Carolyn

tweets

2009-04-10T11:03:55Z

14:29 is hoping that there will still be chocolate left at the shops tomorrow #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

tweets

2009-03-30T11:02:02Z

10:25 Not really coping with being back at work. Have shared many photos and now it is nap time. #
17:37 @Nooshie i finally decided i had to see what this was all about. i'm not sure that i like it _quite_ as much as you appear to, but so far ok #
17:39 should go for run, but still on couch in jeans. problem. #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

Abstract of Lord of the Rings for students who are too busy to read the original

2009-01-22T03:15:20Z

The Lord of the Rings:
an allegory of the PhD?
by Dave Pritchard

The story starts with Frodo: a young hobbit, quite bright, a bit dissatisfied with what he's learnt so far and with his mates back home who just seem to want to get jobs and settle down and drink beer. He's also very much in awe of his tutor and mentor, the very senior professor Gandalf, so when Gandalf suggests he take on a short project for him (carrying the Ring to Rivendell), he agrees.

Frodo very quickly encounters the shadowy forces of fear and despair which will haunt the rest of his journey and leave permanent scars on his psyche, but he also makes some useful friends. In particular, he spends an evening down at the pub with Aragorn, who has been wandering the world for many years as Gandalf's postdoc and becomes his adviser when Gandalf isn't around.

After Frodo has completed his first project, Gandalf (along with head of department Elrond) proposes that the work should be extended. He assembles a large research group, including visiting students Gimli and Legolas, the foreign postdoc Boromir, and several of Frodo's own friends from his undergraduate days. Frodo agrees to tackle this larger project, though he has mixed feelings about it. ("'I will take the Ring', he said, 'although I do not know the way.'")

Very rapidly, things go wrong. First, Gandalf disappears and has no more interaction with Frodo until everything is over. (Frodo assumes his supervisor is dead: in fact, he's simply found a more interesting topic and is working on that instead.) At his first international conference in Lorien, Frodo is cross-questioned terrifyingly by Galadriel, and betrayed by Boromir, who is anxious to get the credit for the work himself. Frodo cuts himself off from the rest of his team: from now on, he will only discuss his work with Sam, an old friend who doesn't really understand what it's all about, but in any case is prepared to give Frodo credit for being rather cleverer than he is. Then he sets out towards Mordor.

The last and darkest period of Frodo's journey clearly represents the writing-up stage, as he struggles towards Mount Doom (submission), finding his burden growing heavier and heavier yet more and more a part of himself; more and more terrified of failure; plagued by the figure of Gollum, the student who carried the Ring before him but never wrote up and still hangs around as a burnt-out, jealous shadow; talking less and less even to Sam. When he submits the Ring to the fire, it is in desperate confusion rather than with confidence, and for a while the world seems empty.

Eventually it is over: the Ring is gone, everyone congratulates him, and for a few days he can convince himself that his troubles are over. But there is one more obstacle to overcome: months later, back in the Shire, he must confront the external examiner Saruman, an old enemy of Gandalf, who seeks to humiliate and destroy his rival's protege. With the help of his friends and colleagues, Frodo passes through this ordeal, but discovers at the end that victory has no value left for him. While his friends return to settling down and finding jobs and starting families, Frodo remains in limbo; finally, along with Gandalf, Elrond and many others, he joins the brain drain across the Western ocean to the new land beyond.

I think I'm approaching Mount Doom

Swimming in circles

2009-01-16T00:48:52Z

Diving is dangerous, even without getting in the water. Last night while sorting out the equipment for Sunday's diving adventure, I was loading the gear into the trailer. When I tried to rearrange it so the gear was loaded further in, the trailer tilted forwards so it came down on my toe. It made a god awful noise, partially the trailer and the gear being flung around, and partly me screaming.
Once someone got me some ice I decided that it wasn't so bad, and drove home, but today purple has spread to the foot and I'm wondering how much fun it will be to be wearing fins on the weekend. I've just had a consult with my local friendly lab doctor-to-be (medical, not philosophical) and the gist is I should be nice to it for a while.
I think I'll come diving, but I'll see how I go re whether I wear fins or try to manage without.

maybe we can live in the US after all

2008-11-05T05:42:13Z

I'm glad that's over. After several months of intensely following US news I might be able to do some work again. And it's such a thrashing, by electoral colleges anyway.

Jesse and I are still considering moving the the US for a while once I finish my PhD. This makes it seem a little less crazy. not that we were really considering red states anyway. All the good ones that we wanted to live in seem to be solidly blue.

Now they just have to make their food edible, and I'm there.

Down with the hypnotoad

2008-06-26T12:32:15Z

I'm never watching futurama again. I was watching it more than an hour ago,and my laugh induced cough (ALL HAIL THE HYPNOTOAD) is only now beginning to lull now that I've had a shower, despite working my way through a packet of Soothers. I was worried that this cough not finish before all my teeth fell out.

I'm sure the cough was going round the airconditioning on the plane back from Cairns, since we've all been ill since returning. Despite the aftermath,it was a great trip. It was fun to go on a group holiday - it was me, Jesse, Susan and Kerry (WEHIettes). We fulfilled one of my childhood ambitions to go to the Daintree, where we managed to get really close to a cassowary without getting pecked to death, or whatever the Casso-wary signs are trying to warn you about.

We also went diving on the Barrier Reef. It's going to make it really hard to go diving in Victoria again, where the water definitely drops well below 24 degrees in Winter, where I'm not on a boat where they look after all the gear for you, and where there aren't thousands of awesome creatures in all directions.

I hope the cough feels better by tomorrow, as I can't really take tomorrow off. I was home on Wednesday and tomorrow is my last chance to do a culture experiment before i have to give my next division seminar. One of the joys of doing a PhD in my lab is the twice yearly opportunity to give an hour long seminar in front of all your favourite lab heads. It really rams home just how little you've accomplished since the last one. it does however provide inspiration to try to pull together loose ends and sketchy theories into some kind of coherent narrative.

So yay, a whole bunch of work to do over the next couple of weeks. (I only have about five slides that are waiting for experiments I haven't done yet, which isn't totally unachievable).

And climbing dudes - I'm not up for it tomorrow, I'm not going to be able to top last weeks effort with this cough. (And I wouldn't trust me to belay anyone in this state).

Ant vs Moth

2008-03-30T08:00:16Z

One of the nice things about living one floor above the ground is the lack of insect life you get in the house. It's all a bit too hard for ants and cockroaches and spiders to get to our house, so mostly they don't bother.

Unfortunately, creatures with wings don't feel the same way, and for moths, whose ultimate aim is the reach the moon, our house is but a cosy inn on the way. It's so comfortable that some of them have given up their lunar quest and instead devoted their lives to eating all the grain and nuts they can find and reproducing, which makes disgusting wriggly little things that look a lot like moving grains of rice that float.

Jesse and I now have a policy that rice goes straight from the shopping bag into a sealed plastic container, and pretty much everything else is kept in plastic containers and yet still they come. I can't seem to find what they are eating at the moment.

We've now moved on to sex with our most recent weapon in the War on Moths. We've bought traps that are baited with Eau d'Moth Femme, and apparently male moths find it irresistible. They then get stuck in the sticky glue surrounding the honey trap and I guess starve to death. It is quite successful even if the smug female moths who aren't interested in the trap shit me, and I caught two moths in the first five minutes of setting up the traps.

However, our moth problem is so vast that we've filled a couple of traps and they are still there. I know I've got to go a couple of generations to get the females as well, but I'm beginning to worry that our moth supply is being constantly replenished by new male moths from outside the house, so we'll never be rid of them.

So this is the bit of the story I actually find the most interesting.

We have a moth trap on our fridge, which used to be full of trapped moths. But then, out of nowhere, a troop of tiny ants appeared that are only interested in moths. They aren't bothered by the sticky stuff in the traps. They just crawled in, ate all the moths, and vanished without a trace except a trap full of moth wings. (it seems they have no nutritional value)

But where do the ants come from? How do they know that the moths are lying there helpless? And (not that I'm complaining) why aren't they interested in eating anything else in my house?

Green

2007-07-10T08:11:40Z

I have been reading Tim Flannery's The Weather Makers, his book on climate change. By the time I got to the end I had an overwhelming feeling of doom, and that I really should go to the reef sooner rather than later. (Screw overseas, that's our next trip. And to the daintree. It doesn't sound like that's going to be the same for much longer either).

So anyway, the only thing I could think of doing was checking to see whether our electricity was carbon neutral or not. I thought it not entirely coal, but I couldn't remember if it was 100% or not. (Turns out it was 80% Hydro, 20% wind). I discovered that Origin have carbon neutral gas, where they offset your gas carbon. So I told them I wanted it, and someone from there just called me, and told me that if I wanted it, I had to stop paying extra for my green electricity, and they'd do some package green gas electricity deal where it costs the same as coal. So for a $1 less a week, I get carbon neutral energy sponsored by the AFL, and they are sending me some globes and a new shower head in the mail. Too easy.

So those of you who are in the country / not about the leave the country and who influence the energy decisions in your place, you can make your energy carbon neutral at no cost. And I know that whether i opt for green energy or not, doesn't really influence whether my personal energy comes from wind or not, but if enough people are paying for it, they'll have to build the infrastructure to match the numbers. Anything to get away from brown coal would be good.

And a little less stupid than the government (and the oppostion's) plan to avoid climate change still using coal, but just burying all the CO2. If it works great - but I doubt they are going to be able to make a big difference in the next 20 years, by which stage it's probably too late.

2am Saturday Night:

2007-06-17T01:36:05Z

The time that muscle ache from rockclimbing on Friday night kicks in.

Excitement!

2007-05-24T10:44:12Z

It's cold. Lucky I'm going to Summer on Saturday.

Stoichiometry, be my friend

2007-04-29T07:58:08Z

Stoichiometry was a total piece of piss at high school, but when i try to use some in a practical way my ability to divide stuff by 1000 deserts me.

All i want to do is convert a 100uM (where u is micro because I'm too noob to make the computer speak greek) solution of primers into a concentration such that 1ul contains 3.2pM. It took a half hour debate to come up with an answer.

Arghh, I can't do science on the weekends. (during the week is struggle enough).

Memey pictures

2007-04-29T02:31:00Z

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Why I read Nature

2007-04-05T03:25:38Z

Totally for professional interest of course.

And the odd gem like this "In fact, it is very difficult to totally cremate a body; organs such as the heart and intestines, which have a high water content, are very resistant to fire. We see it all the time in forensics."
This was a comment on reports that Joan of Arc was cremated three times to get rid of all her organs so there was nothing left to worship.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7136/full/446593a.html
(probably not everyone has access, if you really care and want to read the article, let me know and I'll send you the pdf)

The Color of Magic

2007-03-02T13:12:03Z

This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club.

Bold the ones you've read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
Dune, Frank Herbert
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
Neuromancer, William Gibson(i hated it the first time i read it, but i tried it a few years later and enjoyed it more)
Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
*Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
*The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
Cities in Flight, James Blish
The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
*Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
~~The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson~~
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
Little, Big, John Crowley
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
On the Beach, Nevil Shute
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
Ringworld, Larry Niven
Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
*Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
*Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
~~The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks~~
Timescape, Gregory Benford
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

I don't think i'd be able to finish all of these now, I've become a bit more picky about what I read, since I've got less time for it.

That was more pain than it was worth

2007-03-02T12:21:47Z

I lost my questions and generally bollucksed (that word works much better verbally, but you get the idea) it up, but finally i reached my goal of ten questions (next time the bar is going to be set much lower). Do it so i at least get a little bit of entertainment for my effort.

Create your own Friend Test here

I just want to get from A to B (via C, after going to D)

2007-01-27T07:15:15Z

I feel totally thwarted. After several days of looking at various itineries, deciding on desinations and optimal flight times etc, I finally felt ready to buy tickets to travel around Thailand. I find uber cheap tickets to return from Krabi (near Ko Phi Phi and many lovely tropical fish), select them, fill in all the information they want, and then 'unable to contact credit card gateway' Fuckers.
I'm not sure what else I can do except try again. (which I have, with no luck)

And I was having trouble getting the flights to get there in the first place (from a different airline, this has been an exercise in project management with flights having to meet both my timetable, and strict budgetry constraints. I've only ever bought cheap flights, and I'm not about to give up now) because that site kept on telling me that i was no longer logged in, when I was never logged in, and when i tried to register to log in it also told me that i was no longer logged in.

I guess these are all cheap for a reason.

Music is still crap

2007-01-22T08:17:24Z

I'm not going anywhere (except upstairs back to the hood)

Suggest some music I can listen to that won't suck.

Stupid Weather

2007-01-01T06:34:10Z

I just said that I wanted to go for a jog - which I did, but I thought there were meant to be thunderstorms today. I thought I should get it done before it rained, but instead it was humid, and I was in danger of getting sunburnt.
I haven't been running when it's this hot in ages, and I couldn't cope, so I walked back, in case my insides melted.

It's my own fault for believing a weather prediction for Melbourne, and not actually paying attention to the weather outside. :(

How much am i prepared to pay to get sweaty with a bunch of other people?

2006-12-20T06:16:41Z

On second thoughts, don't answer that.

What I really want to know, is should I go and get gym membership at the uni gym?

Thanks to Dr Nelson, the gym prices are going up a lot next year.
Rather than $324 they will be $550. but If I pay today it will be only(ha!) $385.

And individual classes are also going up a lot, from $5.50 per class if you get a 10 pass, to $10 a class. So by a quick back of the envelope calculation, I have to go to a class 3 weeks out of 4 to make it worth while.

That wouldn't be that hard if I was dedicated, but things turn up or I can't be assed and then I don't go. I haven't been since November.

Hmm, seeing it like that, considering that I won't be going again until January makes me think that there is no point in getting the membership.

Right. Problem solved.

I'm off home then :)

je suis drunk

2006-09-15T08:29:34Z

I"m not sure that my go-to-the-pub-while-my-samples-incubate plan was one of my better ones.

Purchase of the Year

2006-09-05T08:07:15Z

My fleecy headband, at $9.95, I wear when I'm riding is the hands down winner of Purcase of the Year, and I can't see anything else beating it in the coming months. I used to get sore ears when i was riding in in the mornings from the wind (I'd like to think it was because I was going too fast), and it's fixed that up.

At lunch time today, I also bought myself a jacket that's so yellow, that when I was in the changeroom with a few of them I started to get a headache from the radioactive glare they were giving off. It's
going to be a good addition to Operation Don't Get Hit By Cars. (which Andy is apparently failing at, although at least you taught that last one a lesson)

And soon there's going to be bike shorts...

So why all this bike accessorising? I started riding in again this year in protest against having to pay full fares on the trains, and that's been quite good. I don't think i've ever managed to ride in every day in a week because there's always some excuse not to -
I've got too much stuff, I have to go in too early, or come back too late, or I'm sick, or i'm running late, or I plain can't be arsed. I think I spend less than a concession weekly ticket each week. But anyway, katya at work suggested doing the (half way) Round the Bay In a Day Ride, and while at first I was not convinced I could make 100km, the idea has grown on me, and i've signed up.

When I found out that the first training ride with people at work started at 7am on a Sunday, I started to rethink my enthusiasm, but it turned out to be fun. It was just 50km and that wasn't bad. I was by far the slowest person there, and by the end of it my butt was in pain any time I tried to move it even slightly, but I can do the distance. the only catch is that near the end I wasn't puffed - I couldn't physically pedal fast enough to make myself raise a sweat because I'd totally worn out my legs.

So once I manage to find a store that sells the bike shorts in my size but without being ridiculously expensive, I'm going to get a pair to see if that helps with the sore arse problem. I think the solution to the pwned legs is more riding.

Another catch is that my bike is not a road bike. While we were riding the other week, it was really disheartening that I'd be pedalling my heart out while they'd occaisonally pedal, and after a while, i just didn't have it in me to keep up.

Anyway, I have until mid October to sort it all out.

epony @ 2006-08-15T17:42:00

2006-08-15T08:05:38Z

I've been at work since 5 and I can't go home until 7.30. And the experiment didn't really work anyway. I hadn't tried going in that early before, and I'm not sure that it's for me. The only real perk is that you get to park your car in the fore court if you get there before six, which is good, because there aren't any freakin trains that early.

The really depressing thing is that quite a few people are in the lab at 7, and pretty much everyone is usually there by 8. Except me. Unless it's lab meeting day, which we have at 8am. I can't remember what I was thinking when I agreed to that one, but I guess it does get me in there in the morning.

And then my cells go blocked running through the FACS machine, so i didn't even get to finish all my samples. Which I'm disappointed about because i was excited about the experiement and i won't get to try it again for another month.

Poo.
And now I've got to sit in the computer labs until 7.30, and there's a billion things that I should be doing this week, but I can't focus on any of them or sleep, so lj seemed like a goood fall back plan.

phaedra

2006-04-27T09:43:18Z

Despite both Kate and James warning me off opening night, Katie and I went anyway. We both enjoyed it. Everyone in it was great, the chorus weren't controversial, the translation was good, and I imagine ditched most of the waffly bits I have come to expect from the ancients.
So if you haven't been (judging from the audience last night that includes most people) it's on at the Guild Hall Theatre until Saturday. Ask someone else if you want more details than that :)

Thank god I had a scarf in my bag

2006-04-10T09:13:34Z

my fingernails are blue. isn't that one of the first signs of hypothermia?

Could the fool in charge of airconditioning the medicine building turn it off?

Guilty Pleasures

2006-04-10T07:53:26Z

Guilt	What is yours?	Explain yourself
Culinary:	Hot Crossed Buns (with mixed peel)	The fact that you only meant to be able to get them at Easter makes me all the more excited when they show up in January
Literary:	Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series	it's got hot vampires and were wolves, and much arse kicking. Everything the emo, goth, drama queen in me could want.
Audiovisual:	The OC	Involved plots that still mostly get resolved in an episode or two, and the audios and the visuals are great.
Musical:	At the moment pretty much anything singable from Singstar	We showed Sara Singstar last week, and for the rest of the week I was going around work singing Video Killed the Radiostar and Take Your Mama
Celebrity:	Brangelina	I can't explain it, I'm just drawn to any magazine with them on the cover i see in the supermarket queue.