Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Only in India

Just for fun, a few photos I've been sent in forwarded emails.

No offence meant.




Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Week's achievements

Random things I've done this week, in no particular order:

  1. Represented Brazil in the Imperial College Model United Nations debate on reforming the Security Council.
  2. Flossed.
  3. Saw a woman drive to work in yellow Marigold washing up gloves.
  4. Submitted my abstract to the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 14th Scientific Meeting. If accepted, I'm off to Seattle, Washington next year to present my work. I was deliriously happy all Tuesday.
  5. Nearly had a meningitis C vaccination.
  6. Received a postcard from Gambia. My friend's on a medical elective there.
  7. Sent an email to an arrogant postdoc in the lab.
  8. Got my bicycle light stolen. Riding down the A40 in the dark during the middle of rush hour is seriously frightening.
  9. Saw an NHS clinical staff member not wash his hands after using the toilet.
  10. Was affected deeply by someone crying.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Attention

I was just looking through my webpage stats today, and it really is surprising how many visitors stay for less than 5 seconds. It seems like lots of people make a judgement about whether to read on really quickly. As one website proclaimed,
"Information is not longer a precious resource; attention is."
I agree. If you are a regular reader, what would you like to read about, and how do you suggest I could make the site better?

Cheers,
Mus

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Chrysler

I did a Google search for pictures of the Chrysler building in New York City. Completed in 1930 it's a magical piece of Art Deco construction and is my favourite skyscraper. What ambition and beauty.

What's your favourite building and why?





Monday, November 14, 2005

Week's achievements

Random things I've done this week, in no particular order:
  1. Requalified to use an automated external defibrillator (AED).
  2. Went to my first opera with Kevin and Amy (the friend of a friend's daughter on an exchange from the US). We saw Gaetano Donizetti's 'The Great Flood' at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The rendition was in Italian, and before we bought programs at the interval we didn't understand a word.
  3. Disco danced in inappropriate shoes.
  4. Forgot to go to a French lesson.
  5. Went to the British Mountaineering Council's Winter Series Lecture. I didn't know Scotland was such a rugged and beautiful country. I'd better get my crampons soon.
  6. Put in an all-nighter in the lab.
  7. Wore the same pair of jeans four days in a row.
  8. Gave a presentation on 'Using diffusion tensor imaging and deformation based morphometry to investigate the developing preterm brain'.
  9. Flossed.
  10. Finished reading Richard Dawkins' 'The Selfish Gene'.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Posting comments

Hello

I've changed my blog settings to turn word verfication on. This means that when you leave a comment, you need to enter a word displayed onscreen. I know it's a bit of a drag, but it stops all the spam comments I've had lately.

Please do continue to leave comments though. I really appreciate them and, as the blog title suggests, criticisms are welcome.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

College fun, part III of III

A bit of juvenile humour. Here's the final part of how to have fun annoying your roommate. I haven't had a chance to try any of the activities in this instalment, but as soon as I move back out of my parents home I hope I'll be brave enough to give a couple of them a go. If you have, what did you do and what was the reaction?

The previous two entries can be found here and here. Please leave comments!


  1. Borrow your roommate's clothes. Offer to wash them, then act like they were yours all along.
  2. Refer to yourself in the royal third person.
  3. Name your books. Call them like dogs when it's time to study.
  4. Put peas in the toilet every time you go to the bathroom.
  5. Ask your roommate to pose for a portrait. Leave.
  6. Never allow your roommate's head to be below yours.
  7. Repeat everything your roommate says, but without the consonants.
  8. Administer last rites as s/he sleeps.
  9. Whenever s/he has friends over, complain loudly about his/her hygiene. Be graphic.
  10. Lie spread-eagled on your roommate's bed. Make him/her move you.
  11. Call him/her Mummy.
  12. Stand behind him/her while he brushes his teeth. When s/he takes the brush out of his/her mouth, force it back in.
  13. Announce everything you do as a group activity. (i.e. "We're going to bed now.") If your roommate fails to do whatever you said, accuse him/her of not being a "team player".
  14. Spell out the last word of each sentence you say to your roommate.
  15. Announce on the answering machine that your roommate has moved out. Tell anyone who calls for him/her not to call here anymore.
  16. When your roommate is out of the room, move his/her possessions over to your side of the room. When s/he returns, throw the things back over to your roommate's side, angrily telling him/her, "Stop invading my space."
  17. Read your textbooks aloud. Ask your roommate for help on big words.
  18. And at Christmas time...
  19. Go to the mall with your roommate and sit on Father Christmas's lap. Refuse to get off.
  20. Make conversation out of Christmas Carols. (i.e. "You know, I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe last night.")
  21. Sing: "All I want for Christmas is my roommate's two front teeth..."
  22. Tear down all your roommate's Christmas decorations yelling "Bah Humbug!"
  23. Wake up every morning screaming "Ghost of Christmas Future, please have mercy on my soul!"
  24. Put on a fake white beard and insist that all your roommate's friends "give it a yank".
  25. Ring jingle bells maniacally saying, "Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings".
  26. Watch your roommate when s/he is sleeping. When s/he wakes up sing, "He sees you when you're sleeping..."
  27. Intensely study the complete list of ways to annoy your roommate. Form a discussion group with other friends. Give tests.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

A stone’s throw

I’m really upset. On Thursday I had a prior commitment today to help out with some first aid teaching at South Ken. The session went well, but cycling home at 10pm I was attacked. I’d just passed through Edgware Road, which was vibrant with people joyously celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr, but riding up to Maida Vale one of a group of boys hanging around outside a shop threw something hard at my head. I swerved to avoid it, but it hit me and nearly caused me to move into a car’s path. Fortunately I was wearing a helmet; if not I may well have fallen. The group laughed when they saw the impact, so I guess there was intent to cause injury. There were a few too many guys challenge them, so I continued home and the police from there. I’m not badly hurt, But I think they might try again with someone else and really injure them. The cops said they would go and take a look, but I haven’t heard back from them yet.

Has this ever happened to you? What did you do or would you do in such a situation?