Monday, September 27, 2004
My small beta Greek cells and the lynx effect
AKA "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."
I've spent the last ten minutes musing on and off as to what a "small beta Greek cell" is.
You know, musing on and off. Write a sentence here ... check my email ... wonder what a small beta Greek cell is ... check a BBS ... look at a webpage ... look at an abstract ... wonder what a small beta Greek cell is ... wonder where and why my housemate got that Boyzone album ... check my email ... wonder what a small beta Greek cell is ... is that the time?"
I've heard of small cancer cells, I've heard of beta cells in the pancreas, and the context is type 1 diabetes, so it must be something to do with those. Maybe it's a special subtype of pancreatic beta cell.
Take a step back.
It just dawned on me that I came across "small beta Greek cells" in a paper that I am currently reading using lynx (not the aftershave)from a computer with a University IP address to avoid having to pay squillions of groats to look at it when I'm not really all that interested in it and merely want to feel I have perused a reference I want to quote. Now, lynx is a text-only browser. So if the page I was reading has a special symbol somewhere, a letter from another alphabet for example, it would have to be reproduced differently on the screen.
D'oh!
I've spent the last ten minutes musing on and off as to what a "small beta Greek cell" is.
You know, musing on and off. Write a sentence here ... check my email ... wonder what a small beta Greek cell is ... check a BBS ... look at a webpage ... look at an abstract ... wonder what a small beta Greek cell is ... wonder where and why my housemate got that Boyzone album ... check my email ... wonder what a small beta Greek cell is ... is that the time?"
I've heard of small cancer cells, I've heard of beta cells in the pancreas, and the context is type 1 diabetes, so it must be something to do with those. Maybe it's a special subtype of pancreatic beta cell.
Take a step back.
It just dawned on me that I came across "small beta Greek cells" in a paper that I am currently reading using lynx (not the aftershave)from a computer with a University IP address to avoid having to pay squillions of groats to look at it when I'm not really all that interested in it and merely want to feel I have perused a reference I want to quote. Now, lynx is a text-only browser. So if the page I was reading has a special symbol somewhere, a letter from another alphabet for example, it would have to be reproduced differently on the screen.
D'oh!
Friday, September 24, 2004
"That looks like a really scary roadmap"
Picture the scene. You spend a few hours working out how to use a new and swanky program that will save you tons of time, and a while longer working out how to apply the effects you want in Paintshop Pro. And you are proud of your fabulous creation and can't wait for someone to come in so you can show them.
Then someone wanders in and as you proudly demonstrate the fruits your hard day's work, they apply some perspective with comments like "What's that?"1, "What's A62?!"2 and (my favourite) "That looks like a really scary roadmap!"
Funnily enough, they're right! Which makes me wonder - if I got OS grid references for all the motorway junctions in the UK, would I be able to feed them into the molecular graphics program and use it to draw a real roadmap?! Suddenly this idea seems a lot more appealing than writing a few thousand more words or doing the rest of the figures ...
1 A drawing with the protein backbone in various colours including blue.
2 Not a road. Amino acid 62 on chain A.
Then someone wanders in and as you proudly demonstrate the fruits your hard day's work, they apply some perspective with comments like "What's that?"1, "What's A62?!"2 and (my favourite) "That looks like a really scary roadmap!"
Funnily enough, they're right! Which makes me wonder - if I got OS grid references for all the motorway junctions in the UK, would I be able to feed them into the molecular graphics program and use it to draw a real roadmap?! Suddenly this idea seems a lot more appealing than writing a few thousand more words or doing the rest of the figures ...
1 A drawing with the protein backbone in various colours including blue.
2 Not a road. Amino acid 62 on chain A.
Thursday, September 23, 2004
*BLUSH*
I only just found out today that 1 Dalton = 1 atomic mass unit.
I really should have known this a long long time ago (and quite possibly did)!
I really should have known this a long long time ago (and quite possibly did)!
Monday, September 20, 2004
M's Law of Journals
Another grand PhD theory. As described by 'M' in the pub the other day.
M's law of journals : "In every edition of a journal, there is at least one article that is far more interesting than the paper you are supposed to be reading."
Lab Geek's Corollary : "As your interest in the article discovered through M's law of journals tends to one, the likelihood of gaining credit from mentioning it in your viva tends to zero."
M's law of journals : "In every edition of a journal, there is at least one article that is far more interesting than the paper you are supposed to be reading."
Lab Geek's Corollary : "As your interest in the article discovered through M's law of journals tends to one, the likelihood of gaining credit from mentioning it in your viva tends to zero."
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Ancient Chinese Proverb
Confucius he say : "Person who switch off fridge/freezer overnight - deserve to die long painful death."
What good luck - I got told the other day by my absentviser to write up what I've got and stop doing lab work.
What bad luck - I was going to be fiddling with stuff in the lab while doing this to see if I could ascend the (n-1)th and nth steps of my current (n-stage) project.
What good luck - By chance, my really mission-critical stuff for step n-1 of the fiddling is in the -80'C freezer or the cold room.
What bad luck - The stuff that cost a thousand quid and shouldn't be freeze-thawed that I need for stage n was in the -20'C freezer that a plonker or pillock unknown switched off. And I'll need to tell the guy who paid for it and was going to take over the project.
What good luck - I don't even care any more. Hahahahahahaha.
What good luck - I got told the other day by my absentviser to write up what I've got and stop doing lab work.
What bad luck - I was going to be fiddling with stuff in the lab while doing this to see if I could ascend the (n-1)th and nth steps of my current (n-stage) project.
What good luck - By chance, my really mission-critical stuff for step n-1 of the fiddling is in the -80'C freezer or the cold room.
What bad luck - The stuff that cost a thousand quid and shouldn't be freeze-thawed that I need for stage n was in the -20'C freezer that a plonker or pillock unknown switched off. And I'll need to tell the guy who paid for it and was going to take over the project.
What good luck - I don't even care any more. Hahahahahahaha.
