Celebrating success in the chemistry lab

The Tim Softley research group celebrate their most recent publication.

This is my first mobile blog

The lobby at the bottom of the chemistry lab.

Why do people wear clothes in bed?

Why? I just don't understand. What's the point?

SkyTV suck ass

In the funny world of capitalism, a company will offer us a service hoping that we will pay for it because we think it is worth the cost. In general, the consumer is better off for having the opportunity to avail of the service. After all, if we don't want it, we simply keep our money in our pocket.

SkyTV is different...

This company buys up the broadcasting rights to popular sports and entertainment in auctions for unfeasibly large sums. In doing so, they price the free-to-air TV companies out of the market. Subsequently, SkyTV recoup the cost with huge price hkes in subscription charges. For example, recently they upped their annual subscription charge from £800 to £3000 for Oxford Uni's student common rooms.

Bearing in mind that SkyTV produce very little noteworthy content of their own, it is clear to me that the public interest would be best served if SkyTV did not exist and the restricted sports and entertainment were available on free-to-air services.

Yup, they sure do suck ass - slurp slurp.

The biochemist, the physicist and the mathematician

We are in big trouble folks. Here is a movie showing how three elite members of the scientific communitiy choose to spend their weekend off. In my defence, in shooting this film I tried to keep the questions kinda sensible during the interview. This was in itself a challenge when the guy you're chatting to has hair like... well, James's hair. God help us all.

Accordion Band

My sister and I marched at a Parade in Carrickmore as part of today's Easter celebrations. We are members of Pomeroy Accordion Band which has about thirty five members, is over fifty years old and plays Irish traditional music on piano and button keyed accordions. Here's a photo of me and here's another of Suzanne. Fun stuff.

Oxford - a great place to drink too much

As I cycled home last night, I noticed a young woman lying on the pavement. She had drank too much and was distressed. I continued home to fetch some money to put her in a cab. On my return (about two minutes later) a concerned middle aged women and a taxi driver had gathered round. Myself and the middle aged women split the cost of the taxi fare (I only had a couple of quid) and the taxi driver agreed not to turn on his meter since we didn't have enough collectively to cover the cost of the journey.

It struck me that the good Samaritans outnumbered the victim 3 to 1. Maybe this would only happen in Oxford, but either way it can't be a bad thing - encouraging even.

Learning French with a Polish accent

I have completed a course in the French language using three CD box sets by Michel Thomas. It was one of the most rewarding learning experiences of my life. Michel Thomas (Polish) is an amazing fella. He was tortured by the Nazis during WWII, joined the French resistance and worked with American intelligence where he gathered Nazi membership cards which were successfully used as evidence in subsequent war crime tribunals. He then went to America and set up a string of language schools. I can't help thinking that this would be great material for a film.

He passed away in 2005 leaving the aforementioned CD box sets as his legacy so that his incredible teaching methods will never be lost. It is a great priveledge to learn with such a master.

I cannot recommend him enough to anybody considering learning a foreign language. Here's an mp3 audio clip which I think illustrates his brilliance perfectly.

Love is deaf

I've just watched "Walk the Line", a film about the life of Johnny Cash. It details his growing up in Arkansas, dealing with the death of his brother, his drug addiction and his second marriage with June Carter. It climaxes with his famous concert at Folsom state prison. Being a life-long Cash fan, the film stirred some thoughts. Here they are.

Cash was prominent in my childhood. His record label painted a convincing picture of an intimidating and powerful figure in black. There was much to fear. The film, on the other hand, portrays a man broken with guilt. He resented being bench marked against his dead brother and turned to drugs because he couldn't meet this unrealistic expectation. This leads me to my first point: in my experience, people who make an impact generally have a chip on their shoulder. It provides a handle that intices you out of your comfort zone where you will achieve something remarkable.

My second point is to do with the vocal clash between Johnny and his wife, June. Johnny's voice is deep and basal and June's is weak and throaty. Yeouch - what a mismatch. It doesn't sound so good to me but I'm guessing that, to Johnny, it was perfect. We don't choose who we fall in love with, and a good match on paper doesn't mean very much in the mating game - a very irrational sport.

Is "conditionality" a word?

What a remarkable/historic/profound* day in Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein has agreed to participate in a new police force. I have noted that Gerry Adams has a solid record in retaining the support of his people during times of controversial change. I admire this skill - I wish I had it.

Having said that, there is a strong imperative driving this change. After all we need a police service that can command the respect of both communities. I guess that there's no dispute about this.

The rhetoric now is about "conditionality". Unfortunately I don't know what "conditionality" means. It seems to me that conflict resolution is all about one side foregoing a condition, thereby shifting the obligation to do the same onto the other side. Progress is slow but inevitable since we eventually run out of conditions that can be used to disguise inaction.

So maybe "conditionality" means running out of excuses not to do anything. That reminds me - I've got a PhD to finish!

*insert some more vague adjectives here