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2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001

News of a publicly communicable nature are relatively rare events in my life (and any others would surely not appear here). In addition, I have no intention of keeping a public inventory, or 'blog', of my day-to-day trivial pursuits. Nonetheless, here are some random rants and a few pointers to current affairs:

2004 New life calls for a new format: Latest news are now available as pixel quickies. >>

November 2003

Once again, I've made the journey over the big pond — this time to take up a research position at the newly founded Cognitive Science Department of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. At the moment, I'm very busy to get my feet on the ground, i.e. assimilating to the new environment and getting started on what feels like a great job. But thanks to the help of many kind people (a great research group, friendly colleagues, wonderful students and lovely neighbours) the adaptation has not been a difficult one so far.
First impressions from my new environment. For more pictures, please visit our research group website.

August 15, 2003

Much in motion, too little time... The scheduled disintegration of my domestic life has begun: I've sold my car and most of my furniture, and the rest of my belongings are currently lost in container limbo between the UK, Germany, Switzerland and the US. For a while, I'll be staying at the sunny & beautiful Lake Constance (directly at the Swiss/German border). Unfortunately, I won't have much of a chance to enjoy the sunny weather and beautiful surroundings, except for the occasional swim in the lake. If you want to contact me or need my present mail address: I'm best reached by email, which I'll check at least once a day.

My stuff taking off: Humps either way (but not my car) ...

May 1, 2003

Back in Cardiff after some delightful Easter days in Switzerland. Cardiff in May? Check out this weather forecast (and note the fine distinctions between degrees of precipitation). Fortunately, PhDs are mainly conceived indoors.

April 2003

Good news (at least as far as I'm concerned): I've accepted a post-doc position with Wayne Gray at the new Cognitive Science Department of Rensselaer. Hence, I now have a really good reason to finish up my PhD — and to not waste any more time on this site.

February 4, 2003

Although the re-installation of my operating system (of my PC, that is) has been looming on the fringes of my mental radar for a while, it still hit me badly when what was meant to be a simple upgrade evolved into a two-day nightmare. After a real hard- and software armageddon (and the acquisition of a CPU fan that sounds just like a reincarnated jet-engine) I'm finally operational again, though the restoration of my fairly idiosyncratic software environment will take a few days. As for myself, I really wish I could just hit Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot my mind — but hopefully a visit to the gym will take care of that. For all compassionate souls plagued by perpetual computer problems, here are some soothing haikus:

A crash reduces your expensive computer to a simple stone. Yesterday it worked, today it is not working. Windows is like that. First snow, then silence. A thousand dollar screen dies so beautifully. The code was willing, it considered your request, but the chip was weak. The web site you seek cannot be located but countless more exist. Abort your efforts, close all that you have. You ask way too much. A folder that big? It might be very useful, but now it is gone. With searching comes loss and the presence of absence: "my thesis" — not found. Serious error, all shortcuts have disappeared. Screen. Mind. Both are blank. Chaos reigns within, reflect, repent, and reboot. Order shall return. Note: Some of these haikus are attributed to a certain Dan Cooper, though probably not this one.

January 8, 2003

New year, no solution. But hey: my expertise is in problem solving... And, just to forstall all understandable misunderstandings: Life's great!

January 5, 2003

New year's resolution: Stop wasting time — and trust that other targets (e.g., 'be a better person', 'gain fame & prosperity', 'achieve world peace', 'discover the meaning of life' etc.) will follow.

2003 | 2002 | 2001