navigating a BMW

Lucky me: I was given a lift the other evening in a rather flash, white, BMW. Its interior was a masterpiece of technical wizardry. The satellite navigation fully immersed me in BMW's version of Google maps. As a driver, I would worry about just two things: First, how to keep my eyes on the road and avoid looking only at the map display (which, my limited experience told me, did a pretty rubbish job of warning the driver when pedestrians crossed in front of us); and second, how to keep the maps up to date. My colleague is an expert, it just so happens, on eye movements during driving... so no doubt our luxurious vehicle was a justifiable (and charged) expense. As to the maps, apparently that is not a problem: "What I do when I want to update the map? I just get another one. Another car, that is." Evidently, I study the wrong kinds of eye movements.

sleepless in seattle

Yep. That's me. In Seattle. Sleepless. But... if anyone else is, and they want to find a really really good coffee shop, go to Milstead and Co (though it is a little out of the way, but so worth it). The coffee is almost as good as it is at La Colombe in Philadelphia (it's just a matter of taste really). Maybe I should open a coffee shop and abandon all pretence of being an academic... but probably, I should instead banish all such thoughts, and put them down to my unwanted state of sleeplessness.