Wednesday, October 31, 2007

T minus 13 days and...

... and actually things are going scarcely well.

I've done the bulk of the writing, having done an rubbish introduction, and four ok results chapters. My figures were pretty much done as I went along, there's no stats to do thanks to my mickey mouse subject (whoop whoop!), and my supervisor is being super helpful in reading what I've done.
All I have to do is write the general discussion, add a few sections to the intro, collate it all in to one document (which doesn't look all that painful), do the references, format the bugger, bind and submit. Hmm, doesn't sound like a small amount now I've put it like that.

It's all been going too well. I'm sure some disaster is about to befall me. Not least from the examinations office, who I have to convince to let me submit before I said I would on all the stupid forms.

Monday, October 22, 2007

How not to go about writing you PhD thesis

I've done what is perhaps a very silly thing. I've accepted a post-doc position which starts on the the 12th of November. It is today the 22nd of October. I have yet to finish my thesis. In truth, I had yet to start writing my thesis in earnest before last Tuesday. It is a condition of my starting the post-doc that I have submitted my thesis.

Fucknuts.

I've managed to wrangle them to let me start if I've finished the writing, allowing a couple of weeks for proof reading and binding. Over the next three weeks there will be no poorly wirtten things about science, and there won' t be any Science Singles, but there may well be the incomprehensible twitterings of an inceasingly more desparate writing up student.

I'll see you on the other side.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Big Up Pinball Number Count

Science singles will wait this week, too much writing of thesis to do.
In the mean time I want to big up this to the nth degree.



You need to be able to count to do science. I pretty much learnt to count from this. And it's so funky, it almost funks itself to death.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Science Singles

I've just realised that the name for this sounds a bit like a dating service for lab workers... oh well, let's get on with it.

CSS with Alcohol


Science? "Hey hey hey hey hey, do you want to drink some alcohol?" Well, it's 11:30 on a Monday morning, so it's probably not the best time to be getting drunk, but in the name of science and rock'n'roll I will. Ethanol (the alcohol you'd hope to have in your beverages) acts on the brain as a depressant. It decreases the activity of the nervous system by inhibiting (amongst others) the NDMA class of glutamate receptors and GABA receptors. These receptors are important in cognition, memory and motor skills, which is why you become a malcoordinated, forgetful fool after several pints. Mine's a brown ale.
Is it any good?
Its a great pop tune with drunk bunnies in the video. I like good pop tunes. More good pop tunes please. And more drunkbunnies.