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The past few days, after eResearch, I've spent with Victoria S., in a Christchurch suburb. It's a decided change of pace, affording me plenty of opportunity to be both reflective and beaver away at various projects related to work and academic pursuits. It also provided the opportunity to compose a few words on the return of Trump to the presidency and the rise of the far-right in the Western world, much of which has already been confirmed by actual events. For obvious reasons, I am particularly concerned about the upcoming German elections and the capture of the Liberal Party in Australia by the hard right. Yesterday was also the anniversary of the extinction of the Bramble Cay Melomys, an initiative inspired by Guardian cartoonist "First Dog on the Moon", and an issue that I will continue to bring up each and every year. The Anthropocene Extinction is a reality, with extinction rates two to three orders of magnitude greater than the background rate. Wildlife has been pushed into a corner by human activities, and if politics isn't worrying enough the future of the environment is even worse.
These grim reflections stand in stark contrast to my experiences of the past several days. Victoria has been a superb host and has catered wonderfully to their international visitor. The peacefulness of their home was complemented with visits to the Christchurch art gallery (which had an excellent display of lino-cuts), museum (a "pop-up" version as the main one is being refurbished), and the port town of Lyttleton. Work-wise I have been concentrating on integrating various lessons from the Software and Data Carpentries teams as examples in a high performance computing environment, as well as extending the contacts I made at eResearch New Zealand, especially among the bioinformaticians. Attending that conference made me remember how much I enjoy being in the community of scholars; the earnestness of nerds on important topics is certainly my preferred company. Speaking of which, an artistic confession: my increasing interest in the fine arts has led me to take up, and dive quite deeply, into two not-for-degree studies, specifically "Fundamentals of Music Theory" from the University of Edinburgh and "Modern & Contemporary American Poetry" from the University of Pennsylvania. While climatology is my love and deepest concern, if I can find some small escape of happiness in this world, it will be through the arts.
These grim reflections stand in stark contrast to my experiences of the past several days. Victoria has been a superb host and has catered wonderfully to their international visitor. The peacefulness of their home was complemented with visits to the Christchurch art gallery (which had an excellent display of lino-cuts), museum (a "pop-up" version as the main one is being refurbished), and the port town of Lyttleton. Work-wise I have been concentrating on integrating various lessons from the Software and Data Carpentries teams as examples in a high performance computing environment, as well as extending the contacts I made at eResearch New Zealand, especially among the bioinformaticians. Attending that conference made me remember how much I enjoy being in the community of scholars; the earnestness of nerds on important topics is certainly my preferred company. Speaking of which, an artistic confession: my increasing interest in the fine arts has led me to take up, and dive quite deeply, into two not-for-degree studies, specifically "Fundamentals of Music Theory" from the University of Edinburgh and "Modern & Contemporary American Poetry" from the University of Pennsylvania. While climatology is my love and deepest concern, if I can find some small escape of happiness in this world, it will be through the arts.
