Cath
Representin' Vancouver, BC
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Latest posts from Occam’s Typewriter
Girl, Interrupting
Am I having impact?May 20, 2013The End Of The Pier Show
Dogsplaining #3May 20, 2013Athene Donald's Blog
Muddled Mess or Merely Work in Progress?May 19, 2013Science: Occam's corner | guardian.co.uk
UK science is falling behind in the global race | Matthew BrownMay 17, 2013No Comment
After the stormMay 17, 2013Reciprocal Space
Impact factors declared unfit for dutyMay 16, 2013The Occam's Typewriter Irregulars
Seen in DevonMay 14, 2013Not ranting - honestly
I blame the parentsMay 10, 2013Mind the Gap
In which things flow naturally forwardMay 9, 2013Adventures in Wonderland
My old new little friend – the Voigtländer VF-101May 6, 2013Trading Knowledge
MDPI – another OA publisherApril 25, 2013Confessions of a (former) Lab Rat
Keep on runningApril 21, 2013Science behind the Scenes
Pregnancy? If you ask me, we’re doing it wrongApril 16, 2013Deep thoughts and silliness
Off to the other side of the worldApril 8, 2013Blogging the PhD
Margaret McCartney at Skeptics in the PubApril 7, 2013City Limits
Silent Spring: WarblersOctober 17, 2012
Bragging Rights Central
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 matchAh 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 scienceCons:
- 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 scienceI’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)
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Category Archives: Canada
I AM CANADA (and so can you!)
Those of you who share my appreciation of the peak of Western civilisation that is Twitter may have come across a series of accounts that represent a given country, with one citizen of that country taking over the account each … Continue reading
Temporospatial trends in germophobia
One of the cultural differences I noticed soon after I moved from Britain to Canada is how people treat you if you say you have a cold or other minor ailment. In the UK, my experience is that friends, family, … Continue reading
Hockey is not the only sport
As a few of you may already know, the NHL season that usually begins in October still hasn’t started. The players and owners/league haven’t managed to agree to terms on revenue sharing and other issues, and as a result there’s another lockout … Continue reading
FIRST!
So last night, I was enjoying a friendly Twitter argument with @ScientistMother and @27andaphd about Tim Hortons commercials. During the course of our conversation, it transpired that both ScientistMother (born in Canada to foreign-born parents) and I (born in the … Continue reading
Victoria Secrets
One of the things that makes you feel a long way from home when you move to a foreign country is that you have no idea when the long weekends fall. We get a pretty good deal here in British … Continue reading
UPDATED Linked into Vancouver science
As I’ve mentioned in a few recent posts, the interconnectedness of the (small and young but growing nicely) Vancouver science sector continues to amaze me. At most large work-related meetings and at every sciency social event I attend, I run … Continue reading
Somewhere there’s a village…
Just in time for the playoffs, a song from CBC’s The Irrelevant Show for all the Canadian hockey fans out there – or indeed anyone whose team, in any sport, has lost any final game in any competition. Awesome.
Radical reform of peer review and research support, or rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic?
OR More on the proposed reforms at the CIHR, which I first blogged about last month after taking my first look at the discussion document they published. I’ve since read the document in much greater detail, and also attended an … Continue reading
