A few days ago, the tragedy of the commons (a modified form) struck the staff'n'phd kitchen. Some people never clean up after themselves, leaving dirty dishes in the sink and the dishwasher for others to clean up. People who normally do clean up their own mess got fed up of cleaning for other people and hence left the kitchen as they found it. Some ( Read more... )

It's the first time in thirty years that I've got a christmas gift. Christmas is usually associated with food, for me. Ever since I can remember, we've had friends with whom we celebrated christmas. My POA used to be to wait for midnight mass to get over, wish everyone and head toward the kitchen. Being the youngest and tiniest helped to ensure ( Read more... )

In October. Groan. It's autumn, but someone forgot to tell the weather.

Today's been a day of embarrassments. In the morning, I was showing a relative new-comer around the research kitchen, and instead of taking a cup from the common stock, I took someone's personal cup. As soon as I had poured the coffee into the cup, the real owner came along and pointed out that I had his cup. Egad ( Read more... )

All the postgrads at the UoB are supposed to take a module called Research Skills. This is to disseminate the soft skills that are almost never taught formally, and are usually absorbed through mentors or just trial and error. Our first class's theme was referencing or rather "The consequences of incorrect referencing". Our faculty had collected ( Read more... )