Diversions Manifold

Caffeine doesn't taste of anything. Extracted, it's a tasteless, dull white powder that has some resale value for caffeine pills and caffeinated drinks thanks to its stimulant properties. In other words, it doesn't add anything to the taste of coffee. As everything else in this world, it is a chemical, one that can be analysed and understood - and can therefore be targeted by other chemicals or processes for removal from its carrier. The most interesting carrier of caffeine is, of course, coffee. Whilst tea is a culturally vital plant that also contains caffeine (roughly half the quantity of coffee when comparing the the drinks), coffee has a deeper culture of drinking for stimulation of the body rather than of conversation. Decaffeination , whether by carbon filter or using solvents such as methylene chloride or ethyl acetate (the latter of which exists in fruits such as apples and pears, leading some marketers to refer to a "natural" decaffeination process),

I play trombone with the Musikfreunde Symphony orchestra in Heidelberg. We rehearse and perform along the university semester cycle, which leads to some intense periods of music; a welcome insight into the world of the musician, without having to be one. This semester we have been working on Dvorak's 9th Symphony, "From the New World", alongside Mussorgsky's "Night on Bare Mountain" and Bruch's Violin Concerto (no use putting any numbers there; he doesn't seem to have written anything else worth performing). We recently had a rehearsal weekend, immersing ourselves in music, and our first two concerts, successfully dispatched in Langenselbold (no, I had no idea, either) and Freiburg. Tomorrow night is our final, crowning concert in the Heidelberg Stadthalle. I want to write a little bit about the Dvorak. For me, it's easy to dismiss - it's popular, for a start, which always makes me suspicious - and even as I tried to disregard its popula

A few days ago I took part in my third BASF Firmencup at the Hockenheim Ring. It was my best so far, 25'29 for the 4.8 km track, a two minute improvement over last time, yet leaves me with an obvious goal for next year, to beat 25 minutes. Where does that stand in relation to the best runners? Well, the best in our group ran it in 19 minutes, and he was 200th or so. I was 2500th, give or take, and there were around 12000 participants, so I didn't do too badly. I definitely felt fitter than the previous two times, and I had more energy. Energy was the biggest realisation from 2010. That year I had trained reasonably well, but I made the mistake of eating nothing other than an energy bar from lunchtime. This year I ate well at lunchtime, but kept munching at various intervals (I was at work, it being a Wednesday). I also made sure that I was well stocked for the bike ride from Heidelberg Pfaffengrund, where I work, to the Hockenheim Ring. 2011 was also my first "race&

My stance on energy is an open one: I am for a mix of available technologies. Oil will remain a key component of transportation energy for years to come Coal should be wound down (very slowly) Gas and shale gas are interesting agents for energy balancing Nuclear should be the key base energy driver Renewables should be part of the mix but should nor cannot become dominant sources Local energy (on houses or in communities) are interesting distractions from the energy requirements of whole countries Efficiency drives are necessary (and result in fascinating technological challenges in themselves) but should not return us to the dark ages I will come back to each of these as I develop my own knowledge base. My key sources of information are the now classic Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air by Prof David MacKay and Prof Barry Brook's Brave New Climate blog, which was a key resource for me in becalming the media panic that surrounded the Fukushima Dai-ichi crisis.

I wish... somebody had taught me how to breath much earlier; how important the body is to playing; that the lips are the gateway to the trombone, but that the work is done much earlier; how important the mind is to playing; how important relaxation is to playing; that the instrument should be brought up to my posture, not the other way around. These things I now realise and know intellectually, but they are not innate. Does it matter? Well, I am where I am with orchestra, and I don't necessarily need to be at a higher level... But I do dream of it sometimes. We can all dream.

My business trips are now rare in comparison to how things were a few years ago. I count myself lucky as this dip has coincided nicely with starting a family. So from monthly trips to Asia and almost weekly trips to Germany from the UK, I now occasionally fly to Italy to meet suppliers and drive around Germany meeting customers. And read bedtime stories. This week I ended up on a more unusual trip, to Dacia in Romania, to discuss some issues that they have been having in production. It was to have been a relatively relaxed journey, flying to Bucharest from Frankfurt airport early in the afternoon to stay in an airport hotel until my colleague from Turkey arrived early the next morning. Alas, though, systems happened. We have the Egencia travel booking system at work; it is the business version of Expedia. Egencia turned out to be a nightmare for rapid turnaround travel as it has an - in itself eminently sensible - approval system built in. The problem is that these approvals nee

Blogging is an art form. Examples abound of it being produced spectacularly well and spectacularly badly; as with all other art forms, it requires a certain discipline with quality control. So, with me swyping this entry on a mobile phone, can I do justice to the artistic endeavour? Surprisingly, yes. Whilst it is more difficult to see the overall picture or flow of what is being written, and more care is required for the input itself, if I can take time and care over it, saving it, re-reading it, tweaking it, then there is no reason for this document to end up qualitatively different to a blog written with a fountain pen and paper. I don't subscribe to the view that the care required for input amplifies the care taken in pre-selecting the word about to be written. Much more important is having the time available to concentrate on the content and avoiding distractions; even better than merely time is multiple times. The factor that most limits blog entries such this on my Mo

I came across this poem whilst researching for Diversions Manifold (research meaning the desparate search for inspiration for the name). But yield who will to their separation, My object in living is to unite My avocation and my vocation As my two eyes make one in sight. Only where love and need are one, And the work is play for mortal stakes, Is the deed ever really done For heaven and the future´s sakes. —Robert Frost, Two Tramps in Mud Time, st. 9

 I to do too many things without devoting sufficient time to any one of them to become particularly good at it. Business, engineering, playing trombone, biking, singing, being a Dad, being a husband - and now blogging. So why should I harbour this conceit of publishing my thoughts? And why should you want to read them? The answer to the first is fairly clear - I want to force myself to think again, something that I have not truly done since university. Egotistically, I want to push the results of these thoughts onto the web in order to force myself to find the right words, and to get as close as I can to a truth, however limited. To the second question - why should you read this - I hope you have the answer. My hope is that some of what I write strikes a chord of recognition, a feeling of “Mitmensch” - being related in this form of humanity - and that it creates a little frisson of expectation that more is to come. Perhaps we share some interesting thoughts, perhaps we're pole