People often ask me why I like living in Britain. There are a number of reasons but one of the biggest only became clear to me during the Opening Ceremonies a few days ago. I’ve often remarked that the people of the British Isles, dear and lovely though they may be, are also completely bonkers. … Continue reading
Author Archives: Caitlin McDonald
The Emergency Fund!
It was late at night. At the last minute I decided to go home instead of going out dancing with my friends. I hightailed it to a bus stop, but no bus arrived for quite a long time, long after the next three scheduled times. I gritted my teeth and hailed a taxi. On getting … Continue reading
Olympics in the Air
The Olympics is slowly starting to infiltrate my life. Traveling to and from work now, I pass lanes of traffic readied for Olympian visitors, I pass cones and checkpoints, and I pass the temporary huts and bus stops of the impending Media Village in Russell Square. Olympics volunteers have begun to appear as well, milling … Continue reading
Reading Britain
I went to the Writing Britain exhibition at the British Library recently. Really fascinating. The entrance was dramatic, with videos projected onto billowing sheets that called to mind sails and pages. How appropriate for a writing exhibition in an island nation. My favorite parts were the manuscripts and authors’ notebooks penned in their own hands. … Continue reading
Showing You the World: Data Visualization
Data visualization isn’t something most people get all het up about. This is a pity, though, because we live in a world that is swimming in a sea of data. More than at any time in the past, massive amounts of information are being collected, sorted, collated and used. Where is it getting used? Governments, … Continue reading
Proceed with Caution: the Dark Side of Data
So recently my life is full of tech talks. First I went to this Girl Geek Dinners Social and Economic Development Through Technology series of talks. I was a little nervous about going, actually, because it’s geared towards women in technology and I thought I might not be enough of a programmer to fit in. … Continue reading
The Infamous Oxford Toast Thief
Oxford, it seems, is purpose-built to befuddle me. I was there at a research methodology conference for two days (there will be a Serious blog later full of stuff about ethics and visualization of data and things; give me a few days to get the Serious hat back on). As I arrived on the first … Continue reading
Posh (the play)
After a truly indulgent day attending ‘Off the Shelf at Black’s’, a writing workshop at Black’s members club (for more upon which, stay tuned), I traipsed off to ‘Posh’ at the Duke of York’s Theatre. During the interval I remarked to a friend that it was a bit like the first half of ‘She Stoops … Continue reading
Watching and Listening
I find magic captivating. There is something about the illusion of rising beyond the mundane, the tantalizing imagined possibility of defying physics and chemistry and logic and even death that unfailingly draws me in. And it’s not just me: every seat at ‘Show and Tell’, Barry and Stuart’s show at the Bloomsbury Theatre was sold … Continue reading
The Colossus
It’s hard to imagine, now, a life before the internet. Of course I do in fact remember a life before the internet–I remember getting our very first home computer, setting it up out of the box. I remember the sound of the modem as we connected. Nothing like now–and that was less than 20 years … Continue reading
Caitiewrites 