This is not about Relativistic Electromagnetic Mass Models

But it is about a Dust Distribution Theory: MY Dust Distribution Theory.
And no, neither is it about charged dust. Unless that charge refers to its quality of making us discontent of having it around.

What am I talking about here? - The common house dust.
What about it? - I do have a Theory, more precisely a Distribution Theory. What I have been noticing in my observations is that:
1. Dust is much more visible when expecting someone's visit compared to days when such visits are not expected. That is to say that the visible distribution of dust is dependent on visitors.
2. Dust piles up much more quickly when I am busy doing some-important-thing else. That is to say that the speed of dust distribution is dependent on the density of my own schedule.
3. Lastly, the distribution of dust technically changes in situations where I am here by myself compared to those when I am here +n, where n>0, n being an integer number [not a fraction]. This is to be understood in the meaning that dust distributes differently [less visible, possibly more hidden] when I am here by myself, compared to situations when I am here in at least one other person's company [more visible, in the absence of any dust storms or other visible Dust Distribution events occurring].

Drawing the line here is formulating the Theory, namely: Dust distribution has its own will, and it has decided to act against me. It will increase visibility in shameful situations and subsequently decrease it when we're here by ourselves.
That's It, Dust! I said it, and now the World knows it! You've been exposed! [laughter ensues]

Getting the kicks out of Postcrossing

It's as easy as this to get me smiling:

[Postcrossing User] wrote you a message:
---------------
Hello [to me],

Thank you so much for your postcard. I love, love, love it! I went to a Degas exhibition in Rome when I first came over from Australia. I studied art for three years and he was one of my favourite artists. You read my mind.
Thanks again & Happy Postcrossing!

[Signature of receiver]
---------------

Want it? Say it!

Dear All,

As you probably know by now, it brings me great delight to send you cards of various sorts: this time, this is about them seasonal greetings.
A further [and possibly equally great] incentive are the brand new UNICEF cards, of which I've just purchased 2 sets but might get more in case of need.
So! To keep the long story short: Should you like to receive the seasonal greeting paper card this year, please say so: email me your postal address, and I will send. If you're reading this, it's more than likely that you already have my email address :)
-- should that not be the case, just leave a message :)

5a: 'Hooray, it's Paper Day!'

Recycling has never been quite so exciting: yesterday it was waking up to the long-awaited Thursday.
Why? - Because in this neighbourhood, paper [to be recycled] is only collected on Thursdays -- whereas plastic, for instance, is collected on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
And as if that hadn't been biased enough, Thursdays had also been forgetfulness days for... about 3 weeks now. Technically, that's only 2 weeks for me, since I was out of town on one of those occasions. In fact, can't really tell how this happened, as I recall quite distinctly thinking along the same lines ["Quinta: Hooray!/ It's Paper Day!"] on at least a few other preceding occasions, and still..
Well, not to worry, it's been taken care of this time!

Article of the Day: Jesus in England

Church of Scotland minister Dr Gordon Strachan makes the claim in a new film entitled And Did Those Feet.
The film examines the story of Jesus' supposed visit, which survives in the popular hymn Jerusalem.
Dr Strachan believes it is "plausible" Jesus came to England for his studies, as it was the forefront of learning 2,000 years ago.
"Coming this far wasn't in fact that far in the olden days," Dr Strachan told BBC Radio 4's The World At One. "The Romans came here at the same time and they found it quite easy."
Dr Strachan added that Jesus had "plenty of time" to do the journey, as little was known about his life before the age of 30. ...
Dr Strachan claimed Jesus Christ could have come to England to further his education.
"He needed to go around to learn to learn bits and pieces about ancient wisdom, and the druids in Britain went back hundreds if not thousands of years. He probably came here to meet the druids, to share his wisdom and gain theirs."

Full article on the BBC news: here.

Sé de Lisboa

Lisbon's cathedral .. stands stolidly on a slope overlooking the Baixa grid. Founded in 1150 to commemorate the city's reconquest from the Moors, it has a suitably fortress-like appearance .. and in fact occupies the site of the principal mosque of Moorish Lishbuna. Like so many of the country's cathedrals, it is Romanesque - and extraordinarily restrained in both size and decoration.

... You can .. access the thirteenth-century cloister. This is currently being heavily excavated, revealing the remains of a sixth-century Roman house and Moorish public buildings.

Such were the brief descriptions and suggestions the ever-reliable Rough Guide gave on visiting the Sé, and its reliability had hence been again proven [despite the lack of such a need]. Indeed, visiting the cloister is the best thing to do at Lisbon's Sé and, in its absence, the cathedral remains solemn and quiet in its solitude.
On the other side however, the cloister's side, there's light coming from above and the arches breed familiarity. Curiosity is as lively as ever and each little detail begs a new question.


[And, by the way, Why is this dead statue reading? Have you seen anything like it before? Any clues?]

The nearly 4h Skype talk:

.. was today. With my sister. The longest Skype talk [and VoIP, in general] that I've ever had. And it couldn't have been anyone else to have it with.

Tales from Outer Suburbia

It was back in June that I had initially decided to make a short note on this graphic novel; yet time passed and I was nowhere near to it.
What made it so difficult for me to write about Shaun Tan's? It is exactly that which makes his novel so special: Proper storytelling is not dependent on the age of the story's receiver: proper storytelling is an art in itself, it's magic storytelling. The Arabian Nights have always been a prime example for this.
And it's for this reason that

Tales from Outer Suburbia is a book for every human being you know, from the age of nine and up. It’s heartbreaking, and funny, and weird, and smart, and unlike any other book you’ve read up until this point in time. It’s what happens when someone tells you a dream they just had and you end up crying and laughing at the description all at once.[...]
In brief, each tale takes place (to some extent) in suburbia. Where people have lawns and bus stops and playgrounds. But it’s a suburbia where the peculiar is almost commonplace (though anything that shakes up the neighbours takes on a special glow). There are tales of water buffalos, rescued turtles, marriage quests, and a single nameless holiday. It’s the stuff that crawls around in your head when you're half asleep, and you could maybe even chalk it all up to subconscious ramblings if the stories didn’t make so much sense and didn’t linger in your head for quite so long. [...]

And what better display of the power of proper story telling than by careful crafting of all details in an ever-complementing combo with the graphics? It's a book to read over and over, and then to dream it, again.

Credits for the 2 images & full review go here.

Massive Attack @ Campo Pequeno: 21 Nov 2009

Who cares about them silly written rules? Well, I did.. Too bad: everyone else at Campo Pequeno last night had their cameras along!.. Nope, not me.. Why? - 'Twas written, on the ticket: express prohibition blah blah - So? No photos!
Well, let me tell you: Campo Pequeno was just as nice as I imagined it to be: liked the place and particularly liked the staff's manners - unexpectedly, all formal, all overly polite, all with their smiles on and such.

The opening act: Martina Topley-Bird was wearing the exact same red dress which you can see in the Wiki photo; had mixed impressions about it, having found the other band member - the Ninja-costumed one - funnier, and ... well, that sort of says it all. Tried to like about 2 tunes, enjoyed one.

Massive Attack: My first time seeing them live, and this includes a large amount of first time excitement. Generally liked the varying sound of tunes in their live versions, though the drums [2 sets of 'em] and bass were louder than what I was expecting; the keyboard was nice, but the longer tunes turned out confusing at times - mostly due to the acoustics of the place.
Bottom line: was happy to have been there, would be happier to see them again, in better conditions.

It's All about the Money, or more precisely about Who Really Won It

This story exists for its own sake. So this is how it needs to be told.
The short version is: Portuguese couple win the Euro-millions, then they break up. They are currently in Court.

The longer story is however better:
She keeps nagging him to play and finally they do: they're playing together; he pays for it [the equivalent of about EUR 6], she dictates the numbers to be played. He registers the ticket on his name.
Then, they win: 15 millions Euro, and this is where it's all getting much much funnier: She pays him back for the price of the ticket, but only EUR 2, and asks for the rest of the money [15 million - 2 Euro] for herself. He claims that, as he'd paid EUR 6, he should keep at least 2/3 of the sum [as he had only received 1/3 of the initial price back] and would give her the rest..

You may read the Portuguese version here.

This is not a movie script

Four people have been arrested in Peru on suspicion of killing dozens of people in order to sell their fat and tissue for cosmetic uses in Europe.
The gang allegedly targeted people on remote roads, luring them with fake job offers before killing them and extracting their fat.
The liquidised product fetched $15,000 (£9,000) a litre and police suspect it was sold on to companies in Europe.
At least five other suspects, including two Italian nationals, remain at large.
Police said the gang could be behind the disappearances of up to 60 people in Peru's Huanuco and Pasco regions.
One of those arrested told police the ringleader had been killing people for their fat for more than three decades.
The gang has been referred to as the Pishtacos, after an ancient Peruvian legend of killers who attack people on lonely roads and murder them for their fat.

Keep reading the rest on the BBC news.

Obviously, Today's News

L-R: Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, named the European Union's first president, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, and EU Commissioner for trade, British Catherine Ashton, chosen as EU foreign policy supremo, pose at a European Union summit at the European Council headquarters in Brussels.
(AFP/Georges Gobet)

From AFP, via Yahoo.

More stuck things [in Portugal]

So here's how the story goes: Let's assume you need to go somewhere, in Lisbon. By car. And you park it. [... time passes... ...] A while later, you get back to your car, and what do you see? Yeah, probably you'll take a second look. And think it over. ... But yes, it's true! The car's in rather than on the road.
... Wouldn't want to be you!

Credits for the photo go here.

Summer's Long Gone from Lx..

.. when the only way to get the laundry dry in less than 5 days [yet no sooner than 48h] is by using Faísca [Spark, the heater].

Almancil: Algarve: Portugal

Sometimes, Portuguese news can get quite exciting to watch. Take tonight, for instance: the guy above is a real person who's gotten stuck in the wall of a supermarket whilst trying to commit a robbery. For 10 hours. He started the operation at 9.00 pm. He was found at 7.00 am, the next day.

Now, what I'm wondering is: Why have the trousers fallen off? Was it part of his plan, or did someone else contribute to that? And how about the shoes, why take them off as well?.. You see, this shot really begs for your attention.. Any wild assumptions out there?

Credits go to the Correio de Manha: here.