I’ve been away on hols, and I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t give this blog a second's thought. But I also resolved that there could be no half measures, and so, hard as it was, I managed to stick to a no-blogging rule. That said, some things cried out to be shared.

Like a delightful moment du...

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There’s a delightful piece in the latest Science (Daniel S. Greenberg (2007) On the Road to Academic Greatness--A Parable, Science 317: 1328-9) charting the recent history of the University of Avarice and the remarkable role played by U Av’s President, Grant Swinger, in its meteoric rise. Reader...

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Start: 95.4 Last week: ??.? This week: 89.3

Tuesday 4 September: As if to mock me for saying that “what you eat is up to you” last time, I return from a very social holiday 2 kg heavier. But it was all so good! Particularly deadly, of course, are little buffets, where the only portion control is...

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There’s something deeply appropriate -- and equally deeply stupid -- about IMDB’s Plot Synopsis for Down by Law. It reads: “This plot synopsis is empty. Add a synopsis.” And one is tempted, deeply tempted. But there’s no point, because plot is not the great driver of this wonderful movie. Indeed,...

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I like blog carnivals. They expose me to stuff I might not otherwise see, and they expose people who might not see it to my stuff. Win-win. (Apart, if I’m permitted a niggle, from what seems to be a complete absence of carnivals devoted to agriculture. Is there any demand?) Anyway, the latest Mende...

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