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This takes some beating:
Gall y neges e-bost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau a anfonwyd gyda hi, gynnwys deunydd cyfrinachol ac wedi eu bwriadu i'w defnyddio'n unig gan y sawl y cawsant eu cyfeirio ato (atynt). Os ydych wedi derbyn y neges e-bost hon trwy gamgymeriad, rhowch wybod i'r anfonwr ar unwaith a dilëwch y neges. Os na fwriadwyd anfon y neges atoch chi, rhaid i chi beidio â defnyddio, cadw neu ddatgelu unrhyw wybodaeth a gynhwysir ynddi. Mae unrhyw farn neu safbwynt yn eiddo i'r sawl a'i hanfonodd yn unig ac nid yw o anghenraid yn cynrychioli barn Prifysgol Bangor. Nid yw Prifysgol Bangor yn gwarantu bod y neges e-bost hon neu unrhyw atodiadau yn rhydd rhag firysau neu 100% yn ddiogel. Oni bai fod hyn wedi ei ddatgan yn uniongyrchol yn nhestun yr e-bost, nid bwriad y neges e-bost hon yw ffurfio contract rhwymol - mae rhestr o lofnodwyr awdurdodedig ar gael o Swyddfa Cyllid Prifysgol Bangor. www.bangor.ac.uk
I don't know what a 100% ddiogel is but I want one.
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Openness is arguably the great strength of the scientific method.
Cameron is serializing a long essay he wrote on open science, and I encourage you to read it. Additionally, over at Nature Network, Jenny has been stirring the pot a bit, mulling over what might happen if science was as intensely scrutinized by the media as is, say, the love lives of sportspeople. Heather then suggested that we (i.e. practising scientists) made three 'press-releases' a day to see if we could generate enough 'news'.
You don’t necessarily need to be a great scientist, or even a great blogger, for the material to be of potential interest to historians in 50-100 years time.Cameron Neylon
Facebook is actually a terrible medium for this, so I created a FriendFeed Room. Any scientists reading this should feel free to join the experiment. You're smart enough to work out problems of confidentiality, I'm sure. It's only been going (looks...) 16 hours, but seems to be generating quite a bit of interest.
It's not quite Open Notebook Science, but then the newspapers don't tell you what's really happening either. Perfect.
If anyone from the Faculty is actually reading, they should (a) read that and (b) consider sending me to SciBlog '09 in North Carolina...
This is to wish staff and students celebrating Rosh Hashanah "Shana Tova", and also to wish "Eid Mubarak" to those celebrating Eid ul-Fitr.
The Black Knight is disgusted at this lack of inclusiveness. To remedy the situation he would like to wish all students, for the next month according to preference, a
and finally, because this is (nominally) a science weblog, a Memorable Mole Day.
(The Black Knight apologizes to anyone left out due to space constraints, but especially to Shintoans, Zoroastrians and Rastafarians.)
"I'm taking a sword into the lab, for rehab."
And you thought scientists had a cushy job.
]]>Most of the lab has been at a meeting in the Federal capital this week, with some people coming back yesterday, most this morning and still others not returning for a day or two yet.
As far as I can tell, the best thing about Canberra is that it's a three hour drive from Sydney. The worst thing about Canberra is that it's only a three hour drive from Sydney. The second-best thing about Canberra is that when you leave it, you can get to this place, which is well worth the entry fee:
.
Those of the lab who intended to stay an extra night in Canberra, are, apparently, wishing they hadn't. Those who have already returned wish they'd done so sooner.
]]>Gymea removals will be taking away all the rubbish from the dock sometime tomorrow (Friday).Please feel free to add to the pile.
I should resurrect the 'Word of the Week' column, shouldn't I?
We've all been there. Either as the driver or adult passenger on a long car journey to a holiday destination, or as the annoying offspring ourselves, where 'long' is anything more than about half a mile. We've managed to turn that into a bit of a joke: on leaving the Black Castle one of us might ask it before the engine's even turned over. The Pawns are getting the message—and when they haven't, I will usually say "No, we've got about six hours left", which is far better for my sanity at least than "Don't start that again". Even if we are only five minutes from the destination.
This one takes a bit of training. It's usually uttered from the backseat just after you've left the M4 service station (where you asked, "Does anyone need the toilet?"), successfully merged between two Eddie Stobarts, and have settled into fifth doing eighty-five.
The trick of course is not to ask who needs the toilet, but to inform your brood that they are, fact, going to the toilet now while we're still safely at Leigh Delamere services, because it's still six hours to Cornwall and we're not stopping again.
Having an 'accident' with a toddler in potty-training while in sight of the services but not being able to get there because the Cambridgeshire rozzers[0]. haven't yet learned how to direct traffic yet is probably inevitable, so your best bet is to be prepared as best you can. Pack plenty of changes of clothes.
"If I hear 'The wheels on the bus go round and round' one more time I shall scream." A generation of parents know all the words to all the Tweenies songs, but at least they're better than the alternative. No, seriously: if ever I hear 'toot toot chugga chugga big red car' again I will have to be restrained from choking Jeff with his own blasted guitar.
(Subtext: "I'm bored")
"No"
(Subtext: "In the car? When you're likely to throw up at the next corner? You know how much the upholstery stinks—are you out of your tiny little mind?")
Because, darling child of mine, we've just spent the last four hours in a traffic jam outside Taunton and we need to be there by seven. And your mother's got a headache.
---
If any of that seems familiar, spare a thought for Opportunity, NASA's plucky little rover, about to set off on a seven mile journey to a holiday home by the sea a crater. Seven miles may not seem much (although it can seem like a lifetime on the M5), but NASA claim that, if they can crank up the top speed a bit, they're not going to be 'nearly there yet' for two years.
And there are no service stations on Mars. Or ice creams.
---
I started writing this because I was concerned about how the writer of the NY Times piece managed to get 110 yards/day for two years to be anywhere near seven miles (and don't even think about the title to that article). 110 x 365 x 2 = 80,300 yards, which is 45.6 miles. Assuming an Earth year of course, which is what the vast majority of people reading the article might reasonably be expected to think. Martian time is complicated.
Opportunity currently has a heady top speed of 0.1 mph. However, she is a sensitive lady and needs to take care not to trip over rocks and boulders and stuff that you don't (usually) get on motorways, which means she'll be travelling quite a bit more slowly. She is also solar powered, so even if she did spend all day travelling those 110 yards, she'd need to take a couple of days in the sun to recharge her batteries.
NASA says
The rover team estimates Opportunity may be able to travel about 110 yards each day it is driven toward the Endeavour crater. Even at that pace, the journey could take two years.
Note those critical words, each day it is driven. It's not going to be a non-stop journey. There will be toilet breaks.
But that's what you get when journalists swallow press releases without chewing.
]]> 0. They're better than the AFP though. And that's saying something.]]>The last person who used the film processor obviously ignored the fact that the developer is running low. This negligence is quite annoying since it requires me to spend time to remove air bubbles from the pumps.Please follow the instructions or it will be necessary to remove the culprit(s) from the list of authorized people.
I'm scared.
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I'm not going to say it. Really.
]]>Hit 'refresh' if you're still getting the old version, and feel free to let me know if it works for you, or not.
BK
]]>So it's always really funny when an Honours Student finds something wrong with a piece of equipment and sends a stinky letter to the entire Cage rather than doing something sensible like finding out who is responsible for that piece of equipment, or—Heaven forbid—talking to their supervisor about it. (The right to send grumpy emails comes with age. And entertainment value).
Earlier this week we had a real doozy:
17th SeptemberTo the people who moved the $EQUIPMENT,
I have been at $OTHER_PLACE for the
last 12 hours [doing $STUFF] and popped back to [use $EQUIPMENT]
to find out the $EQUIPMENT has been moved and i need a
key!! Please tell everyone a day in advance of changes happening to the
building.:(
You're way ahead of me, aren't you? One serving of humble pie coming up:
sorry everyone,i missed the email sent [] on the 12th. I will organize to
get a key.
On the one hand, my opinion of people increases when they admit their mistakes. On the other, Honours Students get assessed in a few weeks by members of this Department.
'Nuff said.
]]>In today's lab classFemale student says to Distinguished Teaching Prof: "My friend REALLY likes you"
DTP (looking Cheshire Cat-esque): "Really?"
Student: "Yes, she's ALWAYS talking about you."
DTP: "Gosh... I can't imagine there's that much to say."
Student: "No, no, she's always going on about how great you are."
DTP: "Wow..."
Student: "Yes, she always says that she wishes that you could be her father."
DTP: <sound of balloon deflating>
Me? Long way to go yet: I walked into a bar with a new friend in Maine, and got asked for my ID.
