Hi, I'm Adam, a PhD student, épéeist and oenophile based in Nottingham, UK.
This is my personal log. Here are thoughts, comments and found objects.

About— Lab— Resumé—

August 3rd 2010

Now everything changes

4 notes |# Comments

Roche Continents at the Salzburg Festival was the most surreal event of my life. I’m simply lost for any sort of words to describe it. Amazing people; incredible creativity; beautiful, inspiring and shocking music; Ridiculous generosity.

To maintain the suspense for future participants, I’ll avoid discussing the magical programme of events, but hopefully I’ll post something on the music and people shortly.

In short it was life-changing. A real privilege. This truly marks the start of a new chapter.

Posted at 8:13pm and tagged with: one column, roche continents,.

July 25th 2010

Disconnecting

2 notes |# Comments

Today I’m departing sunny England to head, via Paris and Munich, to Salzburg. I’m attending Roche Continents, a week-long programme at the Salzburg Festival exploring the common ground of creativity and innovation in the Arts and Science, along with 100 students of science, music and fine arts from all over Europe.

I really feel that this will be valuable time to disconnect from the present and reengage with reality. Honestly I can’t wait. For some months now I’ve drifted, half awake, through life. This is my morning coffee. I’m hoping to come back on 4 August renewed, invigorated, balanced, and with a new passion.

See you on the other side…

Posted at 11:38pm and tagged with: one column, roche continents,.

July 21st 2010

Paris. Alone

3 notes |# Comments

Due to a series of unfortunate events, I now find myself in Paris and free to my own devices for a day and a half on Monday & Tuesday next week. I haven’t been to the La Ville-Lumière for years and, as a somewhat rusty solo-traveler, am feeling somewhat lost. I’d appreciate mining your collective wisdom for your tips, secrets, and recommendations to make Paris alone magical. What should I know?

Posted at 8:56pm and tagged with: paris, roche continents, travel, two column,.

July 21st 2010

1 note |# Comments

Douai Abbey (by richardr)

Posted at 1:48am and tagged with: faith,.

Douai Abbey (by richardr)

July 20th 2010

Brahms — Wo ist dein Sieg?

|# Comments

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
33 plays

Johannes Brahms. Ein deutsches Requiem, op. 45. Extract from the 6th movement.

Dann wird erfüllet werden das Wort, das geschrieben steht:
Der Tod ist verschlungen in den Sieg.
Tod, wo ist dein Stachel?
Hölle, wo ist dein Sieg?

Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory?

— 1 Corinthians 15:51-55

Now tell me that choral music doesn’t rock!

Posted at 9:53pm.

July 20th 2010

cheapdate

1 note |# Comments

This is why I have a soft spot for fly-boys (or Drosophilia geneticists): cheapdate is a fruit fly gene whose mutation causes Drosophila to be extra sensitive to alcohol.

I’d also heard a great story about a fly lab where all new genes discovered were named after wines. If you were the lucky investigator who got to naming rights, the PI would buy you a really expensive bottle of it’s namesake. Needless to say, names along the lines of d’Yquem and Latour suddenly became popular.

Posted at 3:56pm.

July 16th 2010

1 note |# Comments

Fly me to the moon,
And let me play among the stars.
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars.

Lift-off of the Saturn V rocket, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr, along with 6,700,000 pounds (3,039,000 kg) of fuel and equipment into the Florida sky, bound for the Moon, on July 16th, 1969. (NASA) (via Remembering Apollo 11 - The Big Picture - Boston.com)

Posted at 10:00am.

Fly me to the moon, And let me play among the stars. Let me see what spring is like On Jupiter and Mars. Lift-off of the Saturn V rocket, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr, along with 6,700,000 pounds (3,039,000 kg) of fuel and equipment into the Florida sky, bound for the Moon, on July 16th, 1969. (NASA) (via Remembering Apollo 11 - The Big Picture - Boston.com)

July 14th 2010

4 notes |# Comments

Isaac Asimov on his writing style

Posted at 9:27pm.

“
I made up my mind long ago to follow one cardinal rule in all my writing—to be clear. I have given up all thought of writing poetically or symbolically or experimentally, or in any of the other modes that might (if I were good enough) get me a Pulitzer prize. I would write merely clearly and in this way establish a warm relationship between myself and my readers, and the professional critics—Well, they can do whatever they wish.
”

July 14th 2010

I Write Like

|# Comments

An academic friend pointed me towards I Write Like, a statistical analysis tool, which analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them to those of famous authors. Throwing a sample of my writing its way, I was quite pleased to discover that I write like the biochemistry professor, turned science-fiction author, Isaac Asimov. My friend was somewhat less pleased to be told that his thesis read like Dan Brown.

Posted at 9:26pm and tagged with: two column,.

July 12th 2010

Realisations

3 notes |# Comments

In no particular order…

  • Cycling to work next year feels like a real possibility
  • I need a brief ‘Regenerative Medicine for Dummies’ pitch to tell people what I do.
  • Cambridge is still one of my favorite places
  • A weekend away from a computer screen is great for my eyes
  • Real people are excellent
  • My fencing has improve dramatically in the last six months, but I still suck
  • My sister is amazing.

Posted at 9:59pm and tagged with: one column, phd,.