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erestor, joyful_molly
27 May 2016 22:24Situation in hand.
27 May 2016 22:24
Situation in hand.
So, the last two days have been interesting.
A local sixth form (16-18 year olds) college invited me along to help with some of their preparing-for-employment programmes. The initial e-mail was fairly vague, but as I corresponded, more details came through:
"Can you do some mock interviews with our students?"
OK.
"What dates would you prefer? And what types of students?"
Well, I'm a research scientist, so I'd prefer STEMM subjects, or Geography, or perhaps Animal Welfare at a pinch.
"Oh, we're doing the STEMM students on. If you come on the 7th and 8th we're doing the Business and Accountancy students."
Um...OK. Fine, let's go with that, as I'm given an interview script and all.
...and then the fake job description and interview script arrives for Day One, the Monday.
Childcare students.
Of all the topics under the sun, childcare probably ranks as the one I am least qualified for. I mean, I just about know what end of a toddler is the front, but it's hardly my natural inclination.
Still, I gamely went along with it, and got myself into character as the manager of a fictional new nursery. And interviewed 10 or so baby-loving young women about their fictional applications to be nursery nurses.
It was surprisingly good fun. Intense, as I actually had to listen, and I am not the best listener, but interesting. Some were confident, some were bubbly, some were nervous. One was so nervous she arrived in tears. I saw it as my job to give them the best chance to show what they were capable of, so tried to be a sympathetic interviewer who'd prompt them to try and coax out their skills and experience. Mostly it worked. One or two seemed to be quite underprepared and a bit apathetic but overall they came across as nice and passionate about childcare as a vocation. Good on them.
Day Two was the A-level students (mostly studying some combination of psychology/sociology/law/business studies/culture and communication). They'd apparently chosen the job advert for which they were fictionally applying by democratic vote, but were a bit confused about the specifics of the job description (it was oddly phrased: the advert was originally posted by a recruitment agency, who were recruiting for a headhunting firm, who specialised in recruiting legal professionals for FTSE 250 companies, and so the students hadn't quite deconstructed where the position in question fitted into all that). Still, I worked with what was there, and played along. This cohort were a year older - they'd done this before, last year, and weren't totally convinced they needed to do another interview this year. Nonetheless, all but one turned up. Most of them even dressed like they were attending an actual job interview. One, we suspect, might have forgotten the interviews were today, as she interviewed very well - enthusiastic, intelligent, animated, likeable - but was woefully, woefully underdressed (and vastly overperfumed). I felt fairly proud of myself for completing the interview with the hard-of-hearing student without him needing to ask for repeats or misunderstanding anything, so that was a communication win. Overall, you could tell today's cohort were older and more experienced, as they were more polished. But then, so was I, by that time, having interviewed around 20 people in 2 days. I got quite into the role - ambitious, dynamic headhunting firm, placing legal professionals in high profile clients' legal departments. High pressure environment, demanding clients, eye for talent, great promotion prospects. Probably a good thing it was only one morning or I'd have started to act like it was what I actually did!
I'm now in the odd position of having been in about twenty times more interviews as the interviewer than as the interviewee.
I'm glad it's over now, however, as wearing smart clothes for two days straight gets really tiresome. Though I'm going to the opera tomorrow night so should probably at least vaguely try to look respectable then too.
I really hope that none of them actually believed I was what I was pretending to be. It was too bad I couldn't do a big reveal each time. "Um, yeah, actually what I do is put tiny flies in a tube and see which way they crawl...and also chase butterflies and giant bees around bean fields in Africa*."
*Our current research project is simply way too much fun.
A local sixth form (16-18 year olds) college invited me along to help with some of their preparing-for-employment programmes. The initial e-mail was fairly vague, but as I corresponded, more details came through:
"Can you do some mock interviews with our students?"
OK.
"What dates would you prefer? And what types of students?"
Well, I'm a research scientist, so I'd prefer STEMM subjects, or Geography, or perhaps Animal Welfare at a pinch.
"Oh, we're doing the STEMM students on
Um...OK. Fine, let's go with that, as I'm given an interview script and all.
...and then the fake job description and interview script arrives for Day One, the Monday.
Childcare students.
Of all the topics under the sun, childcare probably ranks as the one I am least qualified for. I mean, I just about know what end of a toddler is the front, but it's hardly my natural inclination.
Still, I gamely went along with it, and got myself into character as the manager of a fictional new nursery. And interviewed 10 or so baby-loving young women about their fictional applications to be nursery nurses.
It was surprisingly good fun. Intense, as I actually had to listen, and I am not the best listener, but interesting. Some were confident, some were bubbly, some were nervous. One was so nervous she arrived in tears. I saw it as my job to give them the best chance to show what they were capable of, so tried to be a sympathetic interviewer who'd prompt them to try and coax out their skills and experience. Mostly it worked. One or two seemed to be quite underprepared and a bit apathetic but overall they came across as nice and passionate about childcare as a vocation. Good on them.
Day Two was the A-level students (mostly studying some combination of psychology/sociology/law/business studies/culture and communication). They'd apparently chosen the job advert for which they were fictionally applying by democratic vote, but were a bit confused about the specifics of the job description (it was oddly phrased: the advert was originally posted by a recruitment agency, who were recruiting for a headhunting firm, who specialised in recruiting legal professionals for FTSE 250 companies, and so the students hadn't quite deconstructed where the position in question fitted into all that). Still, I worked with what was there, and played along. This cohort were a year older - they'd done this before, last year, and weren't totally convinced they needed to do another interview this year. Nonetheless, all but one turned up. Most of them even dressed like they were attending an actual job interview. One, we suspect, might have forgotten the interviews were today, as she interviewed very well - enthusiastic, intelligent, animated, likeable - but was woefully, woefully underdressed (and vastly overperfumed). I felt fairly proud of myself for completing the interview with the hard-of-hearing student without him needing to ask for repeats or misunderstanding anything, so that was a communication win. Overall, you could tell today's cohort were older and more experienced, as they were more polished. But then, so was I, by that time, having interviewed around 20 people in 2 days. I got quite into the role - ambitious, dynamic headhunting firm, placing legal professionals in high profile clients' legal departments. High pressure environment, demanding clients, eye for talent, great promotion prospects. Probably a good thing it was only one morning or I'd have started to act like it was what I actually did!
I'm now in the odd position of having been in about twenty times more interviews as the interviewer than as the interviewee.
I'm glad it's over now, however, as wearing smart clothes for two days straight gets really tiresome. Though I'm going to the opera tomorrow night so should probably at least vaguely try to look respectable then too.
I really hope that none of them actually believed I was what I was pretending to be. It was too bad I couldn't do a big reveal each time. "Um, yeah, actually what I do is put tiny flies in a tube and see which way they crawl...and also chase butterflies and giant bees around bean fields in Africa*."
*Our current research project is simply way too much fun.
So this week, the MPs are supposed to vote on whether the UK will start bombing Syria.
Everyone seems to have an opinion on this. Everyone seems to know what the right thing to do is. Except me. I don't know what the right thing to do is. I want to have an opinion, but I feel like I just don't understand enough.
My general feeling is that wars are bad, bombing places is horrible and anything that results in civilian casualties is bad. But I'm also aware that the country is already full of civilian casualties, and horrible, horrible things are happening. There are various groups all fighting, ranging from the horrifically bad and utterly despicable through the only moderately bad, through bad-but-at-least-not-radicalised, to apparently moderate but nonetheless committing war crimes anyway. I don't know whether starting to drop bombs on the worst will help the situation or make it worse. My gut feeling is the latter, to be honest.
I also understand that it's not logical to drop bombs on one side of a border that a lot of people are barely respecting any more, but not on the other. That's like - if you'll excuse the rather dehumanising analogy - treating half your field with lambda-cyhalothrin but not the other half.
I understand that some people elsewhere will be furious with the UK for going in and bombing, because they feel it's not the UK's place. I understand that some people elsewhere will be furious with the UK for not going in and bombing, because they feel the UK are a cause of the situation and are thus responsible for the solution.
I am so glad not to be an MP at the moment, because this is a vote where the choices people make will have awful consequences for some people, regardless of what happens, and those MPs will have to be accountable for that forever.
The only thing I do know is that in my job, if I want to spend a load of money on a project I think is important, I have to write an extensive justification of what the current situation is, what I want to do to change it, and what I intend for the outputs to be. I have to explain how I will achieve those outputs, how I will monitor whether I am achieving them, and what I want to spend money on, line item by line item - and I will not be permitted to go over-budget, but will be expected to deliver on what I promised - and how long it will take. I have to say what activities I and my colleagues will carry out, where, and when. I'm increasingly being asked to provide details of long-term impact, in a variety of dimensions, and how I will realise that. With development type projects I'm also being asked, increasingly, for an exit strategy: what will I do when the project is over and the money stops, and what will happen to the outputs of the project and the people involved after that? I have to do that if I want to spend a few tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds on a research/international development project that, even if I messed up almightily, is pretty unlikely to cause anyone to become dead.
I would damned well hope that if a leader of a country wants to spend billions on something that will make people dead and has the power to ruin or save the lives of millions more, he or she is expected to provide all of the above information and will be held accountable if there are deviations. In particular, I hope that "outputs", "impact" and "exit strategy" are especially clearly laid out.
I am not an MP. But I hope that the people voting this week are provided with a comprehensive proposal along the lines of the above, and are both given time to read it properly and actually do so, before they have to decide which people are going to die and how.
(Comments welcome, but please be polite.)
Everyone seems to have an opinion on this. Everyone seems to know what the right thing to do is. Except me. I don't know what the right thing to do is. I want to have an opinion, but I feel like I just don't understand enough.
My general feeling is that wars are bad, bombing places is horrible and anything that results in civilian casualties is bad. But I'm also aware that the country is already full of civilian casualties, and horrible, horrible things are happening. There are various groups all fighting, ranging from the horrifically bad and utterly despicable through the only moderately bad, through bad-but-at-least-not-radicalised, to apparently moderate but nonetheless committing war crimes anyway. I don't know whether starting to drop bombs on the worst will help the situation or make it worse. My gut feeling is the latter, to be honest.
I also understand that it's not logical to drop bombs on one side of a border that a lot of people are barely respecting any more, but not on the other. That's like - if you'll excuse the rather dehumanising analogy - treating half your field with lambda-cyhalothrin but not the other half.
I understand that some people elsewhere will be furious with the UK for going in and bombing, because they feel it's not the UK's place. I understand that some people elsewhere will be furious with the UK for not going in and bombing, because they feel the UK are a cause of the situation and are thus responsible for the solution.
I am so glad not to be an MP at the moment, because this is a vote where the choices people make will have awful consequences for some people, regardless of what happens, and those MPs will have to be accountable for that forever.
The only thing I do know is that in my job, if I want to spend a load of money on a project I think is important, I have to write an extensive justification of what the current situation is, what I want to do to change it, and what I intend for the outputs to be. I have to explain how I will achieve those outputs, how I will monitor whether I am achieving them, and what I want to spend money on, line item by line item - and I will not be permitted to go over-budget, but will be expected to deliver on what I promised - and how long it will take. I have to say what activities I and my colleagues will carry out, where, and when. I'm increasingly being asked to provide details of long-term impact, in a variety of dimensions, and how I will realise that. With development type projects I'm also being asked, increasingly, for an exit strategy: what will I do when the project is over and the money stops, and what will happen to the outputs of the project and the people involved after that? I have to do that if I want to spend a few tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds on a research/international development project that, even if I messed up almightily, is pretty unlikely to cause anyone to become dead.
I would damned well hope that if a leader of a country wants to spend billions on something that will make people dead and has the power to ruin or save the lives of millions more, he or she is expected to provide all of the above information and will be held accountable if there are deviations. In particular, I hope that "outputs", "impact" and "exit strategy" are especially clearly laid out.
I am not an MP. But I hope that the people voting this week are provided with a comprehensive proposal along the lines of the above, and are both given time to read it properly and actually do so, before they have to decide which people are going to die and how.
(Comments welcome, but please be polite.)
I quite like poetry. I really ought to both read more and talk about it more.
Today is, as Facebook and LJ are reminding me, National Poetry Day.
My dad had me hunting for readings for his wedding recently and as a result I ended up reading quirky love poetry and things. One that I rather liked, written originally in Estonian (an awesome language, albeit invented by sadists insofar as I can tell - who the hell needs 14 cases and what even is an ulative?), is "The Higgs boson" by Jürgen Rooste.
The Higgs boson
Love is like the Higgs boson.
Many believe it exists.
There are some, who claim they have
seen or measured it.
One might suspect some of them are lying.
Or are seeing Godknowswhat.
Love is like the Higgs boson:
it should give our life's elementary particles
mass. Mass, or a point at least.
But try as we may, we'll never find it,
never point it out precisely and with certainty
before ourselves and our God: ah, look –
now here's that Higgs boson; here and in this moment
lies the sole, eternal and true love.
It's sort of like with God, it's
sort of like with life itself – one must believe,
and it holds together; it has mass and a point then.
If one doesn't believe, everything goes to pieces and
disappears back into its initial state, like a child's sand castle.
The Higgs boson and love are somewhat similar –
there will always be people who don't believe in them,
there will always be the possibility that they won't be found, won't even be measured,
which doesn't make them exist any less if we very much need
that existence.
- translated by Adam Cullen
Original Estonian (and audio) here
Today is, as Facebook and LJ are reminding me, National Poetry Day.
My dad had me hunting for readings for his wedding recently and as a result I ended up reading quirky love poetry and things. One that I rather liked, written originally in Estonian (an awesome language, albeit invented by sadists insofar as I can tell - who the hell needs 14 cases and what even is an ulative?), is "The Higgs boson" by Jürgen Rooste.
The Higgs boson
Love is like the Higgs boson.
Many believe it exists.
There are some, who claim they have
seen or measured it.
One might suspect some of them are lying.
Or are seeing Godknowswhat.
Love is like the Higgs boson:
it should give our life's elementary particles
mass. Mass, or a point at least.
But try as we may, we'll never find it,
never point it out precisely and with certainty
before ourselves and our God: ah, look –
now here's that Higgs boson; here and in this moment
lies the sole, eternal and true love.
It's sort of like with God, it's
sort of like with life itself – one must believe,
and it holds together; it has mass and a point then.
If one doesn't believe, everything goes to pieces and
disappears back into its initial state, like a child's sand castle.
The Higgs boson and love are somewhat similar –
there will always be people who don't believe in them,
there will always be the possibility that they won't be found, won't even be measured,
which doesn't make them exist any less if we very much need
that existence.
- translated by Adam Cullen
Original Estonian (and audio) here
1. Marmite- love or hate?
Indifferent
2. Marmalade- thick cut or thin cut?
The thicker the better
3. Porridge- made with milk or water?
Milk. Definitely not water.
4. Do you like salt, sugar or honey on your porridge?
Honey, or golden syrup
5. Loose tea or teabags?
Teabags. Especially if it's really nice tea that incidentally comes in teabags
( 45 more questions )
Indifferent
2. Marmalade- thick cut or thin cut?
The thicker the better
3. Porridge- made with milk or water?
Milk. Definitely not water.
4. Do you like salt, sugar or honey on your porridge?
Honey, or golden syrup
5. Loose tea or teabags?
Teabags. Especially if it's really nice tea that incidentally comes in teabags
( 45 more questions )
Farming and family
8 August 2015 21:01I was at a conference a few months back and talking to someone (American/Greek nationality, I think) who was ruing the disconnect between people today and the source of their food. She asked a group of us how many generations removed we all are from our last family member in farming. This was an international group, and most people seemed to be 2-3 generations away. The lady who asked, having Greek family, is much closer - I think only a generation or so. Greece still has a strong culture of family smallholdings, even if that's not the main income stream.
I realised I was unaware of anyone in my family who had been a farmer in the last 100 years. Although I've had fishermen more recently, on my mother's side. Apparently that counts. I think that's probably about 3 generations (great grandparents) perhaps.
So...scientific LJ poll. To the best of your knowledge, how far away is your closest relative/ancestor in a primary industry? Farming, fishing and forestry all count, plus anything else reasonably of that ilk (not urban beekeeping, that's cheating!).
I realised I was unaware of anyone in my family who had been a farmer in the last 100 years. Although I've had fishermen more recently, on my mother's side. Apparently that counts. I think that's probably about 3 generations (great grandparents) perhaps.
So...scientific LJ poll. To the best of your knowledge, how far away is your closest relative/ancestor in a primary industry? Farming, fishing and forestry all count, plus anything else reasonably of that ilk (not urban beekeeping, that's cheating!).
Boating bees
25 May 2015 11:30There was a food and drink festival being held near work this long weekend. Part of the event was dragon boat racing; my work colleagues put a team in last year, and did very well, so they decided to give it a bash again this year. So CRI popped along with the intention of staying for an hour or two, sampling some of the food at the food festival, cheering on our team, then heading home.
That wasn't what happened.
We bought ourselves reindeer burgers and settle down to watch some races. But then we noticed one of the unused dragon boats (there were 6 in total - races were between three boats, so in theory you could have three racing and three loading at any given time, keeping the turnaround quick) seemed to have a number of bees flying around it. Some were settling in a small cluster at one end. Some were flying around the other end. I knew there were a lot of spring swarms this year (our own campus bees have been running quite close to swarming recently but we've been keeping an eye on things), so wondered if a local hive was in the process of swarming.
( tl;dr there were bees living in a boat )
I guess at least it makes a good anecdote - the beekeeper said it was certainly one of the stranger places he'd encountered bees!
That wasn't what happened.
We bought ourselves reindeer burgers and settle down to watch some races. But then we noticed one of the unused dragon boats (there were 6 in total - races were between three boats, so in theory you could have three racing and three loading at any given time, keeping the turnaround quick) seemed to have a number of bees flying around it. Some were settling in a small cluster at one end. Some were flying around the other end. I knew there were a lot of spring swarms this year (our own campus bees have been running quite close to swarming recently but we've been keeping an eye on things), so wondered if a local hive was in the process of swarming.
( tl;dr there were bees living in a boat )
I guess at least it makes a good anecdote - the beekeeper said it was certainly one of the stranger places he'd encountered bees!
(no subject)
4 May 2015 21:57Salad burnet tzatziki
Because we've been growing salad burnet in our garden for a few years now. When not being nibbled by grazing animals, it grows really well - and as a plant of grazed grasslands, it's quite tolerant of having bits pulled off it. It has a cucumbery-taste, but without the slimy texture of cucumber, and a bit of a sharper/plantier/herbier overtone, so less gross and more fresh. I'd been meaning to try it in tzatziki for a while, and finally got around to it after noticing the salad burnet is trying to take over that flower bed and needed some cutting back!
Ingredients:
About half a cup of creme fraîche, or greek yoghurt, or your preferred dairy-free alternative
A good generous handful of salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor), not gathered from a local chalk grassland, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp sugar
Chuck in a bowl and mix together. Use as a dip for crudités, breadsticks or other tasty dippable things. Would also work as a nice side-dish to curry, I would imagine.
Store in fridge in a bowl with cling-film or a tupperware or something and eat in a couple of days.
Because we've been growing salad burnet in our garden for a few years now. When not being nibbled by grazing animals, it grows really well - and as a plant of grazed grasslands, it's quite tolerant of having bits pulled off it. It has a cucumbery-taste, but without the slimy texture of cucumber, and a bit of a sharper/plantier/herbier overtone, so less gross and more fresh. I'd been meaning to try it in tzatziki for a while, and finally got around to it after noticing the salad burnet is trying to take over that flower bed and needed some cutting back!
Ingredients:
About half a cup of creme fraîche, or greek yoghurt, or your preferred dairy-free alternative
A good generous handful of salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor), not gathered from a local chalk grassland, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp sugar
Chuck in a bowl and mix together. Use as a dip for crudités, breadsticks or other tasty dippable things. Would also work as a nice side-dish to curry, I would imagine.
Store in fridge in a bowl with cling-film or a tupperware or something and eat in a couple of days.
Stuff:
- My lovely Geoffrey car was in a wee accident. CRI was driving, I was at home. He was turning right on a green light, so perfectly acceptable behaviour; some bleep in the oncoming lane decided red lights didn't apply to them, so shot through and hit Geoffrey's rear quarter, causing some dents and scratches and requiring a replacement bumper retainer. And the bleep didn't stop, so no chance to get their insurance company (if they even had one) to pay up. Generally fairly painful repair in monetary terms, but all sorted now. A cyclist came forward as a witness to confirm CRI was not at fault, but police have given up any hope of catching the bleep.
- Lots of travel this year: Trinidad, Singapore, Tanzania (+ Malawi maybe), Ireland, as far as I can predict. Generally sort of looking forward to it. Singapore should be nice as my godparents live there. Got a new project starting, based in Tanzania and Malawi, looking at bean fields, pollinators, invertebrate biodiversity, etc. Quite excited.
- On that note - anyone have any tips on driving automatic medium-sized to large cars after learning in manual superminis? I think I will actually go nuts if I spent 2 weeks in Trinidad without a vehicle, but all the rental cars are automatics there, and to be honest some of the hills would actually give me panic attacks (literally) if I had to hill-start a manual on them, so not making a knob of myself in an automatic is kind of a must.
- Annual entomology dining club jolly this week, looking forward to that, catching up with good friends and drinking a moderate amount of wine.
- Trying to be less inactive and do some short, gentle jogging again. I think it's doing me a bit of good.
- Had a paper accepted this week - not a high profile journal, but I think the paper is pretty good and shows some nice, novel things, so will be glad to see it in print.
- We are trying to get our stick insects to product hatchable eggs, or rather, trying to hatch some, any of the numerous eggs produced by our stick insects. No luck so far, but we will keep hoping - they can take months to hatch, apparently.
- Had a builder chappy round this weekend and last to fix various niggles with the house (leak in bathroom ceiling, shelf falling off bathroom wall, engineer who replaced boiler failing to actually remove or cover old flue, etc.). So far so good, except he fixed the leak in the bathroom partly by extending a drainpipe, and seems to have extended a bit too far so that in heavy rain we get a sort of water spout across the patio. May need to chat to landlord.
- Slightly terrified of what is going to happen in the upcoming election.
- My lovely Geoffrey car was in a wee accident. CRI was driving, I was at home. He was turning right on a green light, so perfectly acceptable behaviour; some bleep in the oncoming lane decided red lights didn't apply to them, so shot through and hit Geoffrey's rear quarter, causing some dents and scratches and requiring a replacement bumper retainer. And the bleep didn't stop, so no chance to get their insurance company (if they even had one) to pay up. Generally fairly painful repair in monetary terms, but all sorted now. A cyclist came forward as a witness to confirm CRI was not at fault, but police have given up any hope of catching the bleep.
- Lots of travel this year: Trinidad, Singapore, Tanzania (+ Malawi maybe), Ireland, as far as I can predict. Generally sort of looking forward to it. Singapore should be nice as my godparents live there. Got a new project starting, based in Tanzania and Malawi, looking at bean fields, pollinators, invertebrate biodiversity, etc. Quite excited.
- On that note - anyone have any tips on driving automatic medium-sized to large cars after learning in manual superminis? I think I will actually go nuts if I spent 2 weeks in Trinidad without a vehicle, but all the rental cars are automatics there, and to be honest some of the hills would actually give me panic attacks (literally) if I had to hill-start a manual on them, so not making a knob of myself in an automatic is kind of a must.
- Annual entomology dining club jolly this week, looking forward to that, catching up with good friends and drinking a moderate amount of wine.
- Trying to be less inactive and do some short, gentle jogging again. I think it's doing me a bit of good.
- Had a paper accepted this week - not a high profile journal, but I think the paper is pretty good and shows some nice, novel things, so will be glad to see it in print.
- We are trying to get our stick insects to product hatchable eggs, or rather, trying to hatch some, any of the numerous eggs produced by our stick insects. No luck so far, but we will keep hoping - they can take months to hatch, apparently.
- Had a builder chappy round this weekend and last to fix various niggles with the house (leak in bathroom ceiling, shelf falling off bathroom wall, engineer who replaced boiler failing to actually remove or cover old flue, etc.). So far so good, except he fixed the leak in the bathroom partly by extending a drainpipe, and seems to have extended a bit too far so that in heavy rain we get a sort of water spout across the patio. May need to chat to landlord.
- Slightly terrified of what is going to happen in the upcoming election.
I update far to little on here. Life mostly seems to consist of travel-write funding application-travel-travel at the moment, which is fun, but this isn't a travel blog so you probably don't want constant updates on Jamaica and Tanzania and France and things, nor does everyone need to hear constant essays on my Geoffrey-car.
So today I will talk about yoga, because today I learned that I've quite possibly been doing a whole load of yoga poses/movements wrong for years.
We were doing some balancy/stretchy exercises involving standing on one leg, head down, other leg in the air, which works your hamstrings to buggery, and the teacher said, "It shouldn't be hurting the back of your knees."
( But aren't hamstring stretches meant to do that? Apparently not. )
So that was enlightening.
In other news, I've been writing A LOT again, but nothing postable - some OCs who have been resident in my brain since about 2001 decided to get chatty again and have been demanding I write EVERYTHING with them. It's nice, as they're old friends and I've co-habited my brain with them for a very long time now, so it's very comfortable and some of the most effortless writing I've ever enjoyed. It's also not so much a coherent story as a narration of their entire life histories, not always with a context for the uninitiated, so it'll never be suitable for sharing...and I like it that way. There's no pressure to make it "good", no reason to worry about style or originality or whether it's cheesy or clichéd, because it's just for me. And them. Mostly them, I think.
So today I will talk about yoga, because today I learned that I've quite possibly been doing a whole load of yoga poses/movements wrong for years.
We were doing some balancy/stretchy exercises involving standing on one leg, head down, other leg in the air, which works your hamstrings to buggery, and the teacher said, "It shouldn't be hurting the back of your knees."
( But aren't hamstring stretches meant to do that? Apparently not. )
So that was enlightening.
In other news, I've been writing A LOT again, but nothing postable - some OCs who have been resident in my brain since about 2001 decided to get chatty again and have been demanding I write EVERYTHING with them. It's nice, as they're old friends and I've co-habited my brain with them for a very long time now, so it's very comfortable and some of the most effortless writing I've ever enjoyed. It's also not so much a coherent story as a narration of their entire life histories, not always with a context for the uninitiated, so it'll never be suitable for sharing...and I like it that way. There's no pressure to make it "good", no reason to worry about style or originality or whether it's cheesy or clichéd, because it's just for me. And them. Mostly them, I think.
CRI and I went to Wales a few months ago. I managed to talk him into going via Dad's - train up to northwest England, and then rent car and drive across to remote bit of Wales where Sci-fi convention was being held. I also managed to talk him into letting me go on the car as another named driving so we could share the driving on the way back (good plan! He'd gone to the closing party and although hadn't drunk much there, was tired and grotty the next day, whereas I'd got an early night and was fresh as a daisy).
In any case, we got a lovely little Toyota Yaris, and I took the first 90 minutes' driving of a ~3 hour drive home.
It was*:
*aside from being allowed to have a very brief try in my dad's vintage car about a 18 months ago, but that really didn't constitute "driving" it in any useful sense
( tl;dr I quite enjoyed it, and have decided it might be nice to own a car. )
So I decided I wanted a car. After doing some research, I decided a 5-6 year old Toyota Aygo would be a good bet. Cheap to tax, cheap to insure, cheap to run. Bingo. Insurance quotes suggested they'd be half the price I'd braced myself for (perhaps cos I added CRI as an additional driver), and so my car-buying process began.
( tl;dr buying a car is frustrating, car dealers are frequently deeply unhelpful and I am glad I have the time to not rush this! )
I think maybe I expect too much of the salesmen. In the end, I guess their margins are lower than you expect so it's not as if each customer on a small car like that is potentially worth thousands. But probably with the right sort of buttering up I could be talked into buying more quickly and less cautiously, and I expected them to try harder to win me over. Well, their loss. I am not in a hurry and if I still haven't bought a car in 3 months, it will save me 3 months of petrol and staff parking permit!
But sooner or later, I WILL get myself a wee car for shopping and commuting and going to the garden centre. It will also, hopefully, make me a better driver if I can get more practice!
In any case, we got a lovely little Toyota Yaris, and I took the first 90 minutes' driving of a ~3 hour drive home.
It was*:
- my first time driving since my motorway lesson the week after passing my test
- my first time driving anything other than Ford Fiesta
- my first time driving in Doc Martens since very early on in my lessons (I switched to ladylike boots after realising DMs have soles so thick I couldn't feel the pedals through them so had no idea if my feet were even on the pedals never mind pressing down or not!)
- my first time driving outside my current town of residence
- my first time driving a petrol car
- my first time driving a car with CRI in it
*aside from being allowed to have a very brief try in my dad's vintage car about a 18 months ago, but that really didn't constitute "driving" it in any useful sense
( tl;dr I quite enjoyed it, and have decided it might be nice to own a car. )
So I decided I wanted a car. After doing some research, I decided a 5-6 year old Toyota Aygo would be a good bet. Cheap to tax, cheap to insure, cheap to run. Bingo. Insurance quotes suggested they'd be half the price I'd braced myself for (perhaps cos I added CRI as an additional driver), and so my car-buying process began.
( tl;dr buying a car is frustrating, car dealers are frequently deeply unhelpful and I am glad I have the time to not rush this! )
I think maybe I expect too much of the salesmen. In the end, I guess their margins are lower than you expect so it's not as if each customer on a small car like that is potentially worth thousands. But probably with the right sort of buttering up I could be talked into buying more quickly and less cautiously, and I expected them to try harder to win me over. Well, their loss. I am not in a hurry and if I still haven't bought a car in 3 months, it will save me 3 months of petrol and staff parking permit!
But sooner or later, I WILL get myself a wee car for shopping and commuting and going to the garden centre. It will also, hopefully, make me a better driver if I can get more practice!
End of another trip
1 June 2014 06:10International travel has become a fact of life for me these days. I don't mind as long as it's in moderation - I never like the leaving bit (as CRI will attest when I spend the night before, every time, whimpering about how I wish I didn't have to go), but once I'm en route and then there, it all tends to be fine and I'll just count the days till I can return to normality. And it certainly offers a break from routine.
This time, it was Jamaica. My second trip here.
I like Jamaica. It's both like and unlike Trinidad. Or rather, it's what Trinidad might be if Trinidad didn't have oil. It's a country with a big gap between rich and poor, some serious crime issues and yet an amazing vibrancy. The biodiversity blows your mind. The scenery is stunning (at least where the Chinese haven't dug up sections of it in the process of mining for molybdenum, vanadium or whatever can be retrieved from the hills). The people we've worked with have been efficient, accommodating, punctual, warm and generous to a fault.
I spent the week teaching a course on insects. I had a classful of really keen, friendly, fun students who worked really hard and learned really well. I had my favourite Trini colleague over as well to assist with the course (he relieved me for a couple of half-days so it was slightly less intense and taught them some other skills). And as we were both staying on campus, we got to hang out in the evenings and gossip (and get eaten alive by mosquitoes, but that's par for the course).
There was a field trip to a cocoa field where it turned out cocoa was perhaps not the primary crop and I was so absorbed in insects I didn't even notice. I tried all sorts of random foodstuffs. I found a large (dead) cockroach in my guest house room and brought it to class the next day to pin. I discovered the Black Witch Moth. I taught a whole week in a room with no aircon in the tropics...and it was fine.
It's been an adventure but it's now nearly over and I'm ready to resume normality. I'm heading home in less than 24 hours now. As usual at the end of these trips, I'm craving pasteurised milk, proper tea, quality chocolate and fresh broccoli. On this occasion I'm also looking forward to battered, thin old pillows, naturally cool bedrooms and hot showers. Much fun was had over the last week, and in terms of work it's been fantastic (multiple project objectives achieved), but being back home with CRI and the little things that make life comforting and familiar will be the best thing now.
This time, it was Jamaica. My second trip here.
I like Jamaica. It's both like and unlike Trinidad. Or rather, it's what Trinidad might be if Trinidad didn't have oil. It's a country with a big gap between rich and poor, some serious crime issues and yet an amazing vibrancy. The biodiversity blows your mind. The scenery is stunning (at least where the Chinese haven't dug up sections of it in the process of mining for molybdenum, vanadium or whatever can be retrieved from the hills). The people we've worked with have been efficient, accommodating, punctual, warm and generous to a fault.
I spent the week teaching a course on insects. I had a classful of really keen, friendly, fun students who worked really hard and learned really well. I had my favourite Trini colleague over as well to assist with the course (he relieved me for a couple of half-days so it was slightly less intense and taught them some other skills). And as we were both staying on campus, we got to hang out in the evenings and gossip (and get eaten alive by mosquitoes, but that's par for the course).
There was a field trip to a cocoa field where it turned out cocoa was perhaps not the primary crop and I was so absorbed in insects I didn't even notice. I tried all sorts of random foodstuffs. I found a large (dead) cockroach in my guest house room and brought it to class the next day to pin. I discovered the Black Witch Moth. I taught a whole week in a room with no aircon in the tropics...and it was fine.
It's been an adventure but it's now nearly over and I'm ready to resume normality. I'm heading home in less than 24 hours now. As usual at the end of these trips, I'm craving pasteurised milk, proper tea, quality chocolate and fresh broccoli. On this occasion I'm also looking forward to battered, thin old pillows, naturally cool bedrooms and hot showers. Much fun was had over the last week, and in terms of work it's been fantastic (multiple project objectives achieved), but being back home with CRI and the little things that make life comforting and familiar will be the best thing now.
Shadow Unit
1 January 2014 23:25I have discovered a new Thing. This Thing is bringing me enormous happiness. This Thing is Shadow Unit.
It combines three of my favourite other things into an overdose of awesome, namely:
1. Criminal Minds
2. Elizabeth Bear
3. Sarah Monette
It started off when some published authors started encouraging each other to write Criminal Minds fanfic to reinvigorate themselves and remind themselves of writing purely for fun.
And then they sat down together and said, "Wouldn't it be awesome if we could be screenwriters on Criminal Minds?"
And then they more or less figured, "Well, why don't we be?" Except they threw in a bit of a supernatural element, so instead of setting stories in the regular BAU, they created the Shadow Unit, a mirror unit who specialise in "anomalous" crimes with a supernatural element, but otherwise work the same way. Some of the characters are sort of alternate-versions of Criminal Minds characters, though not the same, and others are totally original, and all are brilliant. The plots are of the same genre but with the literary talents of the brilliant writing team involved and without the restrictions of 15-rated television constraining what can be done. Basically, they've produced a book version of a hypothetical spin-off TV series.
The books (mostly eBooks) are pretty cheap and are like the discs you get in a box set, with about 4 "episodes" per book, with "deleted scenes". The stories seem to be taking me just over an hour each to real, so better value for money than your typical 37-42 minute long Criminal Minds episode!
It seems they've got really into this and there are now 3 "seasons" of the "show". Awesome! It has its own fan wiki, the characters have livejournals (not all of them updated frequently, but still), Twitter feeds, and because it's a fun project for the writers, they contribute regularly to the fan forums.
Altogether, I think it's a really exciting project, a fantastic concept from the start and a really cool way for writers to keep themselves enthusiastic. I am on to book two less than a week after starting this (having, in the meantime, demolished one and a half paper books as well - hooray being on holiday), and thoroughly hooked.
It combines three of my favourite other things into an overdose of awesome, namely:
1. Criminal Minds
2. Elizabeth Bear
3. Sarah Monette
It started off when some published authors started encouraging each other to write Criminal Minds fanfic to reinvigorate themselves and remind themselves of writing purely for fun.
And then they sat down together and said, "Wouldn't it be awesome if we could be screenwriters on Criminal Minds?"
And then they more or less figured, "Well, why don't we be?" Except they threw in a bit of a supernatural element, so instead of setting stories in the regular BAU, they created the Shadow Unit, a mirror unit who specialise in "anomalous" crimes with a supernatural element, but otherwise work the same way. Some of the characters are sort of alternate-versions of Criminal Minds characters, though not the same, and others are totally original, and all are brilliant. The plots are of the same genre but with the literary talents of the brilliant writing team involved and without the restrictions of 15-rated television constraining what can be done. Basically, they've produced a book version of a hypothetical spin-off TV series.
The books (mostly eBooks) are pretty cheap and are like the discs you get in a box set, with about 4 "episodes" per book, with "deleted scenes". The stories seem to be taking me just over an hour each to real, so better value for money than your typical 37-42 minute long Criminal Minds episode!
It seems they've got really into this and there are now 3 "seasons" of the "show". Awesome! It has its own fan wiki, the characters have livejournals (not all of them updated frequently, but still), Twitter feeds, and because it's a fun project for the writers, they contribute regularly to the fan forums.
Altogether, I think it's a really exciting project, a fantastic concept from the start and a really cool way for writers to keep themselves enthusiastic. I am on to book two less than a week after starting this (having, in the meantime, demolished one and a half paper books as well - hooray being on holiday), and thoroughly hooked.
Thranduil?
16 December 2013 23:14Could someone please explain to me what Thranduil thinks he's doing with his stick thing in this shot? Playing snooker on a vertical table? Twirling a majorette's baton? Hitting a softball with a really skinny bat?
Actually, let's just make it a caption competition. Suggestions?
Disclaimer: I haven't actually seen the new Hobbit movie yet so although I don't care about spoilers, people who don't want to be spoiled may want to avoid the comments.
Actually, let's just make it a caption competition. Suggestions?
Disclaimer: I haven't actually seen the new Hobbit movie yet so although I don't care about spoilers, people who don't want to be spoiled may want to avoid the comments.
It occurs to me that as of this month, I'll have had an LJ for a decade.
Which also means I'll have been an on-off fanfic writer for considerably longer1.
It's kind of scary to think about how naive and bless-my-little-cotton-socks2 I was when I started this LJ...and no doubt how 10 years from now I'll think exactly the same about 2013-me (and will no doubt be quite right).
Perhaps I should set some resolutions for 2023-me to try and have achieved by then? Read some stuff, learn some stuff, take responsibility for some stuff. Nothing too ambitious, just stuff to make me a more interesting human being. I'll think on it.
In any case, it's quite interesting reflecting on a 10 year period and all that's happened in the meantime (2 degrees, 2 changes of city, a couple of romantic escapades, an embarrassing incident involving trying to poach an egg in the microwave, several publications and 5 hamsters). Thankfully, my body clock has at least recalibrated itself to permit moderate function in the real world so a 7am alarm doesn't cause me physical pain (though I doubt I'll ever start enjoying getting up in the dark).
So yeah...10 years. Still here. So are a good few of you. I'll raise a cup of tea to that.
1Yes, I know it's been about 3 years since the last bit of Elf-related fiction appeared here, but I have been writing again. I just happened to switch fandoms and ended up writing something that is sheer self-indulgent probably-tripe, but I feel utterly unrepentant about that. I'm old and crochety enough now that I really don't give a hoot whether anyone else likes my fic or not, I write it because the process of writing makes me feel happy, in much the same way that eating chocolate cake, drinking good red wine or having a hot bath makes me feel happy. So I've been writing...in bed, on the bus, in hotel rooms. It's been nice.
Also, Felix Harrowgate needs a steady boyfriend and that's final.
2Incidentally, I still probably own some of those selfsame cotton socks, though perhaps not many. I certainly own - and wear - several of the same T-shirts and jumpers, although I may have managed to cycle out of most of the trousers by now.
Which also means I'll have been an on-off fanfic writer for considerably longer1.
It's kind of scary to think about how naive and bless-my-little-cotton-socks2 I was when I started this LJ...and no doubt how 10 years from now I'll think exactly the same about 2013-me (and will no doubt be quite right).
Perhaps I should set some resolutions for 2023-me to try and have achieved by then? Read some stuff, learn some stuff, take responsibility for some stuff. Nothing too ambitious, just stuff to make me a more interesting human being. I'll think on it.
In any case, it's quite interesting reflecting on a 10 year period and all that's happened in the meantime (2 degrees, 2 changes of city, a couple of romantic escapades, an embarrassing incident involving trying to poach an egg in the microwave, several publications and 5 hamsters). Thankfully, my body clock has at least recalibrated itself to permit moderate function in the real world so a 7am alarm doesn't cause me physical pain (though I doubt I'll ever start enjoying getting up in the dark).
So yeah...10 years. Still here. So are a good few of you. I'll raise a cup of tea to that.
1Yes, I know it's been about 3 years since the last bit of Elf-related fiction appeared here, but I have been writing again. I just happened to switch fandoms and ended up writing something that is sheer self-indulgent probably-tripe, but I feel utterly unrepentant about that. I'm old and crochety enough now that I really don't give a hoot whether anyone else likes my fic or not, I write it because the process of writing makes me feel happy, in much the same way that eating chocolate cake, drinking good red wine or having a hot bath makes me feel happy. So I've been writing...in bed, on the bus, in hotel rooms. It's been nice.
Also, Felix Harrowgate needs a steady boyfriend and that's final.
2Incidentally, I still probably own some of those selfsame cotton socks, though perhaps not many. I certainly own - and wear - several of the same T-shirts and jumpers, although I may have managed to cycle out of most of the trousers by now.
(no subject)
20 October 2013 20:11Yesterday I went to a conference about wildlife and biodiversity monitoring in my region.
One of the talks made me a bit angry and depressed - not because of the speaker, who was very good, coherent and interesting, but because of the findings.
( In which people (in genera) like the idea of biodiversity but don't really appreciate it when it's there )
How did we get so detached from nature? How did it reach the point where so many people are so far removed from their surroundings they don't even realise what's there? No wonder it's so hard to protect our biodiversity when people only have an abstract concept of what it is and why we might care. I need to do something about this.
One of the talks made me a bit angry and depressed - not because of the speaker, who was very good, coherent and interesting, but because of the findings.
( In which people (in genera) like the idea of biodiversity but don't really appreciate it when it's there )
How did we get so detached from nature? How did it reach the point where so many people are so far removed from their surroundings they don't even realise what's there? No wonder it's so hard to protect our biodiversity when people only have an abstract concept of what it is and why we might care. I need to do something about this.
So I called up Be to ask for my MAC key.
As expected, they wanted to keep me and offered to keep me on Be until probably the end of the year (apparently as a Static IP customer, I will be among the last to migrate), but on a reduced price of £9 a month.
I figured 6 more months of Be, who I like, rather than Sky, who I don't, is probably worth staying with for now so agreed. I've assured them I will leave as soon as I'm migrated to Sky.
I'm basically happy with this arrangement for the moment so I guess that's a win. We'll see how it goes; they can consider themselves on probation!
In other news, currently doing some contracted consultancy type work for a company, and it means I have to do some recording of insect mortality 12 hours after the start of the experiment. One way or another, this has only been one day a week so far, but 8:30am till 8:30pm isn't my favourite kind of work day. Has also required recording the mortality daily for 7 days, so a fair bit of coming in on weekends for 45 minutes to sort the insects then go home again. Given that the journey itself takes 45 minutes each way, it's not my favourite...but the client wants so the client gets, I guess!
As expected, they wanted to keep me and offered to keep me on Be until probably the end of the year (apparently as a Static IP customer, I will be among the last to migrate), but on a reduced price of £9 a month.
I figured 6 more months of Be, who I like, rather than Sky, who I don't, is probably worth staying with for now so agreed. I've assured them I will leave as soon as I'm migrated to Sky.
I'm basically happy with this arrangement for the moment so I guess that's a win. We'll see how it goes; they can consider themselves on probation!
In other news, currently doing some contracted consultancy type work for a company, and it means I have to do some recording of insect mortality 12 hours after the start of the experiment. One way or another, this has only been one day a week so far, but 8:30am till 8:30pm isn't my favourite kind of work day. Has also required recording the mortality daily for 7 days, so a fair bit of coming in on weekends for 45 minutes to sort the insects then go home again. Given that the journey itself takes 45 minutes each way, it's not my favourite...but the client wants so the client gets, I guess!
Seriously, Sky? Pull the other one!
They called me up today. As everyone is probably now aware, Be/o2 broadband have been sold to Sky. The letters I'd received basically implied that it'd all happen magically and that essentially the only difference would be that letters from Be would now be headed "Sky" instead. Not so, it seems.
Background info: my broadband with Be is approx. £18.50 per month. It's more expensive than average but I regard it like a Tesco Finest pie: I pay more because then I get a better product. (In the case of Be, better customer service, and the courtesy to not cut me off right away if my bank buggers up the direct debit and forgets to pay them at some point, etc.) My phoneline is with the Post Office and costs about £13 per month with a negligible number of calls. The Post Office are cool for phones as they reactivate dead phonelines for free but unlike BT, they don't tie you into a 12 month contract with them for the privilege. I originally planned to jump ship but was happy enough that I chose to stay instead.
So, back to Sky...( How not to win a customer, I guess... )
I agreed I'd do that. "Thank you for your time, but I don't think I want to be your customer."
"OK." She puts down the phone.
So once the Be cancellation phoneline opens tomorrow, I guess I'll be getting my MAC key and ordering new internet from Zen or Plusnet.
They called me up today. As everyone is probably now aware, Be/o2 broadband have been sold to Sky. The letters I'd received basically implied that it'd all happen magically and that essentially the only difference would be that letters from Be would now be headed "Sky" instead. Not so, it seems.
Background info: my broadband with Be is approx. £18.50 per month. It's more expensive than average but I regard it like a Tesco Finest pie: I pay more because then I get a better product. (In the case of Be, better customer service, and the courtesy to not cut me off right away if my bank buggers up the direct debit and forgets to pay them at some point, etc.) My phoneline is with the Post Office and costs about £13 per month with a negligible number of calls. The Post Office are cool for phones as they reactivate dead phonelines for free but unlike BT, they don't tie you into a 12 month contract with them for the privilege. I originally planned to jump ship but was happy enough that I chose to stay instead.
So, back to Sky...( How not to win a customer, I guess... )
I agreed I'd do that. "Thank you for your time, but I don't think I want to be your customer."
"OK." She puts down the phone.
So once the Be cancellation phoneline opens tomorrow, I guess I'll be getting my MAC key and ordering new internet from Zen or Plusnet.
Yesterday, CRI got a very early train to Oxford, with the intention of attending the British Entomology and Natural History Society AGM, which has cool talks and workshops.
Unfortunately, on arrival we discovered it had been called off! Some of the speakers were stuck in Yorkshire thanks to snow, others in Cornwall thanks to flooding, and even some semi-local people would have struggled to make it! Unfortunately, neither of us had checked the website the day before.
Still, one of the curators of the insects collections gave us a first class tour of the collections, his work, the mystical art of insect taxonomy, and how one deals with 30,000 drawers of pinned insects, some of which are over 200 years old and some of which aren't properly labelled or catalogued. It seems that as well as the entomology skills, one has to be a graphologist (to compare handwriting between letters, diary entries, labels on the specimens, and labels on other specimens of unknown provinence). One has to be a literary historian, digging through old papers, old notebooks, old diaries and old letters ("Dear Hope, I enclose 42 beetles, of the following species..."). You even have to be an expert in metal pins - the construction of a pin can tell you who collected an insect, and what period it dates from, enabling you sometimes to match up totally unlabelled specimens with their collection information. Especially interesting, it seems, is tracking down lost "type" specimens. (When a new species is described, you have to designate a "type" specimen as the example. All future insects that might be this species would then be compared to the "type". It also means that if future work decides to split a species into two, you have an example to decide which set of features is the "type" and which is the new offshoot species.)
We got to see some of Darwin's own insect collections, and Wallace's giant bee (it was big!), and various other insects collected by historical greats. We saw a whole room stacked up to the ceiling with trays of insect specimens collected by other people and willed/donated/gifted to the University Museum in the past. Some will be mostly common things, some will have rare exotic things, new species, and new records - but of course, taxonomy is not the most fashionable science (despite underpinning most other biology), and so there's never enough money to employ the people needed to sort these drawers, not to mention reorganising some of the drawers already stored in the collections that need attention and preserving existing insects so they don't degrade. It's a busy job!
We stopped for lunch, then spent the afternoon at the Ashmolean museum looking at mummies, Islamic art (currently reading My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk so wanted to see what miniatures were really like), Chinese paintings, etc. It's a very good museum and has some really nice things!
And then we got some cake omnomnom and got the train home. Altogether, given that the day didn't go anything like how we'd planned, it was rather good fun!
Today was our last whitefly transect. It wasn't raining so we figured we'd go for it and get the thing over and done with. It was BLOODY cold, with snow on the ground even in the woodlands (though not thickly) and rather a lot of mud. The whitefly numbers seemed low to me - maybe they've retreated into more sheltered places in the face of adverse weather. I've had enough of winter now. It's nearly April. It's not meant to be freezing and snowy! But that's complete now, so yay.
Unfortunately, on arrival we discovered it had been called off! Some of the speakers were stuck in Yorkshire thanks to snow, others in Cornwall thanks to flooding, and even some semi-local people would have struggled to make it! Unfortunately, neither of us had checked the website the day before.
Still, one of the curators of the insects collections gave us a first class tour of the collections, his work, the mystical art of insect taxonomy, and how one deals with 30,000 drawers of pinned insects, some of which are over 200 years old and some of which aren't properly labelled or catalogued. It seems that as well as the entomology skills, one has to be a graphologist (to compare handwriting between letters, diary entries, labels on the specimens, and labels on other specimens of unknown provinence). One has to be a literary historian, digging through old papers, old notebooks, old diaries and old letters ("Dear Hope, I enclose 42 beetles, of the following species..."). You even have to be an expert in metal pins - the construction of a pin can tell you who collected an insect, and what period it dates from, enabling you sometimes to match up totally unlabelled specimens with their collection information. Especially interesting, it seems, is tracking down lost "type" specimens. (When a new species is described, you have to designate a "type" specimen as the example. All future insects that might be this species would then be compared to the "type". It also means that if future work decides to split a species into two, you have an example to decide which set of features is the "type" and which is the new offshoot species.)
We got to see some of Darwin's own insect collections, and Wallace's giant bee (it was big!), and various other insects collected by historical greats. We saw a whole room stacked up to the ceiling with trays of insect specimens collected by other people and willed/donated/gifted to the University Museum in the past. Some will be mostly common things, some will have rare exotic things, new species, and new records - but of course, taxonomy is not the most fashionable science (despite underpinning most other biology), and so there's never enough money to employ the people needed to sort these drawers, not to mention reorganising some of the drawers already stored in the collections that need attention and preserving existing insects so they don't degrade. It's a busy job!
We stopped for lunch, then spent the afternoon at the Ashmolean museum looking at mummies, Islamic art (currently reading My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk so wanted to see what miniatures were really like), Chinese paintings, etc. It's a very good museum and has some really nice things!
And then we got some cake omnomnom and got the train home. Altogether, given that the day didn't go anything like how we'd planned, it was rather good fun!
Today was our last whitefly transect. It wasn't raining so we figured we'd go for it and get the thing over and done with. It was BLOODY cold, with snow on the ground even in the woodlands (though not thickly) and rather a lot of mud. The whitefly numbers seemed low to me - maybe they've retreated into more sheltered places in the face of adverse weather. I've had enough of winter now. It's nearly April. It's not meant to be freezing and snowy! But that's complete now, so yay.
Be sold to Sky...
8 March 2013 21:57I understand that Be broadband has been sold to Sky (first I heard about this was when they wrote to me and told me though, so good on them for keeping their customers in the loop). Apparently Be is being subsumed and will exist no longer, and Be customers will be moved to Sky.
I went with Be precisely because I didn't want to buy my internet from a big faceless company with dubious ethics, indifferent customer service and a bad reputation. I don't particularly want to be a minion of the Sky empire. I'm therefore planning to jump ship the moment I become a Sky customer, if not before.
Where should I go next? I am pretty certain I am not going near TalkTalk, BT, Virgin Media or Sky. I understand o2 broadband, being owned by the same people as Be largely, is going the same way: into Sky. At the moment, Plusnet sounds like it could be the best option. But I'd like personal recommendations.
I don't particularly care how much it costs if it's good (well, as long as it's less than around £20 per month). I want a decent speed (10Mbps or better), unlimited downloads, GOOD customer service (don't care whether the call centres are UK or international, as long as the staff are competent and knowledgeable and I can follow them on the phone without needing all my spoons).
Our phone is currently with Post Office (basically a BT line, but without having to deal with 12 month contract boringness) - no problems with them so far. Anyone tried their broadband?
tl;dr: So, folks...who is the best broadband provider? Reliability and top-notch customer service are my main criteria.
ETA: Oooh, John Lewis does broadband! What's the buzz on them? Any good?
I went with Be precisely because I didn't want to buy my internet from a big faceless company with dubious ethics, indifferent customer service and a bad reputation. I don't particularly want to be a minion of the Sky empire. I'm therefore planning to jump ship the moment I become a Sky customer, if not before.
Where should I go next? I am pretty certain I am not going near TalkTalk, BT, Virgin Media or Sky. I understand o2 broadband, being owned by the same people as Be largely, is going the same way: into Sky. At the moment, Plusnet sounds like it could be the best option. But I'd like personal recommendations.
I don't particularly care how much it costs if it's good (well, as long as it's less than around £20 per month). I want a decent speed (10Mbps or better), unlimited downloads, GOOD customer service (don't care whether the call centres are UK or international, as long as the staff are competent and knowledgeable and I can follow them on the phone without needing all my spoons).
Our phone is currently with Post Office (basically a BT line, but without having to deal with 12 month contract boringness) - no problems with them so far. Anyone tried their broadband?
tl;dr: So, folks...who is the best broadband provider? Reliability and top-notch customer service are my main criteria.
ETA: Oooh, John Lewis does broadband! What's the buzz on them? Any good?
