About Oregon Expat
Sometimes the best view is from the outside, and an American expatriate living in Portugal is, in many ways, outside of both nations. The views can be spectacular. I'm also a science nerd, Mac dweeb, and grammar geek, so the posts in this blog tend to be eclectic.
Click the "About" tab if that wasn't quite enough detail.
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Recent Posts
- Gecko tail update
- Nat Geo on the veranda
- Three minutes of art
- Portugal wildfire (we’re okay)
- Alien: Covenant review
- A must read: “My Family’s Slave”
- Curmudgeons
- Dia da Liberdade (Freedom Day)
- Nat Geo moment
- Song of Saturday
- Innovative teachers (subtitle: Ryanair is the Scrooge McDuck of airlines)
- Strange weather
- No good deed goes unpunished
- Raise your hand if you remember the modem dial-up tone
- Rogue One review
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Monthly Archives: October 2012
The travesty of Halloween…
…as viewed by Henri, the French existential cat. (hat tip to Power Wench)
Posted in humor
3 Comments
The unsung heroes of Sandy
While going through the avalanche of Sandy news today — the flooding, the power outages, the destroyed homes, the fires — I only came across three references to a fact that for me had stood out above all others: that … Continue reading
Posted in politics, science, USA
6 Comments
Wallpaper Monday
Remember when aerial views of storms consisted of pixellated radar scans on the local TV channel’s weather forecast? Maybe I’m dating myself here, but I’m still goggled by the kinds of images we routinely get on our computers these days. … Continue reading
Posted in science, USA, wallpaper
7 Comments
The brain works in mysterious ways
Earlier this week, I was driving down the highway and listening to the radio when the DJ tossed out a morning quiz: Which song were these lyrics from? In a monotone, he read out the words, “It’s gonna take time, … Continue reading
Posted in life, video
5 Comments
An ad too far
I’ve been watching the US election cycle with a wary eye, grateful for my distance from it (US elections mean a constant, unrelenting bombardment of TV and radio ads, yard signs, highway billboards, mail flyers — and total misery for … Continue reading
Posted in politics, USA, video
8 Comments
Fool enough to stand in the rain
We’ve been having torrential rains lately, which is typical of the drought-breaking autumn rains. Yesterday was no exception, but after a morning torrent it seemed to dry out, despite the layer of clouds. I put on my shoes to head … Continue reading
Posted in life, Portugal
10 Comments
Headline of the day (hint: it involves beetles and poo)
Wired has a short but charming article on the recent discovery, by researchers at South Africa’s Wits University, that dung beetles have an interesting method of thermoregulation. Those of you who are geeks probably already know that dung beetles got … Continue reading
Posted in science
5 Comments
One more time: Endeavor’s LA drive
Endeavor’s landing at Los Angeles International Airport wasn’t the end of her final journey. She still had to get to the California Science Center, 20 kilometers away, and there was only one way to do it: driving down the streets … Continue reading
Posted in science, tech, USA, video
5 Comments
Wallpaper Monday
This gorgeous Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Milky Way, the Tre Cime di Lavaredo peaks of the Italian Alps, and…airglow. Unlike aurorae powered by collisions with energetic charged particles and seen at high latitudes, airglow is due to … Continue reading
Posted in wallpaper
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Kite ballet
This one’s for pure fun: a master kite flyer named Ray Bethell makes not one, not two, but three kites dance a ballet to “The Flower Duet” from the opera Lakmé. His control over the kites seems effortless, and the … Continue reading
Posted in life, video
7 Comments
