Day 2

So today was Day 2. Day 1 was spent meeting lots of people... sorting some HR and, starting the safety program and watching a colleague do some DNA extractions so I could get a feeling how how things are done here.

Day 2 was more safety, getting the PC organized and starting to do actual scientific reading associated with the project.

I need to work on my powers of concentration... by the end of the day I feel wrecked, not having worked a full day in a while is definitely taking its toll. But I am feeling good and I am want to get through this bit so I can actually start doing real science.  The goal is to be in the lab and doing work by the end of week 2!

So far everyone has been very nice, my only real complaint is the manor bed... I think I need another duvet to go down between the sheet and the mattress to give me some extra padding from the springs.

Arrival in Harpenden

So I arrived in Harpenden today.  It was wet and gray as the UK was lashed by the worst storm for the autumn. I found my way to my accommodation and made it to my single room on the second floor, navigating the crooked stairs and rolling floors of the ancient building.

The building is a maze, and I have kept the map of the manor house in my pocket so I can find my way to the bathroom and back. On my way back to the car for my second set of luggage I was greeted by Richard, a short 20 something guy, who was wearing a cross.

He did the equivalent of checking my credentials, asking who I was and what I was working on and how long I was going to be here. Having satisfied the requirements I was shown the ordering system for meals and informed that I had arrived on an auspicious night, there would be a party this evening, and that it would be a good opportunity to meet people.

The next task was to head in to town and see what there was to see. The town (village?) very busy, inspite of the appalling weather. Traffic was heavy and parking difficult, but it seems a pleasant enough place and has a good variety of ethnic restaurant, though I did not look at the prices to see if I could afford them.

After an early dinner I said goodbye to S senior  and went to settle in, maybe meet some people, and find and internet connection. I have thus far succeeded in one of the three (obviously) and I am sitting in the common room watching Brazil V. England letting my face become familiar.

Science and Politricks

The UK political machine has become very excited of the recent sacking of a scientific adviser. The scientist, chairman, well former chairman, of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs Professor Nutt, (an unfortunate name to have) is reported to have been fired for "campaigning" against government policy.

The offence is that Prof. Nutt continued to state his beliefs about the relative risks of drugs, which appears to give lie to the idea that the classification of illegal drugs (A, B, or C, A being the most damaging and C the least) is based on harm.

The problem is that the government likes to pretend that it is making decisions based on science. Therefore, when the government sends something out to the scientists and the scientists give the wrong answer (i.e. one the politicians don't want to hear) it is quietly swept under the rug and the politicians pretend that the science was with them anyway and look elsewhere to find scientific views to support their position.

Now Prof. Nutt had the courage (terminity or possibly even naivety) to express his strongly held scientific position in public after the government was busy pretending that the science was on their side.

As far as I can tell Prof. Nutt was not calling for the law to be changed, but was simply calling on politicians to be honest about why they are making the decisions they are making.  If it is a moral position, say so, but don't pretend that its about harm when the the scientific evidence says you are wrong.

I think this action by the home sectary reflects a lack of confidence in his ability to justify the decision he has made and it is a sad day for government, science and society.

Not for Love nor Money

I often reflect on what appears to be the dearth of home baking in the UK.  I often have a hard time locating the ingredients for  recipes out of my Pillsbury cookbook ( I am yet to find a UK equivalent of the Pillsbury cookbook).

However, even after 6 years of living, I was amazed that I could not find a simple tube pan (pictured left).

I live in a furnished house.. which comes complete with pots and pans.. and when I first decided to do the recipe I had assumed I would find on  in the house.  I mean they have a Crème brûlée torch! surely they would have a simple cake tin, but no luck.

Next place to check was a local supermarket. 8x8 pans, 9x9 pans, 13x9 pans, round pans of various sizes, but no tube pan.

So I went into town, I hit TK maxx, John Lewis, Debanabs and House of Fraiser... no luck.

So then I went on the net... and the only place that has them is Ebay!

I had always imagined that the UK was the home of the sponge cake, but if it ever was it isn't any more.

Work

Finally got a job offer, working on a plant science project!

Unbelievably relieved.

Shortbus

So, I just finished watching "Shortbus". I put it on my Lovefilm list at some stage and when it arrived I could not really remember what it was about, except I seem to remember something about it having some sex scenes in it that apprently made sex very un-glamerous or undesirable, according to the radio 4 review I heard. Having watched it I wondered what that reviewer thinks sex should be like.

Now this is not a film for anyone with "conservative" attitudes towards sex. There are scences of group sex, lesbianism, gay sex, mastubation, all depicted in graphic detail. But if that dosn't distrub you I think you can enjoy a fantasic film.

The acting was great, the development of the characters was well done. I didn't think that I have ever meet anyone like the characters of the film, but I think that reflects more my sheltered upbringing than any fault of the makers of the film.

I highly recommend this film to anyone who won't get hung up on the sex scenes. If you have seen it let me know what you thought.

Graduation!

So I managed not to fall down the stair, trip on my shoe laces, try to shake the wrong hand of the chancellor or make any other obvious gaffes.

As a PhD graduate I was given a crimson robe with a crimson cape and a 'painter's hat'. This is to distinguish me from people graduating with other clearly lesser degree who are mearly allowed to wear black robes with greater or lesser amounts of blue or cream trim according to their rank.

The heirarchy graduation robes is rather amusing, certificate and diplomas of higher education are only allowed to wear plain black robes, a foundation degree is entitled to a blue hood with a two inch cream silk stripe. Bachelors degrees are enititled to a three inch stripe of cream silk and an undergrauate masters is entitled to a whole four inches.

I also had my offical graduation photos taken, and though the photographer was friendly I do not think any real effort was made to take good pictures of me, so I am doubtful about how good they will be.

The nice thing though is that the graduation is a ritual to symbolize the end of the process. It is a clean pair of sissors which cuts the linger threads of the degree and of that life, giving some closure to that part of your life allowing you to start the next.

The Laptop is dead, long live the Laptop

Not so much dead as stolen. I arrived back from Aikido via the supermarket to find my front door only half-locked and at he same time noticed what looked like a note in the hallway with the word POLICE clearly visible. I began to have a suspicion that I was in for an unpleasant surprise.

I got in quickly, dropped to bags I was holding on the floor and began to investigate, it didn't take long, the laptop was gone. The nest thing I notice the shocking large amount of glass scattered on the floor next to the window (so much for window locks) and a large piece of wood across one half of the window.

I quickly checked the rest of the room, TV, check, DVD player, check, Ipod, check, Leather Jacket, check, GPS tracker, check, man-eating carnivorous attack plant... damn it, I keep forgetting to grow one of those.

My desire to push a red button, albeit a small one, preferable communicating to a collar around the thief's neck, was growing steadily.

So I contacted the police and reported my laptop stolen, and then my paranoia set it. If the theif had seen the other things in the house. TV, DVD player etc might they not be back later to get the rest.

I moved the filing cabinet in front of the window that had been broken into, and then placed the laser printer on top of it for good measure. I then decided that that was insufficient, and moved a sideboard and placed it in front of the window, blocking it entirely. Then I placed the laser printer back on top for good measure. At the very least anyone coming it should make enough noise the wake me up.

Emotionally and physically exhausted I knew that I was not going to get to sleep that night, so I made myself a cup of coffee and pulled out a good book and decided to maintain my vigil.

Fortunately there have been no further incident, though a burglar alarm is to be installed.

But this dos mean that Lucifer is now gone, lost to the world, though I hope that his BIOS password has caused the thief some inconvenience.

Fortunately Endsleigh have come though and provided me with a brand new laptop, Azazel.

Az has
Intel core duo processors @ 2.4 Ghz each
4 Gig Ram
ATI mobility Radeon 3400 series
and a 320 GB hard drive,

as well as a host of built in extras like a HDMI port, built in blue tooth and integrated webcam and microphone.

I hope now that I have a working PC I will return to blogging.

Keep reading,

Cheers

Salt bread and more!

So I have finally managed to make some salt-bread. I made a batch last Saturday following a new recipe.

2 lbs white bread flour
3 oz sugar
3/8 oz salt
1/4 oz shortening
2 7g packages of yeast
1 pint water (approx)

Kneed into a stiff dough, set to rise until doubled in size. Punch down and form in to about 12 rolls and allow to rise until doubled in size then bake in a 200 C oven for 15-20 min.

I also tried to make what I would call a health cob. There was a company called Zephrins in Barbados that used to make a health cob and this was an attempt to re-create that recipe.

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white bread flour
2 tsp salt
2 7g packages yeast
3/4 cup scalded milk
1/4 cup warm water
1 tbs golden syrup
1 tbs black treacle
1 tbs malt extract
1 cup raisins

This recipe may have benefited from a bit more flour as the dough spread quite a lot during the second rise. Alternatively I may try to do the second rise in a bowl and turn it out for baking. But this recipe is defiantly a keeper, it turned out to be a wonderfully rich loaf, excellent with a little butter.

PS. I recommend mixing the molasses, syrup and malt into the milk, I think it makes mixing easier.

Cultural Activities

One of the things that I continual promise myself to do is to go into London and participate in some of the cultural offerings while it was on my door step. So when my friend V. invited me to see a play called Amazonia at the Young Vic I decided to attend.

Now a day trip in to London is always an expensive venture, £14 for a train ticket and subway pass, and probably another £15 on food, if you are eating cheap, before you have even done anything. Fortunately there are lots of free things too see and do in London as well. So, in order to make the most of the visit I decided to visit the Natural History Museum and the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

We arrived at the Natural History Museum (NHM) and the place was mobbed, and if a group of people could be described as a 'sea' then this one had lots of ripples, that is, children. We made our way inside amide the chaos and confusion, looking for the photo exhibit. There is a long queue that looks like it is heading towards where the photo exhibit is, but as we get closer we realize this is the queue for the dinosaur exhibit. We arrive a the photo exhibit to find that there is a timed entrance, we are lucky and there are some tickets still available for the current entry period!

Once inside I am immediately disappointed. The photos are displayed on digital screens. This just doesn't seem right to me and with 90% of the photo available to be viewed online, I wonder if it was really worth it to go through the effort to see it in an over-crowded room. However, once I got over the disappointment of not have actual prints to look at I could appreciate that some of the photos were absolutely stunning.

Here are my favourites from those available online: Best bird , plants one, two (yes I know fungi aren't plants but the NHM doesn't seem to), three and four (look at the drop on the leaf), and seascapes one and two and a few others.

So after the photos we has some time to kill and wandered about the NHM until we came to the comparatively peacefully and quiet rock and gem collection, which did have some magnificent specimens as well as the vault, where I saw some of the most singularly valuable rocks I have ever seen.

We left the NHM about four and made our way to the Young Vic to pick up tickets and find a nearby place for dinner. We got our tickets and were recommended and excellent Turkish restaurant by one of V.'s friends.

Finally it was time for the show and we all filled in the Young Vic, the first interesting this was that the audience completely surrounded the stage, and it was a quite small space, lending itself to a more intimate air. The play itself was very much a mixed bag, the writing was poor and the story development left a lot to be desired, but some of the individual performance were quite good, given the material and the music was well performed. I particularly like the use that was made of a "pond" on stage from which, with an audience sprinkling splash, some of the actors would exit or enter the stage.

I think next I got into London I will have to do a little more research before hand, but there definitely will be a next time.