Productive Ways to Spend a Sunday...

...beating cheats on GeoChallenge. Following on from the post below, the blatant cheating of the person now in #2 position has been answered in the best possible fashion. Not once, but twice in the same afternoon I have broken my high-score. I've recorded the scene for posterity....lets see if he dares provoke the wrath of Gott and cheat again. In the words of Homer Simpson: IN YOUR FACE!

Me? Competitive?

Cheat

I have evidently lost my top score on GeoChallenge in the Calgary facebook network to someone who blatantly cheats. His highest score for the third round is nearly ten times his average, and six times his average for the final round. I am damned awesome at this game and won't stand for being second best to some gimp with a downloaded hack file. He is only 1500 points away....I fully expect to be off work soon with some sort of RSI injury...!

Spring?

So it's springtime here supposedly. Yesterday afternoon was a lovely day so I walked to Market Mall. The sun was out and it felt lovely and warm, such that I could go out without a coat. Last night I went to a surprise birthday party for one of the Saturday morning pub-breakfast-and-football people, and just randomly checked the weather forecast before I went out. The big red "WINTER STORM WARNING" notice appeared at the top, necessitating me putting my inner jacket back inside my winter coat. Good job I did, seeing as it was snowing by the time I set off for home at about 11 o'clock. Not much fell downtown, though it never does. By the time I got back to the northwest it was much thicker, and looking out the window today there's probably 10-15cm fallen overnight. The photo above is the view from Beige Towers this morning. Springtime? Not today it seems; it'll be the end of May before the threat of similar occurrences is down to a low percentage.

Burnt Dinner

The bucolic quiet of the evening at Beige Towers was interrupted, nay shattered, at about half past seven by a severely loud alarm in the hallway. This was not the lift alarm that rang for about an hour last summer, but the fire alarm. This is the first time I've heard it in nearly 11 months of living here. There has never been an evacuation drill. I walked down the stairs and out the front door to find the lobby area very smoky, with the smell of severely burnt dinner in the air. It looked like it was coming out of the apartment by the laundry room. A fire engine (or is it fire truck?) was on the scene in five minutes.

There are a few things that puzzle me; first, how few people actually came out of the building. I would estimate it at no more than 40 people stood outside while the fire brigade checked things out. There are (I think) 120 apartments in the building. So either the inhabitants of at least more than half of them were still at work, or they decided to stay in their suites in a potentially burning building. I live on the third floor and so was out in 20 seconds. What reasoning people in suites on the higher floors used to not come outside I really can't begin to understand. Bizarre. And it only dawned on me afterwards there are absolutely no directions about where to assemble in the event of an actual fire; most people wanted to stand in the doorway, out of the gale that was blowing.

The moral of the story: don't incinerate your dinner!

Ouch

So after the weighty matters discussed in the post below, something from the world of hockey this evening. There is currently great debate in the hockey world, following the recent death of a player in the Ontario Hockey League who hit his head on the ice, about banning fighting. Hockey is a game of great speed, skill and physical endurance, but fighting is also synonymous with the sport.

Sometimes, though, someone who really really deserves it gets what's coming to him. Here's one from this evening, between Brad Staubitz of the San Jose Sharks, and renowned cheap shot artist Jordin Tootoo of the Nashville Predators (stop laughing at the name). Poor Jordin gets completely owned. Sometimes, sport gives people what they deserve.

University Degrees

I've read a friend from high school's blog today, relating to the worth of university degrees. I started a humongous reply, which after thirty minutes typing I decided the better thing to do, lest I lose it all in an unwanted computer crash, was to just post a response here. I miss the old Warwick 'block quote' function.

So Matt:

I'll start with the points on which I can see where you're coming from. On the perceived laziness of students, speaking as someone who has worked in various universities for near enough 10 years now (I consider my time, though paying no tax, as a PhD student as 'working'), there is, to some degree (pun unintended), a sense of entitlement amongst students now. I think this was fostered by the introduction of tuition fees and turned students into, for want of a better word, 'consumers'. This is probably different from the time we were both at university, given we were both in the last year group of people that received LEA grants, rather than having to pay. This has made some students complacent in their general attitude of "come on then, I've paid my money, get me a first class degree for the minimum amount of my own personal effort". It's not that simple to get a good university degree, and needs much more effort to work around read around to understand their respective subject.

The granting of many former polytechnics university status has resulted in so many more people on the job market having university degrees than would have had in the past, directly at the expense of the vocational training you're advocating. Blame the government for this imbalance, not people with degrees; they're only bettering themselves by utilising the courses available to them. More universities results in more people being degree qualified than otherwise would be. Someone without a degree is only going to struggle to get themselves seen above graduates when there are 50+ CVs to go through. A university degree is one demonstration of that person living up to his/her potential in school; it ranks them in the top x% of the population. Someone without one is unquantified; an employer isn't likely to hire someone who is an unknown quantity.

True, many people don't use the subject they learnt in their everyday jobs. They should hopefully, having been to university, be able to use the transferrable skills developed: time management, forward planning, data collation/manipulation/analysis, critical thinking, presentational skills and so on. My brother is an example of this and has steadily worked his way up the ranks at YBS. Was his degree a waste of time? Did the people I worked with in various labs in Leeds, London, Warwick and Calgary but who no longer work directly in the chemical industry waste their time? I don't know the ins and outs of your daily duties, but could someone without a degree really do them all? Certainly not mine. Nor could they be a doctor, lawyer, vet, or many many other occupations. There are so many jobs that require such extreme composure under pressure that someone who 'learns on the job' is not an option. Someone who has been through the strict regimentation some subjects offer has much better demonstrated aptitude for such tasks in the eyes of a future employer.

Onto the first thing that really annoyed me when I read your post; the singling out of biology. Biology is a fundamental, core science. There are so, so many more subjects out there worthy of your ire it's like shooting fish in a barrel when naming them; the ubiquitous Media Studies, and ephemeral 'ologies' to name two straight off the top of my head. A degree in biology or chemistry (I think) is a prerequisite of medical school here in Canada, and the States too. Replace 'biology' with 'chemistry' in that sentence and perhaps you can see why this bit jars so much with me personally.

When my PhD supervisor develops a new anti-cancer drugs, he hands them over to chemical biologists to assess their success or failure against various cancer cell lines. When a promising candidate drug is identified by pharmaceutical companies it's handed over to biologists to assess toxicity or other harmful effects. Nobody wants another thalidomide episode. Biologists study myriad animal behaviours in the hope they can isolate genes similar to those found in humans, such that they can possibly treat presently incurable human conditions such as Alzheimers, Motor Neurone Disease and Multiple Sclerosis. Is that a subject without 'real world application'? It's a sad fact that universities are closing science departments in favour of 'softer' subjects which have no need of teaching/ research laboratories and large capital expenditure on equipment. Such subjects should be encouraged.

And just what is an 'academic bum'? Given I have career aspirations in that particular direction I'd hope thats not what you'd think of me. If I ever get that far (some days it seems as far away as ever), I would hope I taught the subject well, inspire others to take the same direction and study into graduate school like I did, and to conduct research into the pressing problems of the age. I would hope PhD students from my group are trained the very best they can be and go onto productive careers in the chemical industry or academic research. In so doing, I am contributing to the technological and economic well being of the country. Is that not a good thing, or a worthy career goal?

But the thing that really raised the hackles I'm going to quote verbatim.

"The truth is that university education for most is a sham. A chance to waste three years drinking, partying and doing as little amount of work as possible."

That's so........flat out wrong. Yes, people let their hair down on a Friday/Saturday, but this is hardly a phenomenon limited to student unions up and down the land. I'm no different in the regard of unwinding with a pint or two. Since 1996 I've not been anywhere that comes even vaguely under such a description. I'd like to know what qualifies as 'most'? 75% ? 90%. I have worked and studied alongside some remarkable, diligent hard-working people. Yes, there is a small proportion of people killing time because they don't know what to do and have no career direction, but universities are full of talented people waiting to be set on their way to great things.

That took so long to write, edit and type, it's bedtime now :-)

Flames Watch

Calgary Flames 6 - 5 Detroit Red Wings (after shootout)

Holy wow, Batman! The end of this game is the most crazy five minutes of hockey I can remember seeing since being over here.

The Flames headed into game six of their seven game road trip trying to avoid their ninth consecutive defeat in Detroit. And for a good thirty minutes it looked like it would be. The shot-on-target count in the first period was a Flames franchise record 28-4 in Detroit's favour, largely due to a procession of Flames to the penalty box. Coinciding with (having seen the replay) a ridiculous major boarding penalty to Dion Phaneuf, the Flames then lost three other players to minor penalties. This resulted in a 4:45 5-on-3 which Detroit amazingly didn't score from, but did score on the 5-on-4 seconds later. Even so, the procession to the penalty box continued in the second period, and after nearly 40 minutes the Flames were down 4-1.

Detroit are the reigning Stanley Cup champions; it's like being 3-0 down to Man Utd after an hour. A little hope for the Flames came after fit-again Daymond Langkow tipped one in at the end of the period. But going into the last 4 minutes, chaos ensued. Jamie Lundmark, impressive since called up from the AHL, bundled one in. Then Olli Jokinen, who had a fine game, tipped one through Conklin's five-hole (between his legs). And then, something which seemed improbable three minutes before; Phaneuf did brilliantly to keep the puck inside the blue line, before Lundmark circled behind the net and flashed a backhand in off the underside of the bar. Crazy. There were still 80 seconds remaining, and with only 30 to go, from only Detroit's second shot of the period, Dan Cleary tipped in through Kiprusoff's five hole.

Cammalleri then hit the bar in overtime, before the dreaded shootout. Datsyuk and Cammalleri traded goals, Zetterberg and Iginla traded misses, Hudler missed before Olli Jokinen languidly sauntered up and lasered one into the top corner. Cue much cheering in these parts, and broken hearts in Vancouver. Just the way I like it.

Macs vs PCs

I'm sure you've seen the adverts starring Mitchell and Webb of Peep Show fame on British TV about the benefits of Macs versus PCs. We have them over here too, but they're much more explicit about saying "PCs are rubbish". I've had to spend several hours in the last couple of days working on one; I have been working with my boss on writing a grant proposal in the last week, and was hit with the professorial edict: "do this on a Mac". For general job security and brownie points, I have had, to use the North American idiom, to suck it up.

I find it intensely annoying the CTRL key doesn't work on a Mac the way it does on a PC. Writing scientifically, and in chemistry in particular, needs constant shifting between subscript/superscript and accessing other keyboard shortcuts you may use (for example not writing out 'dihydroimidazole' every time but using CTRL-D instead). Constantly having to stop in mid flow to find the funny apple key thingmajig is a pain. Also, the myth that Macs don't crash was very plainly not true last week as I crashed one and lost about thirty minutes work. I also couldn't find the autosave in the Mac version of word.

A triumph of style over substance?

The important thing is my part of the proposal - what I have done in the last year, and what the plans are for the next two years - is done. I wrote about six pages of the usual verbose guff, only to then have to prune it severely when I had put a couple of pictures and schemes in. It's very tricky to have to work to specific page limits, and specific document formats. As a consequence, whole paragraphs got deleted, separate sentences were spliced together and contracted with the liberal application of the semi-colon. Some of the punctuation is doubtless a bit ropey now. It's all about selling, and how what you have done is the best thing in the world and how what you are going to do will win the Nobel Prize (or some minor RSC medal at the very least). Fortunately, my last boss is very good at such tasks and has passed on his wisdom. I remember the day I got the first draft of my first journal article back. "Hmm...this might need another draft or two".

Hopefully, to mix some hideous Star Wars metaphor I am Obi-Wan to his Qui-Gon and not Dooku to his Yoda, and that we get the money...

Yet More Tinkering

...on Facebook. Everything has been changed on the wall page again, for the second time in under a year. Can they please leave it alone? The only positive that could possibly come of this is that my commands to block certain 'friends' (whom I hadn't spoken to in at least 10 years and only added out of politeness) on my news feed actually works. Instead of having to listen to a minute-by-minute account of her life and her washing her dirty linen in a very public manner, can I just keep up to date with the people I want to keep up to date with? Here's hoping.

Edit: it does!

Beard Watch

The latest craze doing the rounds in the basement of Science A is the growing of moustaches, or beards at present to be trimmed into moustaches later. What started out as a bit of amusement among a couple of people has now gained momentum to the point of some serious charity fundraising involving the head of department and a good number of the professors.

In the NHL, growing a beard at playoff time is part of the lore of hockey. Apparently, a couple of years ago people started growing similar facial hair in the lab, resulting in several comedy photos of them on facebook. Yours truly has entered almost by default (shaving apathy ruled last week, but someone complemented me on getting in on the act in the pub on Friday....), so I am now considering what sort of creation to make on the day. Safe to say it can't come soon enough seeing as it itches already (and is already at the tri-coloured stage). I am thinking of a suitably hirsuit historical British figure. Suggestions?

All entry funds will go to the Alberta Cancer Foundation for Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer research. Doubtless, comedy photos will follow.

Canniversary

Yes, one year ago today I landed here in Cowtown. It has absolutely flown by, and I'm glad I get to stay a bit longer seeing as work is currently still in an upswing and the winter weather is just starting to ease a little (-11degrees tomorrow is a little reminder that the likelihood of snow won't completely disappear till late May but Spring is at least coming).

I've been racking my brains to try and remember what it was like coming out here. A lot of it has disappeared in a blur. I do remember the flight over here was seemingly over in a flash, despite being more than nine hours long. There were lots of things to think (and worry) about. I keep trying to think of ways to describe the whole Canadian experience and keep coming back to two words: politeness and helpfulness. When I visited friends in Ottawa a couple of years ago, one of my old labmates who worked out there said to me "you will not believe how friendly and helpful people are out here". And he was right. Compared to the hustle and bustle of the UK, with 60 million people crammed into an island not that much bigger than the combined area of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland, everything here is less stressful and more agreeable.

If you even look like you might be crossing a road, the traffic will stop for you, irrespective of how far from a crosswalk you are. If you look confused in a shop, someone will appear at your elbow, as if by magic offering assistance. You are asked without fail "how are you today?" at Safeway, and it's sincerely meant. But the thing that illustrates my point the best occurred one year ago tomorrow. I've kept meaning to tell this story and now seems an appropriate time to do so. I had come into the chemistry department to say hello to the boss, before heading out to do all the things one must do to 'create' yourself from scratch out here; i.e. get Social Insurance Number, open a bank account, apply for Health Insurance and so on.

I'd done the first item on that list and was heading into town to find HSBC. I headed for Banff Trail C-Train station (the one opposite the CFL stadium for those of you that have been to visit) to go into town. For reasons known only to Calgary Transit, their ticket machines don't accept debit/credit cards at all. And of course, having come directly from Heathrow Airport the previous afternoon I only had $50 bills from the foreign exchange. I am standing with a puzzled look on my face, possibly rubbing my temples (as I am prone to do), whereupon a gentleman and his wife ask if there's a problem. I explain I have no change for the machine, and ask could they change a $50. The gentleman gives me the $2.50 and won't accept anything back. He then also gives me his and his wife's phone number in case I need anything (I already have the boss man's cellphone number for the same reason). Once the train arrives, they give me an impromptu audio tour as we head into town, right up until "this is your stop. The bank is round the corner, one block on the right hand side of the street".

I've never seen them since, nor did I ever feel the need to call them. But the memory stuck, and is the best example I can give you about why I like it so much here, and what the people are all about.

Trade Deadline

Today was the trade deadline in the NHL; the last day in the season players can be swapped amongst clubs. No transfer fees exchange hands since all the players contracts are centrally owned by the league rather than the clubs themselves. Clubs must take over the contract of the players they want; if they end up exceeding the salary cap, other players must move out. If you want a star player, you have to send more players (and possible draft picks) back the other way to sweeten the loss of the other side. And rather like the equivalent day in the football calendar back home, everything happens in the last three or four hours before the deadline.

Oddly enough, this season the biggest mover (and undoubtedly the biggest winner) are the Calgary Flames themselves. Calgary have been missing a elite centreman all season, and I woke this morning to the Olli-Jokinen-to-Calgary story again. This trade has been dug up three or four years in a row apparently, but Flames coach Mike Keenan knew Jokinen well from his time as coach and GM in Florida. Today the deal actually happened; from the nearly bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes come Jokinen and a 3rd round pick at the June draft-day. Going the other way are Matt Lombardi, Brandon Prust and a conditional first round pick in either 2009 or 2010. Sad that Lombardi has to leave, he gives his all, is the team's fastest skater by some distance and is an excellent penalty killer. Prust is never more than a 4th-line grinder and can be easily replaced.

Also coming in is defenceman Jordan Leopold from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Lawrence Nycholat (picked up on waivers from Vancouver yesterday), prospect Ryan Wilson, and this summer's second round draft pick. The Flames now have real depth on defence; Adam Pardy, enjoying a fine debut season is now shunted down to 7th or 8th place on the depth chart (generally only six defenders dress for a game), though he will probably still get ice time during the current injury crisis as Jim Vandermeer plays forward. Leopold will probably play on the second powerplay unit. Jokinen adds strength and goalscoring to the centre position, and the teams four centres now (when fit) sort themselves out; Jokinen on the top forward line, Langkow on the second line, Conroy on the third and Dustin Boyd on the fourth. Lundmark can be called up from the AHL where necessary.

Jokinen's signing probably now means no Cammalleri beyond the summer, seeing as Jokinen's $5.25M a year contract takes the Flames perilously close to the salary cap for next season. Yes, Aucoin's $4M a year contract millstone will come off the books, but GM Darryl Sutter has to resign David Moss, Leopold (if he is staying and not a rental player), Todd Bertuzzi and Boyd who are all free agents in the summer. Still, Jokinen's goals replace those of Cammalleri's long term, and Sutter can work his magic on the free agency market again this summer. If the incoming players this summer are anything like the quality of Bourque, Glencross and Cammalleri, then you won't here the Sea (or is it 'C' ? I can never tell) Of Red complaining.

Do these trades elevate the Flames to the elite level of Detroit and San Jose? Possibly not. Still a little weak at back-up goalie, and the current injuries are worrisome. But it makes it very hard to see past the top 4 in the Western Conference to win the Cup itself. Can anyone from the Eastern Conference win a best of 7 against the Wings, Sharks, Flames or Blackhawks? I don't think they can.

It's Finally Here

My new work permit arrived on Friday. When I got home an anonymous brown envelope from Citizenship and Immigration Canada was waiting for me in my mailbox; there was a bit of a nervous moment as I opened it but it was obvious it was a new document rather than a rejection letter by the type of paper it was printed on.

It means that renewing my social insurance number and the continuation of my health insurance is now much less problematic. It also means I (and others) can press ahead with travel arrangements for later in the year safe in the knowledge I won't be having to leave this coming Friday!

News Just In...

...Bradford City Council have finally admitted the huge, ground-zero-esque hole in the ground that is the middle of Bradford city centre is not likely to be filled in anytime soon. If there's a more incompetent city council in the UK (and possibly the known universe) then I'm not aware of them.

This story begins in the early 1960s when the city engineer, Stanley Wardley decided "to heck with all these fine, Victorian buildings, lets pull them all down and build 1960s-brutalist concrete and glass buildings everywhere", turning the city centre into something resembling the middle of Milton Keynes (see here for a less than happy visit). Amazing to think that the city could emerge from World War II relatively unscathed, only for several buildings of architectural note to fall to the whims of a city engineer. Mention the Swan Arcade or the original Kirkgate Market to any Bradfordian over the age of 50 and there may be the odd reminiscence. Similarly, the two railway stations were demolished in the same era, among many other buildings. The development of the city centre continued in such a fashion even into the 2000's with the construction of the hideous, golf-driving range lookalike building opposite City Hall.

The buildings erected in place of these much loved places did not wear very well, and by the 1990s had become something of an eyesore. It was also hard to find tenants to rent out the retail and office space. The council thus decided they would demolish them all, barely 40 years old. Only what has followed since is barely believable, as one delay has followed another, such that the site has now stood vacant for more than four years. The Australian developer has now put the complex on hold citing the credit crunch and a loss of A$2.2 billion for the financial year. Reports of the halt in work in a national Sunday newspaper a month ago were denied outright before the news linked above. It seems that the contract to develop the site is open ended and that no deadline and/or penalty clauses for the development's completion were ever set. I find that staggering.

Equally surprising is the comment from the council redevelopment leader saying "maybe next year when the economy improves". So you think a company loses A$2.2 billion one year and then immediately starts turning a profit again? Naive in the extreme. All the while, ten miles up the road the city of Leeds continues to thrive (though not on the football field, heh) as a financial, legal and shopping centre for the north of england; one which retained most of the same type of historic buildings of note that Bradford demolished. Leeds City Council builds new buildings worthy of comment, for example the building known as 'the Dalek'.

Bradford and Leeds were not so different 20 years ago, both former cities of the industrial revolution that had fallen on hard times due to the collapse of the wool/textile industries that they were founded upon. Why the difference now? Leadership, joined-up thinking and strategic planning taken 20 years ago which is now bearing fruit. The local Bradford newspaper should start holding the people in City Hall to account instead of propagating the spin of the councillors.

As a final demonstration of the bizarre thinking that goes on in the corridor of power, the continuing saga of the old Bradford Odeon. Originally built in the 1930s, there is, in the voids behind false internal walls and suspended ceilings, a concert hall once upon a time capable of holding 3300 people. The building closed in its final guise of a three-screen cinema in 2000. It is one of the few remaining architecturally distinct buildings in the city centre. Here's what it looked like in the 1930s, a venue for concerts, theatre and so on before the shell was divided up in the late 60s. The local community overwhelmingly wants it restored. Does the council? I'll leave you to guess....

Would the last person out please turn off the lights?

Horror Show

Calgary Flames 6-8 Tampa Bay Lightning

It's an often overlooked fact that the owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Oren Koules is one of the producers of the Saw franchise of horror films (Saw is good, Saw 2 has a neat twist at the end, 3 and 4 get increasingly gratuituous and implausible. 5 I haven't seen). Can I say that I'd find hacking off bodily extremities with the titular saw of the original film infinitely preferable to watching such defensive ineptitude from the Flames 82 games a season.

Tonight's game, a rematch of the 2004 Stanley Cup finals, was all about Jarome Iginla and his attempts to become the Flames' all time leading points scorer. He would overtake every Coventry Blaze fan's favourite, Theoren Fleury, who lead the scoring charts with 830 points between 1988-99. I often have to find myself using footballing comparisons to describe hockey and today is no different. If Iginla was a footballer, he would have been someone like Alan Shearer; star forward that often has to carry a team on his back, revered among the fans, team captain, and so on. Coming into tonights game Iginla was on 829 points and we suspected that the points would come tonight seeing as the last meeting between the sides last season resulted in a 9-6 Calgary win in Tampa.

Two goals and three assists later he has broken the points record, and should really be celebrating a win; scoring six times at home means you should win 99 times out of 100, especially after being 4-2 ahead with 5 minutes to play in the second period. But as so often this season, the next shift after the fourth goal resulted in another goal against. Defensively tonight, the Flames were horrible. To concede eight goals to the 3rd-last ranked team in the NHL would doubtless have precipitated a bag skate tomorrow were it not for the fact that they are heading to Ottawa for the first game of a 7-match road trip.

Lecavalier and St. Louis ran amok, and Mark Recchi bagged 5 assists. There was a worrying lack of intensity all round from the Flames point of view, doubtless from complacence through playing such a lowly team. The Flames are also suffering through injuries at the moment; Bourque, Langkow, Giordano, Roy and Prust are all missing at present. Three of the lineup came from the AHL affiliate and did OK. Regehr and Kiprusoff who could reasonably be expected to backstop such younger, inexperienced members of the team did not.

Kiprusoff was replaced for the third period; in hindsight a mistake as virtually the first shot Curtis McElhinney faced yielded a huge fat rebound for Tampa to make it 6-5. Tampa scored 3 goals on the powerplay, having come into the game ranked 19th of 30, compared to the Flames 3rd of 30 on the penalty kill. A very very bad day at the office. The last two meetings between these two sides have now yielded twenty-nine goals. Here's hoping Ottawa's wobbly goaltending situation carries on on Tuesday...