Save the Naked Scientists (@nakedscientists #savethenakedscientists)
Wednesday, November 14th, 2012 04:40 pmI really like The Naked Scientists. It's an independently produced show that's syndicated by the BBC to the East of England region, and bits of it get put on radio Scotland and 5Live. 5Live podcast it (packaged with the execrable Dr Karl, but you can't have everything) and generally it seems to have been a happy-making show, particularly in the East of England, which contains Cambridge, where the show is produced. Cambridge has the highest concentration of scientists anywhere outside the US.
The BBC have decided to axe The Naked Scientists because the content it produces "isn't local enough". Because why would the highest concentration of scientists outside the US want to listen to a science show? That's just silly!
* headdesk headdesk headdesk *
IN THE SACRED NAME OF LORD REITH WHAT ARE YOU THINKING, BBC????!! The programme is educational, informative and entertaining, it clearly fulfills the remit of local radio by being of interest to the local area the show is broadcast in, and it has a wide appeal beyond that remit as well. Axing the show is an exercise in purest stupidity.
Anyway, obviously this decision has prompted a campaign to save the show, involving a co-ordinated write-to-feedback campaign, and involving one of my favourite MPs. Personally, I'd rather see the show promoted to Radio4/4Extra/5Live/World Service, rather than continuing to be ghettoised to bloody southerners who clearly don't appreciate it enough*, but I'd rather it gets saved than cancelled.
If you have any interest in science or science education, this is a bloody good (and bloody rare) radio show, and deserves saving in some form, even if we can't save it in its current form. So please do your bit, dear readers. Write to feedback, and make your feelings known.
(If you want to know what all the fuss is about, the rss feed for the podcast is here.)
*YAY Northern Monkey humour ;)
The BBC have decided to axe The Naked Scientists because the content it produces "isn't local enough". Because why would the highest concentration of scientists outside the US want to listen to a science show? That's just silly!
* headdesk headdesk headdesk *
IN THE SACRED NAME OF LORD REITH WHAT ARE YOU THINKING, BBC????!! The programme is educational, informative and entertaining, it clearly fulfills the remit of local radio by being of interest to the local area the show is broadcast in, and it has a wide appeal beyond that remit as well. Axing the show is an exercise in purest stupidity.
Anyway, obviously this decision has prompted a campaign to save the show, involving a co-ordinated write-to-feedback campaign, and involving one of my favourite MPs. Personally, I'd rather see the show promoted to Radio4/4Extra/5Live/World Service, rather than continuing to be ghettoised to bloody southerners who clearly don't appreciate it enough*, but I'd rather it gets saved than cancelled.
If you have any interest in science or science education, this is a bloody good (and bloody rare) radio show, and deserves saving in some form, even if we can't save it in its current form. So please do your bit, dear readers. Write to feedback, and make your feelings known.
(If you want to know what all the fuss is about, the rss feed for the podcast is here.)
*YAY Northern Monkey humour ;)
Ada Lovelace Day
Tuesday, October 16th, 2012 01:04 pmAs usual, I have been vacillating about what to post for this year's Ada day. I toyed with the idea of posting about the frankly awesome and criminally underrated Pat Moss, because being a racing driver is TOTALLY a STEM career, right? And then I thought maybe I should give signal boost to the excellent Little Miss Geek project. But then I thought about what Ada day is for. Ada day is meant to highlight women in STEM careers who should be an inspiration to the kids of today. And I thought about the people who inspired me when I was a nipper. Aside from my dad, they were mostly people on telly - in terms of science this was Patrick Moore, yes, and David Attenborough, and Terry Nutkins... But also Judith Hann and Maggie Philbin. There were mainstream women on the telly doing science when I was a kid.
There's less of them these days, mainly because science telly has been marginalised in the same way that music telly has - ghettoised into seperate channels and post watershed. But there is a lady who occasionally pops up who I think is amazing, so I'm going to blog about her.
(Image from The Indy)
This is Doctor Maggie Aderin-Pocock. You may recognise her from a number of appearances on the telly. I know her best from James May's Things You Need To Know About... where she appears on a regular basis as a talking head. She's currently a space scientist, but her degrees include physics and mechanical engineering, so she's really useful as a talking head on pop science programmes because of her breadth of knowledge.
Maggie is a fantastic communicator, explaining sometimes quite complex scientific concepts in a friendly and accessible way, but I think the thing I love best about her is a her enthusiasm. She's such a geek! She loves her subject, and communicates that love and joy and enthusiasm in the same way that someone like David Attenborough does, and it's infectious.
I'd love to see her get a primetime science slot. She's smarter and sexier than Brian Cox, and less curmudgeonly and a better communicator than Patrick Moore. And, unlike many of the women discussed for Ada Day, she's here, and available now, and not dead and too late to do much about thanking. So, thank you, Maggie, for all you've done so far; and here's hoping you get to do lots more in the future.
For more about Maggie, check out her profile on the Eden Channel, at The Royal Institution, and her programme on Desert Island Discs.
There's less of them these days, mainly because science telly has been marginalised in the same way that music telly has - ghettoised into seperate channels and post watershed. But there is a lady who occasionally pops up who I think is amazing, so I'm going to blog about her.
(Image from The Indy)
This is Doctor Maggie Aderin-Pocock. You may recognise her from a number of appearances on the telly. I know her best from James May's Things You Need To Know About... where she appears on a regular basis as a talking head. She's currently a space scientist, but her degrees include physics and mechanical engineering, so she's really useful as a talking head on pop science programmes because of her breadth of knowledge.
Maggie is a fantastic communicator, explaining sometimes quite complex scientific concepts in a friendly and accessible way, but I think the thing I love best about her is a her enthusiasm. She's such a geek! She loves her subject, and communicates that love and joy and enthusiasm in the same way that someone like David Attenborough does, and it's infectious.
I'd love to see her get a primetime science slot. She's smarter and sexier than Brian Cox, and less curmudgeonly and a better communicator than Patrick Moore. And, unlike many of the women discussed for Ada Day, she's here, and available now, and not dead and too late to do much about thanking. So, thank you, Maggie, for all you've done so far; and here's hoping you get to do lots more in the future.
For more about Maggie, check out her profile on the Eden Channel, at The Royal Institution, and her programme on Desert Island Discs.
The Blood is The Life 17-04-2012
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012 10:00 am- Charlie Brooker: Some people are gay in space. Get over it | Comment is free | The Guardian
- Mr Clegg: Who are you making policy for, exactly? « Solution Focused Politics
Brilliant analysis of why things keep going wrong for the Lib Dem leadership
- Now people don’t even want to stand for the Lib Dems in elections! What we need to do to reverse this worrying trend « Solution Focused Politics
- Marc Spindelman, “Gay Men and Sex Equality” | | Feminist Law ProfessorsFeminist Law Professors
Normally I find Feminist Law Professors to be very well-informed, but this post contains some startling examples of bi-erasure.
- “Oh, You Sexy Geek!”: “Geek Girls” and the Problem of Self-Objectification
Really, REALLY good analysis.
- Caron's Musings: Conference accreditation rears its unacceptable, illiberal and not very pretty head
- The UK government's war on internet freedom - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
- UK Polling Report
Interesting YouGov poll results on public tax returns and charity exemptions from tax liability
- Tory backed “grassroots” campaign is ‘buying Facebook likes from India’ | Political Scrapbook
- Joan Smith: I'm tired of Christian hectoring. Get over it! - Joan Smith - Commentators - The Independent
- How FPTP chooses the"wrong" winner
Ooooh look, there's Calderdale, straight in at #2...
- On the poll of Lib Dem held and marginal seats
This is something that perhaps needs to be paid attention to, and not in a siege mentality way.
- 'Postnatally depressed' dads? Give me a break | Barbara Ellen | Comment is free | The Observer
Oh dear. While I appreciate that there is a germ of a point in this, it's so muddle-headed, gender normative, and downright WRONG about so many things that it makes me want to scream.
- 'Sexist trousers' are below the belt - Telegraph
- BBC News - First Raspberry Pi computers to be delivered
YAAAAAAAAAAY!
- The Very Fluffy Diary of Millennium Dome, Elephant: Day 4112: Oh Dear Federal Conference Committee
- Top 10 worst health and safety myths
- Factcheck: Are half of council homes given to migrants? | Full Fact
- Quantum flavordynamics (in which Holly gives us a primer in Quantum Physics)
My very mature response to this clear and thoughtful post? I want a bottom factory. I like bottoms.
- the widow's world: Dreams of a LIBERAL Democratic conference
- The Clicker - All 5 'Star Trek' captains will beam down to London event
Oh God I wish this was a feasible thing.
- Ideas for development: Playlists on LoveFilm / Netflix : SciencePunk
- ThinkGeek :: Celestial Serving Bowls
I want a Saturn!
- BBC News - Fracking 'should resume with checks'
Linked to purely for the BSG fan sniggering in my head: did the earth move for you when we fracked? *snerk* I know this is proper serious science news, but...
- Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Policemen are racist because our society is racist - Yasmin Alibhai-Brown - Commentators - The Independent
The Blood is The Life 08-04-2012
Sunday, April 8th, 2012 10:00 am- Magic: The Gathering Tournament Participants Not Immune To Sexism | The Mary Sue
- BBC - Doctor Who - Doctor Who Things to Make
ZOMG when did the official site get so much crafty stuff on it! I mean, colour in your own Madam Vastra? COME ON!
- Let Me Tell You About the Birds and the Bees: Gender and the Fallout Over Christopher Priest
Another post about the difference in treatment women and men get for blogging.
- Jim C. Hines » You’ll Probably Ignore Me Because I’m An Evil Straight White Dude, But…
Jim Hine's comments on the above post, in which Jim continues awesome.
- Controversy Deepens Over Pesticides and Bee Collapse | Wired Science | Wired.com
Nice to see that the world is finally catching up with what Vince Cable has been banging on about for a couple of years now.
- The Beer Game -or- Why Apple Can't Build iPads in the US - mark[sweep]
- The Daily Mash - Britain officially a dystopia
The Orwell-Huxley-Dick scale *snerk*
- RealClimate: Evaluating a 1981 temperature projection
This is why science is cool. They're always examining and re-examining stuff to see if it's right ior if it's changed.
- Atheism Rising, But God Is Not Dead Yet: 10 Ways Religion Is Changing Around the World | Visions | AlterNet
This is very interesting, especially the bit about fundamentalist religions
- hatching Cadbury Creme Eggs
This is freaky and bad and wrong, and therefore I must share it with all of you. WARNING: contains embryonic Mr Cadbury's Parrot.
- Jesus is not a zombie
What category of undead DOES he fit into, then? The answer is revealed in this informative infographic
- Pope Says Couples Who Conceive Through In-Vitro Fertilization Are Guilty Of Arrogance | RH Reality Check
- Inevitable: Anti-Choicers Now Protesting At Fertility Clinics | RH Reality Check
- IMAGE COMICS BLOG, THE WALKING DEAD — you know, for kids. By Chris...
Holly would LOVE this.
- Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window From Another Angle [VIDEO] | The Mary Sue
The Blood is The Life 02-04-2012
Monday, April 2nd, 2012 10:00 am- Bradford West result was symptom of UK's brutal north-south divide
This is depressing, but probably accurate.
- HULK EXPLAINS WHY WE SHOULD STOP IT WITH THE HERO JOURNEY SHIT « FILM CRIT HULK! HULK BLOG!
Film critic hulk: nearly as cool as feminist hulk.
- 14 Common Dog Behavior Myths Decoded - Vetstreet
I'm pleased to say I already knew all of this.
- 5 Ways Modern Men Are Trained to Hate Women | Cracked.com
This is terrifying, and mostly because it rings so true.
- Payback Is a Bitch for Abortion Clinic Protestors, Thanks to a Brilliant Landlord
- The national security and anti-terrorism party | Jack of Kent
First, they came for the NHS, and the Lib Dems didn't make enough fuss. Then, they came for the benefits, and the Lib Dems didn't make enough fuss. Now they're coming for the WHOLE FUCKING REASON WE EXIST. There'd better be enough fuss this time.
- Dear Technology World – Please Stop Trying To Give Me An Erection
Funny but necessary
- Manchester Labour want to charge for A
Smell the hypocrisy.
- Improbable Research » Why do Boomerangs come back?
- The language of the Picts
Very long, but fascinating article. Pratchett fans might wish to scroll down till they see the Oggham diagrams
- Anonymous media briefings to soften us up for even more Internet Snooping in the Queens Speech next month - Spy Blog - SpyBlog.org.uk
Interesting article on the news about surveillance
- Anthony Glees - Powerbase
This is the sort of person who is in favour of the new internet snooping laws. Terrifying, isn't it?
The Blood is The Life 28-03-2012
Wednesday, March 28th, 2012 10:00 am- Hapless MPs defend faith healers
Martin Robbins: Fisker extraordinaire
- Church HIV prayer cure claims 'cause three deaths'
And this is what happens if we don't point out the facts to Christians who say prayer can heal: people DIE. I'm not saying, and never have, that Christians shouldn't be allowed to say that prayer can heal: I'm just saying that being allowed to say something does not mean you are immune from others, INCLUDING OTHER CHRISTIANS, refuting your claims, especially if your claims are harmful bollocks.
- Christian MPs urged to prove it isn’t the Flying Spaghetti Monster healing people
As usual, NewsThump says it so much better than me.
- BBC News - Stamp prices: First-class stamps to cost 60p
I don't think that putting the price of stamps up is going to encourage more people to buy them.
- Female Crash Test Dummies Don't Survive The Crash?
This is why feminism is important - in some cases it is literally life or death. I've emailed EuroNCAP to see if the situation is the same over here as it is in the US, and if it is, I shall try to do something about it.
- Heart Attack Symptoms in Women
Women's heart attack symptoms can be very different from men's. The classic shortness of breath and pain in the left arm? Not there for girls. We get jaw and back pain, and anxiety. Did any of you know that women have different heart attack symptoms to men? Cos I didn't till I saw about it on a feminist forum. Another reasons why feminism can be, quite literally, life or death.
- Heart attacks in women: A silent killer - Health News - The Independent
She felt tired, under the weather, a bit uncomfortable. There was no shooting pain down her left arm – it was her right arm that was sore – and no vice-like grip around her chest to bring her to her knees. And yet the facts are sobering. Each year, 103,000 women in Britain have heart attacks, while at least 47,000 die from coronary heart disease. The illness kills nearly 10 times more women a year than breast cancer and, in Europe, it kills more women than men. Standard cardiac treatments, such as aspirin and by-pass surgery, are designed for men and there is no solid evidence that traditional drugs used to treat coronary heart disease are as effective in women as in men.
- 'The Hunger Games' Brings Out the Worst In Everyone
I really really am not sure what to think about this film.
- We need more real women on TV | Radio Times
Stop the presses. Alison Graham has written something I don't vehemently disagree with!
- Watch Woman Get Attacked By Wolves (With Kisses)
Oh Cthulhu I would LOVE to do this.
- Why We Oppose Votes For Men
Even in 1915 feminists had a sense of humour. Can we stop the humourless feminazi meme now, pls? ... No, thought not...
- you know what they call The Hunger Games in Paris?
I LOLed
- More "bloke does feminism". I approve of this trend.
"If sexual harassment is such an intrinsic part of your community that it can’t be taken out without “turning it into something that it’s not,” then just as a rule of thumb, it probably should be turned into something that it’s not. If your community can’t introduce a baseline of respect for another human being without being destroyed, then your community should probably be burned to the ground and have salt spread on the ashes so that it’ll never come back."
- You’re not like the rest, and that is okay.
MOAR awesome lady scientists pls!
The Blood is The Life 27-03-2012
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012 10:00 am- Cookies for priveleged people
I often think that the "well done, have a cookie" response to people who are just waking up to their privelege is counterproductive. These still made me LOL
- I am starting to feel like this.
Sick of the special exemptions that religions get from civil life. Why should they be allowed to bugger about with legislation if they're not contributing?
- Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer
Praying for poorly people doesn't make anything better and might make things worse if the patient knows about it. With that in mind, can Christians PLEASE stop this shit about praying for people who don't want anything to do with it?
- Maybe it's just because I work in a craft store, but I see way to many parents trying to push strict gender roles on their kids
- Maggie Aderin-Pocock: A woman on a mission, proving science isn't just for rich, white men - Science - News - The Independent
YAY LADY SCIENTISTS! Watched her on BBC2 last night. My God, she has the sexiest voice since Mariella Frostrup. Move over Brian Cox, there's a new hot scientist in town, and she can do Space better than you.
- The Naked Rambler: the man prepared to go to prison for nudity
Can we not arrange for somebody to go and pick him up when he walks out of prison naked and drive him back over the border so he's not put straight back into prison again? Or can't we extradite him from Scotland or something? It's just not on that the poor bloke keeps being put back in prison.
- BBC - Doctor Who - First Preview of the New Series!
HEEEE! Dalek eyeball in the snow!
- Singal Boost - BMW recalls 1.3 million 5 and 6 series models worldwide
I dunno if any of you lot drive a Beemer, but it's worth knowing this.
- Proving you're gay to the Turkish army
- BBC News - Chocolate 'may help keep people slim'
So being allergic to chocolate is what makes me fat, AMIRITE? ;)
- BBC News - Viewpoint: How hackers could decapitate the internet
The Blood is The Life 23-03-2012
Friday, March 23rd, 2012 09:00 am- Former Doctor Who companions Katy Manning & Anneke Wills welcome the new girl
This is really sweet - "welcome to the family"! 3
- Matthew on an interesting academic study
"The attentional system believed to have a causal role in anxiety disorders is therefore likely to be a general system that responds not to threat but to stimulus relevance; hence, nonevolutionary images, such as those from Doctor Who, captured attention as quickly as fear-relevant spider images. Where this leaves the Empress of Racnoss, we are unsure."
- Were the Liberal Democrats used to 'send a message'?
If this is even partially true, then the current FCC need to hang their heads in shame.
- A free clue to the record industry
I agree with this infographic
- Factcheck: Do British people pay over 40 per cent of all alcohol duties in Europe? | Full Fact
Pretty much, yeah. Another nail in the coffin of my job.
- Ordinary Batman Adventures
I'm not sure if I like cleaning out the cat litter or toenail clipping best but they're all awesome.
- Put Alan Turing on the next £10 note - e-petitions
My daughter is on the top table in the top set for maths in her year. It's called the Turing table. If my kid's school can do it, so can the Royal Mint. The tenner is the proper place for scientists. We've had Darwin, lets have Turing next time around.
- Met Police lose 2005 rape handling report « Complicity
Epic Fail, Met, Epic fail
- Dear Scum: An Open Letter To The Sun | The Daisy Cutter
The day after the Hillsborough disaster was the day my mum stopped getting the Yorkshire Post after they published photos of dead people crushed up against the fences. We'd never have got the Sun in our house anyway. It seems that after Hillsborough, after photoshopping black people out of photos, after everything that's coming out in Leveson... They still haven't bloody learned.
- Verey Bowring or Something - Budget Games and Alternative Smoking (E cigs).
Very tempted by one of these.
- BBC News - Electroconvulsive therapy: Aberdeen team says it 'turns down overactive connection'
this is fascinating.
- BBC News - Would you wear a t-shirt made from melted guns?
Make clothes, not war!
The Blood is The Life 22-03-2012
Thursday, March 22nd, 2012 09:00 am- Cardiac specialists wondering if the religious might give them a little credit for Muamba survival
"With headlines proclaiming that the prayers of a nation have helped Muamba back from the brink, experts have described this assertion as ‘fucking nonsense’. “What saved his life is the years of dedication to scientifically proven treatments from a range of medical professionals you can actually see.” “If you want to credit God with anything, why not blame God for giving him the heart attack in the first place?”"
- Anti-Street-Harrassment video and commentary thereon.
"If you’re a man, you have so much more clout with a male harasser because you’re not a fuck-object in their eyes. Speak up. It will make a difference."
- Pictures of the cast announced for Prometheus
On the one hand, two women, one man. On the other hand, the man is Michael Wifebeater, whose sexism is so extreme, couched in violent language, and offensive that it made the normally quite robustly sexist Top Gear totally unwatchable for me the other week.
- My MEP does something to be proud of.
- The best Englishman, Irishman, Scotsman joke I have ever seen
... even though it slightly bothers me that the Englishman is always a posh southerner, and that they are all always men.
- Excerpt of Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir — TheBloggess.com
The article starts off pretty dull, but is fun when it gets to talking about penises.
- Housing on the minimum wage: how many hours would you have to work? | News | guardian.co.uk
And do remember, this is just the rent on a one bedroom flat, not the council tax or utilities or (heaven forfend) buy food...
- BBC News - Labour complain about Boris Johnson Twitter 'swap'
- TRK - Lighten Up
Oh THIS. So much, this.
- TRK - Vagina Invalidation Argument
Two posts from the same blog in the same linkspam? Yup, I was that impressed by her.
- BBC News - Researchers solve Darwin's copycat evolution puzzle
YAY Skience!
The Blood is The Life 28-02-2012
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012 09:00 am- Pixar finally do a film with a female protagonist
- The Racist Tree
- FBI Turns Off Thousands of GPS Devices After Supreme Court Ruling - Digits - WSJ
This is going to affect the plotlines of NCIS, Bones, Castle, etc...
- What Happens to the Coke in Coca-Cola?
Interesting factoids about a drink I can't even drink
- Meet the Governors Behind "State-Rape" Transvaginal Ultrasound Laws (It's Not Just Virginia) | | AlterNet
- Aggressive Secular Workplace Discrimination? | Sarah Brown's Blog
Auntie Sarah punctures the myth of aggressive secularism as pushed by certain religionists.
- BBC News - Fresh legal challenge on badger culling
Hurrah!
- BBC News - DNA reveals Neanderthal extinction clues
YAY Science!
- Gender-swapped Doctors are our new favorite form of Doctor Who cosplay
?Bookmarked for the pictures; needs moar six, though
- weekly_food_challenge | Recent Entries
There's been a couple of entrants for challenge #1 - anyone else fancy having a go?
- The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - A Review
Could be tempted by this, but not necessarily on the big screen.
- Liberal England: Sarah Teather and the "educated liberal elite"
I don't agree with Jonathan Clader on everything, but sometimes he just has a way of putting things...
The Blood is The Life 25-02-2012
Saturday, February 25th, 2012 09:00 am- On feminism
- Doctor Who - New Series: New Details!
YAY Rupert Graves! ... No lady guest stars?
- UK Polling Report on accusations thrown at pollsters
- The Gendered Advertising Remixer | A Media Literacy Web Application
- Construction firm aims at space elevator in 2050 : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)
Awesome
- Results of The Buttermind Experiment | Quantified Self
Butter makes you smarter; coconuts make you stupider. I want to see more data.
- We, the Web Kids - Pastebin.com
Fabulous, fabulous description of the difference between me and people who are the same age as me.
- FactCheck: Work experience or slave labour?
- DC Women Kicking Ass - First look: Womanthology
- Some days I feel like this
MOST days I feel like that, and I'm ALLERGIC to coffee ;)
- How to use google - v useful infographic
- Lucy Lawless—a.k.a. Xena the Warrior Princess—Occupies a Shell Oil Drilling Ship | Mother Jones
Man, Xena chaining herself to things for Greenpeace? That rocks. And brings back memories. Hurrah for activism!
- Jobseekers forced to clean private homes and offices for nothing | Politics | The Guardian
I just don't get why people on Workfare can't be paid the same as their non-workfare collegues. Isn't it illegal to pay two people different amounts for equal work of equal value?
- DWP Rewrite History – Mandatory Work Disappears from the Work Programme Provider’s Guidance | the void
Ooops
- The jobcentre only hinders my search for work | Joe Paxton | Comment is free | The Guardian
As usual, the comments are the terrifying thing on this article.
- Signal Boost: Scary US politician is VERY SCARY
- Star Trek 2 Set Photos Show Spock Giving Benedict Cumberbatch The Old Vulcan Nerve Pinch | Giant Freakin Robot
In the first photo Benedict Frumious Bandersnatch looks like Keanu Reeves to me. This is disturbing on many levels.
- Grayling, Workfare and Lies. Again.
The Blood is The Life 13-02-2012
Monday, February 13th, 2012 09:00 am- Vote for a logo for the Sports Charter
- Spanking Produces Troubled Kids Study Contends
- Sounds from Scientific, Meteorological and Commercial Satellites
Awful website has cool content
- The golden arse beam method. – Bad Science
This is how tarot works for me. I should use my deck more...
- Mark Thompson: Proof the government prefers dogma on drugs over harm reduction
Lib Dem Fact Check Mark Thompson strikes again
- For people who "don't listen to music"
The Blood is The Life 04-02-2012
Saturday, February 4th, 2012 09:00 am- The Almighty Johnsons episode 1 review - Den of Geek
This review is possibly a little harsh, but it makes some good points, and I love the desc ription of Olaf as "God of Exposition". Probably still going to give it a couple more episode; I'm glad I did with American Horror Story, which Jessica Lange has been utterly fabulous in.
- The first page of H.G. Wells’s version of Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds | Retronaut
Am singing this now
- Taxpayers' Alliance admits director doesn't pay British tax | Politics | The Guardian
It's a good job my irony meter already went sproing...
- The Death Of Decency
Not in my name.
- The Simms Indo-Australian Collection | Curatorial Trainee
Pretty butterflies. Takes one's mind off of the horror.
- UCSF scientists declare war on sugar in food
First they came for the smokers, and I did nothing... Then they came for the drinkers, and I stayed silent... Then they decried fat Then they stamped on people who like salt And now it's sugar. I wonder who'll be next?
- Is feminism skeptical? (or: are ninjas awesome?) | Lousy Canuck
Like ninjas, feminists are a diverse group. They are tied together by one common thread — the practice of ninjutsu, or the belief that women are worthy of basic human dignity
- Bidisha: Cinderella, you shall go to the ball. But you can't speak or sing at it. But you can give the organisers your money and they'll make sure to help some guys' careers so don't worry and calm down.
- Scientific American on Benevolent Sexism
- How to Write Good
Very clever indeed.
- Things that piss me off, part N
An eloquent rant about socks
- American Horror Story Season Two Scoop: New House and (Mostly) New Faces - E! Online
I hope that Jessica Lange is one of the returning faces, because she's been utterly fabulous
The Blood is The Life 22-01-2012
Sunday, January 22nd, 2012 09:00 am- Drunk Texts from the U.S.S. Enterprise
This is very very silly
- BBC News - Live music red tape likely to be relaxed
A victory for the sensible wing of the Lib Dems. Now if only we could restrain those who keep voting with the Tories on stuff like bashing the disabled it'll all be good...
- This anti-gay marriage stance is far worse than homophobic
Amen to that.
- Sleep preserves and enhances unpleasant emotional memories
One of the few things that makes me glad for my insomnia
- Tom Baker Made Me a Dirty WHOer
I think the title says it all.
- Are Women People?
Ooooo I don't know... What do you think?
- Split Horizons: Bad News on Redistributing Supermarket Salaries
Interesting response to an interesting original article
- On being harassed: a little GF history and some current events | Geek Feminism Blog
This entry made me cry
- Met Police wins appeal over G20 kettling tactics
OFFS
- Top Income Tax Rate: How's 83% Sound?
Start frothing now...
- Are There Fundamental Laws of Cooking?
Combining my daddy's two favourite things: science and cooking.
- Does marriage really make people happier? Study finds few well-being advantages to marriage over cohabitation
Witness my face of not-surprise
- For women in business, the squeaky wheel doesn’t get the grease - The Washington Post
Witness my face of not-surprise. Again.
The Blood is The Life 11-01-2012
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 04:00 pm- Londonkds has a grim reading of what happens to the Thals in Who Canon....
... which I think is disturbingly plausible
- Qwghlm on why narrow focus is bad in teaching.
He talks specifically about code here, but I think this could apply to pretty much any subject area; teaching kids to think and problem-solve is more important than teaching by rote.
- Andrew Ducker corrects a commonly held misconception.
Labour do not tend to win elections because of Scotland
- Chinese Britons have put up with racism for too long
I'm shocked but not totally surprised by this
- Jesus and Mo pit student groups against each other
Surprised that nobody has made the point that Mo is not a depiction of the prophet, but a depiction of a lookalike....
- The Phoenix Comic
This looks really interesting, if somewhat worthy. Unfortunately none of my local newsagents are stocking it. Has anyone actually SEEN a copy?
- The Burger Lab: Revisiting the Myth of The 12-Year Old McDonald's Burger That Just Won't Rot (Testing Results!) | A Hamburger Today
YAY food science!
- Chicken Yoghurt calls Time
I shall miss Justin's wit. And his randomised scans from classic 2000ad. Nobody else gives Devlin Waugh the prominence he deserves....
Bitter Irony
Thursday, November 26th, 2009 05:05 pmIs it just me that gets annoyed when something feminists have been saying for years gets trumpeted by Science Daily once a MALE scientist does some research (with a sample of THREE FFS) into it?
Bloody women, we're never happy, are we? We complain when the menz ignore us, and then when theyshamelessly steal female research ideas and get all the credit for it listen, we complain about that too. Tch! We should all just get back in the kitchen...
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Bloody women, we're never happy, are we? We complain when the menz ignore us, and then when they
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PSA for science geeks and Lib Dems @KerryMP
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 02:11 pmAccording to Kerry McCarthy MP,
I am a HUGE fan of Evan, my views coincide with his on pretty much everything, and I could not be more pleased about this.
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Dr Evan Harris has a 90 minute debate on libel laws and the reporting of parliamenttomorrow. As she says, undoubtedly this will touch on trafigura and Carter Ruck, but I suspect it will also be mentioning Simon Singh.
I am a HUGE fan of Evan, my views coincide with his on pretty much everything, and I could not be more pleased about this.
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