Category Archives: Uncategorized

I attended my first ever Café Scientifique event last week. The venue could not be faulted – a brew pub with good food, outstanding beer, and a view of the harbour and the North Shore mountains. However there were a … Continue reading →

(Why, yes, I do get most of my news headlines from the BBC website. Why do you ask?) Returning to my building just now with my healthy balanced lunch1 in hand, I was stopped in the street by a younger … Continue reading →

that my career aspirations hadn’t changed so much since I was eight. I suppose it’s possible that in a parallel universe somewhere, I have managed to publish a paper with a title as awesome as the one I just spotted … Continue reading →

The email idiocy continues… For reasons relating to an announcement about a joint California-Canada cancer stem cell funding initiative, I subscribe to all email lists at the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine. Every mailing list will inevitably result in a … Continue reading →

I am in retro geek heaven! The BBC website tells me that Red Dwarf is returning for a two-part special over Easter. Red Dwarf was the only programme that I absolutely HAD to watch (or video) every week. The neighbours’ … Continue reading →

Oh what a difference a vowel can make! Take the word “engineer”, from the Latin root “ingenero”, meaning “to generate”. I remember a science teacher once lamenting that while the English word calls to mind trains and cars and filthy … Continue reading →

The current conditions here in Vancouver are making me feel right at home. Vancouver, this morning York Minster, most winter mornings Thick freezing fog does such strange things to everyday noises. Last night I was waiting to cross a main … Continue reading →

Email title: “Messge[sic] from eBay” Email body: “Dear eBay Member, _This is your official notification from eBay. Your online has expired. If you want to continue using our service you have to renew your online. If not, your online will … Continue reading →

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of … Continue reading →

…in case anyone is remotely interested! The author of the intelligent design novel that I reviewed last month stopped by to offer comments. I shamefully didn’t respond to his rather lengthy comment until today, but hopefully he’ll come back, especially … Continue reading →