Category Archives: technology

Inbox fear-o!

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I <3 this cartoon: (There’s some decent advice about “How to email busy people” in the associated article, too). I had 486 unread emails in my inbox when I came back from my holiday last week… just one of many … Continue reading →

Posted in career, technology, whining | 10 Comments

Weekend fun: my next tweet

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Many, many thanks to Kimli for alerting me to “That Can Be My Next Tweet!“, a tool that creates mash-ups of bits and pieces of your most recent tweets to create much hilarity. My twitter stream is kinda schizophrenic at … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, communication, current affairs, cycling, English language, politics, science, silliness, technology | 35 Comments

Typo-chondria

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I received an interesting request last week from one of my colleagues: “Please provide an update on the [gene name] ozone OCD”. The email in question was sent to me, several other colleagues, and some of our external collaborators. The tell-tale … Continue reading →

Posted in career, communication, English language, technology | 8 Comments

Lunchtime Linkfest

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

A quick round-up of what I’ve been reading and listening to! There’s a great article in Current Biology (my all-time favourite journal) this week, titled “Why should biomedical scientists care about biodiversity?”. The authors argue that working on the standard … Continue reading →

Posted in current affairs, cycling, environment, music, nature, science, silliness, technology | 6 Comments

More on dating

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Places where I used to write the date: On cheques At the top of letters Lesson / lecture notes Lab books Travel journals Places where I now write type the date: Computer file names Percentage of times I try to … Continue reading →

Posted in education, science, silliness, technology | 28 Comments

Captcha *this*, sucker!

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

If you read a lot of blogs, you’ve probably seen something like this: This is the reCAPTCHA version of the spam test that some blogs require commenters to pass before commenting; typing the correct word into the box proves that … Continue reading →

Posted in blog buddies, meta, silliness, technology | 27 Comments

Productivity? There’s an app for that

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

(Two, actually). Busy busy busy. Grants, conference abstracts, project management. All to be completed without (completely) neglecting household chores, exercise, and fun. I’ve recently started using a couple of iPhone apps that I’ve found very helpful, and that I’m reviewing … Continue reading →

Posted in blog buddies, career, grant wrangling, silliness, technology | 13 Comments

Nascent tweet sequences visualise peer review at LOLcat resolution

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

There’s never a dull moment. Earlier today, I read a paper from Nature titled “Nascent transcript sequencing visualizes transcription at nucleotide resolution*”. The paper describes a very cool new technique that allows you to see gene transcript sequences as they … Continue reading →

Posted in communication, furry friends, original research, publishing, science, silliness, technology | 56 Comments

Instant karma

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

An acquaintance at a funding agency emailed me today, asking if I had contact information for a researcher I’d never heard of. I didn’t, obviously, so I Googled the person’s name from the search box on my browser toolbar. The … Continue reading →

Posted in career, science, silliness, technology, TMI | 8 Comments

SURPRISE!!!

Posted on December 24, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

The Oatmeal had a wonderful comic this week called “How Different Age Groups Celebrate Christmas”. I can certainly relate to the “children” section – my parents always made a huge deal out of Christmas, and the Christmas Eve anticipation was … Continue reading →

Posted in current affairs, family, food glorious food, personal, shopping, silliness, sport, technology | 12 Comments