Meetings, Earthlings

Posted on December 2, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Meetings.

Either an exhilarating exchange of ideas that will revolutionise science as we know it, or a bunch of bored people sitting in a room, listening to droning bigwigs.

I don’t have half as many meetings as I did in my last job, and a much higher percentage of the ones I do have are of the useful variety. For this I am incredibly grateful.

On an ordinary meeting day I will gather my paper and pencils, put the kettle on, pop to the loo, make a cup of tea, and travel no more than 4 floors from my desk to join my colleagues.

Yesterday’s meeting was on Granville Island, not an actual island but a small piece of reclaimed industrial land that is now a landscaped tourist attraction, complete with public market, nice stores, kayak rentals, etc. My office is only about 3 km away, so as I was only going to the afternoon session of an all-day meeting, I decided to walk down there on my lunch break.

During my postdoc years, a group of us would sometimes escape the lab early and bike or walk down to Granville Island for a beer, occasionally stopping to play a game of football. This experience has left me with some insider knowledge about the very cool shortcut I took yesterday, camera phone in hand.

This pleasant, leafy walkway is actually suspended over a main road.

You can hear the traffic, but can’t see it, unless you climb up a small embankment towards a gap in the vegetation.

Once over the road, I continued through a park, complete with ponds and ducks, towards False Creek (“False” because it’s actually an inlet of the ocean).

Yup, I had a nice sea-side stroll on the way to my meeting!

I was tempted to keep going – the path continues through more parks and several beaches – but dutifully turned right and went to my meeting.

I turned up happy and relaxed, and grabbed a left-over sandwich and cookie from the morning session. The meeting was small, and focused more on the politics of science than the actual science, but it was interesting.

I never got a cup of tea though.

Posted in photos, Vancouver | 14 Comments

In which I once again leave myself open to a schooling in Canadian politics, from people who actually know what they’re talking about

Posted on December 2, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

The Science Canada blog has directed me to some very interesting articles recently, and as a result I had a whole post planned on how the new US government might impact on Canadian environmental policies.

BUT!

Much more immediately interesting things are afoot in Ottawa.

You might remember that our recent election resulted in a minority Conservative government, holding less than 40% of the popular vote (see comments from Okham, ScientistMother, Chall, Dr A and Dr J on this thread for an interesting discussion about the shortcomings of our electoral system).

Rather than engaging and being accountable to the opposition parties, the Conservatives tried to push through legislation that would cripple their ability to fund their future election campaigns. (This was not the only contentious part of the legislation, but seems to have provided a convenient tipping point; ScientistMother has much more detail in her post).

This plan has spectacularly backfired. The two largest opposition parties (who split the left-wing vote in the election, leading to our current situation) have now solidified a formal coalition, and plan to try and overthrow the minority government next Monday, with the support of the Bloc Quebecois.

As I understand it, the possible outcomes are as follows:

  1. Harper (Conservative Prime Minister) asks the Governor General for permission to suspend parliament, thereby avoiding the confidence vote that would bring down his government.
  2. The Liberal-NDP coalition defeats the government in the confidence vote, and the Governor General grants them permission to form a new government with no election.
  3. The Liberal-NDP coalition defeats the government in the confidence vote, and the Governor General dissolves parliament to instigate a new election.

The political commentators seem to be leaning towards option 2, with option 3 as back-up in case the coalition fails.

Given that the popular vote consistently shows that Canada is not a naturally Conservative country, uniting the left seems like a logical and perfectly acceptable step to me. Some might argue that it would have been better to do this before the election, thereby saving us all a lot of hassle. I might agree… right now I’m just enjoying the look on Harper’s smug little face. Karma’s a bitch, Stephen.

I was saying to some friends recently that I’d love to be Governor General (and as a female immigrant I’d have a decent shot, if the last two incumbents are any guide), given that there seem to be lots of perks and a massive pension without any real responsibility. But right now, Michaëlle Jean seems to be the most powerful person in the country.

It’s all very interesting. And still no mention of this story on the BBC international news website. For shame, BBC, for shame.

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Posted in Canada, environment, politics | 3 Comments

Friday clock watching

Posted on November 28, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Brian’s recent post touching on the “watchmaker” argument used by intelligent design proponents reminded me of this extremely elegant experiment, in video form.
The video is about 10 minutes long and should be fairly self-explanatory for anyone with any training in evolutionary biology, although my husband did require some additional commentary when I showed it to him. Funnily enough, he had a harder time understanding the creationist argument than the evolutionary theory…
There are some interesting extra details from the video’s creator on YouTube, under the “more info” link in the top right corner.
Enjoy…

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Nature Mapping

Posted on November 28, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?
Cross-posted from my other blog, as it’s not getting many comments over there and it would be nice to be able to give my friend some extra feedback. Especially ‘cos it’s her birthday on Sunday!

———————–

Ever wondered what’s lurking in your garden?

A friend of mine has a budding1 professional interest. She’s a volunteer in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, and as part of her role has come across an activity known as nature mapping.

As far as I understand it, the ultimate goal of nature mapping – also called barefoot mapping – is to catalogue the hidden biodiversity tucked away in parks and gardens. My friend has partnered with an amateur artist, and they are potentially interested in mapping private residences and producing personalised works of art, complete with information about the property’s ownership, location, physical description, ecological and cultural values, stewardship and conservation goals, etc.

Everyone needs to practice their trade, and what better way than in your friends’ gardens? So, one sunny summer day, she arrived at my house with notebook, camera and measuring tape in hand, and we proceeded to measure dimensions and sketch outlines and move inch by inch through the garden, listing and photographing every living thing we found. The results are below: Link if you’d like to zoom in

Pretty cool, eh?!

I had a really fun few hours poking through hedges and into the weedier parts of our property. It took me back to the days of picking up worms and chasing my sister around our garden with them, all those weeks years ago. And the original hand drawn map – all 2 ft x 4 ft of it – will find a good home on my office wall.

Our next step is to map my mother-in-law’s property on the Sunshine Coast. It’s about half an acre and incorporates an intricately planned patchwork of flowers and herbs, bordered by chunks of the original forest. We regularly see deer passing through, an owl with a four-foot wing span used to stop by to terrorise the cat, the occasional bear has been sighted, and my father-in-law once saw a cougar strolling past the kitchen window. I can’t wait to see that map!

———————–
1. Pun intended
Posted in furry friends, nature, photos, Vancouver | 7 Comments

Heads will roll…

Posted on November 27, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

While our American friends are off enjoying their turkey, would any Canadians care to join me in a political rant?

A while ago, at the time of the Canadian general election (remember that? Anyone?), I blogged about a slimeball politician by the name of David Emerson. As I wrote at the time:

“Our local member of parliament (MP) is one David Emerson. This scumbag ran as a Liberal in the last election, which was set to be a tight race. He won, with 44% of the vote. The NDP took second place, with 34%, and the Conservatives finished third, with less than 20% of the local vote. However, the Conservatives won the most seats nationwide, and therefore won the election.

Just a few days later, Emerson switched parties and took up a cushy cabinet position in the new Conservative government.

The largely working class and/or immigrant local community, who traditionally hate the Conservatives, were outraged. There are still signs all over the area saying “de-elect David Emerson”. But he was completely unrepentant. He’s not standing as an MP anywhere in the country this time around, but is deluded enough to think that he would have won in this riding if he’d been on the ballot sheet. (Fat chance, mate). He’s also saying that he was never a Liberal. I’d have more (i.e. some) respect for him if he said that he had changed his mind based on Liberal policies X, Y and Z. But he somehow thinks it’s better to admit that he was a liar from the start.”

Well, he’s back. The Provincial government (currently the BC Liberal party, whose connection (or lack thereof) to the federal Liberal party I don’t really understand), just gave him what the “neutral” CBC is calling a “plum Crown position” as “CEO and board chair of the BC Transmission Corporation, a Crown corporation that works with BC Hydro to supply electricity across the province”.

This douchebag asshole bottom feeder* scumbag shouldn’t be anywhere near public office. Check out some of the comments on the CBC news article for confirmation of the local outrage…

Fortunately the BC Liberals are increasingly unpopular, and a Provincial election is coming next year. I wasn’t around the last time the BC NDP were in power, but I understand they were booted out of office a few years ago for making some very high profile mistakes regarding some expensive but useless ferries, among other things. I hope they’ve been forgiven… and I know I keep saying this, but I really hope I’m able to vote by then.

———————-

*my original three insults were rejected due to the fact that these words represent things that are actually useful.

Posted in bad people, Canada, politics, rants | 6 Comments

Nature Mapping

Posted on November 26, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Ever wondered what’s lurking in your garden?
A friend of mine has a budding1 professional interest. She’s a volunteer in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, and as part of her role has come across an activity known as nature mapping2.
As far as I understand it, the ultimate goal of nature mapping – also called barefoot mapping – is to catalogue the hidden biodiversity tucked away in parks and gardens. My friend has partnered with an amateur artist, and they are potentially interested in mapping private residences and producing personalised works of art, complete with information about the property’s ownership, location, physical description, ecological and cultural values, stewardship and conservation goals, etc.
Everyone needs to practice their trade, and what better way than in your friends’ gardens? So, one sunny summer day, she arrived at my house with notebook, camera and measuring tape in hand, and we proceeded to measure dimensions and sketch outlines and move inch by inch through the garden, listing and photographing every living thing we found. The results are below the fold; I’ll be forwarding this link to my friend, who is brand new to the blogosphere, so please give her a gentle introduction3 to our little corner of the internet!

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

The Olympic dream is alive!

Posted on November 26, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Mr E Man and I recently applied for our 2010 Olympics tickets – hockey, snowboarding, freestyle aerial skiing, and curling (the latter only because the venue is within walking distance of our house, and it would be pretty cool to walk to the Olympics).

According to the local media, almost all events are oversubscribed – for example, the people who requested tickets for the men’s hockey gold medal game would fill the venue seven times over. (The actual ratio of applicants:attendees will be much higher, but I can’t put an exact figure on our chances; no-one is exactly sure of how many seats are allocated to Canadian residents, who are the only people eligible to apply for tickets in this first phase). So our application will be entered into a lottery system, with our Visa cards being charged as soon as the lottery is completed.

We’d originally been told that everything would be finalised by November 23rd. When we hadn’t heard anything despite obsessively checking our credit card statements several times a week, an air of disappointment and resignation descended.

But!

I just got an email containing the following text:

KEY DATES
Due to the incredible demand for Olympic Winter Games tickets, we have slightly adjusted our timeline for the rest of Phase 1. Please take note of the new dates below.
December 1 VANOC will begin charging Visa cards
NEW – December 10 E-mail notification of ticket allocation (no information released prior to this date)


It’s still highly unlikely that we’ll get the hockey tickets, but hopefully we’ll get something else!

Posted in sport, Vancouver | 13 Comments

Science is full of surprises

Posted on November 25, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

The good:

I sat down on the sofa this morning with my oatmeal and big cup of tea, and switched on the local TV news. The first thing I saw was one of my colleagues, nervously pipetting culture medium into culture dishes and talking about his findings that came out in a C/N/S journal1 today.

The bad:

A couple of hours later I went to put my lunch in the office fridge, and found a packet of lab mouse food (“bacon flavour!”) next to my milk.

Science isn’t dull!2 PI CV updates are a different story however…

Right, I’m off to watch the hockey with historically low expectations.

———-

1. For the non-scientists: Cell/Nature/Science, i.e. top-tier, very prestigious.
2. Bonus point to anyone who can tell me which British TV show used that catchphrase in the early 90s!

Posted in publishing, science, silliness | 15 Comments

Caturday!

Posted on November 22, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Google’s Grabbing Game

She can do this for hours. Usually loudly, at night. I woke up this morning to find four toy mice in the bedroom, just out of her reach… But isn’t it amazing how much fun you can have with a coin wrap and a badly fitting bedroom door?

Saba is continuing to behave strangely. Here is one of her trademark poses:

She is prodigiously proud of that big white fluffy belly and likes to show it off. Usually by flopping down on the floor and rolling over, but she likes the sitting display too. She is often confused by her hind legs – she’ll stick one up in the air for a wash, give it a couple of licks, get distracted by a noise, then turn back around in astonishment at this furry white thing that’s in her face and try to bat it away with a front paw. Then she will slowly lower the leg back down – as in this photo.

She also frequently falls off the sofa or off things like the cardboard box for the new lamp that you can see in the video. Just rolls onto her back, forgets that she’s near an edge, and… flop bang wallop run away.

And yes, she’s on a diet. It’s starting to work.

Meanwhile Google is usually more lady-like,

but is starting to pick up some of her sister’s habits. The flopping onto the back thing, the leg sticking out thing, and getting distracted while washing and then sitting staring at us with her tongue sticking out. But the only time she ever falls off things is when she takes a flying leap onto, say, the kitchen table, lands on a piece of paper, and skids spectacularly across the table before half jumping-half falling off.

Never a dull moment!

Posted in furry friends, photos, silliness, videos | 1 Comment

The (baby) elephant (not) in the room

Posted on November 20, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?

As promised at Ruchi’s place, a post about not having children. (Or, rather, not planning to have children; this is not always the same thing, as a couple of my friends have found out!)

Mr E Man and I had The Talk very early on – within the first six months of our relationship. Luckily we are on the same page, for many reasons. In no particular order:

  • Being parents is incredibly hard (conclusion reached through years of observation of friends and family who are parents, and the occasional verbal verification from one of them).
  • We have enough trouble looking after ourselves (we run out of milk and bread and clean towels all the time).
  • We’re selfish and like our lives the way they are (I recently told two different friends that sure, if you’re going up to Whistler at short notice on a weekend, call me! 5 am, whatever! I can grab my skis, my gear and a granola bar and be ready to leave in less than an hour).
  • Kids would inevitably increase our environmental impact, no matter how hard we tried to minimize their effect (plus, I believe that the planet needs extra people like I need, um, lice, or some other non-fatal parasite. I know Ruchi disagrees… but if we ever change our minds about having kids, adoption would be our first choice).
  • We’re lazy and like our sleep way too much (did I mention that we’re selfish?)
  • Childcare is ridiculously expensive and hard to find in Vancouver (I know two new mothers here on postdoc work permits who may have to leave the country, because they can’t find affordable childcare, and therefore can’t go back to work, and therefore can’t renew their status in Canada).
  • I don’t want to give up sushi for 9 months (yes, this is a valid reason. One of my friends really, really struggled with the lack of sushi. No booze, no caffeine, no problem – but no raw fish? Screw that. Another argument for adoption, in my book).
  • We’d truly, honestly, rather have a boat (did I mention that we’re selfish?)

Don’t get me wrong – I love kids, for at least a few hours at a time. We have six young nephews and a whole bunch of young cousinoids, and regularly spend time with friends’ kids. I am Auntie Cath to, let’s see, about 20 children? (I love being an Auntie). And obviously some people need to keep having kids if the species is to survive, just not everyone.

Unfortunately, not everyone sees it that way. The majority of our friends and family just seem to assume that we’ll be having kids soon, given that we got married a whole year ago and all. And it’s incredible (but no longer surprising) exactly how many people will try and talk us out of our decision. Sometimes this manifests itself as a simple “when?” question, and then surprise at our answer (“really? But, but, but, are you sure?”) And sometimes it get much more irritating and intrusive than that.

I would never, ever, give someone a hard time for choosing to have kids. So why do so many people fail to see that not having kids is a personal choice that we’ve actually thought through and discussed, rather than a personal insult directed at them or their lifestyle?

For example, at Thanksgiving in October we were at my mother-in-law’s house. I was sitting around the dining table with my MIL (who has 5 kids), her eldest daughter (2 kids), and my brother-in-law’s hilarious (not so new) girlfriend (1 kid + 2 stepkids). Mr E Man was washing the dishes in the kitchen while the rest of us shared some wine and chatted about various benign subjects. But then, with no warning, the two younger women unleashed a shock and awe pro-kids campaign on me. (BIL’s H(NSN)G told me the next day that this had been planned over drinks the night before. She also apologised and said “that was incredibly rude, wasn’t it?”. I concurred). They both told me that we should totally have children, and will come around to the “right” point of view soon enough. Like, after we have all those kids that we should be having! The youngest child in the family is now almost 6, and it’s selfish for us not to have children when everyone so badly wants a new baby to play with! My MIL, an incredibly sweet lady who I adore, chipped in at this point with “I’d really like another granddaughter, [name] is all grown up and there are so many boys in this family”.

I could sense, even from behind a half-wall, that Mr E Man was getting really pissed off. His family, his argument – so while I made polite noises about “I’m sorry but having kids isn’t for us, you’re really not going to change my mind”, he quietly seethed for a while before snapping “not gonna happen, now leave us alone!” They did, and hopefully they won’t be trying that approach again.

In a few weeks we’ll be heading to the UK for Christmas. We have yet to have the “no grandchildren for you!” conversation with my parents, although my sister knows the situation. It’s coming… and honesty is definitely the best policy, despite the temptation to use Mr E Man’s idea of saying “that’s a hard subject for us [sob], we’ve been trying for years and nothing works [sniffle], there’s this incredible clinic in Cuba but we’d need to go for at least a couple of weeks and we can’t afford it… [pleading look]”

It’s not going to go down too well, I don’t have a big family and my parents looooove kids. Hopefully they’ll be happy to be an extra set of grandparents to my cousins’ kids (the aforementioned cousinoids, who they see a couple of times a year). And I can place some hope in the following conversation, reported to me by an intrepid spy my sister a few years ago:

Dad: “When are you going to give me some grandchildren?”
Sis: “But Dad! I don’t even have a boyfriend!”
Dad: “Well don’t let that stop you.”
Sis: “Oh, yeah, you’d love that. Anyway, why don’t you go and bother Cath instead? She’s at least living with someone!”
Dad: “I don’t want Canadian grandchildren”.

I hope that this was said for more than comic effect – but I suspect not!

Wish me luck… and please do share any of your own coping strategies!

Posted in environment, family, rants | 27 Comments