An Exercise in Irrelevance

Next week, I start teaching again. I’ve had to rewrite a practical for my microarray course, because genespring has totally changed (we used it in the past) and because I wanted to use something freely available which the students can use after our freebie license runs out.

It’s been a lot of work. This has conspired with the early spring deadline for conference season; I am now in the review period for three conferences at once, including ISMB and haven’t yet done a lot of work for Bio-Ontologies. Next week appears to be an "incredibly busy" week; I’ve just blocked out my entire diary with events.

Maybe there will be a miracle next week, and I shall be magically freed of work. Alternatively, maybe, google calendar will undergo a terrorist attack or, worse, a power cut which would have much the same impact.

Originally published on my old blog site.

Black Gold is a documentary about the coffee trade. It’s conclusions are not perhaps the most astonishing in the world — the coffee industry makes lots of money while most of the producers, particularly in Ethiopia, are not doing nearly as well. Still, perhaps, these are points that need making again and again. The role of the WTO and the trade policies of the first world are, perhaps, less obvious.

The documentary seems to have a got a new lease of life, more or less entirely due to Michael Moore. Unlike his work, or Supersize Me, Black Gold lacks a comedy turn to keep the interest going although the main protagonist, Tadesse Meskela, is engaging and charismatic.

The music and cinematography are both wonderful, though, making this a clear and compelling film. Well worth a look.

Originally published on my old blog site.

I’ve had about 10 different sets of birthday greetings over the last day or two, which is very gratifying. Unfortunately, it’s not actually my birthday. When I first created a facebook account, I put in a random date for my birthday, so I could get through the stupid forms as quick as possible. According, my birthday was yesterday and I am 29. To think that I missed out on the Golden Jubilee, the ’76 drought and the Sex Pistols by so few years.

The funny thing is that I think I have had more birthday greetings than I have ever had in my entire life. Whether anyone will speak to me again, now that I have so cruely decieved them is open to question.

Originally published on my old blog site.

Well, I understand that they want to make some cash, but the sourceforge marketplace dialogue that keeps on popping up is quickly becoming more annoying that the Clippy.

Get rid of it. I only want to say go away once at most.

Originally published on my old blog site.