Category Archives: silliness

Podcath part III: sci-fi audio drama edition

Radio drama is making a big comeback in the form of podcasts, with plenty of high quality science fiction to choose from. Here are some of my favourites. I’ve been a science fiction fan since I first read John Wyndham’s … Continue reading

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Missed opportunity

From my Facebook feed: It should totally be called a beehemoth! Whoever first called it a wasp moth sucks!

Posted in freakishness, nature, photos, silliness | Comments Off on Missed opportunity

Conspiracy deathmatch

I realized recently that, in the best tradition of fighting fire with fire, it’s possible to counter some conspiracy theories by invoking other conspiracy theories. The best two examples I’ve come up with so far are as follows: The anti-vaccination … Continue reading

Posted in medicine, pseudoscience, quacks, science, silliness, technology | 2 Comments

Street signs

My sister and I had very active imaginations when we were kids. We acted out plays with our stuffed animals, pretended we were time travellers, and frequently visited Narnia – but what we really loved was solving mysteries. Fuelled by … Continue reading

Posted in book review, family, photos, silliness, Vancouver | 3 Comments

Accelerate the progress of your research by using this one weird old tip!

(Photo and title by Sonja Babovic; used with her permission) Other geeky things that made me laugh recently: Mad science looks pretty similar to normal science As does Lego science  

Posted in grant wrangling, photos, science, silliness | 2 Comments

Excellent juxtapositions make me feel good

The placebo effect is truly fascinating – the top article of this pair describes how it can trigger the release of dopamine in people with Parkinson’s, or opioids in people expecting a painkiller. I hope we can find a way … Continue reading

Posted in medicine, science, screenshots, silliness | Comments Off on Excellent juxtapositions make me feel good

Note to self: keep notes to self private

Two recent conversations sparked by cryptic notes I scribbled on post-its: At home Mr E Man: “Cath, what’s an e-Pig?” Me: “What?” Mr E Man: “On this post-it, look. ‘e-Pig meeting’” Me: “OH! That’s my short-hand for epigenetics” Mr E … Continue reading

Posted in communication, fun with language, science, silliness | 3 Comments

Graphzilla

I looked at one of my progress tracking graphs for one of my projects right after telling my colleague that Mr E Man had worked on the new Godzilla movie, and what I saw can not be unseen.   Eep.

Posted in silliness | 8 Comments

Destroying the last shreds of Mr E Man’s anonymity for the sake of a good pun

Me: “Have you seen my bookmark?” Him: “It’s in your hand” Me: “…” Me: “No, not ‘have you seen my book, Mark?’. I meant ‘have you seen my bookmark, Mark?’” (Mark will continue to be referred to as Mr E … Continue reading

Posted in fun with language, silliness | 9 Comments

Rearranging the desk chairs

Once a fortnight, we have a team meeting in the boardroom of our main research building. It’s a room that’s much in demand, so we often have to wait a few minutes past the hour before we can get in … Continue reading

Posted in photos, science, silliness | 1 Comment