. Thus, on Monday I decided that the time to fear Headington Hill had passed. I would demystify the experience by taking the bull by the horns.

The route was simple to devise -- merely reversing my path would take me down a gentle gradient for 45 minutes, then up Headington Hill in the last 5 - 10 minutes of the run. And that, my friends, is precisely what I did.

Post run, I am actually very pleased with myself. As suspected, running the hill was far less difficult than I had once envisioned. Surprisingly enough, I made very good time for today's run, too. My overall pace was 5:24 for sixty minutes, which means that I ran 11.1 km in an hour. That doesn't break the current record (5:10), but it is faster than the average (about 5:30). Indeed, during the kilometer that included the hill, I still managed a pace of 5:31. Not too shabby!

I hate to say it, but methinks that there will be more running up Headington Hill in my future. It isn't fun, but it is doable... and it is good for me. Maybe I can aim to tackle nearby Shotover Hill sometime soon.

Thanks to all who responded to the previous entry. The comments were much appreciated. As a side note, I had tried to get last Thursday's seminar postponed by one week, until today, as I knew that we (i.e., the T2K collaboration) would be releasing new results this week. In retrospect, I am rather glad I did not succeed in moving my presentation, as RSD would not have lived long enough to see it. Tis an odd realisation, knowing that in a career spanning decades, my talk was the last physics seminar he ever saw.

That said, Monday's entry was also rather grim. I shall endeavour to correct for that now, by writing a much cheerier accounting of my Thursday morning.

This entry is being written, as so many have before it, from Ye Olde Oxford Tube, as I make my way into London for the "morning" commute. Tis noon, so you could be forgiven for thinking that your friendly neighbourhood Nomad has been having a bit of a lazy day. Not so, however!

This particular Nomad has been awake since half past six and busy as the proverbial bee. Although nothing world-shaking has happened [yet] today, the morning has been filled with various unusual events, some amusing and other rather satisfying. If you read on, dear friends, you will find nothing shocking or vital... but I hope that perhaps you will share some of my good feelings for today.

For ease of reading, I will break each part of the story into a separate chapter, concerning a different topic. Read only the ones that interest you, or read them all! Enjoy!

About to go shave. Is it wrong that I'm listening to the soundtrack from Sondheim's Sweeney Todd right now?[*]

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[*] In 2013, I saw 54 plays performed on stage, setting a new record for myself. Of these, the two that I enjoyed most were Titus Andronicus and Sweeney Todd. Both involve murdering people and baking them into meat pies. Should I be worried? (Should YOU?)