Spaced out

Went with Tim to seminar by one of the astronauts who did not get killed in the Columbia incident last year. He was still up on the space station at the time. Have to say, it was pretty awesome. I'm talking about the talk, not the space shuttle crash. I got to see videos of him eating tea with chopsticks. Which just goes to show that given the right circumstances, anything edible can be made easier with chopsticks. He was the ultimate geek-nerd which was quite refreshing. A lot of things were cool because they'd be in our textbooks. Don't know whether the convection rates of a soldering iron in a 200-micron thick slice of water (seems you can do anything in space) came up in any of my lectures, but I was there incognito.

I can do incognito. I fact, I can be rather stealthy. Those that saw my actions as a ninja would disagree and I think most people would acknowledge that I am the world's least skilled ninja. My poor ninja skills do not necessarily mean I am un-stealthy. I can creep up on people without trying and I'm pretty sure I'm going to give one of my flatmates a heart attack. Not, you understand, that I'm trying to.

Speaking of incognito, Reagan died. CNN has run an article showing how this will help Bush.
'The first two factors [Iraq resolution + more jobs] alone probably would have helped to stabilize President Bush's poll numbers. But as June turns into July, expect Bush to benefit significantly from a third and unpredicted factor -- President Reagan's remembrance.'

'Unpredicted?' I think not. But apparently it might swing Reagan democrats to vote for someone else who is not aware of what is going on around him.

Cuba is apparently drilling for more oil in the Gulf of Mexico. At the moment it drills about 600,000 barrels each day. If it strikes oil in the Gulf, this alone could go up to 1.2 million barrels - significantly more than some Arab countries. BBC World suggested (I can't find the story on the web) that this could help ease tensions between Cuba and the U.S. I'd suggest that Castro keep and eye out for those dodgy, stealthy types. And American soldiers.