10% more efficient than grooming AND a very good idea.
How many times can one man learn the same
lesson? An hour or so's chat across messenger and a whole lot of things are not just fixed but substantially better than they used to be.
Of course, sometimes it takes a little time to work out what it is exactly you need to chat about, but it's always a good plan. People are, after all, and no matter what they think, NOT psychic and the only way, therefore, that they can really know what you're thinking is if you tell them. Then, and this is the great part,
they get to tell you. Then everyone knows what's going on.
Hoorah!
It's been ages, hasn't it? Sorry everyone. Rapid catchup:
-went to teach the kids the stuff and had a good time, but came back with vicious lurgee.
-down to London for mate's stag day. Had to organise also, as am best man. Shaves, cocktails, burgers and club. Woo, hoorah. fun fun.
-work work work like bastard.
That's it really.
How are you?
Too many jokes...
Now
this is what I call quality programming. Quite literally a load of toss.
"Hello, channel 4"
"Yes, hello, I'd like to complain about your recent documentaries"
"Yes, sir, what about them?"
"Well, how can I put this? Well, they're just a bit wank, really"
"..."
"hello?"
"hello sir, let me just transfer you to our commissioning editor... I think you may be on to something"
Work is a silly place today. I may leave soon.
Seriously, why bother with a fondue?
Sorry, been busy.
Not much to add though. Busily squeezing sense from some data. Trying to learn how to interpret the output from a binary logistic regression. Woo. You hear me? Woo.
Anyway, the good news is, I suppose, that this data is looking good. Might finally try to get something published soon. Initial finding spiralling out in to new directions, all getting very interesting thank you. My supervisor seems cheery and positive about it all. I guess we'll see...
Erm. Seriously, the most interesting thing to have happened recently is the seagull in my front yard. Which is a very short story, and involves me finding a juvenile seagull in my fron yard that hopped up the stairs and waddled off. I could go on. I choose not to.
I went out on Friday night and recovered from the hangover on Sunday evening. Now, I have long accepted that my metabolism has slowed down rather considerably since my early 20's and that my hangovers are getting markedly worse, but 2 days? Come on now, this is hardly fair. I still feel a little peculiar.
Ah well. You know what they say about falling of the horse...
watch out for the hooves.
Message ends.
Break in to my place, will you?
The Scene of Crime Officer came round to my flat yesterday. She was a very small, late 20's lady who took her job very seriously (as one might) and spoke VERY LOUDLY about EVIDENCE. She had a tall guy with her who turned out to be her student. He called me mate. I felt this to be slightly unwarrented familiarity but decided, on balance, that it was probably ok.
Anyway, she got some "good palm prints" off the window and the window sill and was
very excited by the orange juice carton. Earlier that day A and I had put a bucket over the carton to protect it from rain / goblins. She was very impressed with my foresight. Carton was covered with prints AND was swabbed for DNA. Brilliant! Just like CSI. Only our hair wasn't as good.
I am told that, with the evidence available, if they're on the database, they'll find them. She went on to tell me that I'd hear in a few months if they'd caught someone. I asked if I could go poke them with sticks once they'd been found.
She didn't seem impressed.
One hard shove.
So. Here I am back in sunny Scotland. Actually, it's been cocking cold and miserable for a few days now, which is DEEPLY frustrating as the rest of Britain seems to be enjoying a phew-what-a-scorcher style heatwave. I can now feel smug, however, for the sunshine up here is very pleasantly warm, with a cool breeze sweeping across the sea. A sunny day, a simple friendship... ah, life.
Moved in to my new flat on sat. ROCKS it does. Centre of town. Just got me in it etc. Some small problems to get fixed; washing machine was non-functional, light switch in bathroom did nuffink and the catch on the window in the living/bedroom seemed to have been bent upwards. Somewhat as if it had been... forced? No, don't be ridiculous, who would have forced the flat window open? The same people who moved the window box off the window sill perhaps? Pah, no.
Don't be ridiculous.
Anyway, all these things were fixed. Washing machine now works, bathroom exceedingly well lit, window catch replaced.
2 evenings ago the police came round. Asked me who lived in the flat. I said well, I did. They took my details and the name of the previous occupant from me and wandered off. A bit odd, thinks I, but settle down to continue watching a DVD. Went to bed about 1.00, was kept awake for a while by the sound of the seagulls surrounding my new area having a party, but lay in the darkness, sort of drifting off.
At 2.10 (I know because I checked), I heard footsteps outside. You
can hear people walking along the street outside my flat, so it didn't
bother me immediately, but just as I started to think "you know, that
sounds kind of... close", I heard somebody say "they've replaced the
lock" and then force my bedroom window open.
Yuh.
I've given some thought to what I would have liked to be able to
shout at that point. Something like "what the FUCK do you think
you're doing", or "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY FLAT" or possibly just
"AVAST!", but under the circumstances (mad, adrenaline fueled
scrabble for glasses and lightswitch) the best I could manage was a
sort of low-register "heyyy". Anyway, they vanished like lightning.
And I got out of bed and stared at my open window and the section of
the *new* window latch that had just *pinged* off when the window was opened.
I called the police at this point. They appeared very quickly.
All very odd. I went round to my letting agents yesterday to tell them.
They were gratifyingly shocked. They said that the flat was only
empty for 1 day (Friday) and then cleaned on sat. So I guess that's
when the peoples decided to break in the first time... or something.
My agents assured me that they were going to make my flat "as secure
as possible". I was hoping for gun turrets, but they've opted for more or less nailing my windows shut. Not quite what I had in mind.
Judge Jones is my hero.
Ok. Going back to the beginning of the month when I was in Philadelphia...
It was my privelege to attend a panel discussion on the teaching of evolutionary science in schools. One of the panelists was
Judge Jones, who presided over
Kitzmiller vs the Dover Area School District in 2005. This has been widely reported as a rerun of the
Scopes 'monkey trial' of 1925. In short, Creationist school board attempts to introduce teaching of
Intelligent Design in science classes in Pennsylvania public schools. Judge rules that this is unconstitutional, declares Intelligent Design wholly antithetic to science, exposes a long running fundamentalist political agenda and ultimately causes the whole school board to be replaced.
Get in.
Anyway. I've just read
Judge Jone's official opinion . It's 136 pages of brilliance. Very easy to read, very exciting. At the conference, we were all urged, as scientists, to read it and I have to say I wholly agree. If you're a scientist, you should read it to feel reinvigorated. If you're an adherant to Intelligent Design, you should read it if only to be put firmly in your place (which is the theology department, incidentally), if you're neither, then simply read it as an wonderful exersize in rationality.
I'm so excited, I'm going to link to it
again.
And
again.
In these days, when so many people seem intent on abandoning rational thought and pretending that the Enlightenment was just a bunch of wooly minded academics poncing about in libraries, it is very exciting to have a piece of writing like this emerge. Intelligent Design publically exposed as a fundamentalist, theist, creationist agenda which has about as much place in a science classroom as a big fat crucifix.
"Methodological naturalism is a 'ground rule' of science today which requires scientists to seek explanations in the world around us based upone what we can observe, test, replicate and verify" Judge Jones, 2005, p.65
while we're on the subject.
could have been
worse, though. I guess. Teeheehee, Dell.
