Archive for May, 2009

This Week’s Tweets

May 6th, 2009
  • @bengoldacre Yes, or at least there is in word 2007, although I can’t remember how. Office 2003 lets you click ‘show toolbar’ in wordcount #
  • I think my university may wish to be a bit more careful with its E-mail lists. I’ve been wished luck in exams I hope I’m not doing! #fb #
  • @bengoldacre Well the 120m matches up with an ~5% mortality rate on an infected 40%, but the latter figure seems remarkably high. #
  • http://twitpic.com/482rm – @ninja_kate As requested. Technology can’t make me a good artist. #
  • http://twitpic.com/482rm – I recently borrow a graphics tablet. A firend on twitter requested I draw a giraffe, so this was my attempt. … #
  • @yuribou W00t! (ahem) in reply to yuribou #
  • Very odd watching the spread of swine flu; odd to think what are now individual cases could be prelude to thousands. Hope not though. #
  • Between Brooker, Goldacre, Davies and Antonvowl I now pretty much have no faith in the media. #
  • I can pretty much cope with the Guardian, but that’s possibly just because it doesn’t induce my moral gag reflex. #
  • @BuckSexington Great, now I have an ear worm. #
  • @biofeed No voice actors, as a last minute design decision will have all characters delivering their words in mime. #
  • Oooh, I like my new washing power (Well, capsules actually), my clothes feel nice and soft. #
  • 8547 E-mails!? I hope its just market everything unread! #
  • Miffed by the 554,826 who have joined a group saying that they won’t pay for facebook when absolutely no one has suggested that they should. #
  • @antonvowl Not just at work. Regularly, all over the place. I sometimes grumble it to myself, and I think one I was overheard. #
  • @yuribou Is that how it works. I wondered hy my suit of amor was looking a bit flimsy after I cleaned it. #
  • @smallmatryoshka Oohh, the Keralan chicken curry soup is lovely. #
  • Bah, JANET is playing up agian. Fortunately don’t need anything important this time. #
  • I’m aware of companies and politicians auto-following you if you tweet about them; today I was auto-followed by a mime after a mime joke. #
  • @antonvowl And that Telegraph link gives me the urge to shout “No, you fucking idiot, no! That’s not it at all!” and “It’s a bloody rock!” #
  • Gah! Hate it when cyclists ride on pavement #
  • I just saw someone carrying a shopping bag with a sole baguette stuck out the top. Unfortunately they didn’t trip and have oranges roll out. #
  • Is it just me, or is the Skype Echo service person also Roberta from spotify? #
  • Lazy Sunday, in bed on laptop. Still feeling stuffed from beer and burger yesterday. #
  • Helicopters back over Edinburgh. Twitter rumors runs and royals. #
  • @ashens Zx Spectrum: Saboteur, Pub Darts, Batty, Reblestar II: Alien Encounter, Frankie Goes to Hollywood in reply to ashens #
  • @ashens Bah, and I had almost got all the Amiga ones as well. in reply to ashens #
  • @MsKitton Its advertising. 1. Gets people talking. 2. Reinforces the cheap and sleazy image which they thrive on. #
  • Arse! Took camera out to do some photography, only to find battery dead. #
  • http://twitpic.com/4hesb – No proper camera, so here is a snap with my phone instead. #
  • @chillas More than made up for by unexpected Firefly references in reply to chillas #
  • Cooking belly of pork, thanks to tweets earlier in the week. And now I’m tweeting about tweets about food. Meta-stereotypical-tweet-ftw #
  • @smallmatryoshka Aww, sorry. I can’t think of a veggie equivalent offhand unfortunately. in reply to smallmatryoshka #
  • Have twitter got rid of the feature to look at the latest tweets from anyone? It was always a bit impractical, but I kinda liked it. #
  • Wish I wasn’t in work. #
  • Twitter spammers are getting smarter, and are tweeting a few ‘normal’ tweets before they begin spamming. Still annoying though. #
  • Whoops! Tried to synch work’s seminar series calendar with my phone. Could only manage to synch my blank personal calendar, wiping phone. #
  • Has anyone else been receiving lots of follow spams over the last couple of days? #
  • RT @bengoldacre Oh no, hang on, sorry…: THIS is the future of journalism http://rly.cc/XDiaf #
  • Bah. Three trying to sell me handset insurance. Judging by the number of drunk people who drop phones in pints, its probably not a good deal #

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Waiting for the cells

May 5th, 2009

Sitting with a pipette here within my lab
Waiting for the cells to grow.
In perfect isolation here upon the plate
Waiting for the cells to grow.

However much work you put in, and however hard you plan your experiments, there will always be the occasion when every experiment you have running hits down-time at the same point. Whether this is waiting for cells to divide and grow until they reach usable levels, or for a supplier to send a much needed antibody, there will be occasions when you end up unable to do the experiments which you have prioritised.

When downtime occurs it is a good time to catch up with reading, polishing notes and sorting out benches. It is also a good time to make sure everything is in order, and to check that you have everything ready for the work to come. There is nothing more frustrating than reaching the middle of an experiment and suddenly realising that the key reagent you needed has been contaminated. However, what is surprising is that it is usually possible to fill this time, and it is rarely time wasted; sometimes these little tasks take far longer than reason would predict.

Spammers getting optimisitc

May 1st, 2009

Today I deleted the following message from my blog comments spam folder:

Very well written post however, I would recommend that you turn the No Follow off in your comment section.

Keep up the good work.

Oh sure, I’ll just make your spamming of my blog even more profitable.

Idiots!