Tarantula video

Great (short) video on tarantulas here on You Tube.

Gah!

It continues. Lemon cous cous, sweetcorn and peppers for lunch. Egg fried (microwaved) rice, sweetcorn and beans for tea.

No meat. No Meat. NO meat! NO MEAT!

Sob.

Reflection

Lemmings

Earlier in the week in the MRI lab we were discussing (again) the possibility or non-possibility of draining the 'magnetism' from a magnet by doing work on it or making it do work on something else. As always we did not get far on solving this and this discussion was later taken up in the pub with the wider members of the Medical Physics department.

We still came up with no conclusive answers, but we did raise another interesting question... If enough lemmings jump off a cliff will the Earth spiral into the Sun?

I suspect this is easier to solve than the magnetism question by theoretical analysis, but somewhat more challenging experimentally. Lemmings for instance might have to be approximated with gerbils and/or sacks of flour.

I am also now forced to wonder at what point lemming theory and experimental magnetism merge into a single unified theory?

Too true?

This was posted on an email group I am on this week. Tragically, I think it is very reflective of much of what has transpired in the last 10 years from Intelligent Design promoters.

Meat Free Week: Legacy

I have caught myself eating veggie meals by choice and preference ever since that difficult week. I must have ingested more onion in the last 4 weeks than in the last 26 years. Sometimes I disgust myself.

And I'm certainly not going to try a bean and pasta dish of my own design again. Very dry. No taste. Probably like a Fraggle.

Technorati

My blog position continues to slide despite a surge last month. Not that it matters but thankfully my rival's is sliding even faster. *pushes rival down slope*

The adventure continues

If current planning works out I will soon have 3 tarantula habitats installed in one of the labs 'spare' rooms plus a couple tanks of live food stocks for the hairy blighters. I was going to go with mice but have just read that sometimes the mice attack back and on occasion win. At £40 a spider I'm not risking it!

Tarantula Disaster

I was going to order a book on tarantula upkeep from Amazon bought then remembered that lousy postal strike thing on and there are no books in the main bookshops in Edinburgh. Disaster!

Maybe there will be some in the pet stores tomorrow.

Research Project

Good news today. After four weeks of thinking and planning I broke the news to the MRI Cheese that I was still keen to scan some tarantulas. Naturally he leapt for joy at this tremendous opportunity to push the boundaries of understanding further and the sheer unusualness of the project made him gush with anticipation. And me? Well I didn't even have to get down on my knees, claw the floor nor beg!

Naturally the truth of the event lies somewhere in between the above, but in summary I am going to be running my own research project. Wahooohoooooo! It's only a feasibility study at first (provided I can come up with some funding), but I'm feeling quite positive about it all and hoping it will lead onto further things down the line.

Much to do in preparation for just applying for some funding and getting the know-how ready in place so it can be started ASAP once funding is sorted, but I'm very excited and have got a few people involved already and they seem quite interested as well which is pretty good and should help convince my boss that I'm not quite as bananas about this as might first appear.

But yes, big thank you to the boss. Now for some more plotting.......

Meat Free Week - In Summary

As regular (and yes, sadly neglected) readers of this blog will know I was meat free for a week the other week. I wouldn't say it was enjoyable, I wouldn't say it was not enjoyable but also I wouldn't say I am going to do it again in a hurry but would never say I never would again. Might save a few more chickens..?

One incident of meatness did occur during the week though but through no fault of my own. I ordered a veggie meal and was told it was not available so I went for the fish given how some vegetarians don't have so much of a problem with that. However when the meal came it was announced that it was the original veggie meal I ordered. Suffice to say this was not feeling me with great excitement but I was happy to maintain the meat-freeness of the week... But then when it was put down in front of me.... chicken tikka masala - my favourite meal in the particular place we were eating in. In my heart I rejoiced but put on a brave face until we were sure it wasn't somebody else's meal I'd been given by mistake. Alas for my veggie habit it was mine, all mine! And it tasted.. Very Good in a kinda Genesis Chapter 1 way. Mmmmm.

The next day I did have a vegetarian breakfast for lunch and I have to say it wasn't too bad although I am still puzzled as to why the meat one came with fried eggs and the veggie one scrambled. It was a little painful to see the meat one consumed in front of me though as I waited for my baked fibrous plant produce.... Tim's steak next door wasn't helping much either....

Maybe again.. some day.