VWXYNot? Comment(s) of the week:
Nina and Grant for the following exchange: Nina: "Life should be a conference, everyone wearing nametags all the time, with their first name, last name, nickname, country of origin and country of residence. Birthdate optional."
Grant: Nina, I’m sure tech types will suggest we’ll all be bumping cell phones to exchange names in a few years. (Eurgh.)
One more: you know that thing where the person can’t quite read your name tag and leans in close over your chest to read it…
Nina: "ok, how about tattooing your name onto your forehead?"
Grant: "How about a sub-dermal name implant invisible when not active that glows when triggered by trained neural signals beaming your name to the people opposite you?
Failing that we could all wear electrode scalp caps that carry a flip up sign… (Taking as my cue the brain-computer interfaces emotiv and others are marketing.)"
[NB as a chronic tartler, I approve of all the above methods]
Alyssa for "It’s cloudy again
We see it’s cold and dreary
But – we have windows!!!"
Ricardipus for "Bugger me, the grant’s
Finally done. Thank goodness.
Now back to fun stuff."
Bean-mom for "I just clicked on the article on circular RNAs–I’d seen the headline earlier but hadn’t yet read it–and just as I expected, I’m all WTF?! MicroRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, now we’ve got circular RNAs. . . I feel like someone should just write a review titled, “RNA: WTF?”"
Nina again for "edit: my advisor has improved his standing desk further by standing on a wooden board that balances on a small (but sturdy) plastic tube, to make him wobble while standing, so to keep working those balancing muscles, or something like that. The tube comes from one of my experiments. I will miss that “wtf I’ll create my own standing desk – pilates work-out” attitude, I must admit."
Bob O'H for "Reminds me of my youth playing boardgames. There was one called Civilisation, which a friend described as “almost as long as the real thing”."
Chall "it surely looks like the Leafs MIGHT go to play offs for the first time in 7 years…. if I didn’t jinx it by saying it here of course. That said, I find myself wondering how bad it will be to end 5th place if Boston stays 4th. It sort of feels better to play the 3rd (Capitals right now) than Bruins but right now I’ll settle for PLAYOFFS and miracle :)"
[the Leafs making the playoffs is a miracle indeed]
KJHaxton for "Good question! I’d put:
– occasional baker of cakes for meetings
– fair to moderate tolerance for bullshit
– low tolerance for unfairness and willing to get very cross about it (folds arms and glowers at the screen)
– best selection of tea bags in desk drawer (8 kinds at last count)
– prone to wearing scarves and shirts that don’t match
Ah well, I’m not sure I’d find a new job on the basis of those :)"
Ricardipus again for "Pros:
- rarely swears in public
- has few friends, so unlikely to have loud, belly-laughing conversations on phone or in person
- capable of speaking at length about (a) race cars, (b) cameras, or (c) bad science
Cons:
- occasionally swears in public
- has few friends, so likely to have poor social interactions with co-workers
- capable of speaking at length about (a) race cars, (b) cameras, or (c) bad science
I’d also probably include “easily suckered into serving on irrelevant committees” into each category, too."
Bean-mom again for "–Friendly.
–Doesn’t bake, but if you have a potluck I’ll bring killer spring rolls (both crispy fried pork ones, and the vegetarian fresh rice-paper ones).
–Doesn’t bake, but husband bakes. Occasionally, you may be a recipient of his talent.
–Will cheerfully listen to other people’s dramas, but won’t cause any of my own. Not at work, anyway."
and Nina yet again for "As I may have mentioned before, I’m pretty sure my cv point “Love baking (chocolate) cakes” earned me my PhD position, and it definitely often raised questions in interviews (“so, how often do you bake cake? What kind of chocolate do you use?”)"
Post(s) of the Week: Beth Snow for "Modern conveniences" (how on earth did we survive, let alone study and write theses, before Skype and cloud computing?!)
Steve Caplan for "Science education: the generalist vs the specialist" (are 3 year or 4 year degrees better for students?)
Bean-mom for "Leaving scientific research... again" (science SUCKS sometimes)
Eva Amsen, writing at the Occam's Typewriter Irregulars for "The two ideas to fix the gender balance that do not make me cringe" (the panel pledge and the Finkbeiner test)
Bob O'Hara for "Making reviewing boring stuff less boring" (would a stripped-down manuscript format work better for the, um, less exciting papers out there?)
Alyssa for "Just the pants, thanks" (absolutely hilarious take on the modern clothes shopping experience)
Eva Amsen again for "My self-updating address book" (how LinkedIn can be useful)
CromerCrox for "Plagues" (how's God been cursing you lately?)
Prof-like Substance for "If you don't talk to your kids about it someone else will" (anticipating school-yard talk about religion and other big issues)
and CromerCrox again for "Conferences" (the problem of sexism at conferences)
Archives:
October 2008 - March 2009; April 2009 - September 2009; October 2009 - March 2010; April 2010 - September 2010; October 2010 - February 2011; March 2011 - September 2011; October 2011 - March 2012; April 2012 - September 2012; October 2012 - March 2013; April 2013 - September 2013
Some of these are too easy. But to start,Food – chain – reaction
Dry – ICE – age
All three statements are correct
- and YEAH for it being quiz-friday again!
And of course the imaginary answers are1: martini, 2: University (it's in Oz)3: computer (the computer fish is a more evolved electric eel)4: IO (yes, that moon does have life on it)5: DOD, 6: Stupidity (political science), 7: trousers, 8: money (as in "a fuel and his money are easily divided"), 9: jazz, 10 is rover
Strobe – LIGHT – waveAnd guess what my first association for no. 3 was:Binary – BABEL – fish:-)
Geez, there's always one person who doesn't read the rules and posts all the answers!Sorry Makita, I deleted your comment, and I'm hoping everyone else who saw it can pretend they didn't
Pika is right! But the wrong answers are much more amusing!
6. Perpetual Motion SicknessIck. What a concept.
Right!BTW, not all of Makita's answers were correct, so those who saw them can keep guessing!Still laughing at clean trousers / trouser temperature.
10. Land MASS spectrometer
You are correct!I have to go to work. Please play nicely!
5. Heavy Water Table
Yes indeedy!
It's more than an hour since my last comment, so I think it is ok to play again now, yes? I have:9. Common COLD fusion
And Pika takes the lead!
Fuel Cell Division Which would as a whole make a nice administrative subunit in some national lab or other, I think.
Oooooooh, and I figured out the Binary Fish!!!!! Lemme see, it's 10:03 AM.
Hmm, there might be a Nobel in that!I wonder if anyone will pip you to the post on the binary fish one… stay tuned!
binary STAR fish!!!
Ack! I know the last one too!! Must set alarm…
Sorry Schlupp, the astronomer beat you to it!
darn, I missed it was quiz Friday… well, I'd give the last one a go…clean ROOM Temperature?
…and that's a wrap, folks!Pika and Alyssa share the honours on this one. Thanks to everyone who played!
No fair, some of us actually have to do IMPORTANT things like drive to work, dress, drink coffee, oh and feed small child before we can get onto our blogs. THose damn EST folks have a head start.
Cath> woho!
SM> I hear you. I didn't get here until after lunch 
..imagine what the european based, wait – pika would be in "even earlier than EST" land – 
It's Friday…It's sunny…It's one week until the hockey season starts…NO MOANING!!!
whatEVAH! MOAN!!!! MOAN!!!! MOAN!!!! MOAN!!!! MOAN!!!! MOAN!!!! MOAN!!!! MOAN!!!! MOAN!!!! MOAN!!!! MOAN!!!! MOAN!!!!yeah, yeah I *know* where the monkey gets it from.
NOT FAIR! You always post these just after I've gone to bed and when I wake up all answers are already provided
Because it is not as if I don't check my reader every 3 minutes as long as I'm awake.
chall – yes, I always get these served to me right after lunch on Friday, so yes, I guess I do have an advantage.
Maybe there should be a 12h (or 24h) no posting rule instead of 1h no posting?
Pika. Oh noes! Don't give her that idea! Can you imagine the horror and agony of knowing more than one and then never ever be able to write anything else since others will come in before you….. GAH.*off to deal with panic attack*
Tsk, tsk, tsk – so many excuses. It's all about priorities, people! I mean, how is research, feeding your kid, or sleeping more important than THIS? I figure either shit or get off the pot!
Alyssa> that goes for the hockey too, right? "feeding your kid" vs hockey picks. That's a clear priority
(sorry, couldn't resist.)
chall: hm, maybe I should start posting quizzes, that'll give you an advantage over the others (if you are out east?).
Chall – yeah, SM's comment from the hockey post is what prompted me to post mine. I figure we can piss all over each other about these kinds of things, right?
Ayssa – Chall beat me to this. But note, I had to drive, drink coffee AND feed the small child. You were complaining about just giving birth and a hockey pool. C'mon now, how hard is giving birth anyway?
Oh, crap, I didn't realize you had to do all those things! My most sincere apologies. Giving birth and then learning to take care of a newborn obviously does not compare to that!(Do you think Cath will get mad at us for taking over her comments?)
Damn, I was hoping someone would have left at least one for me.Harrumph. Well, at least Cath likes my clean trousers.
HAHA. you guys are lovely! Making my day feel so much better
I also realise that I have no excuse for not winning the hockey – not needing to feed anyone… nor giving birth… I mean, then it should be a walk in the park, right?! (Pika> not out east so I wouldn't will too much. but thanks)
Alyssa – No worries I totes forgive you. just you know, don't let it happen again.Chall – yeah seriously you should be.(I think Cath is probably LOL right now)
This is awesome! People should totally run their own quizzesPeople should totally either move to my time zone or stop moaningPeople should totally trash talk each other all day to keep me amused while in meeting planning hellPeople should totally wear clean trousers
Chall – surely you have some other excuse though? I mean, one has to eat, or take showers on a daily basis for example. That stuff takes a lot of time and energy!Cath – see this is what happens when I subscribe to the comments!
Since I live in your time zone, does that I can keep moaning? Moan!!! Moan!!!Moan!!! Moan!!!Moan!!! Moan!!!Moan!!! Moan!!!Moan!!! Moan!!!Moan!!! Moan!!!Moan!!! Moan!!!
I thought you were on Mommy Central Time? Not my time zone
Alyssa> Eat? (no, I'm losing weghit so I'm not eating anymore*) Take showers? haha – sure. I guess though, I do… I'll blame my exercise regieme then.It surely sounds better than "I'm just not good at it"
*not true… but my belly wouldn't mind more food 
At least give me 12 hours warning you're about to post a quiz … moan moan… I can't totally reverse my day-night regime like all the time… moan moan … I also don't want to do a third x-ray this year to get a visa to permanently live in your timezone moan moan… although otherwise I wouldn't mind
Moan moan moan!All right, I suppose I can come up with some kind of poll so people can vote on how they want these quizzes to work.