The Time Traveller’s Grant

Posted on December 15, 2009 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Spotted today on a progress report form:
“Date of Degree must be in the format MM/YYYY. Date Earned must be before 01/2050 and after 01/1900”.
Luckily, the PI did manage to get his MD within that date range.

About Cath@VWXYNot?

"one of the sillier science bloggers [...] I thought I should give a warning to the more staid members of the community." - Bob O'Hara, December 2010
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12 Responses to The Time Traveller’s Grant

  1. Heather Etchevers says:
    December 16, 2009 at 12:42 am

    Heheheh. I see I’m not the only one on the edge of surreality.

  2. Cath Ennis says:
    December 16, 2009 at 12:53 am

    On the edge, and sliding backwards with gathering momentum!

  3. Åsa Karlström says:
    December 16, 2009 at 4:47 am

    I guess it is important that it is not before 12/2010 but rather the probably year 2050… 🙂 And the person who is the oldest living at the moment doesn’t even qualify for the the other date….
    It might be scared people of telling someone they don’t fit inside the standards…. ^^

  4. Anna Vilborg says:
    December 16, 2009 at 7:37 am

    For once – generous inclusion criteria!

  5. Cath Ennis says:
    December 16, 2009 at 3:03 pm

    Åsa, I wonder if some PIs are submitting grants on behalf of their as-yet unborn grandchildren, projected to graduate in the 2040s? That way, said grandchildren can use the money as soon as the grant clears its various rounds of reviews and resubmissions.
    Also, there were some profs in my undergrad department who looked as if they might have graduated in the 19th century. Some of them might still be going strong today, kept alive by constant exposure to formaldehyde and Newcastle Brown Ale.
    Anna, yes, it was nice not to have to worry that I’d done that part wrong! And I guess the criteria will remain generous for another 40 years, saving the funding body’s website updaters some work.

  6. Åsa Karlström says:
    December 17, 2009 at 1:24 pm

    Cath: That would be awesome, in an alternate universe…. and if you didn’t think of the nepotism etc…
    The fumes of formaldehyde must have some preservative effect I’m sure 🙂

  7. Jon Moulton says:
    December 17, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    Charles Darwin might find this disappointing. Nobody tell him, OK? I don’t think he’s been submitting proposals lately…

  8. Cath Ennis says:
    December 17, 2009 at 4:11 pm

    Åsa, I once met a veterinary pathologist who postively reeked of the stuff. It can’t be good for you!
    Jon, where is Charles, anyway? I hope he’s not working on a grant that he won’t be eligible for…

  9. Richard Wintle says:
    December 17, 2009 at 6:48 pm

    So wait – before 8:50 PM but after 5:00, on the first?
    Hm, I might just be able to do that… *studies furiously

  10. Richard Wintle says:
    December 17, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    Bugger. 7:00 PM. Well at least that gives me two more hours to get the darned degree.

  11. Cath Ennis says:
    December 17, 2009 at 8:34 pm

    You want another degree?! Personally, I walked out of my PhD viva declaring that I would never take another exam again as long as I live.
    (Vow broken in February of this year: citizenship test).

  12. Åsa Karlström says:
    December 17, 2009 at 9:34 pm

    formaldehyde= preservative => preserving cells from taking up oxygen and get older [=> cells not changing => you die?! 😉 there has some back side to the goodness I guess?]
    Don’t get me started on vet path… You haven’t experienced strangeness until you get a ‘wink’ over a dead [animal] body and a knife in the other hand…. positively strange (and not so little creepy) ^^

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