Downtime

Erm, I currently do not have (legal*, 24h) internet access at home, as the modem is malfunctioning or the ISP is 'malfunctioning'. Seeing as I don't have access to the modem, or the ISP details, this is quite fatal blogwise. Not that too much was going on anyway...

*It recently became illegal to connect to an accesspoint that you do not own or have been granted express permission to connect to even if no security measures are in place on it - this means that if you leave winXP zeroconf the way it is and it can't find your own AP, that in it will illegally connect to another accesspoint. Dutch law can be fun! Why you would want to use an unencrypted wireless connection for, well, anything is a bit of a puzzler for me, but ow well... Not that WEP isn't crackable in less than 30 min.

Random Ramblings

I think I'm now an outsider even in my Masters programme: everyone is linked to either the Bijvoet centre or the IB (Institute of Biomembranes) and hence has seminar days of those organisations. There are some vague links between the department that I work in and the IB, though only on a very limited level. Aparently the Institute of Environmental Biology is the place to be. Yup, I really have reached the plant world.

As most of you will know, the IgNobels have been awarded some time ago (of course Wageningen University is one of the winners), but the best one is still the prize for Literature, which this year was awarded for work entitled: "Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly." Though last year it went to: "The Internet entrepreneurs of Nigeria, for creating and then using e-mail to distribute a bold series of short stories, thus introducing millions of readers to a cast of rich characters -- General Sani Abacha, Mrs. Mariam Sanni Abacha, Barrister Jon A Mbeki Esq., and others -- each of whom requires just a small amount of expense money so as to obtain access to the great wealth to which they are entitled and which they would like to share with the kind person who assists them." Full list at the Journal of improbable research Ig Nobel prize winners page.

Also good is the famed Journal of Irreproducible results, which also features an article on why the National Geographic magazine is the doomsday machine

And to revisit the NS-by-the-ways: On the 18th of October there will be a disaster exercise on platforms 18 and 19 involving one blown up train and trained actors. More info in the Utrecht city council press release over here.

Trouble in video land

Google has now bought YouTube, which apparently is a bad move: 'Moronic' video deal buys Google legal woes?. Anyway, whilst it still is active, here's a nice music video off of YouTube: OK GO - Here it goes again. That's all for now, on a course again, finishing of the exam of the other one, and hearing that my new internship has finally been approved by the board of examinations.

Ow, and as for the NS: Timetables for the new service schedules for trains in and out of Utrecht (and other places)

And now, for some distraction

Quick link round-up, mostly borrowed from the below blogs:
In movie-related stuff:
The biology of B-movie monsters
6 steps to writing a fantasy blockbuster
In LEGO (ab)use:
ASL's LEGO page (scroll down or click for example of Esher in Lego)
In Space:
Pretty picture (spacestation, more images here)
In Nerd/Geek:
Weird Al - White and Nerdy
In Blogs:
Project Rungay (for any project runway fans)
Dom's Weird News (news, but then the less usual)
Confessions of a science librarian

Long time, no entry

Okay, here's the quick update on the life and times of me: I've finished one internship (ah, still need to hand in one copy of the report) and started the next (Molecular Genetics - Model organism: Arabidopsis Thaliana (I'll do a post on it soon)). Well, started: after one week my direct supervisor left for 4 weeks, and my other supervisor just left for a week yesterday. Perfectly fine - I left for a week this week (to take a course on Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry), and after next week I'll be gone for another two (to take a course entitled 'Advanced Protein and Lipid Analysis').
Which brings me to the unavoidable science story of the post: A bit of background on the Chemistry Nobel Prize winners of 2002 (more info here). The two guys who won ¼ of the prize each "for their development of soft desorption ionisation methods for mass spectrometric analyses of biological macromolecules" have backgrounds that could not differ more from each other. John B. Fenn was offered the prize when he was in his seventies, whilst Koichi Tanaka won the prize when in his forties. Fenn was working for some time at one of the prestigious US universities, untill they let him go when he reached retirement age. However, Virginia commonwealth University did find it worthwile to give the man an office, and he did the work leading to the prize there (at least, that's what I've been told). So, you can still do prize winning work at high age. Koichi, in contrast, did the work he was awarded for as a technician when he was 25 or so. Twenty odd years later, when he won the prize, he was still a technician at the same company. This is, however, where his story turns a little tragic: once he won the prize, he immediately became head of the facility, and as he was a bachelor, he also became a high-ranker on the most-wanted bachelor list. Having lost contact with the lab-work he enjoyed and being pursued by women at the level that it is very, very annoying, he wasn't feeling as happy as he was before he won the prize. In fact, he ended up leaving the company and the country, and now works as a technician doing the work he likes elsewhere...