Author Archives: rpg

About rpg

Scientist, poet, gadfly

Not much to say, really.

I really ought to write a serious blog post at some point. But until then, here’s something I should show The Beast: When I left him this morning, he was catching up on his sleep, having had to get up … Continue reading

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Questions That Need to be Asked

Is Madis Uusorg a polygamist? And why isn’t this in the Olympics?

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“For my agarose gel, should i use agar-agar or bacto-agar?”

I had a difficult experience at the start of my PhD. I was about a month into it when I was talking to my supervisor, who I’ll call James, in the lab. Behind him was a sign hanging from the … Continue reading

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Microscopists needed to solve border disputes

The BBC has a story up about a group at Durham University who have produced a map of Arctic boundaries and areas of dispute. Taking a look at the map, I was surprised to read this in the legend: Denmark … Continue reading

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Mixing Science and Politics Can be Funny

A few years ago some American scientists became Concerned. So concerned about political interference were they that formed a union. And called it the Union of Concerned Scientists.

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Two Cultured?

Over at Scienceblogs, there has been a discussion about the relationship between science (and mathematics in particular) and the arts and humanities. This was started by Chad Orzel, and continued elsewhere. John Wilkins has a fairly up to date set … Continue reading

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I guess brain surgeons are just dumb

Thomas Mailund got upset about the hoops he had to go through to get a manuscript from a company. The company, being Corporate and Evil, bought him off with a logo, which some here might appreciate:

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Olen takaisin

Yep, I’m finally back from my wanders. A week in St. Andrews, followed by a week celebrating the 100th anniversary of the t-distribution. Recall that the inventor, “Student” worked for Guinness. You can work out the rest. Of course, I … Continue reading

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I’m off…

…in case you were wondering what the smell was.

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It’s Too Quiet Here

Oh poor me. I’m going to a couple of meetings over the next couple of weeks (the ISEC in St. Andrews followed by the IBC, to celebrate the invention of the t-distribution). Of course, I can’t take The Beast with … Continue reading

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