(no subject)

Wow, I've acclimated to Amsterdam winters. The "feel like" temp. is -3 celsius, and boy was it cold walking back to the office! My ears are all tingly. This is around the coldest it's gotten (during the day) this winter.

We just got back from Nick's Ph.D. defense. All Ph.D. defenses at the UvA are held in the Oude Lutherse Kerk in the center of the city. The defenses are held in the main cathedral part of the church, so while the pews have all been replaced with theatre chairs (with fold-up desks if you want), up in the blacony is this HUGE organ, and there's fancy gold chandeleirs with fake candles, and the entire space is just very impressive. Combined with the robes and the hats and the official phrases in Dutch and Latin, this is definitely a serious occassion. It was in arrangement very much like the one in Leiden that I went to, except that Nick and his two paranymphs were both in full dress tuxedos with tails. It looked more like a wedding than a defense, at first. :)

Definitely neat. I look forward to when it's my turn to be standing up there before everyone - though I doubt I'll be in a tux. :)

(no subject)

Any fundamental Christian who believes that faith can only come at the expense of reason needs to shut up and read Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, and all the other early logico-theologicians before they continue poisoning other people's minds.