Though words can describe beautifully, they can never capture all the nuances of a picture. Pictures say more than a thousand words, but is everything a picture says necessarily true? One of the classes I remember the best from my time at Emrys ap Iwan was one on interpreting historical paintings. Observing bias and point of view, political agenda etc. I tried teaching this to some of my students during the time I spent at Tyrifjord Skole, in Norway, this spring - with little success. I do blame this at least in part on not having enought time....
Biathlon is the one sport I actually follow dedicatedly enough to watch most major competitions. Since Biathlon isn't exacly widespread in Britain I watch the races at
http://eurovision2.feedroom.com/?&fr_chl=28f50f88ca97c97431107a5b9e494d75454fca83The IBU streams the video feed, that goes out to all the TV channels, on their website for free. Although I don't get the commentary, half of what commentators say is rubbish anyway - so I don't really mind. After watching today's men's relay I came across a picture I couldn't help but laugh at. The picture shows the French team that won second place behind the Norwegians. The French biathletes are known for their great team spirit, often describing themselves as a big family. The two on the left are the brothers Simon and Martin Fourcade, with Vincent Defrasne and Vincent Jay to their right. Although the scene depicted no doubt is one in which the brothers and Defrasne share a joke, as Jay takes a thoughtful moment to himself; the picture might well have been analysed differently had one not already watched this scene on TV. The picture seems to be telling the story of three bullies making fun of the new kid at the bus stop - Jay playing his part perfectly with his downward gaze. Martin at the back is the instigator, with Simon and Defrasne as his accomplices. Great team spirit indeed, families at their best...
Immanuel Kant once wrote "Science is organised knowledge. Wisdom is organised life." Upon reading this my first thought is that scientists are not organized. It seems a little strange that people so infatuated with order and logic are inclined to live in such disarray. Though there are exceptions, I am definitely not one of them. When I arrived in my room on Evelyn Gardens Saturday night, it took me no more than fifteen minutes to cover my desk with papers, books, phones, calculators, folders, food, keys, saucepans etc. Now, I must add that I have seen rooms far worse than mine, like in the picture above for instance. Perhaps scientists, exhaust their potential for being organized at work and make up for it at home; or is there something inherently attractive about science to disorganised people? 
