Carcassonne, the city from another world

Carcassonne just had to be the first stop of my summer vacation. After reading about it in books both fictional and nonfictional and seeing one picture of the cite I was hooked. What a place this is... The 19th century restoration of the fortress definitively paid off, and a "medieval city/fortress spirit" is captured despite the hordes of tourists passing through the place every day. Then, of course, this is a place mostly for tourists today, albeit an amazingly beautiful one. Seen from the river Aude the ancient city seems to be floating high up in the sky... and close up the fortifications are overwhelming. Already looking forward to postprocess the photographs later at home... :)

The Mathematical Secret of Viking Jewellery

One of the really valuable online resources for a physicist who wants to extend his horizon every now and then is the arXiv blog - picking out the gems from the hundreds of daily fresh preprints. Today, the blog editors have found a really nice one again. "The Mathematical Secret of Viking Jewellery" points us to an article connecting Viking gold and silver bracelets with the theory of maximally twisted wires. "Hidden Beauty in Twisted Viking Neck Rings", arxiv:1008:4306. Worth a look!