…but not a coffee break. According to the New Scientist, it’s bad for teamwork.
Read MoreDamian
Holy Fucking Hell. What Next?
I should introduce this one by pointing out that, a couple of years ago, having read an excellent article of Prof. Jardine’s about a piece of science history that interested me, I contacted her to ask if she would be interested in working with me on something related. She might not have received my email, […]
Read MoreBedside Manners
You don’t have to be a medic to enjoy this ward round story from the British Medical Journal.
Read MoreThose Crazy Filipinos
…can be thanked for this late Valentine’s Day story.
Read MoreHappy Birthday, Leasey!
Does this get me off the hook, then?
Read MoreThe Undoing of Dean
Claire joins in Judith in the Democrat-bashing by pointing me at this Christopher Hitchens piece in Opinion Journal about Howard Dean. From the quotes and reports I’ve read so far I have to admit I don’t feel any wish to defend the faltering ex-frontrunner in the race for the Democratic nomination.
Read MoreThanks for the Tip
My favourite science/technology headline of the week.
Read MoreOne Foot in the Grave
Yesterday Leasey sent me a link to a deeply strange Website that tries to guess which sitcom character and/or dictator you are. Er, thanks, Leasey. On the same day,
Read MoreMystorian/Historian
Susan Carruthers, associate professor of history, Rutgers University, New Jersey, US, writes in the Times Higher Educational Supplement [Website down 08:30] about three books on contemporary international affairs. Her contribution to the 30Jan04 edition [not free online] should be given to students as an example of how to smother reason with fashionable polysyllabic flannel. Here […]
Read MoreFrankly, My Dear
Mel Gibson has some bad news for his wife.
Read MoreRockchicks Don’t Wear Plaid
To the rest of us it’s a nipple ring, worthy of flippant comment; to Andrew Guy Jnr. of the Houston Chronicle it’s a matter for an on-the-spot report that reads like a Raymond Chandler pastiche. It’s funny. But not for the reasons he hoped.
Read MoreApology of the Day
From the honest, accurate and impartial Al-Jazeera: “Correction: An earlier version of this article said John Kerry had admitted taking part in the inadvertent slaughter of Vietnamese civilians. We would like to make clear this admission was made by Senator Bob Kerrey.” (via Fark).
Read MoreApostrophic
Yesterday Jackie D photographed a garment that my parents will never, ever buy for Maisie.
Read MoreSpreading Darkness
Black Triangle, the pharmacology ‘Blog by the originator of the legendary Weapons of Mass Destruction Error Message [Martin warns of pop-ups], joins in on the Nigerian polio mess (again).
Read MoreYet More Israeli Craziness
I’m a bit late to this story, I know, but I’m on an “Israeli surreality” roll now, so don’t stop me. He used to be a terrorist, now he’s a “Palestinian Zionist”, but “Walid Shoebat” is the sort of name that only the CIA could devise. It’s a fundamentalist Christian plot, I tell ya.
Read More“…And Promote World Peace”
As part of my “bonkers news from Israel” season I give you the naked settler midriffs of Miss Samaria 2004. Rabbi Daniel Shiloh, spokesman for the Committee of Rabbis in Judea and Samaria, the religious designation for the West Bank, said in an interview before the pageant. “It starts with beauty contests and ends with […]
Read MoreOne More Thing
Stephen Pollard also links to this excellent Telegraph article which draws attention to the breathtaking point-missing of the retrospective debate over the Iraq war.
Read MoreOdds and Sods
I’ve been flitting about posh, but un-networked, corners of London again so I’ve not had a chance to post so far this weekend. At a party in Highgate yesterday, I spent some time railing against this kind of educational hypocrisy and was told by two of the nice, privileged, middle-class guests to “lighten up”. Leftie […]
Read MoreUnpopular Music
Letting “artists” decide what kind of music they should release is usually very foolish indeed. I’m glad even music journalists are starting to realise it.
Read MoreAnother Brick
Al Gore didn’t invent the Internet, but did David Hasselhoff bring down the Berlin Wall?
Read MoreNeighbours from Hell
In the Looking Glass world of Israeli politics, war criminal and chronic embarrassment to right-thinking Israelis Ariel Sharon gets it in the neck for doing the right thing. If he ever manages to implement his plan to move these other embarrassments to right-thinking Israelis someone will, of course, shoot him dead—and graduate from assassin school […]
Read MoreGeeks Don’t Iron
Thanks to Maoi and the Cambridge University Filipino Students’ Society (don’t ask) for a tip-off to this story about how to get a paper in PNAS (a highly respected scientific journal—and I’m not being sarcastic for a change) by mathematically modelling the folding of fabrics. Incidentally, Maoi, I’ve just been to see Lost in Translation […]
Read MoreGoogleplexing
Before you follow the link, try to guess what is the single most searched event in the history of the Internet. Clue: it’s not the September 11 attacks.
Read MoreI’m Working On It
Today I’ve got to deliver my revised talk for that presentation course, but my preparations have been disrupted because I have just found my long-lost brother on the Internet.
Read MoreRussian Dolls?
A while ago I wrote about Bratz dolls in a flippant way. It seems I didn’t take the subject as seriously as it deserved. Charles Laurence in the Sunday Telegraph has been reflecting on the usurping of Barbie by the Bratz: In toy terms, this is an upheaval on the same scale as the fall […]
Read MoreBut They Said…
Going to war on bad intelligence: a short history.
Read MoreCompare and Contrast
You thought Andrew Gilligan was in denial: Some of my story was wrong, as I admitted at the inquiry, and I again apologise for it… …But the BBC collectively has been the victim of a grave injustice. , but there’s always a French politician to put things in proportion. According to the BBC: Juppé said […]
Read MoreMan of Mystery
The Sun promises us a Web chat with celebrity hypnotist Paul McKenna and invites us to send in our questions. Here’s mine: “Apparently you can give women orgasms by snapping your fingers and it’s safe to say you aren’t short of a bob or two, so why do you find it necessary to comb thin […]
Read MoreAddressing Weighty Matters
I completed the first part of an excellent course in presentation skills today and had the odd experience of seeing myself on film. Either it’s true that the camera puts 10 pounds on you or it’s time I went on a diet. If cameras do put weight on you, God help Calista Flockhart and Courtney […]
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