I recently published a post about scientific comedy where I introduced you to the comedian Brian Malow and his scientific jokes. Later that week I discovered that there is a scientific journal named The Journal of Irreproducible Results (click on the link if you would like to visit the web site), and as the name suggests it publishes funny scientific articles. Unfortunately one cannot read it without paying and I haven't had access to any issue yet, but I think one finds things like this one figure shows you, and so on..
Nonetheless, the purpose of my post today is to strengthen the idea that there are a lot of funny things about science and it can be accessible to everyone. However don't go and do a PhD just because you like science and feel fascinated by it, or at least not just because of that :p Do not underestimate. There's obviously a lot of effort behind the discovers of all times so it is never a cup of tea although most of the greatest discoveries were rather by chance when the scientist was focused on something else...
However and probably because research demands so much time, patience and dedication, there are every time more scientists that feel they cannot take their science too seriously and they engage in humoristic events and publications. I think it also feels very rewarding that the general public is getting more involved in scientific matters and that brings enthusiasm to researchers and, in turn increases the need to bring more information to the public. Information that is delivered in a non-academic way.
Another example of humour in science are the Ig Nobel Prizes given every year to brilliant scientists with outstanding discoveries in improbable science! This is organized by another science and humour magazine, the Improbable Research and their motivation is "Research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK". Basically it can teach people a lot of serious concepts, making them laugh rather then bore them, and by doing so people are learning real science. It is another great way of bringing academic discoveries to the public.
I realized 3 or 4 years ago a new subject was being strongly introduced into the fields of research, the so-called " research communication". It is becoming almost mandatory that students are taught about communication and how to deliver their lab discoveries and their academic topics to the general public. The era of the guinea pig scientist locked up in his lab in a basement far from the world and the society is over. Now people demand to know what is going on, and the scientists have found their own ways of passing on the knowledge and captivating the public.
Personally I think that generally I am a good speaker yet I am very unsure about my skills of communicating my research to the public. I often think about it. I wrote a lot complaining about my PhD my I have never described what I'm doing.. I am putting some effort to that, and I hope I will soon post something on that matter, I promise!
Today I had a so so day. I took it a little easier. Experiments worked, so I felt cool throughout the day. Also I had a good night sleep and I guess that helped a lot. My mood was fine :) I did a little bit of procrastination and I found this comedian called Brian Malow, who is a stand up comedian that includes science related jokes in his performances.
After watching the video shown below I understood why I am doing a phd.. and I understood why I did this mistake too. Basically it all has to do with some confusion between loving science AND getting deep into a boring pointless scientific subject that has very little relevance to anything at all. I've always had a very strong interest in scientific matters and in the understanding of the universe, life and the human being, and that was always combined with being a good student and a confident person. I think these reasons together with (potentially bad) advice misguided me into this life, that has nothing to do with my passion and interest!! How frustrating...
Nonetheless I got the jokes and laughed and although I totally did not need to be doing any PhD to do so, I felt fairly happy about it.
This second video is a larger performance that includes some of the jokes told in the previous one and many others. Very interesting was that this was filmed during the WONDERFEST - The bay area festival of Science http://wonderfest.org/ , and this kind of thing, which I name as "science with public interest" motivates me and makes me sorry I cannot attend it this year. However, it gives me hope one day perhaps I will be doing something more human-world-relevant :)
On the other day I was in the car listen to the radio and I heard what I thought it was the official World cup 2010 song, I though it was great and I love the song:
Ooooooh Wooooooh, Ooooooh Wooooooh Give me freedom, give me fire, give me reason, take me higher See the champions, take the field now, you define us, make us feel proud In the streets our heads are lifting, as we lose our inhibition,
Celebration, its around us, every nations, all around us Singing forever young, singing songs underneath that sun Lets rejoice in the beautiful game, And together at the end of the day.
We all say
When I get older I will be stronger They’ll call me freedom, just like a wavin’ flag When I get older I will be stronger They’ll call me freedom, just like a wavin’ flag
So wave your flag, now wave your flag, now wave your flag Oooohhh, Oooooooooh wooooohh, Oooooooooh wooooohh
Give you freedom, give you fire, give you reason, take you higher See the champions, take the field now, you define us, make us feel proud In the streets our heads are lifting, as we lose our inhibition, Celebration, its around us, every nations, all around us Singing forever young, singing songs underneath that sun Lets rejoice in the beautiful game, And together at the end of the day.
We all say
When I get older I will be stronger They’ll call me freedom, just like a wavin’ flag When I get older I will be stronger They’ll call me freedom, just like a wavin’ flag
So wave your flag, now wave your flag, now wave your flag Now wave your flag (4x)
Oohhoooohh Woooh Ohohooooh Wooohoooh We all say
When I get older I will be stronger They’ll call me freedom, just like a wavin’ flag When I get older I will be stronger They’ll call me freedom, just like a wavin’ flag
So wave your flag, now wave your flag, now wave your flag Now wave your flag (4x)
Oooooh woowoo ooh Wooo ooohh ooohoh
And everybody will be singing it Oooooh woowoo ooh Wooo ooohh ooohoh And we all will be singing it
Later after some hard research on the internet my boyfriend told me that this song is the official COCA COLA song for the world cup and not the REALLY official one which is from Shakira and which is very nice as well
You're a good soldier Choosing your battles Pick yourself up And dust yourself off And back in the saddle
You're on the frontline Everyone's watching You know it's serious We're getting closer This isnt over
The pressure is on You feel it But you've got it all Believe it
When you fall get up Oh oh... And if you fall get up Oh oh...
Tsamina mina Zangalewa Cuz this is Africa
Tsamina mina eh eh Waka Waka eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa Anawa aa This time for Africa
Listen to your god This is our motto Your time to shine Dont wait in line Y vamos por Todo
People are raising Their Expectations Go on and feed them This is your moment No hesitations
Today's your day I feel it You paved the way Believe it
If you get down Get up Oh oh... When you get down Get up eh eh...
Tsamina mina zangalewa Anawa aa This time for Africa
Tsamina mina eh eh Waka Waka eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa Anawa aa
Tsamina mina eh eh Waka Waka eh eh Tsamina mina zangalewa This time for Africa
In one of my attempts to download the first song from K'naan (waving flag), I came across another version of the song, which I confirmed that it is its original version. The funny thing is that this now popular song which everybody recognizes around the world as the world cup song was originally written as an African manifesto bringing up the big issues present in the continent and most importantly in my opinion (and what makes it more ironic), the fact that the "white" countries always manipulated the "black" ones specially with lies and fake promises. I am hoping this time the world cup in South Africa brings some prosperity to the continent though it has already been criticized that there is very little involvement of African people in the world cup so it smells like the continent is used and explored once again without African people getting any rewards, but I dont entirely belive it to the contrary I have the good feeling that things are changing for good and I cant wait to visit Africa soon (I hope it will be my next trip .. Sao tome e principe or mocambique? ) :))
Next is the original song and lyrics, now compare!!
When i get older, they'll call me freedom Just like a Waving Flag.
[Chorus] When I get older, I will be stronger, They'll call me freedom, just like a Waving Flag, And then it goes back, and then it goes back, And then it goes back
Born to a throne, stronger than Rome but Violent prone, poor people zone, But it's my home, all I have known, Where I got grown, streets we would roam. But out of the darkness, I came the farthest, Among the hardest survival. Learn from these streets, it can be bleak, Except no defeat, surrender retreat,
So we struggling, fighting to eat and We wondering when we'll be free, So we patiently wait, for that fateful day, It's not far away, so for now we say
[Chorus]
So many wars, settling scores, Bringing us promises, leaving us poor, I heard them say, love is the way, Love is the answer, that's what they say, But look how they treat us, Make us believers, We fight their battles, then they deceive us, Try to control us, they couldn't hold us, Cause we just move forward like Buffalo Soldiers.
But we struggling, fighting to eat, And we wondering, when we'll be free So we patiently wait, for that faithful day, It's not far away, but for now we say,
[Chorus] 2x
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh) And everybody will be singing it (Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh) And you and I will be singing it (Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh) And we all will be singing it (Ohhh Ohh Ohh Ohh)
[Chorus] 2x
When I get older, when I get older I will be stronger, just like a Waving Flag, Just like a Waving Flag, just like a Waving flag Flag, flag, Just like a Waving Flag
After a very long break in my blog writing I decided to come back at least I wanted to post something about conferences. Since I started my PhD (back in March 2008) I have attended now two conferences:
one in October 2009, in Lisbon
another one just two weeks ago in Vienna.
The second reason why I chose this topic was not really to report that but to highlight some aspects about the conferences in general..
Basically there are two aspects about them that intrigue me: 1. the people that go to the meetings!
2. the reason why people go to these meetings!
So obviously among quite a few thousand scientists all over the world, not everyone go to conferences, therefore there seems to be a criteria behind the people that choose to go, and indeed there is:
1.first type: the most common people you find at conferences are the ones that love to socialize and know that at work it does not happen that often therefore they feel the need to meet the other ones that also need to socialize. Then they attend the conferences to meet up people, to drink, gather friends and collaborations (then they have more and more excuses for further travelling). They bullshit a lot (meaning talk about everything with maximum confidence even when they are not saying anything really). I feel that I fit here! Usually in these group you also include people from industry and medical doctors. Not so often there are some supervisors and head of the lab here too.
2. second type: The super shy people that go to conferences because they have been sent by supervisors or bosses or the ones that fight the shyness of leaving the lab just because they are extremely interested in a certain topic that is being discussed at the conference. These people never hang out during the conference, they simply sit apart all the time, avoid talking, and when someone seems to be approaching they quickly manage to move or pretend to be very concentrated reading something. Usually they are not even that noticed and no one cares. They never ask questions, simply take notes, go to bed, come back next day, avoid the socials and in the end go back home, where half of them forget the conference entirely and some will remember the one talk that they thought was supposedly going to safe their life but in the end the speaker changed it or discussed it differently... These are the general frustrated ones, most of them look extremely geek.
3. third type: The super geek ones that stand out. These are usually the bosses/supervisors that think they understand everything that is being discussed, therefore they always ask questions out loud to the audience in the end of the talks. Their clothes and outfits are usually appalling, and the hair is usually forgotten to be cut or combed. However they are quite social among themselves. Do not interact very well with the first type (and obviously not with the second and no one does) but they usually criticize them because of their coolness. These are also the talkers themselves, they think they are the elite as they move the things forward having the best achievements and the best publications (which is many times true). They command and rule the conference. Eventually they show up at the socials but just to talk about science and gather with people just the same. Other type of conversation beyond science will be usually avoided unless it is extremely necessary to start a new collaboration or get some funding to the lab.
And there is no forth type, this is everyone you get at the conference, obviously there will be some mild phenotypes of each type, but you can easily spot these major ones then you go for the one that suits you best ;)
More personally I like going to conferences and I do really encourage everyone to go because it is a very good way to take the things forward (being in type 1 or 3 of course).
We cannot forget that beyond the journal papers and the editors there are people to be pleased and having good relationships with them as well as with other people, having collaborations and everything will make the life a lot easier when trying to get funded or go through the peer review process (as it is likely that the reviewers will be your friends than it is certain that your paper will go through).
Basically do not stuck in your lab forever trying to make the things work out just because you work a lot. Get out there, be social and you will find half of the work done for you ;))
And most importantly you get to travel for free and if your are lucky enough you may find a conference in Hawai :)
Poster session (my poster is the red one), Vienna, Feb 2010
See how unsure I was about the position of the legs and what to do with the sticks...
Trying to have a little bit of style now that I could safely stand up..
It always looks easy from the bottom but when one gets to the top... it appears like a cliff... you can find Wally on this picture too
On top of the mountain, that means that the only way to go home is to come down the hill rather skiing or randomly rolling down...
Mission accomplished!!
Thank you Pedro, it was really good fun, I loved it, I am addicted now, and I have to wait almost a year now for another time like that :) Skiing rules!
I did not have time to write this post yesterday but the 3rd of March deserves some attention and since my blog is somehow based on my PhD experience and life and could not forget this topic.
Indeed, yesterday I completed one year of PhD life. 365 days ago I moved from Portugal, most precisely from Almada to Nottingham to do a PhD in the University of Nottingham, School of Biomedical Sciences. Since then, a lot of things changed, I changed, but most of the things changed for better and I cannot deny I am very happy here and happy with my "job". Of course, as I am always complaining, this is not easy life but it has its rewards! I love science, I am passionate with discoveries and I like to work. Additionally, I have got a very nice life (dont get jealous ;)) ), now with my very nice new home, it is so comfortable and me and Pedro we are making it really nice and beautiful. I have holidays planned, I am going to skiing in two weeks, and I have got the perfect man, I am so happy :)))
Of course nothing is entirely perfect, I miss my parents and family and sometimes I feel really sad I cant hug them or my friends in Portugal, I miss our coffee times, our nights out, our funny moments or even the most serious ones..
But after all it seems that is being worth the effort!!
Not directly related to my sentimental-like post I leave this video below, just for fun and the sake of science showing that it can be funny too ;)
And thanks to Cati, that actually posted this video in the BCM communal blog: Sexy Hotte!
Since my latest days have been really painful for the reasons stated in my last post (house hunting if you are not reading my blog), and since basically if I dont get a positive answer today or tomorrow I will be homeless soon (in two days), and since I am a PhD student, a scientist, and I enjoy developing new methods aka inventing stuff, creating, put my imagination to work, bla bla bla, I just recently developed an instantaneous formula to finish the stress of a working day by combining yoga, selfservice massage and high tech in light and power generation!
In my personal opinion the results were quite good and overcame the expectancies!! I personally recommend this treatment invented by myself ;))
…The story I am going to tell you is a true story. It is almost unbelievable how could a pair of shoes be so desired and then so difficult to get rid of...
And the story begins...
Filipa and Pedro were talking about Pedro buying some trainers since his "collection" was getting old. Suddenly they thought there were those trainers with rollers, called Heelys, very appreciated amongst the kids and all generations I think, with an exception for the very old ones, I hope, but everyone knows what I am talking about, trainers with rollers, really nice to slide on a mall's floor or here in my department they would just work perfectly!
Me and Pedro we got quite excited about getting some shoes like that, for both, but since they are expensive I decided to offer Pedro a pair as a present for him being so nice; and because I didn’t get him many Xmas presents ;)
So I told Pedro I was gonna buy the shoes, we did some internet checking for him to decide which ones look better, we went for some black ones (very expected, Pedro wears in darkish colours usually).. So I knew what to do.
Next day I came to work and went to the Amazon’s web site to buy the shoes, they had them in a few sizes and I got the size 8 (Pedro's size), paid and ordered. And it is here where the shoes' story begins.... the funny part!
Ok, as usual, Amazon works quite well, so in 2 or 3 days the shoes arrived, free of charged, very nice though. I decided to get them from Amazon because any shop I know so far here wouldn't have adult Heelys therefore I could only get them from Amazon or eventually from the Heelys web site. Moreover, I did order some stuff from Amazon before, like Pedro did and we have good impression from them besides Pedro had to return things before and it worked out fine for him. Thus, I thought Amazon would be, and I still think it is, the most reliable source for these sort of things (read unusual things). Resuming.. The shoes arrived and Pedro tried them up, but unfortunately they didn’t fit him. Apparently the size 8 on those shoes is shorter than usual, so they were too small. Ok, decision was immediately made, the shoes had to be returned..
I haven’t returned any item before, so I didn’t know how it would be, I had to go to Amazon's web site and read the returning policies, and that was what I did the next morning when I got to work..
Amazon works with DHL for retuning purposes, I did work with DHL before too and everything was fine so I thought that was good to have DHL to do that. However, it happened that DHL works differently for different costumers.. So, as an Amazon costumer I couldn’t ring them to arrange the date for collection, I had to do it online by filling out a form and giving them an address and a date. Because I work in a quite complicated building (it is a hospital) I thought that would be better to ask them to go to my home. Pedro told me once, they would come in the morning almost for sure so I thought that wouldn’t be a problem to stay at home during the morning and wait.
On the arranged date, I stayed at home waiting for them.. the day passed and nobody showed up so far.The DHL people didn’t come, I rang them, 2 or 3 times during the day but I have been told that there is no costumer service for Amazon returning services and I just had to wait and wait and wait. The last time I rang them up, that was after 5pm, so after the time they were expected to come to me, and just by that time, never before, someone told me that the DHL driver had come by 11am!! I can promise you that no one came and knocked the door at all!! From their side no one said I was wrong, what makes me think that it happens that sometimes they don’t come but say they do, and in the end I just had to arrange another date... Of course I got very pissed off with both Amazon and DHL they made me stay at home the whole day, even doing some work but still very unpleasant to be waiting for nothing..
At this stage I already knew this was gonna be a complicated story..
And the shoes were still sitting there, waiting for some attention.. something to happen...
No chance to stay another day at home waiting, I thought, so I had to make them come to my working place. I had people collecting items from my lab before, but that’s true they rang me before asking for instructions how to get here. I wrote an email to DHL asking them to pick up the trainers from my work and additionally I left them some clues how to get here and not to get lost. I came to work with the trainers, asked everyone in the lab to be attentive on someone from DHL looking for me and told them the story too... (embarrassing)
Another day passed and no one came again... This time I wasn’t so pissed off since I didnt even realize the time passing as usually when I am working but still, when the day was done and I realized the trainers were still there, sitting in one of my lab’s chairs, waiting for me to take them home again, or to do something about them, that made me cry, grrrrrrrrrrr!! that’s irritating, bloody hell!
Ok, I went home took the trainers back again, understood that no one would ever come to fetch them and I would have to look for an alternative way of getting rid of them. Pedro suggested calling Amazon on their costumer call centre asking for help.
That was then the most logic thing to do.. Next day, and notice that since the trainers arrived has now been more than 2 weeks, trying to arrange dates for collection and bla bla bla, and the trainers were still there..
Ok, so I rang Amazon on the next morning, fortunately their call centre works pretty well didn’t get on hold for a long waiting time, and the person who I talked to seemed very useful. I told them my story and the problems with getting DHL to collect the trainers and they said that would be ok to go to the post office and send them back to them just by telling the post office the story because according to that person I was talking to, the Amazon and the post office had an agreement and the post office knew what to do.
Following these hopeful instructions on the next morning before going to work I went to the post office which is fortunately just on the way from my home to the bus stop. I popped in the post office and talked to the people there. They told me that they couldn’t return the item like that, because I had the labels for DHL, that the Amazon call centre supporter said would be ok, but it turned up that the post office cannot take Amazon items with those labels and require a special one done for them...
Ok again (grrrrrrrr) I rang Amazon again, actually from the post office to disclose the truth about that and indeed the post office woman was right and this time the Amazon person said I couldn’t return it like that.. but well I then asked to be sent another proper label (that should have been sent before of course), and the women on the phone (from Amazon) said she would do so.. So I took the trainers back again, home..
Once I got to work I went to see my email expecting a new label but NOOOO... the labels I had got were AGAIN the DHL ones.... OH NOOOO, such a pain coming all over, no one deserves that, like could everyone be so incompetent???? like DHL people incompetent. Amazon people incompetent.. bloody hell, I just wanted to return the bloody trainers and another week was going to pass... Ok...
Breath in, breath out (just as like a friend of mine uses to say :) and call them again.. Explain my ridiculous story once again by the fourth??? time and this time a guy told me to take the bloody packet to the post office, pay myself to post it to Amazon and then ring Amazon to tell them the postage expenses that they would pay me that and he also told me not to use any labels and to send it back to another address different than what I had before.
Ok, it seemed promising then, since I was going to pay there was no reason why the posit office would refuse to take the item, and I saw the light in the end of the tunnel :))) finally I would get rid of the trainers and most important get my money back! That I could then use to buy another pair of trainers to Pedro and give him a present he could wear!
Ok, next morning, this was Friday, so maybe 4 weeks since I had got the shoes and I consequently started trying to get rid of them, I went to the post office, and sent the trainers to Amazon, paid something like 6pounds but I was happy to pay that and didnt even think about getting the money back from Amazon.. I was happy just by solving the whole story !!
And then was Friday and I got to work and the story could just end here, but no!!
On Saturday morning… me and Pedro had slept at my place, since we still haven’t moved out :( we end up staying at mine or his and that night we slept at mine. I woke up earlier than usual for a Saturday morning but it just happened that because we had spent the week looking for our new place I didn’t manage to get much work done so I decided to go work just like in a normal day, so I got to the lab by 10am.
At about 11.30am Pedro rang me (I left him asleep in my room, that he didn’t have to wake up so early), and he rings me with very surprising voice tone and his first saying was "The trainers are just outside your room"!!!!
WOW I was wondering, "which trainers???", I asked, and he said that the box containing THE TRAINERS... those trainers, yes the ones I had just paid 6 pounds to send back to Amazon, the ones that I had just got rid off, and the story had just been finished had just started over again!! Can you believe this.. it was like a curse, apparently I couldn’t get rid of those trainers!!!! That would be just perfect if they would had fit Pedro at the first place, but instead they took me and even Pedro through a long journey of how to get rid of a pair of shoes and get your money back!!
Ok I couldn’t really believe the shoes were there, I laughed for a while but since I was at work I couldn’t do anything but wait until Monday to go back to the post office and ask why did they send me the trainers, basically why did they send the post to the sender???? How stupid is that??? (there was my address as the sender with a "FROM" before to mention that I was the sender not the destiny!!!, how could someone be so dumb??? like I go to the Beeston post office 1 yard next to my home to pay 6pounds to post something to myself???? it is incredible again the incompetence that I was talking about, so to add another incompetent person to those already officially incompetents from Amazon and specially from DHL!!!)
It was with some calm and relax that I popped in the post office on Monday morning to slightly complain about the mistake done by them. The cashier was a bit ashamed, apologized and took the pack without even asking for the receipt.
A few days later I got an email from Amazon acknowledging the trainers and promising the refunding soon. In the meantime, I got the money in my account. I bought Pedro an ordinary pair of trainers, Adidas in sale, but of course that was not what I wanted to buy.. Before that I still bought another pair of trainers that were this time, too big for him, so then we went to the shop (but this time it was in a shop ... uffff), and he exchanged them.
I am still looking forward to buying some nice looking trainers eventually with some funny feature like wheels but certainly I am not getting anything like that from Amazon, not anything that it is likely that I am going to return.
And that is a very big story, but it is a story not a little post, is the story of a sad pair of Heelys trainers that were looking for a home but I could’t shelter them, and they insisted to stay and they became my nightmare, they made people arguing, but they made people know each other better, they reinforce the idea about how the world is full of incompetent workers and how that can affect single people's life’s and ultimately the world's economy, in a world wide perspective!
Today I went for a coffee with two girlfriends here from Nottingham, both doing PhD, but both foreigners like me, so of course we end up sharing a lot of feelings about the life here.. and one subject that got into debate today was exactly the question about the "girly gangs" in Nottingham and in general, but in Nottingham it is just more appreciated...
I think I slightly pointed out that in the past but basically for those who dont know the girls here in Nottingham, from Nottingham, or God knows where from, they tend to have very particular behaviours which I would say are far from one would think as normal. Lets be more specific... Girls here, like in most other countries go out in groups, there is nothing new about it. Those girls and each group tend to follow a style or a standard that means that all girls in the same group look more or less similar.. thats what I mean by gangs.. basically similar styles stick together and form a group...
Usually there is that group of fairly pretty girls, a group of girls that look like they read the bible before going asleep, group of girls that are a bit overweight, etc... there are a lot, BUT:
The awkward funny thing is that in Nottingham those "girly gangs" vary a lot more than our imagination could eventually think of, and thats the funny part!
Yesterday I went out and suddenly recalled how does Nottingham night life works... I have forgotten that since I spent a long time not going out here.. So basically I should first introduce you to a general concept of "chav". This is a slang british term according to the dictionary: Brit slang, derogatory a young working-class person who dresses in casual sports clothes, but actually it is a lot more than that..
watch the videos to get familiar!
Ok, so chavy girls go out in gangs, but unlike the other girls they are not simply fat, or simply pretty or simply ugly, or whatever because these girls have no simplicity at all!! They are a mix of dirty bitches with cheap chicks, look all very easy, very drunk and brainless no matter how old they are. Bear in mind that you find chavy gangs from all age ranges, from youngs to mums and grannys! Of course it is very hard to describe them better without any photographic material, but for example during the day the dress code is very sportive whereas by night their looks vary from when they organize to dress a specific costume, usually very very dirty or if not they will dress as less clothes as they can and there will always be a lot of make up and they usually look orange... its a must see! But they are not found in London for example, while here in Nottingham is like the chavy land.. apparently there are a lot around the midlands like birmingham and also in Liverpool (I saw)..
Conclusion, girls hang out together, thats fine, but when I see a group of chavs I know I am gonna be impressed, trust me, it is disgusting!
Anatomy of a chav girl
I know one day you see one you will remember my description or in case you already know what I am talking about you probably wonder why do this people have no taste? how can someone be like that?
I sometimes over criticize things and people but this time one has to agree with me, inst it weird?
Yesterday I started a new course called Programming for beginners. This is a workshop-course run by the uni for post graduates interested in learning the basics of programming. The uni offers a large variety of workshops in a wide range of areas from languages to computer science, academic and industry skills development and so on, but most of them are boring and useless. Its a really waste of time, but I have to do them, so no more whinging.
Back on PhD stuff conversations and posts, as part of my PhD program I have to attend for these workshops to get 20 credits for my first year. Therefore until the 3rd of March I have to get 20 credits. This course, has then a few plus and convenient sides, and hopefully will be a lot more interesting than the ones I went before, getting me 8 credits, helps me recalling the basics of programming (something I did for a little while in the past), and that is now a tool important for my own PhD project since I intend to start my mathematical modelling and I need to do some programming for that... On the other side (not too bad though), it makes me a bit more geeky with the PhD in biomedical science slash biochemistry comprising a lot of computational biophysics and mathematics and with some programming background makes me someone no ones wants to meet once reading my CV.. (I will make sure I attach a photo of me to show I look human)..
What Kind of geek are you? (click to enlarge and find yourself)
Ok, I’m missing up the topic, back on the class yesterday, it was very nice to see how easy is still for me to pick up the programming basics, and I think I do understand it better now. Most of you don’t know but before I chose to get a biology degree I did a bit of computer science engineering, so got to know some programming.. Lets see how it goes from now on..
I am starting with Java, therefore I still dont have a proper geeky gang signs, but I am gonna finish with C++, so I am glad I will, LOLOLOL
Another new year's resolution was to start doing sports, bought the university gold card that gives me free pass to any sportive activity and I am now committed to go to the gymnasium at least 3x a week and I will try to do some swimming too. There is the need to finish up with my unhealthy life here, eating rubbish and not doing any sports, I am decided to move up and become healthy again :))) (not something I have ever been, but at least I used to eat less grease and exercise more)
PhD is back on track now, back to the lab experiments and to the results, I will have my first viva soon, not yet know the date, but soon, afterwards whether I pass it (hopefully will, my God cant even think of the contrary), I will be an MPhil (??? hell???).. but the good thing is closer to the PhD award!
And that the mid of the officially first week back in Notts, a lot is certainly coming, I am quite exciting and happy :) have fun!!
Second post of the year is a joke dedicated to my portuguese readers, I couldn't miss this.. On my trip up to geres upon my arrival in Portugal for holidays, there was the 19th of December, driving up on the motorway I found the place where apparently there might be hot girls... That idea came from a sketch from "Gato fedorento" (they are a group of humorists, with quite genius jokes I think), in this sketch one guy ask another about the place where he could find really hot girls, but truly hot ones, and he ends up thinking that once he went to Ermesinde and he saw a very hot girl.. however she turns to be a man.. the movie is funny and it made me laugh when I found out the way to that place, I didn't go there and check out for hot girls but at least I can tell you how to go.. A1 towards Porto and then you turn right as in the traffic sign :) Good luck ;)
Dear readers and friends, I am sorry I have been absence for a while but I promise I still didnt give up writing my blog. It happens that I just haven't been sitting in front of the computer enough time for it as before. Christmas is time for shopping but apparently also for academic meetings and symposiums.. Therefore there has been a lot more to do beyond writing :) and thats just cool because as you may have followed the last two months I spent sitting on my own writing that report.. Thats all done now and a new era has begun! Today is just the last 2008 night in Nottingham. I didnt count how many nights I have spent here, they were quite a lot, but certainly none was as special as the one coming. I am going home for Christmas and New year, and I am just so happy!! Also I have got quite nice holiday time to enjoy, nearly three weeks, which are promising to be really nice, a lot of nice plans though! I am so much looking forward, and now these are the last minutes in the office, already said goodbye to my supervisor and to the members of the lab. And I want to bugger off here and go packing and try to sleep, I might no be able to as I am too excited!! I will keep you posted with regard to my holiday and holiday thoughts, so no PhD stuff for the next couple of weeks, ok?? ;)
And just because is Christmas time everywhere one goes are those Xmas songs all over (very irritating sometimes, because they play the same songs all the time and all the places bought the same CD, so the same songs all the time everywhere, just drives you crazy!!).. You can listen to one of those (ridiculously irritating) songs below. The lyrics are nice and romantic but there is something in the song that pisses me off.. I also found some variants.. see whether you like some of them ;)
Mariah Carrey sings:
My chemical romance does a rock version:
Olivia Olson in Love Actually:
Lisa Lavie(I dont know this person.. unknown version)
Miley Cyrus
etc...
LOOOL, all pretty much the same ..
I don't want a lot for Christmas There's just one thing I need I don't care about the presents Underneath the Christmas tree I just want you for my own More than you could ever know Make my wish come true All I want for Christmas is... You
I don't want a lot for Christmas There's just one thing I need I don't care about the presents Underneath the Christmas tree I don't need to hang my stocking There upon the fireplace Santa Claus won't make me happy With a toy on Christmas day I just want you for my own More than you could ever know Make my wish come true All I want for Christmas is you You baby
I won't ask for much this Christmas I don't even wish for snow I'm just gonna keep on waiting Underneath the mistletoe I won't make a list and send it To the North Pole for Saint Nick I won't even stay awake to Hear those magic reindeers click 'Cause I just want you here tonight Holding on to me so tight What more can I do Baby all I want for Christmas is you Ooh baby All the lights are shining So brightly everywhere And the sound of children's Laughter fills the air And everyone is singing I hear those sleigh bells ringing Santa won't you bring me the one I really need Won't you please bring my baby to me...
Oh I don't want a lot for Christmas This is all I'm asking for I just want to see my baby Standing right outside my door Oh I just want you for my own More than you could ever know Make my wish come true Baby all I want for Christmas is... You
All I want for Christmas is you... baby (repeat and fade)
Long time no post.. I am sorry. At first my current life has been incompatible with any leisure. If you cannot see the reason try to concentrate on writing a thesis, selling your bloody results as the best research ever done and see how ruined your life can become.. Despite all the sacrifice I am now nearly finished (as I hope), actually the first deadline is gone and the next and last one is on due next week, therefore is time to get this thingy done, revised and most important over!! On the course of writing up my first year report sort of little baby thesis, of course I wondered how is that gonna be for the big one but thats another story. Being just writing I moved my stuff home and spent here the most of my time going to the uni just for meetings.. such as lab meeeting, journal club, school seminars and after all meeting with the supervisor/advisor/boss or whatever you want to call the person to whom your services of researcher sort of slave are addressed to. My post for you today is then an Addendum to another post I wrote some time ago that you can read here Doctor of Philosophy, PhD or How to get a complex life (sometimes is nice!!).
Through meetings and meetings ...
Meeting with your group, but is more with your supervisor.
Something that happens in one's PhD life are the group meetings. One goes there, sits, handles a notebook with something to say (or not), and usually, at least for me these seminars aim to put everyone to know what is going on in the lab, including major findings or disasters.. In my group we also have a second kind of lab meeting where from time to time, members of the lab present results and discuss them to see the direction of research and get some feedback. I think meetings in my group are work fairly well, but apparently it doesnt work for everyone the same, have a look into the cartoons and see whether you identify yourself with them:
Meeting with your supervisor.
When it comes to meeting with the supervisor the things change a lot from student to student and supervisor to supervisor. In my case I am quite happy with it but of course I tell you this in comparison with what I know on this regards.. As a matter of fact I do still identify myself with the following cartoons and to be honest I dont know a single person who is happy with their project and with their supervisors. Sooner or later both tend to become problematic.. Let see first.. when is the ideal time to meet with your supervisor?
Secondly, the supervisors have a very, but very bad indeed memory for whatever gives respect to their students.. There are the pro and cons for that.. here you are the cons (the bad comes first):
And here you find the pros:
The reason is obvious.. For the students, the supervisors are the most important person in the world, the one who will ultimately decide on their careers since he has the power to award them with the so much sought PhD. Therefore the supervisor becomes some sort of a God, to whom one prays very day, unconditionally obeys and try not to disappoint him at all costs... On the other hand, for the supervisor, the student is as insignificant as another student and another student.. Is just one more student from a bunch of students, etc.. The supervisor has his own life and his own friends and never remembers the student, why would he do so??
Eventually he will remember the face and the name but never ever will recall what has so ever talked about in the last meeting with the student.
Conferences: At a certain time in one's PhD life there is the chance to apply for a conference. Conferences are usually scheduled in nice places and it is very expensive to pay to go (And what is the point to pay go to THE conference?). Therefore the sacrificed and miserable PhD students apply for conference funding through the writing of a conference paper that will be further presented at the conference, usually a 5 minutes talk. No one guaranties that writing the paper you get to the conference.. there is to a nice 1 week free vacation at Hawaii for example.. There you go a suggestion of how not to spend unworthy time and that also gives you the chance to apply for different conferences (Hawaii, Skiing in Canada, beach resort in Barbados, sightseeing in China, etc, etc) :
Mind I said Hawaii..
Apparently here you can find a list of conferences in your area and where are they gonna be.. See how much you can get, there is whether your school pays you the expenses to go and the conference itself. Obviously avoid to mention the skiing forfeit or the diving course... I personally still didnt find the conference to go, besides I haven’t spent much time looking for. Next year I will do that ;)
Good luck with your PhD, if that is the case, or with everything else exciting you are doing. Have fun. I will as soon as I get released.. I may say I have been visiting the hell during the past month and I find it rather cold and dark and empty place..
Today I just realized why I am so sick and feeling down.. Can you imagine I have got two opposite wishes!! Just noticed that today.. it is very contradictory and perhaps the source of all this sickness!
Ok, don’t get yourself confused, let me explain:
1. On one hand I wish I would have more time to finish my report, not that the time passed would not be enough but with my inspirational problems I have been stacking a lot and the words hardly and slowly come to my mind. I know what to write but many times don’t have the wisdom to do so. Therefore I am running out of time, need more time, don’t want the time to pass or to do it as slow as possible that I can concentrate and finish this bloody thing, I may say the most difficult report I have ever wrote and trust me, I wrote loads of stuff before!
2. On the other hand I am getting home sick and miss my family and friends very very much. I want the time to fly as quickly as possible the I can can go home for Christmas holidays! Cant wait for the day I put my feet on that plain that will take me back :) not forever, which is not a problem, I am happy here, but for a little while to see my loved ones :):):) I am counting down for that day and very much looking forward!!
So, now you see, I want the time to go slow but I also want it to pass quickly which is absurd and ultimately these two events mutually cancel themselves. It is the same as plus one (+1) minus one (-1) equals zero!
+ time (for the report) = + 1 time - time (to go home) = -1 time
+1 time - 1time = 0 time
0 (zero) time is what I actually have in my head since I am putting both the same wishes at the same time together. And what becomes a wish is 0 (zero) time, which conversely means I have got no time to live (in my wishes), and that cannot be a wish! That’s very awkward; thereby it is like I do not exist anymore. Combining this idiot deduction with my physical state that actually makes sense. As a matter of fact I am feeling ill and very down, perhaps due to this conflict of inputs in my brain. It is similar to give two opposite orders which obviously cannot exist at the same time. I guess a computer would came out with an ERROR message, I feel I am coming out with an ERROR message too.. Don’t know how to solve this equation differently, dont know how to overcome my wishes because they are both very strong and I cant give up any of them.. I have got a problem.. and probably I have to live with it until both the wishes are fulfilled, basically until the time passes and when the time is gone I will be good again :) Be patient is probably what I can recommend myself…
To finish I leave you with my soundtrack for today, a bit more of Placebo, quite like these guys! And of course I hope the very end of this story is like in a fairy tail, pink and full of love ;)
Yesterday evening after leaving work I was wondering where to go for food, I was far too tired to cook anything, and eventually to go to the supermarket to get food to cook, therefore had only the choice to get dinner from somewhere else. Coming from the University heading home, for those who dont know I have a few choices although they are not that many, I have tried them all, some are good, others are ok and there are still the ones one can't taste (e.g. Popa Pizza.. the worst Pizza ever! I can hardly believe that such a pizza can be done and sold).. Well carrying on my adventure yesterday I had the idea of going to the Really Chinese restaurant. There are two Chinese restaurants in Beeston, one is for everyone and the other is for the Chinese people (and other Chinese-like people). I noticed this restaurant a while ago when walking around the centre of Beeston (which is the capital of the world on Saturdays.. I wonder how can such a small place become so busy on Saturdays.. ok, fair enough, there's a lot of shops and some are quite ok, for food).. Back on the Chinese thing I noticed a panel placed on the middle of Beeston high road but all written in chinese with an arrow pointing inside a building, very dodgy at the first sight. One day I decided to take the risk and went there; At first everyone was asian inside but the waiter managed to find an english menu and I decided through a fairly occidental meal which as very good indeed! That restaurant stayed in my mind as a good one and went there another time, the second. That wasnt so good, but still alright. The third time I went there I risked a bit more and went for something I didn’t know and the disappointment arose. Anyway, any experience before wasnt as remarkably bad as the one from yesterday...What the hell came to mind I still dont know but as a matter of fact I went to that restaurant yesterday and because before I saw people having a sort of a fondue but with chinese stuff, I thought I could have that too! Who doesn’t love fondue? Meat fondue, cheese fondue, chocolate fondue, there are all so yummy!! But forget about Chinese fondue... I cannot really explain by words how bad it is. If you have some spare 13 pounds and want to try, go there but dont tell I didnt advise yoU!
The following photos were taken in the end (after trying up everything and getting very sick), but you can have an idea, lets comment on them:
FIRST: here you are the sauces.. well they would just make the things a lot worse. Tastes varied amongst a sandy flavour, one spicy kind of and a water where someone boiled some onions before...
Second: this shows the only occidental piece of thing present on that dinner.. A pint of coke served in a Stella Artois glass.
Third: Here you have a plan of the table. In the middle, there is sort of a soup which is the fondue pot. It contains water with some unflavoured vegetables.. Very disgusting and next to it you can find the sides.. some sort of noodles plus sea weed, other sort of horrible vegetables and a very strange meat that looks like very thinly sliced Parma ham but tastes like shit.
That was my face doing the effort to eat something. It was a bit of a shame to leave mostly everything uneaten. Couldn’t manage it, I lost my appetite just as soon as I started. All the taste and smells were horrifying..
OK, this is the mess! Basically you would drop everything inside this witch pot and fish it with a little basket.. look at the picture. How disgusting is that?
Finally a few more of the raw food ready to boil inside the witch pot.. arrrgghhh
This was "the plate", because you are meant to eat from the bowel, basically drop everything there mix and eat and no more questions please.. There is no place for discarding anything like the edge of the plate.. eat everything now!!
Yesterday evening I decided to make a brake on my report progress (not that it is progressing very fast) and went to enjoy a short time with some friends and get a bit of a relief from this painful life I have got. We went to the theatre in Nottingham. It was the first time I have been to the theatre besides Nottingham has a massive cultural offer, there's always events going on. There is a big stage, called Nottingham arena where concerts take place, and all the famous international bands come here from time to time. There will be a Metallica concert here in February, for example and I just realize Prodigy is coming in April, I have to go! I went there to see Whitesnake, in July.
Nottingham has got two main theatres, a modern and an old one; Yesterday, I went to the modern one to watch McBeth by William Shakespeare. My expectations were quite high because I had the idea that I watch it before, as an adapted version for opera in Moscow. However, I soon understood I was completely wrong and it has nothing to do with that. The play was generally pretty boring; I did not fall asleep as I could but found myself thinking about my life several times instead of following the play, but did not miss the story or its content. Indeed it could have been done in 15 minutes instead of two hours.. actually it took a little bit more (ihihihi).. I dont want to spoil you the story, perhaps you want to go and see it but in the end I have got the impression that whatever genius present on that script was lost with time and nowadays there is nothing much interesting in couples of monologues about power, life and sorrow, stupid fake murders followed by psychological depressive monologues ending with a sword battle done by two apprentices on their first class which made me feel sorry for them. So what could happen to make it really different? Add a bit of a special effect, put the actors interacting with the public or interrupt the play with a trembling voice encrypted by fear after a sudden blackout and tell everyone to evacuate the room as soon as possible! (Was a bit creepy, everyone thought there was a big deal) This is very unusual in England where people is a hundred toms more civilized than anywhere else, people left the building very quickly (but still orderly), someone had a panic attack and in the end that was just a blackout indeed! I was expecting something a lot more exciting, fire or bomb.. bah, we had to go back then to watch the 5 minutes of boringness remaining…
Just one more line comment about Mcbeth, I struggled a bit to understand the language (English I suppose).. some sort of archaic English and I bet you that most of the English people present didn’t understand much more than me I am afraid.. that made it even more boring..
The whole thing was not that bad but I will be sure I will not go again and next after comes my favourite part. We went to Nandos, which pretends to be a Portuguese chain restaurant, but at least they sell portuguese beer! We got there at 10:25 and hardly got served, you know here in England dinner its served from 5 pm to 7pm usually and I am afraid they only serve until later sometimes because of the foreigners here.. It’s ridiculous!! And so annoying!! We could get the food and I have got my SuperBock! Very nice though :)
Ok, this is not time to write a post in the blog and I tell you I am doing this; its 6.20am, wednesday the 5th, I am still in the office waiting for a bit of a bright dawn to get off here, I am bloody tired, did not yet sleep and have been working the whole night with no stops until right now. In the meantime I chatted with Boavida (a friend of mine with a funny name.. translating "Boavida" means "Good life") whether good or not today his life was better than mine but was nice to have his company for half the night whereas he was following the American elections (Obama is getting there), reporting me the results I was hardly working on my report, before he left he shout me "geeeeeeeeeeeeek", "PhD geeeeeeeeeek" that was at 3.30am, and additionally he added to his nick on MSN "Pips is the most geeeeekest PhD ever" !! Well, I am actually not even a proper geek, therefore not the most ever and whether eventually you want to consider me geek just because I do science, I work on my PhD until morning (see that I have the deadline coming) and I enjoy computer games (but I am now forbidden to play any thing, discipline imposed for the sake of my PhD), I am not and I am cool. Dont believe my friend, although nowadays to be geek is a way to be cool still dont get to be stereotyped with a remotely negative connotation. Ok, my brain is breaking down, I cant go much further with this post, I may just say Good Morning!
And just because "there is not one without two and two without three" in a proverb inspired post I am posting my third post of today! Proverb wise I just recalled that today I had to attend for a workshop in Designing research and statistics since my PhD course/school requires me to attend some sort of PhD courses and accomplish 20 credits in the end of my first year and because I did not yet complete that since I got lazy in the first months I am now in a rush to get the bloody credits.
This all story is to tell you that what I always thought that would be the expression "to put the cherry on top of the cake" is actually a WRONG english translation of a portuguese proverb being just a plain translation word by word whereas proverb wise is riscky and mostly of the times it doesnt work! In fact, and during the workshop of today, the teacher used the RIGHT version of that expression in good english coming with, "and that is brilliant therefore is such as icing on the cake!" Suddenly some light came into my brain and then I remembered that last time I used the expression "the cherry on top of the cake", my house mate, Chris didn’t seem to quite understand me.. and now I know! Its a shame they dont teach us this at school.. grrrrr
As I promised in the post about the Halloween I would leave one or two photos to let you know how I looked like on a death woman costume (I think I did not mention what exactly I was going to dress up) but now you know, there was place for everything, I saw all kind of costume but here you are me and my friends:
Finally a few more of the raw food ready to boil inside the witch pot.. arrrgghhh
