Category Archives: current affairs

Last Saturday:

  Photo taken outside the Trump building. I borrowed the sign from a lovely group of people I met at the march Up next: March for Science (the Vancouver chapter) What I learned from protesting against Harper and his war on science: Take … Continue reading

Posted in activism, Canada, current affairs, feminism, personal, photos, politics, science, the resistance | 2 Comments

Book reviews: down memoir lane

I don’t usually read many non-fiction books, but I happened to read three in a row over the last few months. Funny how that happens… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The first was Glass Castle: a Memoir, by Jeannette Walls. I actually bought this book … Continue reading

Posted in blog buddies, book review, current affairs, shopping, technology, the wonders of technology | 14 Comments

Fight the Future

Last Saturday was my second time at Vancouver Change Camp and, just like the first time, it was a day full of very thought-provoking sessions about how ordinary people can change their world for the better. The last event took … Continue reading

Posted in activism, communication, current affairs, education, environment, personal, politics, Vancouver | 3 Comments

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

Posted in Canada, current affairs, drunkenness, personal, silliness, snow, sport, technology | 9 Comments

It’s the end of the world as we know it

Is everyone having a nice apocalypse? Jolly good – now let’s talk about what happens next! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The professor who taught microbial genetics during my undergrad degree was hilarious. A lot of people didn’t like him at all, but those … Continue reading

Posted in blog buddies, book review, current affairs, plagues, silliness, technology, television, virology | 18 Comments

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

Posted in bad people, Canada, current affairs, personal, rants, sport, television | 20 Comments

On having a heart and using my voice

I recently updated the photo on my UK drivers license, and had the new card sent to my parents’ address. They received it a few weeks ago and couriered it back to me (along with the original marriage certificate I’d … Continue reading

Posted in activism, bad people, Canada, current affairs, family, medicine, personal, photos, politics, Vancouver, videos | 8 Comments

CIHR: Canada Innovating to Help Review?

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is this country’s major source of government funding for biomedical research – the equivalent of the US NIH. They’ve just released a document describing some proposed changes to their grant mechanism portfolio and … Continue reading

Posted in Canada, career, current affairs, grant wrangling, politics, science | 4 Comments

Zen and the art of locomotive maintenance

I got home yesterday lunchtime after an epic West Coast rail journey from San Diego to Vancouver. I’ve been to La Jolla once every six months or so since July 2009 to meet with collaborators, and every time I’ve gone … Continue reading

Posted in bad people, current affairs, drunkenness, first world problems, food glorious food, idiocy, personal, photos, rants, snow, technology, travel, whining | 38 Comments

Scrutiny on the count, eh?

(Long post alert! Sorry!) Regular readers will know all about my passion for politics, a passion that was dampened only slightly by seven years of voteless pre-citizenship residence in Canada and that has ramped up again recently thanks to a … Continue reading

Posted in Canada, current affairs, environment, personal, politics, technology, Uncategorized, Vancouver | 19 Comments