The Medical Research Council (MRC) currently has links to six press releases on the front page of its Website. One of them is about work by the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) on HIV and another is about work on the pufferfish genome by a group at the Human Genome Mapping Project Resource Centre—now […]
Read MoreClaire sent me this one. I’m not going to tell you what to think. If you find something familar about the text, you do; if you don’t, you don’t. Either way, it’s chilling history.
Read MoreMy dad sent me one from The Guardian. It outlines what people on this side of the Pond would consider a radical plan for “saving” Oxford University, a plan that most people familiar with US higher education would just shrug their shoulders at. Here, in cutting-edge Cambridge, a horse has just trotted past my window.
Read MoreToday the undeniably charismatic CEO of Apple Computer Inc., Steve Jobs, gave his keynote address to the Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco. As often he announced some new shiny things for people with roll-neck sweaters (and Backword Dave) to buy, including the iPod Shuffle—an iPod for runners. It has no moving parts, no […]
Read MoreMy not-very-exciting anecdote about Germaine Greer is completely true. While I was working there, I started and was Secretary of the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) Reading Group. It was embarrassingly successful—not because of me, but because the words “Institute of Cancer Research” have magical powers. Upon hearing them, black cab drivers will not only […]
Read MoreShockingly, according to the BBC, fears of exposure to over 3 000 “fuck”s didn’t seem to reduce people’s willingness to watch the big broadcast: “More than 1.7 million viewers watched Jerry Springer – The Opera on BBC Two on Saturday, despite the objections of protesters. At least 45,000 people had contacted the BBC to complain about […]
Read MoreDespite their claims for its health benefits, I remember it always seemed to be the vegetarians at college that who had the weight problems (either under- or over-) and the interesting skin conditions. The latter could have been caused by all the roll-ups they smoked, I suppose; but one undergraduate female dallied with veganism for […]
Read MoreAs you probably know, my not-so-trusty (hundred-and-fifty quid) camera is out of sorts—almost certainly as a result of rough handling by me. So I used the 35mm film compact that I bought for my parents to take pictures of my niece Maisie’s second Christmas. It was maddeningly difficult for a habitual SLR-user like me to […]
Read MoreA very sharp Right-winger who goes by the alias of “femiokay” (I always picture him as a shrewd ex-pat Nigerian businessman) posts frequently over at The Motley Fool. He made a striking observation on Friday about the way BBC News online reported on the three main party leaders’ New Year messages. Tony Blair gets to […]
Read MoreAmazon’s UK book best-seller list brings you the five most effective chat-up lines in the country: The Personal Trainer: “I Can Make You Thin.” The European Porn Star: “I haff come to turn you on, and I haff a vehr big drill.” The Latin Lover: “Bonjour, mademoiselle.“ The Cheeky “Cockney” Lad: “Awight, darlin’?“ The Prince: […]
Read MoreThe Smith Lectures had already been back on BBC Radio 2 for two weeks and I didn’t notice until yesterday. There isn’t a “listen again” RealPlayer option on the BBC site either—probably because the programme consists mainly of well chosen archive recordings of stand-up comedy from so many different sources that there would be a […]
Read MorePooterGeek is number three hit on Google for “cure for stupidity“. Sadly, number one is James D Watson indulging in that favourite activity of previous Nobel prizewinners: talking cack.
Read MoreCheck out the best “404 File Not Found” error pages on the Web.
Read MoreThere was some discussion here about the sexual allure of Elastigirl—who, in the recent Incredibles film has grown up (and out) to become Elastiwoman-with-three-kids—not to mention that of her cartoon co-star Mirage. From Betty Boop to Scooby Doo‘s Daphne to Jessica Rabbit there are quite a few celluloid celebrities—made of rather than just printed onto […]
Read MoreI’ve just sat through the whole of the first in the new series of BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz and not one of the so-called comedians on the two teams had a go at Simon Hoggart (over this of course). Worse, it was an episode featuring both Armando Unfunnucci and Alan “my offspring shame […]
Read MoreNorman Geras bought me dinner this evening. I accepted on condition that he let me do the same for him next time we met. More importantly he was excellent company and even more interesting in real life than he is on his ‘Blog—which is saying something. He is also taller. This very effectively took my […]
Read MoreI have been asked to bless this Webpage with the Google power of PooterGeek, the most “innovative and resourceful” Website in the World. The aforementioned link is surely the best to follow for Philippine biotechnology, enterprise, and investment conference information. I think casualsavant would agree with me in the comments, using further links to illustrate […]
Read MoreDear Damian, Thanks for this. Believe it or not, we do have a sense of humour here and your email raised a smile or two in the office (actually – just one!). Please forgive the standard text of the email sent yesterday. We send out dozens of such emails each month as part of our […]
Read MoreSocialism In An Age Of Waiting links to a story about the legend of “Midgetville” today. It opens by saying that the likeliest candidate is a place called Jefferson Township. I couldn’t concentrate on the rest because all I could think of was a bunch superannuated hippies singing: “Don’t you remem-ber? We built this city, […]
Read More[UPDATE: Yes, this is a reply to a real email message I received today. It showed every sign of being from the National Portrait Gallery, scoring only 0.8 out of a possible 5.0 on X-Spam’s spam-o-meter. I haven’t emailed my message directly to the original sender yet. I may yet tone it down, but if […]
Read MoreHappy Birthday, dad, and God help us all.
Read MoreThis is a learned society I’m not going to be joining any time soon.
Read MoreFeeling smug after a compliment someone paid my prose yesterday, I have one more piece of advice for Kerry: if you’re going to run again, John, speak plain English.
Read MoreMy previous boss in London had a Catholic friend who was a dedicated Crystal Palace fan. He used to take his kids along to every match. During a particularly bad patch in their modest history he used to joke that when he was getting one of his sons ready for the game one Saturday the […]
Read MoreWith this delightful collector’s timepiece you can count the hours down until the writs fly.
Read MoreLast year I had the unusual and unblogged pleasure of attending a birthday party where the majority of the guests were professional opera singers. It took place in the basement room of a London restaurant. If you try hard you can imagine what the rendition of “Happy Birthday” sounded like. The birthday girl has a […]
Read MoreEverything I have read about Team America: World Police makes me more eager to see it. A film in that opens with Thunderbirds-style puppets accidentally destroying Paris as part of an US anti-terror operation and offends Sean Penn to the point of releasing a statement to the press is worth a viewing. This report worries […]
Read MoreWhen the first reports came in we had no inkling of how bad things were going to get. Now the full horror can be revealed: “Some of the UK’s biggest musical stars have pledged their support to a new charity single aimed at raising funds for victims of the Asian tsunami disaster. ‘Grief Never Grows […]
Read MoreInsert Joke Here is quoting Richard Dawkins on the bracing effects of atheism: “There is deep refreshment in standing up full-face into the keen wind of understanding … Safety and happiness would mean being satisfied with easy answers and cheap comforts, living a warm, comfortable lie. The daemonic alternative urged by my matured Devil’s Chaplain […]
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