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Day nine of the George Orwell Tea Challenge. It's getting easier all the time. Five days to go, though I may well switch back to sugar when it is done.
Meanwhile, the breathtakingly beautiful and highly intelligent![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
frogcastle observed that if the results from the tea challenge may be inconclusive if I do not follow all eleven golden rules that George outlined for making "a nice cup of tea." In order to make the test as reliable as possible, I have switched from Earl Grey to Assam, so as to satisfy Orwell's rule about using Indian or Ceylonese tea, rather than tea from China. Likewise, although I use an electric kettle instead of a fire, I am trying to be careful about pouring only boiling water into the cup. And I am adding the milk to the tea now, instead of vice versa. In other ways, though, I am failing some of Orwell's rules. For instance, I do make my tea in small quantities... but in a personal mug, not a teapot. So his ideas about warming the pot first don't seem to apply. Also, I use teabags instead of loose tea.
Changing topics entirely, I want to just say that I started work this week on Sunday evening, when I refilled liquid helium into the Kelvinox-400 cryostat. Thus, even though it is only Tuesday, good progress has been made already. I got the fridge cold yesterday... and today I have been boldly going forward on where things were left off when I came to the States last month. In fact, things are going so well that it appears I will be taking a break from hardware work tomorrow to actually do some analysis... for the first time in I don't even want to think about how long!
My only regret is that it would be unwise to talk about the details of the work here. Although they are not classified or confidential, they are not suitable for the public domain, either. When I was Stateside last month, I enjoyed being able to explain the details of what I am working on with some of you, face to face. Going further may require waiting until my October trip to the States... or maybe just some private phone calls and e-mails.
But, yeah, work is going well. And that makes this little Oxonian a very happy camper!
Now if only the damn weather here would stop being cold (highs perpetually in the mid-60s), cloudy, and rainy. Summer seems to have skipped England this year.
Meanwhile, the breathtakingly beautiful and highly intelligent
frogcastle observed that if the results from the tea challenge may be inconclusive if I do not follow all eleven golden rules that George outlined for making "a nice cup of tea." In order to make the test as reliable as possible, I have switched from Earl Grey to Assam, so as to satisfy Orwell's rule about using Indian or Ceylonese tea, rather than tea from China. Likewise, although I use an electric kettle instead of a fire, I am trying to be careful about pouring only boiling water into the cup. And I am adding the milk to the tea now, instead of vice versa. In other ways, though, I am failing some of Orwell's rules. For instance, I do make my tea in small quantities... but in a personal mug, not a teapot. So his ideas about warming the pot first don't seem to apply. Also, I use teabags instead of loose tea.Changing topics entirely, I want to just say that I started work this week on Sunday evening, when I refilled liquid helium into the Kelvinox-400 cryostat. Thus, even though it is only Tuesday, good progress has been made already. I got the fridge cold yesterday... and today I have been boldly going forward on where things were left off when I came to the States last month. In fact, things are going so well that it appears I will be taking a break from hardware work tomorrow to actually do some analysis... for the first time in I don't even want to think about how long!
My only regret is that it would be unwise to talk about the details of the work here. Although they are not classified or confidential, they are not suitable for the public domain, either. When I was Stateside last month, I enjoyed being able to explain the details of what I am working on with some of you, face to face. Going further may require waiting until my October trip to the States... or maybe just some private phone calls and e-mails.
But, yeah, work is going well. And that makes this little Oxonian a very happy camper!
Now if only the damn weather here would stop being cold (highs perpetually in the mid-60s), cloudy, and rainy. Summer seems to have skipped England this year.
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