IMS_Blog

Went Here

To Manchester, for a long weekend. Janet and I wandered round a lot, found pubs which were running out of beer (due to all the people being there for the same reason as us), and found a man who danced in no relation to the music he was playing. We came to the general conclusion that Manchester is in many ways a bit like the strange love child of Croydon and Newcastle. Personally I thought it lacked it certain something, maybe a sense of its own history, or of not just being a collection of perfectly formed modern experiences. It does have a big wheel though, which meant we got to add to our wheel collection (now at a staggering two, with the York one). Of course we foolishly got on at night, so could see little but twinkling lights from we knew not where.

And Saw This

We were in Manchester mainly to see Oasis play on the Sunday though. They were supported by The Enemy and Kasabian. It has to be said that it’s not every gig you wander into and have The Enemy playing in the background as you make your long way to the bar. Oasis rocked as you might expect. Stood in a field as they played us into the rainy night. Watching aliens may have thought us religious, and in some ways maybe we were. They even made me like them covering I Am The Walruss at the end. Not as much as I did Live Forever mind.

Relaxed Here

Back from Manchester we also had a visit out to Hyde Park, on a very pleasant Saturday in mid-June (yes, I haven’t posted in that long!). Apparently the queen had some sort of birthday that day, and the aircraft passing over me (including red arrows) weren’t just there for to welcome us to the park. It was all very nice until we wandered through the long grass and Janet had a hayfever induced sneezing fit, quite unable to stop for minutes!

Sign Here

Simon Singh is a vastly respected science communicator (I’ll personally recommend his books Fermat’s Last Theorem and The Code Book). In 2008 he wrote a piece for The Guardian which discussed some of the claims made by some chiropractors that are simply without foundation (such as it being able to treat colic). There’s such a thing as the British Chiropractic Association. Rather than respond and say, “here’s why you’re wrong, here’s our evidence”, which they were given ample opportunity to do, they decided to sue Simon for liable (presumably because, actually, such evidence for their members techniques being able to treat diseases such as colic doesn’t exist). This is frankly a stupid and disgusting way to hold debate on your supposedly scientific practices. Simon now faces lengthy (and unreasonably costly—hence the BCA’s tactic) court proceedings. So go and sign the statement trying to keep liable laws out of scientific debate. More information can be found on the Sense about Science website

Like This

Dear lord, has it taken since August last year to mention this card from Indexed? Well, I liked it.

Eat This

Taken me an age to post this too. Several months ago I was eating a lunchtime sandwich (tuna, mayo and sweetcorn on brown bread) and happened to read the packaging. I quote: If this isn’t the best product you’ve eaten email our quality controller at quality-control@breamsfoods.co.uk. Now that’s one ambitious sandwich!

Saw This

And finally for this long overdue update, back to seeing performances. Not a gig this time, but a play. Jan and I saw Waiting for Godot at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. Excellent performances by Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart meant we didn’t even notice Gandalf and Jean-Luc Picard on stage ;-) And no, I don’t have a bloody clue what that play’s about. Ah well, nothing to be done

Photos: Forgot to mention I’ve just put up the photos from Manchester and Hyde Park