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: June 2013
For photographers and bird lovers
My wife found a whole page of glorious photos of this bird — the Taiwan (or Formosan) Blue Magpie, Urocissa caerulea, and I suddenly had an urge to travel to Taiwan. In the meantime, however, I’ll be happy with my … Continue reading
Posted in life, wildlife
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Geek moment
While watching Rizzoli & Isles last night, my wife hit the pause button to fetch something from the kitchen, leaving me in front of a static screen. In the scene, one of the police detectives was typing in commands to … Continue reading
Posted in humor
5 Comments
New word for me: argle-bargle
I didn’t bother reading Scalia’s dissenting opinion in yesterday’s DOMA decision, but after hearing about his creative word usage, I had to go back and check it out. This marks the first time I have ever searched a PDF for … Continue reading
Posted in language
8 Comments
The highlights of the DOMA decision
I was one of those people waiting by my computer at 10:00 EST — the moment that the decision on the challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act was announced — and downloaded the file as soon as I could … Continue reading
Posted in culture, history, politics, USA
7 Comments
Portuguese idiom of the day: Lança perfume
I just learned a new Portuguese idiom, courtesy of an old (well, 1986 counts as old nowadays, right?) Brazilian song: Lança perfume, which translates literally as “throw perfume.” It means to be charming or flirtatious. How great is that? I … Continue reading
Posted in culture, video
4 Comments
Wallpaper Monday
I love the name of this place: Doubtful Sound. That’s either a great band name, or the perfect title of a book. It’s on the South Island, New Zealand, a place that appears frequently in my fantasies about a long … Continue reading
Posted in wallpaper
3 Comments
Go here, and forget about being productive.
National Geographic has launched a new Tumblr, called “Found.” For every image published in the magazine over the past 125 years, many, many more were rejected for various reasons, dropped into archives, and never seen again. Now they are finding … Continue reading
Posted in culture, good news
3 Comments
Say “Cheese!”
UPDATE: This is July 19, not June 19. I must need new contact lenses. Get ready to smile next month! Was everybody in the US smiling at around 2:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time today? Because that’s when Cassini was taking … Continue reading
Posted in astronomy, science
5 Comments
Nano-suits
Electron scanning microscopes famously offer immense magnification, but with a similarly large caveat: anything being viewed must be in a vacuum. The machine uses a stream of electrons to take the magnified picture, and air molecules would interfere with that … Continue reading
Wallpaper Monday
Grand Teton National Park, early one morning in May. The park’s name actually refers to only one of the mountains in the Teton Range. Grand Teton was originally named Mount Hayden by some extremely unimaginative people who said, “Hey, you … Continue reading
Posted in wallpaper
8 Comments