something to learn every day

Things I learnt today, in the 9th month of my 24th year on this earth.

1) Pots that have been used to boil soup on the stove tend to be quite hot. Use oven gloves or a thick tea towel.
2) Do not keep your fingers on the narrow edge of a closing door. Otherwise it WILL hurt.
3) Driving and steering is more difficult if your fingers have just been trapped in a door ten minutes beforehand.
4) Remember that you need your purse or some sort of currency to pay for items you want to buy in a supermarket. Try and realise this BEFORE you get to the checkout if you want to minimise embarrassment for yourself and inconvenience for other people.
5) Nothing ever works in science. Don't even bother to get too excited about anything until it's all but set in stone. And even then, make sure it's not sandstone.

I don't mind learning new things. But I wish I didn't have to RElearn the same lessons all the time.

"The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can tolerate." - Douglas Engelbart

In which case, I have the potential to be VERY mature.

words for love

I love you.
愛してる.
Ti amo.
Saya cinta mu.
Je t'adore.
Saranghaeyo.
我爱你
Ja Tebe Kokhaju.

funny, how such simple phrases have the ability to make you feel so happy, or cause your heart to ache.

I need to think less and sleep more.

Earthquakes don't only affect humans

(photo from Xinhua newspaper)

I've just read that due to the earthquake activity in Sichuan, there isn't enough bamboo available to feed the pandas in the area (Chengdu has a major panda sanctuary). So the authorities are feeding them congee instead. This article caught my eye, partly because it's sounds so cute, and also because I hadn't really thought about how the earthquakes have affected the wildlife in the area on a longer-term basis.

I think this is a natural response. The initial reaction to any crisis of this kind is to save as many people as possible and then start to worry about the logistics of providing food and shelter. This is where aid charities can help the most - whilst the government and local communities concentrate on rescuing people (and in this case, pandas too) relief organisations are vitally important for making sure that the survivors have enough food and water to stay alive. Although aid help isn't a long-term solution, people can not start to pick up their lives and start again as best they can if they have no resources or worse, hope. What has greatly encouraged me is the way local Chinese with the means and ability have rushed to set up food stations and provide help to those in need. Even more encouraging is how the government appears to be working with these individual groups to provide relief, and also admitting its shortcomings that have contributed to the massive death-toll figures still being counted.


I wonder, if it were not pandas that were being fed congee that could be fed to hungry people, whether there would be an uproar. But the panda is not just any animal, it is a much-beloved national emblem for China and holds a rather special place in people's hearts. More importantly, the private and state response to this disaster has for once been very open. The feeling is that they are putting as much as they can into the rescue and relief effort. When this is the case, I doubt that people will really begrudge the pandas their share of aid.

Weather forecast on the confocal

The weather is being a bit funny lately. As usual. Sometimes I wonder what we would talk about in the UK if we actually had a more stable climate. Not that we don't have meaningful conversations, but it does mean it's easier to have random conversations with complete strangers on a rather non-controversial topic. Even if the weather behaves for a while, we can still comment on whether the BBC weather forecast has, for some reason got it RIGHT for once (though that's probably just due to the laws of probability - it has to be right at some point. Surely). Or if we'll have a drought this year (it never ever ever has but we still get hose pipe warnings). Or flooding in the summer as soon as it starts to rain again (i.e. two days later).

It was nicely hot and sunny last week, so much so that when the air-conditioning was broken in one of the labs I got visitors whilst I was in the chilly confocal room. Actually, I didn't mind being in the dark and cold for once, although it meant I was missing out on the sunshine outside. For one thing, now that it is officially 'summer' the sun goes down so late that I still got some melanin-inducing rays after work. For another, after sitting in the sun at lunch I was thankful for the cool temperature the microscope has to be kept at.

Now that it's gotten cooler again, I've reverted to wearing a jumper and gloves in there.

'Britain doesn't have climate. It has weather.'

By the way, the whole point of this entry was to show off some of the images I've been getting recently....

What to do in Manchester

People often ask me what there is to do in Manchester. I guess in actual fact, it's not so much what there is to DO but rather what there is to see. Especially if you love architecture. The juxtaposition of so many architectural styles is part of what I love about Manchester, and to me represents the hotpot of people that you can meet there.

But what is there to do?
- Wander around the crafts markets either at Piccadilly Gardens or St Ann's Square
- People-watch on the balcony overlooking Piccadilly train station (modern but with Victorian elements)
- Ponder over the tulip/onion-like fountains in St Ann's square (Victorian/Edwardian buildings) with the live music in the background if it's a Sunday.
- dim sum lunch in chinatown or further out (the Chinese arch is much nicer than those in London)
- study egyptian mummies or measure your heart rate at the Manchester Museum inside the University of Manchester main building (gothic)
- stand and squint at the Town Hall (gothic), Central Library (neo-classical?), G-Mex (Victorian aspects) and Bridgewater Hall (modern), all within a few hundred metres of each other.
- Broaden your cultural education at the Manchester Art Gallery (neo-classical facade with a strangely sympathetic brick/glass/steel extension)
- Cocktails at one of the bars in Deansgate
- walk around Castlefield (ex-Roman fort) and pretend to pilot a biplane or steam engine at the Museum of Science and Technology (Victorian ex-railway station)
- squint through the gate at the Coronation Street film set at Granada Studios.
- shopping!
- Feel arty at the Cornerhouse or catch an art film/play/ballet down Oxford Rd
- Have some 'PROPER' curry, complete with chip butty and mushy peas (the fluorescent green kind)
- Wander round the free exhibits at Urbis and then go over to the Triangle and sit in that peeled orange that is supposed to be a Cafe Nero
- Have a hot chocolate (with marshmallows!) in the Moet and Chandon cafe and look out of the window into the space pods on the Manchester wheel.

Further outside Manchester -
- Manchester United stadium, just to say you've been
- Salford Quays! Just to get some calm and quiet, or to visit the Lowry, or shopping outlets, or the Imperial War Museum North, or to look at all the different bridges constructed in the area....
I love this place
- shopping at the Trafford Centre, if only to look at the over-the-top kitschness of it all (modelled on Meadowhall, Sheffield, by the way)
- Bolton fish market, where you can get a crate of sea-bass for 25 quid
- ice-skating at Altrincham (where I wore out several pairs of jeans during my teenage years)

- Alton towers. Yesss!
- Blackpool. Not so sure, but must go at least once in your teenage years if you're a Mancunian. Ideally on bank holidays where there's so many people you can't see in front of you. And ooh and ahh at the rather skimpy (but famous) night illuminations. But full of Victorian elements. Including some Victorian bathing huts still scattered around further away from the iron Blackpool Tower.

The list goes on...and on.....and Ariston. (If you remember the washing machine advert back from when we were kids...)

Manchester is fun. :P

Only problem is of course............ it's always raining. So don't forget your brolly.