Category Archives: The stupid, it burns

No fishing

Posted on 5 May 2012 by rpg

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Posted in London, Nonsense, The stupid, it burns | Tagged , | 5 Comments

On peer review, part 451 (b)

Posted on 7 April 2011 by rpg

I had a conversation on twitter last night with m’learned friend Nige, who runs the most ethical small business I know of. He pointed me at this blog post by Richard Smith at the BMJ, What is post publication peer … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Nonsense, The stupid, it burns | Tagged , | 14 Comments

On health and safety gorn mad

Posted on 26 March 2011 by rpg

The graduate student came running into the lab. “The centrifuge is on fire!” We’re talking quite a while ago now. The centrifuge, an old bench-top Heraeus, was a clunky old blue thing, top speed of about 5,000 rpm according to … Continue reading →

Posted in The stupid, it burns, wank | Tagged , | 10 Comments

On the lunatics, and the asylum

Posted on 6 November 2010 by rpg

We’re doomed, aren’t we? Herbal remedies are to be held to the same standards as other medicine. Naturally, the loonies are up in arms about this, possibly because paying for testing will eat into their profits. Their comments are at … Continue reading →

Posted in The stupid, it burns | 20 Comments

On boggling

Posted on 2 July 2010 by rpg

You know, I really hate to send traffic over to Pharyngula, because it’s rather tiresome and whatnot, but Henry Gee just alerted me to something quite extraordinary. There’s a lovely, well-crafted Futures this week (sorry, subscription required) by Shelly Li. … Continue reading →

Posted in The stupid, it burns | Tagged | 35 Comments

On advertising

Posted on 11 June 2010 by rpg

Now, we know that advertisers lie to us. It’s right there in the DNA. But here’s a little competition for you. This is (part of) an advert in this week’s Nature. Can you tell what made me so cross about … Continue reading →

Posted in Rants, The stupid, it burns | 18 Comments