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, grammar geek, and science fiction author, so the posts in this blog tend to be eclectic.
Click the “About” tab if that wasn’t quite enough detail — or go to my official author website.
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Recent Posts
- Hope, an unfamiliar emotion
- Pompeii takeout and American assumption
- Far Enough
- I have an issue with Netflix’s “Away”
- Now, about *that* topic
- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
- Alsea Rising: The Seventh Star is in the wild
- Alsea Rising is out and #1!
- Coming soon: Alsea Rising
- On his terms
- Beyoncé: Homecoming
- UPRISING and balance
- The brain radio
- Alsea lovers: This is the one you’ve been waiting for
- The chicken church
Recent Comments
- Fletcher DeLancey on Porto’s most famous bookstore
- pablohaake on Porto’s most famous bookstore
- Alberto on Throwing flowers
- Rael on Portuguese idiom of the day: Lança perfume
- Rael on Portuguese idiom of the day: Lança perfume
- Fletcher DeLancey on Hope, an unfamiliar emotion
- Miriam English on Hope, an unfamiliar emotion
Categories
Monthly Archives: April 2013
The spread of gurkor, pepinos and cucumbers
An etymology geek’s idea of fun: tracking the twists and shifts of a word throughout its “native” ranges. Portugal remains united in its embrace of pepino, but Spain seems to have a split personality. That Galicia would be French-influenced is … Continue reading
Posted in language
5 Comments
Wallpaper Monday
Wired featured a gorgeous shot of Enceladus as its Space Science image of the week last week: This face-on colour view of Enceladus was taken by the international Cassini spacecraft on 31 January 2011, from a distance of 81 000 … Continue reading
Posted in astronomy, science, wallpaper
2 Comments
Saturday picture show
Earlier this week, NASA released a greatest hits video of its Solar Dynamic Observatory, which has been watching the sun for three years. During those years, the Little Observatory That Could snapped images of the sun every 12 seconds, in … Continue reading
Posted in astronomy, science, video
3 Comments
“Oh YEAH!” news of the day
I do love a story like this one from Dubai: A bus driver who tried to rape a passenger at knifepoint chose the wrong victim, a court heard yesterday. The woman, an off-duty US navy sailor, knocked the knife from … Continue reading
Posted in good news
2 Comments
Wringing out water on the ISS
If you have not already seen this video, stop now and watch it. It will answer the question you never knew you needed answered: What happens when you wring out a wet washcloth in space? My nerdly little heart went … Continue reading
Posted in science, video
8 Comments
Last day in London
On our final full day in London, we hopped a Thames Clipper and headed downstream. The catamarans are so smooth on the water that even my mom had no issues, and my dad was happy as a clam out on … Continue reading
Posted in travel
3 Comments
Probation violation
I just ran across an article in my news feeds that caught my attention, and not in a good way. A Philadelphia couple – serving 10 years’ probation for the 2009 death of their toddler after they turned to prayer … Continue reading
Posted in culture
11 Comments
Wallpaper Monday
Local photographer makes good: Portland reader Paulo alerted me to this Astronomy Picture of the Day, which was taken by his friend, and which is undeniably gorgeous. That eerily moonlit cloud hovering near Mt. Hood (Oregon) is a lenticular cloud, … Continue reading
Kew flowers
For some reason, all of our previous trips to London have been in the dead of winter. This time we managed to arrive in early spring, and were thus treated to the spring bulb display at Kew Gardens. I have … Continue reading
Posted in travel, wildflowers
10 Comments
Good news
Jeez, this has been an awful week for my home nation. The Boston Marathon bombing, the Texas fertilizer plant explosion, and now the Senate Republicans’ sneering, in-your-face proof that a 90% American public preference and a 54-vote Senate majority still … Continue reading
Posted in politics, video
8 Comments