On being a stranger in a strange land

42 Responses to On being a stranger in a strange land

1. John Wilkins says:

   4 February 2009 at 06:49

   Philosophers have neither NAOH solutions nor aircon (at Sydney Uni). But I stay in the office to use the internet, and to avoid hot buses…
2. Richard P. Grant says:

   4 February 2009 at 06:58

   Oh, and I forgot one—one that doesn’t apply to philosophers either, unfortunately:

   People design deliberately do experiments involving a lot of standing around in the cold room.
3. Jennifer Rohn says:

   4 February 2009 at 08:22

   We ran out of dry ice this week, but only because the lorries couldn’t get to us.
4. Richard P. Grant says:

   4 February 2009 at 08:26

   We ran out of dry ice today… but I don’t know why.
5. Karen James says:

   4 February 2009 at 09:42

   Wait, you have a regular supply of dry ice? I wish. When I need dry ice my options are 1) wait for a shipment to come in on dry ice and then reuse it or 2) bum some off of my partner who works down the road in a cancer research institute.
6. Richard P. Grant says:

   4 February 2009 at 09:48

   Depends on your definition of ‘regular’, Karen.
   ‘Regular’ as in Sydney trains, perhaps. They arrive… except when they don’t. And then you’re stuffed.
7. Bob O'Hara says:

   4 February 2009 at 11:34

   What’s wrong with using wet ice and a paper towel, eh?
8. Richard P. Grant says:

   4 February 2009 at 11:36

   RNA.
9. Eva Amsen says:

   4 February 2009 at 13:52

   Ha. Toronto is so ridiculously hot in summer, I have on several occasions marched straight into the cold room for no particular reason after walking/biking over there in the morning.
10. Åsa Karlström says:

    4 February 2009 at 13:58

    haha, I would second all this although I can not leave the media on the bench to warm up since the air con in the summer is very efficient. (read super cold) It still gets to me that it is 40C outside and then it will be something like 20 indoors. Put the socks and sweater on, you are going into work. I mean, where else would you undress a bit before you go outdoors!! 😉
11. Eva Amsen says:

    4 February 2009 at 14:27

    We used to all keep spare sweaters at the lab in summer. Toronto goes crazy with the air conditioning, too. And in winter the heat is on really high (not in the lab, that’s fine, but in most public buildings and malls) and it’s actually warmer indoors than it is in summer.
12. Richard Wintle says:

    4 February 2009 at 16:22

    In the bad old days of the 11th floor Elm Wing at SickKids, it was not unusual for people to change into shorts in winter, since the heating was so fierce. By contrast, the air conditioning was so frigid in summer that the secretaries used to come and borrow lab coats so they could stay warm.
    As a colleague of mine used to say: “37 Celsius – body temperature, just comfortable”.
13. Eva Amsen says:

    4 February 2009 at 17:34

    I just noticed that the weather chart for Sydney says “Fine” a lot, and thought I should draw attention to it.
    That is all.
14. Richard P. Grant says:

    4 February 2009 at 19:25

    Yes Eva. ‘Fine’. You should see it when it says ‘Warm’.
    And ‘A few showers’ isn’t a forecast: it’s an instruction.
15. Cath Ennis says:

    4 February 2009 at 20:08

    Eva, I used to join my fellow cyclists in the cold room first thing in the morning during my PhD. This was in Glasgow, so it wasn’t often all that hot out, but the campus is at the top of a very big hill…
    A postdoc of my acquaintance once got too cold after smoking outside for hours at the lab Xmas party, and went into the 37C room to warm up. Except he fell asleep… and woke up 6 hours later to the worst hangover he’d ever had.
16. Åsa Karlström says:

    4 February 2009 at 20:59

    Cath> Are you serious? He fell alsleep in the 37 room? Oh gosh… 🙂 I guess from my experience that room is smelly with bacterial cultures but maybe that room didn’t smell too bad?
    Richard W> hmm… i’m not sure I agree with your collegue at all actually. It’s just, too hot.
17. Richard P. Grant says:

    4 February 2009 at 22:25

    The funny thing this morning was seeing the natives all lined up diagonally on Burwood station platform … taking what shade the girders and lampposts offered.
18. Linda Lin says:

    4 February 2009 at 23:52

    lol. yea they don’t really tell you how glaring the sun is, or hot and dry it gets, until you get here.
    It’s 35-39 degrees everyday in Canberra and the AC’s a bit shotty. if we leave our experimental plants on the bench for more than 5 mins they go into heat shock.
    Cath & Asa> I think it’s great a postdoc fell asleep in the 37 room while warming up. and it could be just me, but I always thought bacteria cultures kinda smell like canned corn…
19. Richard P. Grant says:

    5 February 2009 at 00:04

    Ah but Canberra, you see, is a ‘dry heat’. Which makes all the difference.
    Allegedly.
    cough
20. Meagan Walsh says:

    5 February 2009 at 00:06

    Only in Australia:
    http://www.news.com.au/gallery/0,22613,5037290-5014156,00.html
    🙂
21. Darren Saunders says:

    5 February 2009 at 05:58

    All this in contrast to a country where a forecast high temp of 3degC is described as “mild”… WTF??
    My favourite part of the Vancouver weather forecast is where they give you a UV rating and tell you how long it would take to get exposed skin sunburnt. Last week it was almost 3 hours. I’m pretty sure you’d have some issues with hypothermia way before you got sunburnt!
22. Richard P. Grant says:

    5 February 2009 at 06:07

    I like (FSVO ‘like’) the UV burn times in NZ.
    On the order of three to five minutes…
23. amy charles says:

    5 February 2009 at 06:34

    Nothing fine at all about 33C. UV’s sizzled the meteorologists’ brains, poor dears.
    And I have no sympathy for you lot, Jenny. Amateurs. It’s warmed up here to 14F, nice change from the -29F of a couple of weeks ago. They cancelled school here, which surprised me — I thought maybe it was a cost-saving measure, not wanting to heat the schools, but it turned out they feared the diesel would gel in the buses and leave the chilluns frozen on the prairie.
24. amy charles says:

    5 February 2009 at 06:36

    Completely meaningless strikeout, there. No joke to miss. Punishment for — well, that — you know, dashes.
25. Åsa Karlström says:

    5 February 2009 at 13:16

    Richard: I think the dry and humid thingy makes a difference… I was not half as tired in the dry heat of 40C in Turkey the other summer (without AC n the hotel) than here in Memphis in August when the humidity is up to 94% and the temp is 40C at the same time.. I am gone. Brain stops working.
    Of course, for me the UV times are utterly useless since I know from experience that more than 2 mins in the sun unprotected = red like a lobster (i do not care about UV damage then, I just hurt).
    Amy: At least you have snow right? And dry cold (I think everything is frozen solid around you) I am hoping for snow in Sweden today but I am not sure…
26. Linda Lin says:

    5 February 2009 at 13:43

    @ Meagan: That is SO cute, even though the poor koalas look so dehydrated and heat stroked. thanks for the link
27. amy charles says:

    5 February 2009 at 14:40

    Yes, Åsa, we have snow. Snow, snow, snow, as far as the eye can see over the fields. Blends right in with horizon and dingy sky. The appalling whiteness what needs shoveling.
28. Cath Ennis says:

    5 February 2009 at 16:08

    Darren, I once got sunburned in February (NOT skiing, just walking around the city). In Scotland. Damn Celtic skin…
29. Darren Saunders says:

    5 February 2009 at 16:26

    It’s always easy in Sydney to pick the newly arrived tourists from the UK… they’re the red ones 🙂
30. Richard Wintle says:

    5 February 2009 at 16:45

    Ah but Canberra, you see, is a ‘dry heat’. Which makes all the difference.
    I’ve heard the analogous (“opposite”?) argument from Western Canadians – “Well, of course it gets to -40 in Alberta, but it’s a dry cold.”
    To which I respond: at -40, how humid is it going to be?
31. Richard Wintle says:

    5 February 2009 at 16:47

    P.S. Cath – I’ve gotten a sunburn on a beach in Devon before now – and also in Wales, which is even more challenging.
    Amy – how the heck does one code strikeout in these comments? Regular html tags don’t preview correctly… do they actually work?
32. amy charles says:

    5 February 2009 at 17:53

    Richard, it looks like a single dash does it – like this – .
33. amy charles says:

    5 February 2009 at 17:54

    Whoops. Must stick the dash to the first letter like this.
34. Cath Ennis says:

    5 February 2009 at 17:55

    “It’s always easy in Sydney to pick the newly arrived tourists from the UK… they’re the red ones :)”
    Nope, that’s just the English. If they’re Scottish, it can take a week or so to go from blue to white.
35. Frank Norman says:

    5 February 2009 at 18:34

    More cute koala pics.
36. Richard Wintle says:

    5 February 2009 at 19:56

    Thanks, Amy. I was confused baffled bewildered frustrated with trying to figure that out.
    Frank – very cute indeed.
37. Richard P. Grant says:

    5 February 2009 at 20:10

    ‘cute’ and ‘koala’ only go together if you’ve never been close to one.
38. Meagan Walsh says:

    6 February 2009 at 00:20

    ‘cute’ and ‘koala’ only go together if you’ve never been close to one.
    …
    Hey! Don’t ruin the illusion… 🙂
    (They’re not cute when you’ve had them mating outside your bedroom window either…they grunt like pigs.)
39. Richard P. Grant says:

    6 February 2009 at 00:48

    Oh yes.
40. Audra McKinzie says:

    6 February 2009 at 03:30

    Ah, such a beautiful day to de-frost my freezer. Yes, just wheel it out to the courtyard and collect it in 20 minutes.
    Bet the construction workers next to your ‘new’ building won’t have their shirts off! And pribably just as well…You can have it!
41. Ed Rybicki says:

    12 February 2009 at 10:40

    “We have shaking incubators especially advertised to cool down to 25°C
    Men wear labcoats (only if they really have to) with the bottom two buttons undone so they don’t appear indecent …”
    …and sandals and shorts are preferred lab wear
    ligations are done in a fridge rather than on the bench
    giving lectures can be REALLY interesting on a good day, depending on the state of undress of students
    cockroaches are the size of small dogs
    you keep fume hood ventilators on ALL the time, so warm air doesn’t come in from outside….
42. Richard P. Grant says:

    12 February 2009 at 10:51

    bq. cockroaches are the size of small dogs
    That’s all right. These keep them down:
    

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