How’s this for a headline?

“Cancun kidnapping, crocodile attack a hoax: RCMP”

From the article:

“The RCMP says a story about a young man from B.C. on holiday in Cancun, Mexico, who was kidnapped outside a bar, forced to fight two other tourists, shot in the shoulder and dumped in the water where he was attacked by crocodiles, is a fabrication.”

[…]

“RCMP said the incident began when a 20-year-old man decided to urinate in a crocodile lagoon in the resort area of Cancun, despite signs in English and Spanish warning of its toothy inhabitants. Alcohol was a factor, police said.

The man apparently was bitten on the leg by a small crocodile and fell on the rocks in the water, where he was attacked by some other 30-centimetre crocodiles, said Cpl. Jennifer Pound, in a statement released on Thursday.”

LOL! Eejit. And kudos to the CBC for their subheading: “Piddle in wrong puddle”.

Posted in current affairs, drunkenness, nature, silliness | 3 Comments

Bragging Rights Archive III

Dates represent date of archiving – it’s just easier that way.

VWXYNot? Comment(s) of the week:

Oct 2 2009: Anonymous for “I currently live in Hawaii. Our street names alone can break anyone who hasn’t lived here for a while. You haven’t lived until you’ve tried to get a tourist from Texas to properly get their tongue around “Keeaumoku St.”, “Queen Liliuokalani Freeway”, or the “Likelike Highway” (“lee-kay-lee-kay”, not “like-like”!)”

Bob O’H for ” I was told several times I had a great Danish accent. My strategy was to talk as if I was drunk.”

and Juniper Shoemaker for “That’s it, smug Brit-Canadian. Our countries are going to war!” and then “I’m just bitter because I made the mistake of reading aloud things like “The Tailor of Gloucester” when I was a wee tiny tot. ‘Twas only a matter of time before people who knew all the abominable– um, I mean, correct pronunciations overheard me. :)”

Oct 9 2009: Mermaid for “I have a similar relationship with my Teva’s. I love them and can wear them for days. I have traveled the world in them… and can admit freely that they are ugly. Don’t care because even if I am in Paris I want to be able to walk and enjoy my time, rather than mincing about in adorable shoes. […] On the other side, I also love my Choo’s – can’t walk in them worth a damn but I can pose for hours!”

and ScientistMother for “haha, I guess I can be scary since although I think I am shy about expressing my opinions, I seem to get proven wrong when its something I am passionate about. :))

I was surprised you didn’t want to go in for a pitcher, you did your english heritage wrong. All that talk of being a beer lover, I just don’t believe you…hehe.”

Oct 16 2009: Tina for “I’m a person who changes hair styles annually, so I’m afraid to be permanently attached to a tattoo”

Mermaid for “What a great tattoo! That is so cool. You will have to show me the next time we have coffee. Wonder how we can make THAT look like a ‘work meeting’?”

and RPS77 for “I’m still irritated that Canada appropriated the maple leaf as its own when there are just as many maple trees in the northern US as in Canada. As grievances go, however, this one isn’t very serious.”

Oct 23 2009: Ruchi for “Wait, where is the smack talk? I thought that was the entire point?! Or is that only when Massimo is in the pool? ;)”

this comment was immediately followed by ScientistMother with “I AM kicking your asses! Take away week 1 and I rock it!”

There’s the smack talk, right there!

Oct 30 2009: Bob O’H for “That’s the real reason Cath got her pseudo-American citizenship, so she’d be allowed to continue to blog.” and “Ah, you seem to be implying that the blogosphere is full of US biology post-docs complaining about how hard it is to be a post-doc in the US.”

Alyssa for “As an astronomer, I feel even more out of the loop. Most bloggers are American and in biology related fields. Half the time I don’t get the American references, and the other half I don’t understand the biology ones!”

and EcoGeoFemme for “It’s good to see posts like this sometimes. I’m sure I’m super Ameri-centric on my blog even though I know I have many readers who are not American. It’s good to have a reality check. […] I too get tired of the bio-sci focus on blogs. I tend to skip the posts that are about bioscience itself, as well as the ones that are all about NIH. I tried to get into it at first, since I figured anything about careerism could be worthwhile, but now I just find those posts tedious”.

Nov 6 2009: Wow, what a great week for awesome comments! A bumper crop at harvest time. I had a hell of a time deciding between my favourites… so I put them all in! Enjoy!

Makita for “Who needs a therapist when you can blog and receive comments?”

Professor in Training had an alternative solution with “Therapist? Who needs a therapist when chocolate and Doritos are on hand?”

ScienceGirl settled the matter with “Blogging is therapy!”

Bob O’H for “I still think that if you’ve got a hockey pool, you’re doing something wrong. Like having the heating on too high.”

RPS77 for “There’s something to be said for self-sown, low maintenance, free-form, self replicating natural groundcover (aka weeds). Sometimes I’ve gotten pleasant surprises in the form of nice wildflowers when I let “self-sown” plants grow. I will often leave weeds in the gardens that I don’t recognize alone for a while and see what they end up looking like. This sometimes has negative results, like letting a 7 foot tall clump of ragweed grow in a flower bed because I didn’t know what it was and was hoping in vain for colorful flowers!”

Ruchi for “Perfect. I am narrowing my dating search to old, stupid men. Preferably old, stupid, rich men. After all, don’t they say that wealthier couples have a lesser chance of divorce? And according to Pew, you have a lower chance of divorce in Massachusetts than in most other states, so he’d need to be old, stupid, rich and a Massachusetts resident. Plus, live in a city with a major league baseball team and be an atheist.

With all these studies to help me out, what’s love got to do with it?”

and then “Well, agnostics also have low rates of divorce, and since you guys are all weird and Canadian having a major hockey team probably counts the same as having a baseball team. The lack of riches is a problem, but you know, that’s probably compensated by his being all old and stuff. So, you guys will PROBABLY be okay, but if things don’t work out, I’d recommend you move to Boston.”

and finally, Lisbeth for “So since we’re also doomed – hubby is both younger and smarter than me – I wonder if I should divorce now and take advantage of my (relative!) youth when trying to find an older, stupid man (this way the choice will also be wider…), or wait for the marriage wealth build-up (Ruchi’s link) and then be better dressed/have a nicer bike/have a house/know where I will live in the long-run/etc. when I enter the ‘market’?”

Nov 27 2009: Bob O’H for “Does this mean you won’t be able to infect a pile of people when you get on the plane? Where’s the fun in that?

On behalf of the cats, I order you to lay around all week in an ideal position to be sat on. Oh, and make sure you’ve got plenty of cat treats on hand.”

and Chall for “”ditches the swedes” = week 3, when the points started coming in ;)” (oh the trauma of choosing head over heart!)

Dec 04 2009: Chall for “haha, it is indeed after five, now where is that gin and tonic (in your case I guess Cuba Libre or Caprhina?)”

and Mermaid for “After a soggy walk to work, I am sitting at my desk staring at your photos :). Nice to see the sun again, even if only in pictures!”

Dec 11 2009: Massimo for “LOL, I think we have taken the same pictures…”

Microbiologist XX for “I had a similar negative experience on a tour. In the end, we were glad we took it, but we certainly did not like all the structure and time restraints. Of course, we would probably still be lost in some jungle had we tried to go it alone.”

and Chall for “well, he was at least going for a player from the OTHER team. Not like that Ballard guy who “accedentially” hit his goalie. sure. An accident. Sucker.”

Dec 18 2009: Mermaid for “when the ‘Feed the World’ Christmas song came out all those years ago, my mom thought it was ‘Feed the Whales’ and was awfully confused as to why Christmas should matter to whales.”

JaneB for “My Godson told me that Christmas was the birthday of the ‘Baby Cheeses'”

and Ruchi for “You put up all these gorgeous pictures just to taunt the Americans, didn’t you?”

Jan 4 2010: Antipodean for “Try googling the Australian prime minister. He’s the love child of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy.”

Bob O’H for “Vote for me, or The Beast gets it!

Unless you don’t like The Beast, in which case vote for me or The Beast doesn’t get it.”

and Ricardipus for “I do “without context” particularly well, in all imaginable contexts. Or not.”

Jan 8 2010: Special bumper Christmas and New Year version

Beth for “I was watching the news one day and my then husband was in the next room. I called out to tell him something I’d just heard on the news, “omg, George Bush just had precancerous lesions removed from his face,” but he heard,” George Bush had three cancerous baboons shit into space!””

Eva for “My dad’s never funny. This past week he sent me five pictures of two cat litter boxes from different angles, and still managed to not make that funny at all.”

Chall for “being a somewhat odd bird here in the land of “oh no, we don’t have a good concept of our bodies and nudity”, I would say that many people equals nudity with SEX. And since they do it, everyone does it, right?!?!

I find this a bit funny, since my experience is nudity is nudity, and sex is a bit different. Then again, I come from the land where you can have a sauna (or how ever this would be written – can be In a sauna) naked with people from the other gender as well as your own and there will be (gasp!) no sex. I know, isn’t it Sooooooo strange?!!? People can actually be naked/scantly clad without humping each other.”

Dr. A for “I like reading your posts while I eat my yogurt. It’s messy, but fun.

I’ve never seen a late night movie where scantily-clad folks (ie baring bums and boobs) were performing any type of rite or custom.. usually they are just humping. I’m sure they could find a better way to state this, but they were probably trying to give parents a heads up that it was indeed EDUCATIONAL nudity, not sexual. Watching sexual nudity with parents is far more awkward.

Let’s see how many more times we can say bum and boob in this thread!”

Bob O’H for “Can I escalate to tits and arse?”

Alyssa for “Tits boobs butt tits arse? Boobie-boobs, tit arse butt arse tits, tits butt. Titty…arse butt tits arse.”

and finally, Dr. A again for “Umm tits and arse are nowhere as cool as boobs and bum.”

Jan 15 2010: DuWayne Brayton for “I really miss Portland, where you could probably walk down the street naked – arse and “willy” flapping in the breeze and barely garner the odd look here and there. It is very irritating that people are so very concerned about boobs, bums and willies – like we don’t all have some combination of these bits. […] Besides, exposing your penis, vagina, mammaries and glutes – along with the rest of your body is really rather refreshing. Though right about now, here in MI, it would be rather more refreshing than even I can appreciate…”

Mermaid for “Personally, I like the fur coat aspect of being a PMP rather than the hat. The long flowing coat just makes me look tougher”

and then “OK, I need to start a blog just so I can have an honour roll and use “Like PMSing, but more fun.””

and Unbalanced Reaction for “I was frequently part of two, three, or four hour group meetings in grad school. I wish we had been standing up– I can guarantee that they would have been much shorter!”

Jan 22 2010: Mermaid for “Metrics + previous last position = grumpy Mermaid. Especially metrics without any ability to spend the money to achieve the metrics. Who thought THAT was a great way to measure performance?

Properly used, metrics can be useful and motivating. But in my experience they were mostly used for evil.”

and Chall for “I just hope that something changes for you guys. And that the next people in power will make a big difference in how to handle things like this.

(still being sort of an optimist on the political side of things, obviously. Thinking that people would have things like spines, integrity and standing by their word.)”

Jan 29 2010: ScientistMother for “some of us are too busy skiing in fresh powder to worry about hockey…

oh and PHHHHTTTTTTTT!!!!,

I never said I was more mature than the monkey:)”

Mermaid for “just had a flash of what might be posted should you review the content of our coffee ‘meetings’ and it made me giggle. First of all, you would have to explain why we voluntarily choose to meet at a place nicknamed ‘Pubes’. Good luck with that :).” (I showed her, eh?!)

and Bob O’Hara for “I heard that the pro-prorogue counter-rally was canceled because of the Olympics. Some people were unhappy at this, and are arranging an anti-prorogue pro-prorogue rally.”

Feb 5 2010: Mermaid for “I dream about people too. The worst is when you don’t really remember initially, and then you run into that person later the same day and the dream flashes into your mind. I tend to blush when that happens, even if the dream is really innocent! Awkward!”

Alyssa for “I totally agree with you about winning the lottery. I think we’re all “trained” to say that we’d still work, and put in our time, blah blah blah…but come on, really? Why? LOL”

ScienceGirl for “It is funny to have a pony story to go with a gnarly scar”

and Eva for “My most impressive scar is not very impressive at all, but I got it in a rollerskating accident: I was 13 and I had to take the glass recycling out to the bin, but I also had to meet up with my friend, so I thought it would all be done a lot quicker if I took the glass out on rollerskates and then went straight to her house. I tripped in the doorway, dropped the glass, picked up the bag again, and didn’t notice there was now a shard sticking out of the bag. That cut into my leg as I skated away, and I barely felt it because it nicely severed some neurons as well, but you could see quite deep into my leg in the opening it created. I went to the doctor instead of my friend’s house. Multitasking fail!

Feb 19 2010: Amanda for “Once I woke up pissed at Dr. Man because he didn’t set the alarm clock like I asked him to. As I was brushing my teeth, I was thinking, “He just wasn’t listening to me. It was like that all last night. Just like with the sharks chasing the fruit…” Then, I realized it was a dream. It was a good thing I realized it then because I was working up a good mad!”

Mad Hatter for “My country is out of [the FIFA world cup] too (has never made it as far as I know), but that’s beside the point. The real point is to play a World Cup pool for bragging rights when we all make better picks than Massimo! :-)”

and Ricardipus for “Woo. Your Canucks beat the Leafs. I wouldn’t crow too much about that – you, me, and those monkeys I keep seeing in your sidebar could probably beat the Leafs.

Dion Phaneuf, mark my words, will not be The Great Messiah. On the other hand, it is likely that your Canucks will be in trouble, because if there’s one Great Truth Of NHL Hockey, it’s that when players leave Toronto, they begin to perform. Watch out for Calgary.”

Feb 26 2010: Bumper two week “I forgot to do BRC last week because of the Olympics” edition.

Scientist Mother for “WHAT!!!!! You have readers that don’t care about winter sports? AND you want them BACK????? Why?”

Antipodean for “Australia has tended to pick up a gold medal recently (3 Gold 3 bronze in total). One of these golds was because everybody fell over in the speed skating in the semi-final and then everybody fell over again in the final. Our plucky hero was far enough behind everybody else in both races that he missed the pile-up. It’s now entered the vernacular as “doing a Bradbury”.”

ScientistMother again for “what do you mean you’re letting something like the olympics get in the way of our hockey pool??? Its a sad day, Cath.”

Chall for “I watched some of the game last night and am not all together convinced that it will go my way Wednesday…. although, Swedes are always better against better teams! We don’t like pounding the other team into gravel and humiliate them as _certain_ teams with 18 – 0 does…”

and ScientistMother yet again for “The protestors have lost all respect and support. Yes they had legitimate points, but its pisses me off when protestor impact veterans (you may not like war but they fight for your right to protest) and when children miss out. I felt so bad for those kids in the downtown eastside that waited to see the torch and then couldn’t. Then to vandalize?? what does breaking windows have to do with protesting?”

Mar 8 2010: Mermaid for “Yay, fabulous birthday! Sounds like the perfect way to celebrate. How nice of the IOC to organize the Olympics around you.”

and “Awesome wheelchair ramps! And three cheers to the genius who redid the work, correcting the assumption that fastening to ice would be good enough. It was pretty mushy up there and the ramps would definitely have shifted were it not for the quick thinking of certain people :).”

Chall for “I am now a bit confused about why the commentator stressed “we beat their all NHL team” since as far as I know, US has a NHL packed team too??”

Thomas Joseph for “We whooped Canadian butt. Why would we not be talking to you?”

Microbiologist XX for “What would happen if you were to say, accidentally, knock one of those piles of rocks down? Would you get chased through the streets by people wearing those sporty new Canadian olympic team gloves?”

Mar 12 2010: Bumper “Own the Goldium!!!” Edition

Kyrsten for “I can’t get over how nuts this city is. Friday night, when the game was on, we were walking to find a place to have dinner where we could watch Canada vs Slovakia – and everytime a goal was scored, entire condo towers would burst out into cheering. I mean, the cheering was literally coming from the sky! it was not uncommon to see people run out onto their balconies and holler down on the streets of downtown. I was out at Robson and Burrard on Friday night when Canada won over Slovakia, and I’ve never, ever seen anything like it. I have a few photos, but I’ve never seen that much red and white! We wandered down Granville, and at one point, I was pinned in by cheering people on all sides and *couldn’t* move. It was awesome.”

Thomas Joseph for “The only fitting ending to this Olympics is an American win over Canada. It would be the just payback for the loss to Canada at Salt Lake. Home soil defeat for home soil defeat and we’ll call it even.

Go U-S-A!”

But then, after the game…

“Total heartbreak of a game. After regulation, I thought momentum was on our side, and hoped that if we could at least get through overtime, Miller would make the difference in a shoot out. Alas, it was not meant to be. *sigh*

Congratulations Canada, and while we leave with the most medals, Canada certainly owned the top of the podium with a record setting number of gold medals. You hosted a fabulous Winter Olympics, and you should be proud.”

(Sorry, Thomas! And thank you!)

Antipodean for “The whole of Canada is now drunk.”

Natalie for “I live out in the sticks – the nearest neighbour is 0.5 km down the road (ie before it turns to dirt). We don’t watch sports at all, and I haven’t been following the games. But after reading your post, I was moved enough to 1. live-stream the 3rd period and overtime and 2. read your post out loud to my husband, who came into the kitchen to catch the OT and winning goal. There were no shouts from the sky nor people pouring out to the street. No beer, no facepaint, no cackling excitement of hundreds of people packed into a bar to watch on the big screen. Just two people in a tiny kitchen, hugging in relief and celebration. Go Canada Go.

Thanks Cath:)”

(This comment made me smile for a full week, and I’m smiling again now as i re-read it!)

Chall for “something similar happened Friday after the nerve wrecking curling final. I’m sorry but I was soooo happy about it. I ended up buying a lot of drinks for friends 🙂 maybe not the cheapest, but we got some extra ones since people were happy and happy that we were happy. it’s just a great thing when there is happiness in the air!! :D”

and Microbiologist XX for “I still find epp tubes in the freezer labelled “PCR 1″ or something similar. So, yeah, I can tell it’s not a tube of frozen water, but what the hell is PCR1? Was it so awesome that I was sure not to forget and felt compelled not to label it properly. This brings me to two important questions: (1) Can any PCR really be that awesome? and (2) Why, after so many years in the lab, do I still convince myself that I will remember what this actually means despite the fact that I never do?”

Mar 19 2010: ScientistMother for “you can’t find anything because fashion sucks ass right now. Its all eighties inspired. Everytime I look at people, I think OMG I wore that exact outfit in grade 10 (~15 years old).”

Lisbeth for “When we went out Saturday night, I remarked that all the (young) girls looked like they had dressed up; ie. it didn’t match their age. Then I realised that’s because their outfits to me signal “80’s dress up party” and not usual ‘real’ clothes!

Been there; done that, NEVER again!!”

and Microbiologist XX for “Yeah, you can thank the 80’s resurgence for the lovely attire hanging in the stores now. I am just sitting this session out. I’ve already got a set of pics from the 80’s that make me cringe every time I look at them, I do NOT need to add to that collection. I will thank myself later. I’m sure about it.”


Mar 26 2010: Ambivalent Academic for “St. Patricia Day is August 25. Not aware of any drinking traditions surrounding this saint, so as far as celebrations go…eh. But now you can tell people they got the wrong date when they wish yo a Happy St. Patty’s Day”.

Tideliar for “My god those guys must have the stamina of OXEN!”

and Chall for “it’s like watching a cat find a cat nip bag in the cubboard…. “it’s all MINE” 😀

(Your happiness about this Olympics I mean, duh. By the way, you want me to email you a table of all the medals per country, broken down with gold,silver and bronze? *nudge nudge* 😉 )

(Sorry… I will do the final Olympic pool results thread after the Paralympics are over (not that those medals count for the pool, but I’m going to Whistler this weekend to watch some events and do some skiing myself, so I won’t be able to blog))

Post(s) of the Week:

Oct 2 2009: Bob O’Hara for “ACORN and casting nets too widely”

and Prof-like Substance for the awesome graphic in “I wasn’t ready”

Oct 9 2009: Crystal for “Chatter”

Eva Amsen for “Dear Mrs Fernandez”

and PZ Myers for “I get email”

Oct 16 2009:Eva Amsen (second week in a row!) for “Speaking Styles and Papers: Academia Divided”

and Uphilldowndale for “Inevitable”

Oct 23 2009: Viktor Poór for “The Nobel Prize in Medicince 2009 (comic strip)”

and The Digital Cuttlefish for “New bling for Saturn! (Galileo’s revenge)”

Oct 30 2009: Ruchi for “Equity, Equity, Equity”

and Massimo for “On scooping”

Nov 6 2009: Jeanne Sather for “What’s your happy ending?”

Alyssa for “Ah, “science””

and T. Ryan Gregory for “Microbial art is alive!”

Nov 27 2009: Ruchi for “Yes, this is important”

Viktor Poór for “Caenorhabditis species (comic strip)”

and Jen (Cake Wrecks blog) for “New discoveries from the animal kingdom”

Dec 04 2009: Lots this week as I try to catch up! Next week might be a big one too!

KJHaxton for “Should we be polite on blogs?”

Chris Surridge for “This is it!” (best first post ever?!)

The Bean-Mom for “Nemesis, grudge”

Massimo for “Pet peeves”

Chall for “Thanksgiving”

and Alyssa for “Academic snobbery”

Dec 11 2009: Jennifer Rohn for “In which we go a little cycle-pathic”

Steffi Suhr for “And now for some perspective”

and Cobi Smith for “How long is a piece of string? Random sampling can tell us!”

Dec 18 2009: Chris Surridge for “How to… count”

Cromercrox for “The discovery of a new kind of radiation”

The Bean-Mom for “Holiday photo FAIL”

and Prof-like Substance for “Soooo professional”

Jan 4 2010: GrrlScientist for “Gift wrapping with parrot companions”

and Jeanne Sather for “Christmas lights”

Jan 8 2010: Silver Fox for “Geology dreams: some beers at a meeting” (when she dreams, she always knows which way is North. How cool is that?!)

and Caroline Sober for “Incarcerated by Santa Claus” (this appears to be a corporate blog from Promega, but it’s actually really good and not too corporate / marketingy at all! Check it out!)

Jan 15 2010: (lots, because I’m still catching up on blog reading from the holidays)

NCBI ROFL for “I hope the lab coat was clean…” (their new blog, Pwned Experiments, is just as funny as the original!)

Hermitage for “Ruminations on time management” (she’s back! And hating the guts of the Unicorn Fairy Princesses like never before!)

Beth for “An analysis of the Canadian men’s Olympic hockey roster” (hot vs. not)

Kimli for “Swallowing magpie eggs” (she’s happy about wangs. And monkeys)

and News Arse for “Coldest night forces Newcastle residents into long sleeves” (so true) 

Jan 22 2010: Ruchi for “The newest, most awesomest eco trend!” (Ladies! Recycle your fat!)

PZ Myers for “America’s next religion!” (Choose your next state religion in a fun gameshow format!)

and Very Demotivational for “Branches” (You guys know that I only pick the very best of the best LOLcats etc, right?) 

Jan 29 2010:  Mad Hatter for “Love at first sight?” (projects, not people. Well, people too)



Bob O’Hara for “You can see my data from space” (I’ve never even been able to see mind down a microscope. Stoopid molecular biology).

and Henry Gee for “Three short stories about language” (despite subsequent posts and comments about what actually happened in person, I still agree with most of what Henry wrote in this post)

Feb 5 2010: DrugMonkey for “Roosters and Lab Rats” (the “blood on the hands” of vegetarians who eat eggs and milk)

Stephen Curry for “Still running” (running, photography, and art)

and Viktor Poór for “The vired iPod (comic)” (what would a virus listen to? Dunno, but it’s probably something retro)

Feb 19 2010: Prof-like Substance for “Painful budget cuts”(it’s painful funny ‘cos it’s true)
Linda Lin for “You know you’ve worked in the lab too long…” (add your own contribution to the comments!)

and Stephen Curry (again!) for “Homeopathy: that’s Numberwang!” (Stephen takes his life in his hands, risking arsenic poisoning a sugar rush to make a point

Feb 26 2010: Kristi Vogel for “Home on the Range: Bovid Weaponry, and a Female Cernunnos” (I somehow managed to talk about kilts in the comment thread on this excellent post about the evolution of horns and antlers)

Bob O’Hara for “Jerry Fodor Fails Evolution 101. Again“. (If you thought pigs might fly before Bob wrote something for the Deep Thoughts section of his “Deep Thoughts and Silliness” blog, you were wrong…)

Henry Gee for “The New Alternative” (you can’t go wrong with a post taking the piss out of woo)

and Chall for “Go looking for happiness” (the grass is not always greener… not even on Facebook) 

Mar 8 2010: Kristi Vogel (two weeks in a row!) for “The skeleton zoo” (the science of the winter Olympics)

Jeanne Sather for “Where did my fear go?” (life with metastatic cancer)

And, of course, EcoGeoFemme with the wonderful “ScienceGirl’s baby shower” (this is one of the best ideas I’ve ever seen on a blog! Thank you to everyone who participated, too!) 

Mar 12 2010: Elizabeth Moritz for “What your gloves say about you” (apparently I’m a traditionalist. Who knew?)

Raf Aerts for “Acceptosaurus” (“the evolutionary tree of rejectosaurs and acceptosaurs, showing that Rejectosaurus resubmittens is not an acceptosaur, but a dead-end offshoot of the line leading to true rejectosaurs.”)

Toaster Sunshine for “Bridge Cheese!” (Toaster dreams of having fun with goats. But don’t worry, the post is Safe For Work).

and FAIL Blog for “Bike Win” (I wonder if I have time to try this before the Paralympics start?) 

Mar 19 2010: MissPrism for “Compare and Contrast” (yay, she’s back! And highlighting the very different way in which the BBC reported a study done just in women, and a study done just in men).

Joseph Lewis for “Where do you see yourself in five years?” (sci-fi inspired LOLs from the usually serious Work Awesome blog)

and Information is Beautiful for “When sea levels attack” (very scary graphic of which cities will be consumed when by rising sea levels) 

Mar 26 2010: Silver Fox for “An Alaskan lunch overlooking the Glacier” (Art! Fossils! Bears! Beers! Bears with beers! No glacier, though)
and Jennifer Rohn for “In which I tell it like it is” (the joy of jargon) 

Posted in meta | 4 Comments

Divangelising

Yes folks, it’s another post full of TMI. Especially for the guys. I know that at least one of my readers will be happy, but others among you may wish to go and read something else instead.

Why not join the hockey pool while you’re waiting for normal service to resume? You have until 7pm EST today to make your first picks.

—————-

I first read about menstrual cups (specifically the Moon Cup) on an advert posted on the inside of a toilet door in Heathrow airport. I remember the occasion because it made quite the impression; I was in my late teens, and my nose wrinkled with disgust as I read the text. When I came out of the stall, one of the girls I was travelling with said “did you get the same advert as me? GROSS!!!” I had to agree – crazy dirty hippies!

However, I am now well and truly converted. A growing unease about the environmental impact of disposable products, combined with my discovery of green bloggers such as Ruchi, convinced me to look into the Diva Cup a few months ago. It took several posts by Ruchi and other trusted bloggers to get me to the stage of reading the product’s testimonials and FAQ pages, and I gradually realised that it wasn’t such a scary thing after all. So off to London Drugs I went*, and after reading the instructions very thoroughly, I made the switch.

And I aint going back.

Seriously, it’s an amazing, life-changing product. You put it in, and just forget about it for the day. I’ve never had to empty it more than twice a day, and never at work or while out and about – just once at home before leaving for the day, and then again before bed. I no longer have to worry about having the right number and kind of tampons stashed away at home, at work, and in my various bags. I also don’t have to worry about disposing of used tampons in friends’ houses or other places with no sani-bins. I can vouch for the safe and comfortable use of the cup while running, cycling, swimming, circuit training, doing yoga, and skiing**. And you know what? No string. On the one occasion that I got caught out without my Diva, I broke out the aforementioned handbag tampon stash, and found the string to be more inconvenient and gross than I’d remembered, and much worse than using the Diva.

It did take a bit of getting used to. The first couple of days were a little uncomfortable, but once I got the hang of inserting and (especially) removing it, I had no other problems. You really do need to read the instructions – there’s a right way and a wrong way to put it in. If it doesn’t open up fully, it will leak – but luckily I was using back-up that night (I highly recommend doing this until you’re comfortable with the cup). I also had a couple of spills while learning how to remove the cup – maybe wait until a lighter day before using it for the first time! I will confess to standing in the bath to remove the cup until I was sure I’d got the hang of it, somewhere near the start of my second cycle.

Is it gross? The first time was… different, but I got used to it very quickly (again, starting to use the cup on a lighter day might help to mitigate that initial reaction!) Now that I’m used to it, (and because I’m such a biology geek), I actually appreciate having a more detailed insight into my cycle, not that there’s any real practical benefit to this!

As I mentioned above, it took multiple positive reviews over a period (ha!) of years for me to even consider switching, so I’m not expecting anyone who reads this to go rushing out to the store THIS INSTANT. But I do hope that I can be one influence among many for someone who’s already somewhere along that same path.

Viva la Diva!

—————-


*For Ruchi’s benefit: the French text on the bilingual packaging says “coupe menstruelle” (menstrual cup, obviously) and “protection d’hygiène féminine” (feminine hygiene protection, duh.)

**Not until Day 3, obviously. Incidentally, the Diva is also fully compatible with moaning, whining, lying on the couch, eating chocolate, and trying to calculate the maximum tolerated dose of ibuprofen.

Posted in blog buddies, environment, personal, TMI | 26 Comments

Another blogger meet-up!

This was the first meet-up to which I brought a chaperone. After all, that ScientistMother is scary.

KIDDING!

We were actually at a Cafe Scientifique event about the “convenience” barriers that prevent people from choosing more sustainable options (e.g. remembering to bring reusable bags to the store so you don’t need to use the plastic ones), and I brought a non-bloggy friend who is very interested in the field. And apparently I was the scary one – after telling ScientistMother that every blogger I’d met so far was just how I’d imagined them, I said “it’s too early to tell with you, though” and got a worried look in return. The first laugh of many that night!

After a few more hours, I was able to conclude that ScientistMother is just how I imagined*. Very bright, very passionate, and definitely not afraid to speak out and express her opinions (in a good way! The speaker was being naive/simplistic when he said money was the biggest barrier to getting more people to take transit, and ScientistMother was right that time can be much more of an obstacle. And, true to blog life, once ScientistMother had taken the plunge and become the first person to jump in, others followed, and a better conversation evolved).

Once the event was over, we had an awesome and wide-ranging conversation about science, blogging, the environment, and (of course!) Monkey (soooooooooo cute! Thanks for sharing your photos, ScientistMother!). I hope we’ll do it again soon!

I did find it funny that after all this talk of time and money being obstacles to taking transit, ScientistMother dropped me off at a bus stop, and I was more or less immediately handed a transfer ticket (with 50 minutes still on it) by a kind and generous passerby, and then the bus arrived within a minute…

—————–

*Am I just how she imagined? Let’s just say that she seemed very surprised that I didn’t want to go in on a pitcher (I’d just started my 2nd pint when she arrived!)

Posted in blog buddies, communication, environment | 8 Comments

Summer lovin’, had me a blast

Tell me more, tell me more, was it love at first sight?

When I think back to the day I first met you, I can’t help but feel ashamed. With all those more handsome specimens around (surely even you would admit this!), I not only overlooked you; I actively dismissed you as a possibility. I didn’t think my friends would like you, and I’m sorry that my ridiculous vanity and snobbery robbed us of a few more precious moments we could have spent together.

Tell me more, tell me more, did she put up a fight?

When those flashy, handsome dudes finally revealed their serious character flaws to me, I turned to you. The moment we touched, I succumbed to your charms. Such chemistry! It was immediately clear that we were made for one another, and if my friends don’t like you, well, that’s their loss.

He showed off, splashing around

Oh, what a wonderful summer! Those long walks on the beach, those ocean swims! I always felt so safe, knowing you were there to protect me. I wish I could have taken you on the nice long kayak trip I promised, but as you know, I’ve been saving all my vacation days for the exotic trip we’re taking together – soon, my love, soon!

It turned colder, that’s where it ends

But, until then, it is time to say goodbye. The air has turned autumnal, the trees are developing their beautiful yellow and red hues. It was a wonderful summer fling – and don’t let anyone tell you it didn’t mean a thing.

But (oh). Those summer nights.

Posted in silliness | 14 Comments

CBC: Crazy Broadcasting Comments

I do enjoy the reader comments on the CBC News site.
As with many (most?) similar sites, the comment threads are populated chiefly by people who harbour opinions on the more extreme ends of whatever spectrum is at issue. There are also a lot of single-issue folks on the BC site, who will blame ANY problem on the provincial government / its leader, Gordon Campbell / the Olympics / the Vancouver Police and their trigger-happy Taser fingers.
The best part is the ability of commenters and lurkers to “Agree” or “Disagree” with each comment. If you’ve ever got a few minutes to spare, try leaving a comment, and see how long it takes for someone to disgree with:
a) a quantitative question (i.e. not one with a yes/no answer, but rather “how many?” or “which year?”)
b) a factual, objectively correct statement backed up with references
c) a completely innocuous or obvious comment (“my sympathies to the family”, “murder is bad”, etc).
Extra points if someone replies to your comment and mentions the government / Campbell / the Olympics / Tasers.
The only time I ever wade in (other than hitting “Agree” or “Disagree”) is when the news concerns a scientific issue, and commenters are asking specific questions or spreading inaccuracies. For example, I remember leaving a comment on one of the (still unsolved) mystery-of-the-floating-feet articles, explaining why DNA analysis can’t tell you someone’s race.
The comments on today’s sciency articles gave me a couple of big belly laughs. But I don’t think I’ll be responding.
How to even begin to craft a response to this comment on an article about the H1N1 flu?
Of course it's hit B.C. schools. It's a man made virus, released into the public, to be controlled by a man made vaccine, whenever they have it ready. How else can they make their pandemic real? This so called pandemic has been hyped up in the news ad naseum, but with a purpose. To incite fear and population control. Do I believe it's going to be bad? Absolutely. Just as planned. Do I believe a lot of people will die from the vaccine. Absolutely. Maybe even more than from the flu.
And how to possibly, ever, better this comment on an article about the (alleged) end of the devastating pine beetle infestation?[1]
The last time there was this much speculation about whether or not a beetle was dead it was Paul. Koo Koo katchoo
Genius.

1 If true, it’s only because they’ve run out of trees to kill.

Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

UPDATED Blogger Fantasy Hockey League is a go!

Yay!

To join, you’ll first need to register for the game here. You can definitely use a pseudonym – I’m playing under username VWXYNot.

After you’ve entered your picks, go to the Group Membership page.

The group name is VWXYNot

(I am sooooo original)

The group password is luongorules

(I hope this doesn’t prevent any of my non-Canuck fan blog buddies from signing up. You don’t have to actually type it, just copy and paste 😉 )

The deadline for entering the first week’s player picks is 07:00 PM ET on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009. They send reminders each week; you can just carry your existing team over into the next week, if you don’t want to invest too much time. They tell you which players are out injured/suspended, which cuts down on the hockey knowledge needed!

My team is rather heavy on Canucks and former Canucks! (Guess who my goalie is). That might change as the season progresses, but right now I’m a little hazy on players from other teams, trades, new prospects etc.

Good luck, and remember, there will be a prize! The winner gets their choice of a $50 Amazon gift certificate, or equivalent value item from the NHL store. (And yes, that’s Canadian dollars). If you absolutely don’t want to give me your address, I believe PayPal allows pseudonymous accounts – but that’s much less fun!

If I win, all other entrants have to send me cookies.

UPDATE!!! Someone joined the pool whose name I don’t recognise. If this was a regular reader, please can you email and let me know who you are? I guess seeing as I put the password in a public place and all, randoms can join – but the prize is only open to my blog buddies! I aint sending $50 to a complete stranger.

Posted in blog wars, competition, hockey pool 2009-2010, sport | 6 Comments

UPDATED Blogger hockey pool, anyone?

Last night’s game reminded me why I love hockey.

It had everything: a penalty shot, a 3-0 lead to the good guys, a come-back by the bad guys, the home team going 4-3 down, what looked like a perfectly good Canucks goal being disallowed with 10 seconds to go in the third, the start of a “bullshit, bullshit” chant from the crowd, another Canucks goal with 0.2 seconds left on the clock (and the crowd halfway through the third repetition of “-shit”), overtime, a sudden-death penalty shoot-out, and finally, victory! Oh, and a happy, good-natured crowd, where the Flames fan who shouted “you guys got lucky!” in a SkyTrain station packed with Canucks fans was treated to laughter and slaps on the back, rather than a beating. Quite a shock for an English football fan 😉

And it’s still only pre-season!

Prof-like Substance’s NFL pool seems to be going well; would anyone care to join me in an NHL version? Let me know in the comments! And please let me know whether you’d be prepared to sign up for a 3rd party site that would do a lot of the work and let us create our own sub-league – it allows pseudonyms, and we used it with great success (and much hilarity) for Euro 2008. I can provide regular updates and graphs.

The season starts in a week or two. GO CANUCKS GO!

UPDATE in response to a question emailed by a reader. I was thinking of using the league run by Rogers Sportsnet. You pick players each week:

“Your fantasy team will consist of 2 Centres, 4 Wingers, 3 Defensemen and 1 Goalie. Each player available to be chosen has been assigned a value between 1 and 10 based on past and predicted performance. Each Week, the challenge is to put together a 10 player team that will score the most fantasy points while not exceeding the of 50.”

and you can set up your own private league within the larger competition. It’s a Canadian site, but from past experience with their football pools, non-residents can play (but may not be eligible for the prizes).

BUT!!! I will offer a first-place prize of my own. Maybe an Amazon voucher, maybe something related to the NHL or the 2010 Vancouver-Whistler Winter Olympics.

Posted in blog wars, sport | 7 Comments

Tuesday pet peeve: for fax sake!

I really, really, really hate fax machines.

Seriously, why is anyone still using them now that we have scanners and email? I’m sure they came in very useful in that brief period between their invention and the internet becoming mainstream, but they’re vastly inferior to email in almost every way. And yet I’ve dealt with two companies and one individual this month who insisted on conducting our business by fax.

Here’s why I hate fax machines:

Sending faxes sucks
Every machine in our building is different – some require a 9 for an outside line, others don’t. Some require a 1 before even a local number, others don’t. Some accept the original face down, others, face up: some, right way up, others, upside down.

Even assuming that you’ve got the original in the right orientation, and dialled the right combination of numbers, successful transmission is not guaranteed. Sometimes you hit a dual-use fax/phone line, and the person picks up and says hello – so you have to try again. Sometimes you lose the connection halfway through transmission. The machine in our office doesn’t automatically print reports or otherwise indicate its status, so you have to manually go into the various menus to get it to print out a report telling you if your document transmitted or not.

Even when the document sends properly, how can you be sure the right person received it? I don’t know a single person who has their own machine; even friends who have their own business or are otherwise self-employed don’t have a fax machine. So the document goes to the shared office machine, whether it’s work-related or not, where it might get lost, or picked up by the wrong person (hello, security risk?)

Receiving faxes sucks
On the frequent occasions that our office machine has been busily printing spam, it runs out of paper. Since it’s hidden away in the corner and NO-ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND USES A FAX MACHINE ANY MORE, it can take hours or even days for someone to notice and add fresh paper. And then there’s the risk that someone else will pick up your item by accident, or spot something private (two of my recent faxing escapades were work-related, the other was/is private* – but I don’t have my own fax machine, so the shared office machine it is).

That fax noise really, really sucks
Could they not have come up with a better noise than that (you know the one I mean) to indicate a successful connection?

Please, please, please, let me just scan the damn thing and email it to you. That way I know it’s going to the right person. And please, please, please, if you must fax personal items to me, call and let me know so I can a) put paper in the machine and b) ensure that my PRIVATE correspondence is seen only by me.

A plague of fax noise and invaded privacy upon those who insist on using fax machines!

And let’s not even get started on the fact that I had to MAIL a CHEQUE to one of these people! Forget PayPal, he/she doesn’t even take credit cards!!!

——————————
*nothing, like, medical, embarrassing, or career-threatening. But something personal enough that I don’t want my office mates to see it. Inevitably, one of them did, and started to ask questions…

Posted in career, plagues, rants, technology | 10 Comments

Britain’s Got Talent Confusing Place Names

Do you ever find yourself cycling/walking/driving along, thinking of this and that or maybe just on autopilot, and then suddenly, for no apparent reason, chuckling over an incident or anecdote from years ago?

I did just that this morning. I have no idea why the memory popped into my head while I was cycling to work, but I suddenly thought of a story a friend told me about a train ride from Newcastle to Edinburgh. She’d started talking to an American couple who were visiting the UK for the first time, and was sharing her knowledge of the region through which they were passing. As the train came to a stop in the lovely seaside town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the American guy asked, “so, what is there to do in Burr-wick-upon-Tweed?”

This made my friend smile, because contrary to what a foreigner would logically think, Berwick is actually pronounced Berrick. (Warwick is also pronounced Worrick, not War-wick). Being a helpful sort, she politely corrected him with “actually, the w is silent”.

“OK then”, he replied, “what is there to do in Burr-wick-upon-Teed?”

Now, before I get into other examples of British-town-names-that-North-Americans-pronounce-incorrectly, I’d like to pre-empt any accusations of anti-North-American sentiment by pointing out that I’m aware that this works both ways. When I first moved here, I (and every Brit of my acquaintaince who’s visited or immigrated since) mispronounced Chilliwack as Chilly-wack, and Winnipeg as Winny-peg, several times. A kind and helpful Canadian eventually took the piss corrected me, and I’ve said both names properly (Chill-uh-wack and Winn-uh-peg) ever since.

So. Back to Britain. Leicester rhymes with Fester, and Gloucester rhymes with Foster. Glasgow rhymes with Go, not Cow, and the nearby town of Milngavie is pronounced Mull-guy, but no-one ever gets that one right the first time (and I’m not even touching Wales). Also, county names that end in -shire should sound like -shuh, not -shy-er. (York-shuh, Lester-shuh and so on). -by on the end of a name (e.g. the town of Haxby, where I grew up) signifies a -be sound, not a -buy sound (Hax-be). And -ham on the end of a name should be pronounced -um, not -ham (so it’s Old-um, not Old-ham, and Birming-um, not Birming-ham). So far, so good.

It’s the -burghs, -boroughs, and -broughs that really trip people up though. You see, they’re all pronounced the same way. Yup, Edinburgh, Peterborough, and Middlesbrough all end with the same sound – Edin-bruh, Peter-bruh, Middles-bruh.

No, really, they do.

But the best mispronunciation story ever was told to me by a friend who went to university in the Midlands. He was once asked for directions by a car full of Aussies – and could barely stop laughing for long enough to tell them how to get to Loughborough.

Which is pronounced Luff-bruh.

Not Looga-berooga.

Posted in English language, silliness, UK | 24 Comments