tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70694836850822280782024-03-05T18:35:14.471-08:00McBlawgBeing the person that I am, I treat my areas of interest very seriously and my Politicians with a *pinch of salt*.
This blog have a Scottish theme from time to time - I wonder why.
"They may take away our lives - but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!"
said my late Uncle William !!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.comBlogger218125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-50303921518910226782012-07-21T03:15:00.001-07:002012-07-21T03:15:43.009-07:00The Making of PeerJ<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 19px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So, as of 12th June 2012, a blue long-tailed primate was finally out of the rucksack with regards to the newest and potentially next ground breaking Open Access Publishing Company/Industry, </span><a href="http://peerj.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 19px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">PeerJ.</span></a><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">With hindsight, let’s step back in time to 2009 when an early seed </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(may have been planted) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">for what turned out to be PeerJ was finally announced in May 2012.</span><br />
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<a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/files/2012/06/PeerJ-Co-Founders.jpg"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Pete Binfield & Jason Hoyt </span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Co-Founders of PeerJ, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pete Binfield </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(Publisher) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Jason Hoyt </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(CEO)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> first met in August 2009 for an episode </span><a href="http://blogs.plos.org/everyone/2009/08/31/plos-on-internet-tv-open-access-and-scientific-publishing/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">(episode 14 to be precise)</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> of Dr Kiki’s most excellent </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Week_in_Science"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">This Week in Science show</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. The full episode was online at the original source </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(I know because I watched it a couple of times)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, it’s probably on the web somewhere although there is a short section of it </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNueTbzp94s"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">here</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> on YouTube and there is also </span><a href="http://youtu.be/P1t-5Czllxk"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">this rather cool mash-up version</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> also on YouTube.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">During the process of writing up this post, I noted that in 2009, I downloaded the video from the original source and </span><a href="https://vimeo.com/6315514"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">uploaded it</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to my account on Vimeo. Here is episode 14 in full, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: line-through; vertical-align: baseline;">farts</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> warts and all. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s a great watch.</span><br />
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/6315514">PLoS & Mendeley live on the Web! Science Hour with Leo Laporte & Dr. Kiki</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/grahamsteel">Graham Steel</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s probably fair to say </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(understatement)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> that at that time, the pair of them didn’t exactly “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">sit down and plan a new venture” </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">together back then !! Based upon the Dr Kiki show however, it was clear that they got on really well and Jason touched upon the show</span><a href="http://blog.mendeley.com/open-access/an-interview-with-the-founders-of-peerj-an-innovative-new-academic-publishing-startup/feed"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: purple; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">in this interview</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> he recently did with Mendeley’s William Gunn:-</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“We first met when I was living in San Francisco and working for Mendeley (whilst Pete was working for PLoS) and our first real interaction was when we appeared together on</span><a href="http://www.twis.org/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">TWiS</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (This Week in Science) with Kiki Sanford in 2009. Bootleg</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNueTbzp94s"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">copies of that appearance</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> can still be found, and Kiki plans on interviewing us again later in June to follow up with us”.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://twit.tv/show/dr-kikis-science-hour/149">The follow-up was broadcast on 28th June</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Jason continues:-</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“The idea really dates back to my graduate school days. PLoS didn’t exist when I started grad school and I was shocked at the “sticker price” for publishing with existing subscription journals. They really aren’t all free to authors if you start including very high charges for color images, page limits, etc. When OA and PLoS did arrive, I thought it was great, but that we could still do better. When I decided to leave Mendeley to start something new I said, “Screw it. Everyone seems to be waiting around for either the government or publishers to drop costs, so why not just do it and see what happens?” The world shouldn’t have to wait any longer than is necessary.” </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Whilst I had had contact with Jason and Pete by then namely through social media, whilst I had met Jason, I didn’t meet Pete until mid 2010. I found out he was due in Scotland to speak at an event and asked if it would be possible to meet up. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Sure, contact me nearer the time”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> or words to that effectuate.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">did</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> meet and conversed in a bar in Edinburgh for a couple of hours and had a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“belter of a blether”.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://api.ning.com/files/V-TlbiK4VkvZJ7OrIxXVTe0IB4-rhwtksw04s94tG80WCnEHuJLTkHrv3ffVEdVJGbJLds0OW8fBjQ-TbbxSmd*g0MHbyPtd/EDIN20102copy.jpg?width=737&height=552">Graham Steel & Pete Binfield</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On September 16th 2011, Pete gave a short talk entitled </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“The Transformation of Academic Publishing”.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Slides </span><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/PBinfield/med-20-talk-pete-binfield-for-slideshare"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">here</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> on SlideShare and video below on YouTube.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The first mention of PeerJ & Pete appeared </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: line-through; vertical-align: baseline;">out of the deep blue sea</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> on Twitter on May 8th via </span><a href="https://twitter.com/catmacoa/status/199907258128277505"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">this tweet </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">from Catriona MacCallum of PLoS Biology:-</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“</span><a href="https://twitter.com/p_binfield"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">@</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">p_binfield</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> leaves</span><a href="https://twitter.com/PLoSONE"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">@</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">PLoSONE</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to co-found new</span><a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23OA"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">#</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">OA</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> publishing company</span><a href="http://t.co/CoXf0OeP"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 3px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">peerj.com</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 3px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - sad for PLoS but more evidence that OA unstoppable”.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 19px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I STRESS TO ADD THAT I DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ANY OF THIS (PeerJ) UNTIL IT HAPPENED</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One was the first however to share it but, I wanted to make sure that the news was indeed factually correct. As such, I tweeted Catriona who tweeted back with</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> "@McDawg yes, it's official !" </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cue </span><a href="http://friendfeed.com/steelgraham/2b727fc2/breaking-peter-binfield-leaves-plos-one"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">this thread </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">on FriendFeed.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">About 40 minutes later, PLoS released </span><a href="http://blogs.plos.org/plos/2012/05/publisher-of-plos-one-moves-to-new-open-access-initiativ/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+plos%2Fblogs%2Fmain+%28Blogs+-+Main%29"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">this official statement.</span></a><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Blimey, so Pete Binfield </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">was </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">indeed leaving PLoS ONE after all. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">WOW</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. I was certainly not the only one who had their breath taken away. Cue this section of a blog post by </span><a href="http://scienceboxen.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/blogfather-interview-with-bora-zivkovic.html"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">The Blogfather </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Bora Zivkovic from his</span><a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/a-blog-around-the-clock/2012/06/12/new-and-exciting-kid-on-the-block-peerj"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: purple; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">recent post</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> about PeerJ:-</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I am sure I was just one of many who was taken completely by surprise by the</span><a href="http://blogs.plos.org/plos/2012/05/publisher-of-plos-one-moves-to-new-open-access-initiativ/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">announcement</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> that Pete is leaving PLoS</span><a href="http://blogs.plos.org/everyone/2012/05/18/plos-one-a-personal-farewell/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">to start a new project</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. His partner in this project is</span><a href="http://blog.coturnix.org/2010/05/17/scienceonline2010_-_interview_44/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Jason Hoyt</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, up till now Chief Scientist and VP of R&D of Mendeley, also a ScienceOnline veteran”. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">During that time period, someone I know online tweeted that a certain Jason Hoyt was the other Co-Founder of PeerJ. Another </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">WOW</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. I wanted to know how they knew as there was nothing on the web at that time </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(that I could find)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to verify this. My friend from Japan </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(oops, there’s a small clue) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">had spotted that on </span><a href="http://uk.linkedin.com/in/jjhoyt"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Jason’s Linkedin Profile</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, it stated clearly that he was part of PeerJ. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On May 18th, on his last day at PLoS, Pete </span><a href="http://blogs.plos.org/everyone/2012/05/18/plos-one-a-personal-farewell/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">posted this farewell message</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> on the PLoS ONE blog.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Until 12th June, there was no real </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“devil in the detail”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> about PeerJ and I for one was not going to speculate. Others did. Surprise surprise, those </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“lovely”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> folks at </span><a href="http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">The Scholarly Kitchen</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> ripped </span><a href="http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2012/05/22/the-risks-of-launching-a-new-services-business-branding-cash-flow-and-the-fraught-start-of-peerj/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">PeerJ apart</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">EVEN BEFORE </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">anyone knew the details. This again shows them for their true colours, IMO.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And so it came to pass that June 12th was the official launch date for PeerJ. News spread fast </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(as one can imagine)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span><br />
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<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/107449381177524115065/posts/BKpn5hYX1VV"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">I started this thread </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">on Google Plus (G+)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">John Dupuis created </span><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2012/06/13/around-the-web-peerj-orama-why-twitter-matters-using-twitter-in-university-research-teaching-and-impact-activities-and-more/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">this linkfest</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Bora Zivkovic created </span><a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/a-blog-around-the-clock/2012/06/12/new-and-exciting-kid-on-the-block-peerj/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">this one</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">John then posted </span><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2012/06/13/around-the-web-peerj-orama-why-twitter-matters-using-twitter-in-university-research-teaching-and-impact-activities-and-more/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">another one</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Finally, PeerJ themselves created </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://blog.peerj.com/post/24981629979/peerj-linkfest">this one</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">During that period, the blog posts started coming </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(contained within links above)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Given the fact there has already been so much coverage, I’m not going into much detail here.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">To me however, this is a significant milestone not only in Open Access publishing, but </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">STM publishing generally</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. We don’t currently know, as it’s far too early, but if the business model deployed by PeerJ works </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(as the Co-Founders and indeed no doubt Tim O’Reilly who is on the PeerJ Board and has bankrolled out PeerJ),</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> this will be a remarkable achievement. If it works, it clearly will have ramifications for other publishers.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">RT </span><a href="https://twitter.com/jasonHoyt"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">@jasonHoyt</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> So</span><a href="http://yfrog.com/user/p_binfield/profile"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">@p_binfield</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">'s 5yr-old drew our new</span><a href="http://yfrog.com/user/thePeerJ/profile"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">@thePeerJ</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> logo. FTW </span><a href="http://t.co/L3z2mLQx"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 3px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">yfrog.com/g04orxkj</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/McDawg"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">@</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">McDawg</span></a><a href="https://twitter.com/iainh_z"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">@</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">iainh_z</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Yes, the message is "we are not the same as every other publisher and that is a good thing" </span><a href="https://twitter.com/thePeerJ/status/213617630840487936"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">A tweet</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> from </span><a href="https://twitter.com/thePeerJ"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">@thePeerJ</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">During the process of writing this post, I emailed Pete and Jason and asked if they would consider answering two short questions about PeerJ to be included in this post:-</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">1) It was pleasing to see all of the mentions of the launch of PeerJ via social networking sites and also blog coverage. What is your own take on the reaction/feedback received post launch?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">JASON</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“It's been overwhelmingly positive. No one out there is a fan of the current situation, so they seem to be extremely happy that a credible set of people is taking aim at freeing research. And most people who I've spoken with seem to understand the need to try out new models within Open Access. There is still a lot of innovation (both the business model and technical) to be had in OA, a relatively young science communication philosophy. Although we of course hope that PeerJ succeeds, we also view it a success if OA as a whole is pushed further. Pete, Tim, and I have personal motivations beyond PeerJ to see science become more open”.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">2) What are the short, medium and long terms goals of PeerJ</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">JASON </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“We are looking to open for submissions in September. We'll spend a little longer than usual getting our first publications out in order to ensure it is done well for everyone involved. So, we aim to first publish before the end of the year, and thereafter work to have one of the fastest, yet thoroughly peer-reviewed, turnarounds from submit & publish in the industry. It's not enough to be open; scientific communication needs to be rapid as well”.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is also why we've introduced PeerJ PrePrints, to act as an even more rapid vehicle of dissemination amongst peers (either privately or more publicly). It's an optional, non peer-reviewed 'preprint' similar to what physicists have with arXiv. There is no waiting time for getting your manuscript into preprint. We believe that bio and medical communities will start to embrace such preprints once they recognize the valuable feedback it provides, in addition to being able to stake a claim long before the peer-reviewed formal publication is ready. You can then submit for peer-review, either with PeerJ or another journal, once you're ready”.</span></div>
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The report itself is 140 pages long and is a complex document. I've only skimmed through it but there are some good blog posts about it already on the web. See <a href="http://occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2012/06/18/the-finch-report-on-open-access/">this</a>, <a href="http://cameronneylon.net/blog/first-thoughts-on-the-finch-report-good-steps-but-missed-opportunities/">this</a>, and <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21937-set-science-free-from-publishers-paywalls.html?full=true">this</a> for starters. </div>
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I've been following events unfold namely under <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/search/realtime/%23finchreport">#finchreport</a> on Twitter.</div>
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One bit of it that I certainly gets my beef is as follows.</div>
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Around four weeks ago, <span class="st">the UK's Minister of State for Universities and Science</span>, David Willetts gave a speech in which he mentioned the following.</div>
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One measure that was being explored by The Finch Working Group was to work with Traditional Publishers to "provide" access to scientific research via the internet (I assume) in Public Libraries. The only sense in which this makes sense to me, is for people who are looking for this material but do not have internet access. Now I don't know what percentage of the UK population do not have internet access but as a guess, I would say probably well under 10%. But for those people and those people alone, I guess this should be welcomed.</div>
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For everyone else who does have internet access, let's see how this would work.</div>
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If you are looking for peer reviewed scientific literature that <b>is</b> Open Access, one click and you've got it. In most cases, there are not many restrictions as to what you can do with it. <b>AMEN. </b></div>
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If you are looking for peer reviewed scientific literature that <b>is not</b> Open Access, off to a Public Library ??? <b>In 2012 ??????</b></div>
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So if I was to do this for example, 30 minute walk to get there. I don't have an account anymore, so would need to get one set up and from memory<b>,</b> it doesn't kick in on the day. 30 minute walk back home.<b> </b>Do it again, account has been activated, try to find what I'm looking for. Then what? Maybe see if I can print it out? What if I want 10 or so PDF's?? Then walk back home. That's two hours already.</div>
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<b>Or one click if it was Open in the first place !!!</b></h2>
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I was hoping that this IDEA would be dropped but according to Willett's <a href="http://news.bis.gov.uk/Press-Releases/David-Willetts-comments-on-the-Finch-Group-report-on-expanding-access-to-published-research-findings-67b77.aspx">today</a>, he supports it:- <b><i>"...making peer-reviewed journals available for free at public libraries would foster innovation..." </i></b></div>
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I immediately <a href="https://twitter.com/McDawg/status/215093404609167360">voiced my disapproval</a> on Twitter. <b><i></i></b></div>
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Back in 2007, "weblebrity" Ben Goldacre voiced his own concern about a very similar situation.</div>
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<i>"The Colloquium was a fascinating day – the many highlights included <a href="http://www.biomedcentral.com/mediafiles/oacolloquium/bengoldacre.mp3">Ben Goldacre</a> discussing why taking the London Underground to get to a public library is not his idea of an information superhighway".</i></div>
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<b><i><a href="http://www.biomedcentral.com/mediafiles/oacolloquium/bengoldacre.mp3">BEN GOLDACRE MP3</a></i></b></div>
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Go check it out...... <b><i><br /></i></b></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-47162301819954272902012-06-17T07:28:00.001-07:002012-06-17T07:28:51.159-07:00Doing Science in the Open<iframe width="460" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/z8rpu-mAQD8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Published on Jun 14, 2012 by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/OIIOxford">OIIOxford</a><br />
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"Michael Nielsen (author and an advocate of open science) discusses open science at a seminar given at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford.<br />
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Michael begins his talk by describing the Polymath Project, an ongoing experiment in "massively collaborative" mathematical problem solving. By combining the best ideas of many minds from all over the world through the use of online tools, the Polymath Project has made breakthroughs on important mathematical problems.<br />
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But this is much more than just solving a few mathematical problems. Rather, this project suggests that online tools can be used to transform the way we humans work together to make scientific discoveries. Online tools can be used to amplify our collective intelligence, in much the same way as for millenia physical tools have been used to amplify our strength. This has the potential to accelerate scientific discovery across all disciplines.<br />
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However, there is a major catch. Scientists have for the most part been extremely conservative in how they use the net, often using it for little more than email and passive web browsing. Projects like Polymath are the exception not the rule. Michael will discuss why this conservatism is so common, why it is so damaging, and how we can move to a more open scientific culture".Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-49887859135174114582010-08-27T11:17:00.000-07:002010-08-27T11:28:21.085-07:00California considers legalising cannabis<object id="flashObj" width="370" height="260" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=596578571001&playerID=69900095001&playerKey=AQ%2E%2E,AAAAAEabvr4%2E,Wtd2HT-p_VhJQ6tgdykx3j23oh1YN-2U&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=596578571001&playerID=69900095001&playerKey=AQ%2E%2E,AAAAAEabvr4%2E,Wtd2HT-p_VhJQ6tgdykx3j23oh1YN-2U&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="370" height="260" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" swLiveConnect="true" allowScriptAccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/americas/california+considers+legalising+cannabis/3753677">SOURCE - Channel 4 News 26th Aug 2010</a><br /><br />Only heard about this this afternoon at work from a comment from someone.<br /><br />The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_California">Cannabis in California wiki page</a> is pretty detailed.<br /><br />Hhmm <span style="font-style:italic;">"....The same is not true of marijuana. It is cheap and easy to grow your own and any change in the law would allow individuals to grow as much as 25 square feet of marijuana for personal use. Will people really pay VAT on homegrown"?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-58365343463226270812010-07-15T08:57:00.000-07:002010-07-17T08:33:57.197-07:00The Cost of Open Access ?<span style="font-weight:bold;">++All of the information that follows is already in the public domain other than a few anecdotes from myself today++</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4743228248_38390f5a26.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 342px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4743228248_38390f5a26.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwezzi/4743228248/in/pool-gu_adayinthelife">(Sourced from Flickr)</a><br /><br />The last time I visited the University of Glasgow, I was 16/17 years of age when my first band played their first 'proper' gig there in the Student's Union Bar during freshers week.<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />(May I throw in this pic of my brother, Richard from with the 'Biotechies' in TBS (Technology and Business Studies) year of '88 at Strathclyde University? I think I can) !! </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3530/3858448507_15ec0703a5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 357px; height: 500px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3530/3858448507_15ec0703a5.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7914713@N05/3858448507/">(Unrelatedly uploaded and sourced from Flickr)</a><br /><br />My second visit was today at the Sir Charles Wilson Building which is directly opposite the above <span style="font-style:italic;">(building, not photos)</span>. !!<br /><br />The reason for returning was to attend <a href="http://crc.nottingham.ac.uk/events/index.php?page=Glasgow-2010-07-15/index.php">the first</a> of four UK workshops organised by the <a href="http://crc.nottingham.ac.uk/index.php">Centre for Research Communications (CRC), University of Nottingham</a> and Alma Swan of <a href="http://www.keyperspectives.co.uk/">Key Perspectives</a>. I enquired from the onset <span style="font-style:italic;">(of today)</span> if it would be OK to tweeet during the event. Given that these events will be collating brand new unpublished data, the answer was no. Fair enough. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3355/3668124167_4aae2cfc85.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 68px; height: 68px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3355/3668124167_4aae2cfc85.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/24801682@N08/3668124167/">(Sourced from Flickr)</a><br /><br />At the end, I asked if it would be OK to blog about it, no problem although for the reason mentioned, those present won't be able to go into finite detail.<br /><br />---<br /><br />Great information pack I have to say. Loads of good stuff in there that I haven't had a chance to properly read, but from a 'scan over' this is goooood.<br /><br />EG <a href="http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/programmerelated/2010/howtoopenaccess.aspx">How to build a case for university policies and practices in support of Open Access</a> - JISC 2010<br /><br />The format for this one was intense but informal/relaxed, which was nice.<br /><br />A brief Welcome/Introduction by <a href="http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~uazjwh/">Bill Hubbard, Director of the CRC</a>. <br /><br />Next up was a really excellent PPT talk/presentation by <a href="http://www.gla.ac.uk/stafflist/?action=person&id=4cdeefe48397203c98f3">Susan Ashworth, Library Assistant Director, University of Glasgow</a> entitled:- <span style="font-weight:bold;">"Implementing Open Access"</span>. <span style="font-style:italic;">(note, must contact Susan to see if this one can be archived on the web). </span><br /><br />Took some notes though ;-)<br /><br />Now it was time to get ours brains really into gear with Alma's <span style="font-weight:bold;">"the economic model: introduction and practical session".</span><br /><br />The primer to all of this was <a href="http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/reports/2009/economicpublishingmodelsfinalreport.aspx">The Houghton Report</a> (2007) published in January 2009.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://crc.nottingham.ac.uk/events/DisseminatingResults-2010/images/HoughtonReportCover.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 191px; height: 268px;" src="http://crc.nottingham.ac.uk/events/DisseminatingResults-2010/images/HoughtonReportCover.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />From the blurb <a href="http://crc.nottingham.ac.uk/events/index.php?page=DisseminatingResults-2010/index.php">here</a>:- <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">"The cost of open access?<br /><br />Disseminating the results of scholarly research through open access may benefit your institution - but what would it cost?<br /><br />We'd like to invite you to an event that will help you find out.<br /><br />Your VC or PVC for Research may be planning to attend an event on June 15 at Woburn House in London organised by Universities UK and JISC, where evidence will be presented on the business case for open access publishing and repositories. The Houghton Report last year identified significant sectoral savings (over £200M pa) possible from the adoption of Open Access, but it was not clear of the implications for individual institutions. What is the balance of cost and benefit for research-led institutions? does the size of an institution alter the projections? Consultant Alma Swan, from Key Perspectives Ltd, will be introducing an economic model at this event to help individual institutions identify the costs and savings involved.<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">To discover how the figures work out for your own particular institution, you would be very welcome at one of our four regional follow-up events. These workshops are aimed at Research Support Offices and financial modellers, who are asked to collect certain data to bring with them to build their own customised models. All data used will be kept confidential to each institutional delegate".</span><br /><br />At the event in Glasgow today, we split ourselves into three groups:-<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">University of Glasgow</span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">University of Nottingham </span><span style="font-style:italic;">(plus muggins)</span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">University of Edinburgh</span><br /><br />Nice lunch was provided for all and before we knew it, back into the nitty gritty.<br /><br />Cutting a two hour-ish story short, by the end, all three 'groups' came up with differing results as one might expect, but <span style="font-style:italic;">(I think)</span> I am allowed to say that these were indicative that <span style="font-style:italic;">(and I'm watching what I'm saying)</span> whilst I know it's a cliche, <span style="font-style:italic;">'the times are a changin'. </span> <br /><br />During the whole process, we ironed out some wee minor niggles in the enhanced version of the model used in the Houghton Report which will make the next three events run even more smoothly than this one, great as it was.<br /><br />Despite my layman status, this was a really worthwhile event to have attended and I think that I am allowed to say that this will cause a 'ripple effect' at least in Scotland so far. But this gig (three more) only started this afternoon !!!<br /><br />So, to conclude. The CRC are holding/hosting three more of these events in the coming weeks in London, Birmingham and Leeds. If you are at all interested in any of this, please do make contact with the folks in charge and consider attending these free of charge events. <br /><br /> * Glasgow - 15th July - <a href="http://crc.nottingham.ac.uk/events/index.php?page=Glasgow-2010-07-15">Booking & Programme >></a> <span style="font-weight:bold;">(COMPLETED)</span><br /> * London - 21st July - <a href="http://crc.nottingham.ac.uk/events/index.php?page=London-2010-07-21">Booking & Programme >></a><br /> * Birmingham - 23rd July - <a href="http://crc.nottingham.ac.uk/events/index.php?page=Birmingham-2010-07-23">Booking & Programme >></a><br /> * Leeds - 29th July - <a href="http://crc.nottingham.ac.uk/events/index.php?page=Leeds-2010-07-29">Booking & Programme >></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Contact</span><br /><br />For further information on these events, please contact Mandy Hodgson (email: <a href="amanda.hodgson@nottingham.ac.uk">amanda.hodgson@nottingham.ac.uk</a>, phone: 0115 84 68601).Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-75289301836465650712010-07-10T09:53:00.000-07:002010-07-10T12:49:10.589-07:00Oh Paul, you seriously fucked up this time.Like a substantial number of folks in the UK, I was following the dramatic events as they unfolded during the eventual capture of <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/10585521.stm">man-on-the-run, Raoul Moat</a> last night.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Northumbria_Police_manhunt">2010 Northumbria Police manhunt - Wikipedia</a> <br /><br />The stand-off between mister Mooot and Northumbria Police <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01676/police-rothbury_1676451c.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 460px; height: 288px;" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01676/police-rothbury_1676451c.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />continued way beyond midnight and other than those who continued to follow the mainstream media/<a href="http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23moat">Twitter coverage</a> into the night, I awoke this morning and switched on teh interwebz for an update.<br /><br />What <a href="http://twitter.com/McDawg/status/18141329457">didn't surprise me</a> was that Mister Mooot had <span style="font-style:italic;">allegedly</span> turned his gun on himself. <br /><br />As armed Police and trained negotiators allegedly attempted to, well, negotiate the peaceful arrest of said Mr Moat, in an utterly bizarre twist <span style="font-style:italic;">(which I did not believe at first)</span>, it would appear that ex-England/Newcastle United/Glasgow Rangers/Lazio/Sunderland soccer legend, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gascoigne">Mr Paul Gascgoine</a> <span style="font-style:italic;">(now known even more for all the wrong reasons)</span> appeared in person at the scene of the stand-off in an <span style="font-style:italic;">allegedly</span> drunken state.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/gazza2%20copy.jpg?w=b9996874"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 357px;" src="https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/gazza2%20copy.jpg?w=b9996874" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />From The Sun:- <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3048989/Gazza-brings-Moat-chicken.html">Gazza brings Moat chicken</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"Gascoigne - who had apparently come by taxi from Newcastle - said he had brought the wanted man a "can of lager, some chicken, a mobile phone and something to keep warm".</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br /><br />"But Gazza's agent Kenny Shepherd reacted with disbelief on being told the troubled star had turned up in Rothbury, saying: "He's doing what? I am sitting having an evening meal in Majorca. I'm speechless."</span><br /><br />How I long for the Paul Gascoigne <span style="font-style:italic;">et al</span> at his best, but this is surely his worst to date - and that is saying something.<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1ZHnWpLQtyo&hl=en_GB&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1ZHnWpLQtyo&hl=en_GB&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CURRENT GAZZA</span><br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SIXhaWJArQA&hl=en_GB&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SIXhaWJArQA&hl=en_GB&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">THE BRILLIANT GAZZA</span><br /><br />---<br /><br />Unrelated <span style="font-style:italic;">(in part)</span> <a href="http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100709012756AA9k3OJ">Does Temporary Chief Constable Sue Sim need a make over?</a><br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/McDawg/status/18133478556">I think so</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.virginmedia.com/images/puppets-terrahawks-290x400.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 290px; height: 400px;" src="http://www.virginmedia.com/images/puppets-terrahawks-290x400.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">'The Daily Fail on Friday likens her to Alice from 'Vicar of Dibley' and Maggie Thatcher's spitting image puppet. I'm an ex senior detective of 30 years service and her and her partner make me cringe every time I see them ' Mister Mooot'. For goodness sake, send in the Ghurkas they'll find him'.</span> <a href="http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/my/profile;_ylt=Ajx5XwtirfDB5_UDSC6XhaY.LxV.;_ylv=3?show=fy9ZNnOraa">says John</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-4496097464092671252010-06-21T10:12:00.000-07:002010-06-21T10:27:27.269-07:00People collect the weirdest things - Part 2.87<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2010/06/20/article-1277069079712-0A1E96ED000005DC-763245_636x324.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 636px; height: 324px;" src="http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2010/06/20/article-1277069079712-0A1E96ED000005DC-763245_636x324.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Spotted on <a href="http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/831924-ive-plotted-my-life-with-32-000-teabags-says-patti-gaal-holmes">page 3 of today's Metro</a>, is the somewhat bizzare case of 44 year old mother-of-three Patti Gaal-Holmes from Wales, UK who has spent the last 11 years "collecting" 32,000 used tea-bags. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">WTF !!</span><br /><br />Alas, it gets even worse:-<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />"She then numbers the bag and sometimes notes down who she drank the tea with and anything interesting they discussed".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">OMFG !!</span><br /><br />Oh noes, it gets beyond really weird:-<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"She even fishes teabags out of the bin to put in a special box she carries if she is enjoying a cup with a friend who is unaware of her craving".</span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />FAINTS.....</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-58910790751138145122010-06-16T12:22:00.000-07:002010-06-16T12:55:06.300-07:00PLoS Moves Up (yet) Another Gear<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNcPHZZZJK3vIpdj4mMj_HdRdS_df-zfTTRcUgtnhHLNe_K5b6gTkAJIAa6v1piBmfoGZun40UrZNmNT_2M3iuRYN-DAiRkHUVjaG09cfrtC-gJGCl_rF1dPMuFAl8y0fFWU4j6qtkIl6_/s1600/pone_etoc_logo.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 85px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNcPHZZZJK3vIpdj4mMj_HdRdS_df-zfTTRcUgtnhHLNe_K5b6gTkAJIAa6v1piBmfoGZun40UrZNmNT_2M3iuRYN-DAiRkHUVjaG09cfrtC-gJGCl_rF1dPMuFAl8y0fFWU4j6qtkIl6_/s320/pone_etoc_logo.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483459592732296354" /></a><br /><br />As of today, it has now been announced >> <span style="font-weight:bold;">(in writing)</span> << in the public domain that this year, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/home.action">PLoS ONE</a>, is <span style="font-weight:bold;">"soon to become the world's largest <span style="font-style:italic;">(STM - Ed)</span> journal"<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.plos.org/cms/node/532">In part</a>, here's the word on the webz from PLoS:-<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"We need to move because we've simply outgrown our existing location. With the rapid growth of PLoS ONE (soon to become the word's largest journal) and the increasing volume of articles sent to PLoS <a href="http://www.arl.org/sparc/publications/an-open-access-mandate-fo.shtml">following the NIH mandate</a> (with hopefully more to come if <a href="http://www.arl.org/sparc/advocacy/frpaa/index.shtml">the Federal Research Public Access Act becomes law</a>), we need to get ready to expand even more".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">As a layperson who is totally supportive of Open Science related issues, this is a most welcome development on many levels.</span><br /><br /><br /><object width="500" height="405"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mBmsLHa83vo&hl=en_GB&fs=1&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mBmsLHa83vo&hl=en_GB&fs=1&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="440" height="405"></embed></object>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-32751639424422711772010-06-07T09:42:00.000-07:002010-06-08T11:43:42.361-07:00Song Level Metrics - An IntroductionSo, what does Song Level Metrics (SLM's) actually mean??<br /><br />Let me try to explain.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2658/3929622080_6796d61728.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 337px; height: 202px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2658/3929622080_6796d61728.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Image from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14829735@N00/3929622080">here</a> on Flickr</span><br /><br /><br /><br />Ive been interested in some of <span style="font-style:italic;">(what I consider to be)</span> the cross-overs between music and scientific publishing <a href="http://mcblawg.blogspot.com/2008/07/interview-graham-steel.html">since 2007</a>.<br /><br />In terms of scientific publishing, in an attempt to move away from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_factor#Criticisms">much criticised</a> Journal <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_factor">"Impact Factor"</a>, in March 2009, <a href="http://www.plos.org/">The Public Library Of Science</a> introduced <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_factor#Article_Level_Metrics">Article Level Metrics</a> (ALM's) on <a href="http://www.plosone.org/static/almInfo.action">every article in all of their titles</a>.<br /><br />For some time, I've been meaning to blog something in detail about SLM's but I simply haven't got round to doing so. I did however recently <span style="font-style:italic;">(briefly)</span> discuss ALM's and SLM's <a href="http://twitter.com/p_binfield/status/12166402753">during an informal</a> with <a href="http://twitter.com/p_binfield">PLoS ONE's Peter Binfield</a>. <br /><br />As such, let's kick things off <span style="font-style:italic;">(in terms of SLM's)</span> with an introduction AND case in point from today.<br /><br />--<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://faceintheblue.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/simpsonsabbey.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 412px; height: 280px;" src="http://faceintheblue.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/simpsonsabbey.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Image sourced <a href="http://faceintheblue.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/awesome-pictures-the-simpsons-do-abbey-road/">from here</a>. </span><br /><br />What prompted me to write this post was a conversation with someone at work today. Unbeknown to me, the individual is also a musician so we had a quick chat about our muso activities. <br /><br />I was informed by this chap that he and his band had recently frequented the prestigious <a href="http://www.abbeyroad.com/">Abbey Road Studios</a> in London to record a few tracks. Photographic evidence <span style="font-style:italic;">(from a PC)</span> was supplied <span style="font-style:italic;">(of being there)</span> but so far, mastering of the music is incomplete so he was unable to share what might be classed as unpublished data. As such, this was a <span style="font-style:italic;">"personal communication"</span>.<br /><br />So without being privy to this unpublished <span style="font-style:italic;">(musical)</span> material, do I <span style="font-style:italic;">(as he alluded to)</span> judge this work based upon the <span style="font-weight:bold;">"Impact Factor"</span> of where it was recorded <span style="font-style:italic;">(let's compare this to where a scientific Manuscript was published)</span> or do I judge the material in it's own right?<br /><br />I really do look forward to listening to the material to make up my own mind. <span style="font-style:italic;">(16 mic's alone on his drum kit! Sounds good. Max I managed was 8).</span><br /><br />When I asked if he/they would be uploading this stuff to the web, I was met bit a rather blank face. Anyway....<br /><br />--<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Ht-k7spZ2cXD9BoUk88xHlKAu88Vlwr1PVSBLu081Aigy89zdyHU0bOUPRUFiPp2zKBqgEI1R8tXQWNolP-eH4zdZc76-ayvKOUcQsema23LTyBNz89J3z4D2T7q_dtJ7mZUOBvfnSMq/s1600/mj_header_1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 284px; height: 68px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Ht-k7spZ2cXD9BoUk88xHlKAu88Vlwr1PVSBLu081Aigy89zdyHU0bOUPRUFiPp2zKBqgEI1R8tXQWNolP-eH4zdZc76-ayvKOUcQsema23LTyBNz89J3z4D2T7q_dtJ7mZUOBvfnSMq/s320/mj_header_1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480089086824389266" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"MacJams is an online studio where musicians congregate, collaborate and critique each other for the betterment of their music and skills as musicians"</span>. <a href="http://macjams.com/signup/">Join us today, for FREE</a>.<br /><br />One then rapidly proceeded to show this guy where anyone could <a href="http://www.macjams.com/artist/steck">access all of the material</a> that I have produced/co-produced. It then re-occured to me that since SLM's are also built into that platform that this conversation was a good grass roots example <span style="font-style:italic;">(in musical terms)</span> of "Impact Factor" v's SLM's.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">I should add that MacJams is simply one "Repository". Most people these days upload their stuff to web using a multitude of parking sites, also for free. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">To be continued.....</span><br /><br />My point I guess is simple. Get your material out there to the masses as widely and openly as possible and let them judge/comment/share/annotate etc. etc. <br /><br />And now, <a href="http://www.we7.com/#/album/Classic-Fantastic!albumId=443571&play=true">a not completely unrelated</a> video.<br /><br /><object width="540" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ge35O2h_Xn0&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ge35O2h_Xn0&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="450" height="385"></embed></object>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-84075283593851114282010-05-28T11:41:00.000-07:002010-05-28T14:04:17.688-07:00On how to sneak in a BioMed Central Open Access turtle into 'The Gherkin' - London - Part One<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3HgNt0Fxl6-f4NwtUhsBlN-EKv0KGYt8aRcnrhQEYFaaSIDmXL-tDsxnvwfihXmnSRiJ7TO8IkQ7gGMpEq9v0PHwbNN5mMrEvgFKnyOsqa3yFDb0fB7oZAt2M_6nFmpl9WTRW7a2OO9fv/s1600/greengherkin.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3HgNt0Fxl6-f4NwtUhsBlN-EKv0KGYt8aRcnrhQEYFaaSIDmXL-tDsxnvwfihXmnSRiJ7TO8IkQ7gGMpEq9v0PHwbNN5mMrEvgFKnyOsqa3yFDb0fB7oZAt2M_6nFmpl9WTRW7a2OO9fv/s320/greengherkin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476395511241879794" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOfbpKxYKgfmOanO1Y9YIhsCxZCGlYqSpIGTRDNF9Qo7NSD7xpGNk0vbjhKUr-8zLIEjXDUYWpg2q78zDtZBb57T-txzkIYeXJ63VEBhawCN_uHfVPBZxwE4nFN0FPnFbTyDYCt063mjYD/s1600/Gulliver6.jpg"><br /></a><br />As a follow on from <a href="http://ff.im/kX2KL">this recent post</a> on FriendFeed, my Gulliver Turtle clone has been training even harder after it's rigorous week long training session at BMC's HO <i>(you can now, on request, <b>get you own <a href="mailto:gulliver@biomedcentral.com">by emailing Gulliver directly</a></b>)</i> and I are training it down to London a week on Thursday for BioMed Central's turtely fantastic 10th Anniversary and 4th Annual Research Awards event being hosted in London's most prestigious St. Mary Axe, aka, <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/greengherkin.jpg">The Gherkin</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOfbpKxYKgfmOanO1Y9YIhsCxZCGlYqSpIGTRDNF9Qo7NSD7xpGNk0vbjhKUr-8zLIEjXDUYWpg2q78zDtZBb57T-txzkIYeXJ63VEBhawCN_uHfVPBZxwE4nFN0FPnFbTyDYCt063mjYD/s1600/Gulliver6.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 277px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOfbpKxYKgfmOanO1Y9YIhsCxZCGlYqSpIGTRDNF9Qo7NSD7xpGNk0vbjhKUr-8zLIEjXDUYWpg2q78zDtZBb57T-txzkIYeXJ63VEBhawCN_uHfVPBZxwE4nFN0FPnFbTyDYCt063mjYD/s320/Gulliver6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476393540643654114" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Gulliver clone #536 inspects Mr G. S. of Glasgow's invite and shortly thereafter, fell of it's stool </i>(Gulliver, not Mr G. S. of Glasgow and/or the invitation).<i><br /><br /></i><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Providing clone #536 and I get through strict ID security checks upon arrival <i>(and my dress code is deemed as being sufficiently 'smart')</i>, we'll team up to bring y'all some neat footage <i>(maybe even a tweet or three)</i> once we're inside this turtely awesome structure.<br /><br />--<br /><br />SECRET PASSCODE looks like it's gonna be, <span style="font-style: italic;">"Does my turtle look big in this?".</span><br /></div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-32597385051576822452010-05-15T08:54:00.000-07:002010-05-15T09:53:07.647-07:00Open Science Contact List<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI1HsJtu9owFg3R6xa54f-7cbSgFkteMr2KS0lErTaj9b046nf1iuC6S89ZiT123lKGfRtwcQMrhGUAC611lV1fVlNEjuB5-YJ5DSJaeoKHAaTtbWEiKpj9aQ9kHjBL55JY2fG3wqMk4t4/s1600/canScience.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 191px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI1HsJtu9owFg3R6xa54f-7cbSgFkteMr2KS0lErTaj9b046nf1iuC6S89ZiT123lKGfRtwcQMrhGUAC611lV1fVlNEjuB5-YJ5DSJaeoKHAaTtbWEiKpj9aQ9kHjBL55JY2fG3wqMk4t4/s320/canScience.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471527573368686114" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">(Image c/o <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldenswamp/">Judy Breck</a> - Flickr)</span><br /><br /><br />Back in March, I decided to place into the public domain <a href="http://docs.google.com/View?id=df3v6npw_37g9978gfh">a working document</a> with contact details for many of the key folks I've connected with in the Open Access Community since late 2006.<br /><br />-----------<br /><br />Last weekend on FriendFeed, <a href="http://ff.im/k079x">I came across</a> the following video:-<br /><br /><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="264" width="400"><param name="flashvars" value="webhost=fora.tv&clipid=11836&cliptype=clip"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="movie" value="http://fora.tv/embedded_player"><embed flashvars="webhost=fora.tv&clipid=11836&cliptype=clip" src="http://fora.tv/embedded_player" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="264" width="400"></embed></object><br /><br />Following my conversation yesterday with <a href="http://www.chordomafoundation.org/about/view.aspx?id=2">Josh Sommer</a>, Executive Director of the<a href="http://www.chordomafoundation.org/"> Chordoma Foundation</a>, it would be really useful to work on a similar document but this time, one containing contact details for people who are directly/indirectly affiliated and/or associated in Open Science. As matters stand, <span style="font-style: italic;">(correct me if I'm wrong)</span>, I do not think that such a list already exists. If it does, then I will happily scrap this project.<br /><br />Unlike the previous list, rather than doing this on my own, it would seem much more appropriate to <span style="font-style: italic;">start</span> this myself and then crowd source. As such, I've set up a new Google Doc in the public domain to which anyone can view/edit:-<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AWzzrCR09vNsZGYzdjZucHdfMzdnOTk3OGdmaA&hl=en_GB">Open Science Contact List</a></span><br /><br /><br />With my Patient Advocacy hat on, I am mainly thinking about the Life Sciences, <span style="font-style: italic;">but sense that this should also be extended to other areas such as Citizen Sciences. </span><br /><br />I would be most grateful for your assistance in helping build a working document/resource which I hope will be of use to many many people/organizations across the world.<br /><br />Thank you,<br /><br />GrahamAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-10974291818733559262010-04-02T09:21:00.000-07:002010-04-02T11:35:46.410-07:00Razzle, Frazzle, Dazzle & Zazzle<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://plos1.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/store2.jpg?w=288&h=504"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 504px;" src="http://plos1.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/store2.jpg?w=288&h=504" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://friendfeed-media.com/f7148e8c636eeba37da8f5ff63fa1d4fbd47bedb"><br /></a><br />Last November, for McDawg's birthday, as the folks at <a href="http://www.plos.org/">PLoS</a> over the years have very generously kitted me out with PLoS tshirts <span style="font-style: italic;">(and various other stuff)</span>, I thought it was time to give something back. So off I went to the new <a href="http://www.zazzle.com/plos">PLoS store</a> and was dazzled at the fine array <span style="font-style: italic;">(page after page) </span>of cool stuff in store.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Very</span> hard to choose what to buy but since I've always wanted a <a href="http://mcblawg.blogspot.com/2009/11/attempt-to-fathom-out-why-hamsters-love.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">'Hamsters Love PLoS'</span></a> item<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://friendfeed-media.com/90309ed05351356bb15f77a378e7a99a926d9d06"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 132px; height: 175px;" src="http://friendfeed-media.com/90309ed05351356bb15f77a378e7a99a926d9d06" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://blogs.nature.com/brianclegg/2010/02/09/the-unicycling-girrafe-evolves"><span style="font-style: italic;">(not to be confused with this)</span></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://friendfeed-media.com/3f524e65a5623ebda9539a24428b10fc44317f5f"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 132px; height: 175px;" src="http://friendfeed-media.com/3f524e65a5623ebda9539a24428b10fc44317f5f" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />and the fact that it was winter, I very quickly established that a hoodie would be ideal. It arrived through the post most speedily.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://friendfeed-media.com/989023f123bdb7a8154c83b8278076b9efcf77b6"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 233px; height: 175px;" src="http://friendfeed-media.com/989023f123bdb7a8154c83b8278076b9efcf77b6" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />My bad however for not reading the label inside and as I discovered after this garments first visit to my washing machine, it was labelled <span style="font-style: italic;">'cold wash only'</span> and the damage was done:-<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://friendfeed-media.com/89e603d8d31dd46a7ed04f98b1894aea45cca64f"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 233px; height: 175px;" src="http://friendfeed-media.com/89e603d8d31dd46a7ed04f98b1894aea45cca64f" alt="" border="0" /></a>A few weeks later, during a fairly regular chat with PLoS, I was advised to flag up the issue so I did. What I certainly wasn't expecting was being given face value credit at the store for something to replace it !! As was pointed out to me, Zazzle.com have a <a href="http://www.zazzle.com/mk/welcome/first/ourpromise">100% satisfaction guarantee</a> which unfortunately I wasn't aware of at that time.<br /><br />So then along came the replacement:-<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://friendfeed-media.com/f7148e8c636eeba37da8f5ff63fa1d4fbd47bedb"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 233px; height: 175px;" src="http://friendfeed-media.com/f7148e8c636eeba37da8f5ff63fa1d4fbd47bedb" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Whilst partially on topic, <a href="http://ff.im/fFcQR">as I found out recently</a>,<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"It’s worth knowing that there is only one official PLoS store and it contains images and logos that have been approved by the organization. However, if you search on Zazzle for PLoS you will find products bearing our name that have been created by other individuals because Zazzle allows anyone to start their own store and feature their own designs. You are welcome to shop where you wish but only the official PLoS store contains our approved merchandize".</span><br /><br />Absolutely !!<br /><br />Despite the above <span style="font-style: italic;">minor minor incident</span>, I'll certainly be dropping by the PLoS store again soon.<br /><p style="font-style: italic;">"The plan is to introduce new designs as and when they become available, increase the product range (my son is waiting for the PLoS skateboard), load up cover images, introduce more user customization and make improvements based on your <a href="mailto:store@plos.org">e-mail feedback</a>.</p><p style="font-style: italic;"><br /></p> <p style="font-style: italic;">Happy shopping!"</p><h2><a href="http://everyone.plos.org/2009/11/16/feed-your-plos-t-shirt-obsession-announcing-the-new-plos-store/" rel="bookmark" title="Feed your PLoS t-shirt obsession – announcing the new PLoS store!">Feed your PLoS t-shirt obsession – announcing the new PLoS store!</a></h2><br /><h2><a href="http://everyone.plos.org/2010/01/27/one-size-fits-all-bumper-special/" rel="bookmark" title="ONE Size Fits All: Bumper Special">ONE Size Fits All: Bumper Special</a></h2>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-85288693343814314262010-01-30T09:48:00.000-08:002010-01-30T10:31:40.192-08:00NHS eLibrary becomes The Knowledge Network<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGCDct9y6SIEqR8ZBI2-s3-B4wtMsL7jSR451oQJNPohn6bhK_R5amrfevZUkovQGmX4c-9Zmlm603TYX6MD-j9o9RfFFsWSxPHMYN_i65eG8NeecQp4zxEcBXABvtdZPHUZ7HrqGgZB0L/s1600-h/tkn_image_1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 216px; height: 166px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGCDct9y6SIEqR8ZBI2-s3-B4wtMsL7jSR451oQJNPohn6bhK_R5amrfevZUkovQGmX4c-9Zmlm603TYX6MD-j9o9RfFFsWSxPHMYN_i65eG8NeecQp4zxEcBXABvtdZPHUZ7HrqGgZB0L/s320/tkn_image_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432595386442305778" border="0" /></a>(NHS = National Health Service)<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">But first, by means of some background to this. See </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.earlham.edu/%7Epeters/fos/2008/04/welcome-second-best-in-scotland.html">this post</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> on Open Access News and also </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://mcblawg.blogspot.com/2008/04/nhs-scotland-e-library-open-access-for.html">this post</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> on McBlawg.</span><br /><br />--<br /><br />Via email yesterday:-<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">From the end of January, all visits to the eLibrary will redirect to</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">The Knowledge Network at </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk/">www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">We hope you like our new website, which includes :</span> <ul style="font-style: italic;"><li> a new faster search;</li></ul> <ul style="font-style: italic;"><li> quicker access to journals, articles and books ;</li></ul> <ul style="font-style: italic;"><li> many customisation features, enabling you to locate resources you use regularly<br /></li></ul> <ul style="font-style: italic;"><li>a new area called <a href="http://www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk/home/my-resource-space.aspx">My Resource Space</a>, giving you a personal webspace to save and organise resources. <span style="font-weight: bold;">(Ed - this, I particularly like the sound of !!)</span><br /></li></ul> <span style="font-style: italic;">To contact us, please email </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.blogger.com/eLibrary@nes.scot.nhs.uk">eLibrary@nes.scot.nhs.uk</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.<br /><br />We apologise if</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">you receive multiple copies of this email.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">ATHENS Administration Team</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">NHS Education for Scotland</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Clifton House</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Clifton Place</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">GLASGOW G3 7LD</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Tel: 0141 352 2892<br /><br /></span><span>Having access to the resources available via the NHS eLibrary has been an important part of my patient advocacy work over the last two years. I very much like the look and feel of </span><span>The Knowledge Network</span><span> website already. It's certainly an improvement for <a href="http://www.elib.scot.nhs.uk/portal/elib/pages/KnowledgeNetwork.html">the old site</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>good although as it was. I'll definately be keeping a close eye on the new one and </span><span>must make contact with the people who maintain this really really useful information web portal. </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /></span><span>From the new site, see the likes of:-</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><ul><li><h2><a href="http://www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk/home/announcements/why-has-the-elibrary-changed.aspx"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span>Why has the eLibrary changed?</span></span></a></h2></li></ul><ul><li><h2><a href="http://www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk/home/announcements/take-the-tour-of-the-knowledge-network.aspx"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span>Take the tour of The Knowledge Network</span></span></a></h2></li><li><h2><a href="http://www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk/home/announcements/take-a-virtual-training-session.aspx"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span>Take a Virtual Training Session</span></span></a></h2></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;"><span>IMO, more people should be aware of these resources and how lay-people like myself and not just NHS staff, can gain access to them, hence this post.<br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-8430182903701106002010-01-10T10:12:00.000-08:002010-01-12T14:17:03.627-08:00ScienceOnline 2010 #scio10 - Virtual Attendance Tips<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5NXm2TK0Cs9k7UlzokAqaxKPuojODScJQ6cKbeVT3vlXvfzN9kU3saKoI8JvHEAE22oh_rjQvO8XV3iI_h0aqggLZhjZ_OirHCR3kjUnAeMDo52xcMSsOJgaHKwSej1GJXsUs4mp_MMgE/s1600-h/scio10+-+final+copy.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 305px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5NXm2TK0Cs9k7UlzokAqaxKPuojODScJQ6cKbeVT3vlXvfzN9kU3saKoI8JvHEAE22oh_rjQvO8XV3iI_h0aqggLZhjZ_OirHCR3kjUnAeMDo52xcMSsOJgaHKwSej1GJXsUs4mp_MMgE/s320/scio10+-+final+copy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425157793670857202" /></a><br />(Source: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7914713@N05/4249284974/">Science Online 2010 logo remix</a>)<br /><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2010/01/scienceonline2010_-_what_to_do.php"><br />++UPDATE++ - All the linky links you might need are contained here</a>. H/T Bora<br /><br /><br /><br />How is it possible to really look forward to attending a cool science Conference - without actually being there for the event in person?<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"ScienceOnline2010, the fourth annual conference on science and the Web, will be held on January 14-17th, 2010 at <a href="http://www.sigmaxi.org/">Sigma Xi</a> in the Research Triangle Park".</span><br /><br />Quite easily, actually.<br /><br />But before going into the detail, let's spin the clock back two years.<br /><br />Cue post <a href="http://jove-blog.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-was-it-for-you.html">How was it for you</a> which I posted on the JoVE blog 20th January 2008. That was my first experience of virtually attending a conference and it was an awesome experience. Also see <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2008/02/how_was_it_for_you_interview_w.php">How was it for you? Interview with Graham Steel</a> over at <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/clock/">A Blog Around The Clock</a>.<br /><br />What held this one together (IMO) for those following virtually was a combination of the live video streams and chatrooms. It was also very useful to familiarise oneself (pre-event) with the online tools required to follow events in real-time.<br /><br />--<br /><br />Most unfortunately, I was unable to follow scienceonline09 as I was unable to connect to the interwebz that weekend <span style="font-style:italic;">(problem with local ISP connection).</span> I did however still manage to fling together a photo montage of shots taken on the day before the main event:-<br /><br /><object width="400" height="302"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2874691&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2874691&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="302"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/2874691">Science Online '09 - Friday Shots</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/grahamsteel">Graham Steel</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p> <br /><br />I did catch up with events when I got my connection back thanks to <a href="http://www.scienceonline09.com/index.php/wiki/Blog_and_Media_Coverage/">the extensive blog and media coverage</a>. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What I did miss out on was all the real-time coverage online. </span><br /><br />Whilst one really wanted to attend this years event in person, I'll happily settle with virtual attendance based upon previous experiences.<br /><br />Since I missed out on a large chunk of the last one I can only imagine that with the addition of <a href="http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23scio10">Twitter</a> and <a href="http://friendfeed.com/scienceonline2010">FriendFeed</a> <span style="font-style:italic;">(these didn't exist in early 2008)</span> on top of live-streaming etc. this is going to be <span style="font-weight:bold;">quite</span> an experience. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.nextgenerationscience.com/author/walter-jessen/">Walter Jessen</a> has very recently <a href="http://www.nextgenerationscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/ScienceOnline2010-program.pdf">uploaded a PDF version</a> of the <a href="http://www.scienceonline2010.com/index.php/wiki/Program/">conference program</a> which will come in handy to those attending in person or virtually. <span style="font-style:italic;">(Thanks, Walt)</span>.<br /><br />The associated Flickr photo pool as below should start to fill up later in the coming week and am also looking forward to this:-<br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"> <param name="flashvars" value="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fsearch%2Fshow%2F%3Fq%3Dscio10&page_show_back_url=%2Fsearch%2F%3Fq%3Dscio10&method=flickr.photos.search&api_params_str=&api_text=scio10&api_tag_mode=bool&api_media=all&api_sort=relevance&jump_to=&start_index=0"></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fsearch%2Fshow%2F%3Fq%3Dscio10&page_show_back_url=%2Fsearch%2F%3Fq%3Dscio10&method=flickr.photos.search&api_params_str=&api_text=scio10&api_tag_mode=bool&api_media=all&api_sort=relevance&jump_to=&start_index=0" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><br /><br />So, if you are interested in science and an annual science communication conference but can't get there in person, you now know some of the online places to check out next weekend. <br /><br />Last and not least, don't forget the <a href="http://www.scienceonline2010.com/index.php/wiki/BlogMedia_Coverage/">Blog and Media Coverage</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">++UPDATE 1++</span> Also keep a check on the <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/scienceonline/">Official ScienceOnline2010 blog</a>.<br /><br />--<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"Please join us for this active three-day event to explore science on the Web. Our goal is to bring together scientists, physicians, patients, educators, students, publishers, editors, bloggers, journalists, writers, web developers, programmers and others to discuss, demonstrate and debate online strategies and tools for doing science, publishing science, teaching science, and promoting the public understanding of science".</span><br /><br />"This <a href="http://blogtogether.org/">BlogTogether</a> conference is organized by <a href="http://mistersugar.com/">Anton Zuiker</a>, <a href="http://coturnix.org/">Bora Zivkovic</a>, <a href="http://cogscilibrarian.blogspot.com/">Stephanie Willen Brown</a> and <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/terrasig/">David Kroll</a>, with the help of many of you".Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-51800888031986343752009-12-27T09:01:00.000-08:002009-12-27T12:56:12.060-08:00Slow cooked lamb with two stuffingsMoving on from my <a href="http://mcblawg.blogspot.com/2009/09/saturday-night-isbalti-night.html">last blog post about cooking</a>, here's a new one from Christmas Day, 2009.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">(NOTE: The basis for this recipe can be <a href="http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/chefs/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/stuffed-and-rolled-shoulder-of-lamb-recipe_p_1.html">found here</a> on the Channel4.com website.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">STAGE ONE</span><br /><br />Ask your local butcher to prepare you a suitable boned-out piece of lamb. For this recipe, a 1.5kg chump gigot chop <span style="font-style:italic;">(of lamb)</span> was used:-<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFDGaDUAzqiRxq_-Ih2arAvTdLuW8dyW0ysg0x1XLvHKbY0MGMPIMkWdyIpII1OvHglrAw07f1kJh1ZAYyZ7l_sHk8J2ztcPz6KaUt7QG1NDBPsS-8OewCoFhpqWrCPekyXtWNmCt3RSbg/s1600-h/SDC10691.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFDGaDUAzqiRxq_-Ih2arAvTdLuW8dyW0ysg0x1XLvHKbY0MGMPIMkWdyIpII1OvHglrAw07f1kJh1ZAYyZ7l_sHk8J2ztcPz6KaUt7QG1NDBPsS-8OewCoFhpqWrCPekyXtWNmCt3RSbg/s320/SDC10691.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419964806306514898" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">STAGE TWO</span><br /><br />Remove packaging and fat side facing down, open out the joint as far as possible before stuffing:-<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcDuu__E3BSaFRsOQ8jA68aDgYxNbYLtOlb-akItKffQDvY8aBMVyQmdcbEFenoYxJWiXxrhZI1aNUBG1pCVmkCNQXNrCVlQhpZ4avDDmATO5osz_HQE5tHFkrKqkiOPVq4LHBiFXiL40I/s1600-h/SDC10694.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcDuu__E3BSaFRsOQ8jA68aDgYxNbYLtOlb-akItKffQDvY8aBMVyQmdcbEFenoYxJWiXxrhZI1aNUBG1pCVmkCNQXNrCVlQhpZ4avDDmATO5osz_HQE5tHFkrKqkiOPVq4LHBiFXiL40I/s320/SDC10694.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419967991763999250" /></a><br /><br />Set meat aside.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">STAGE THREE</span><br /><br />The stuffing. In this case, I went for two quite different ones as I could not decide which one I preferred.<br /><br />Stuffing One:-<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">3-4 cloves garlic<br />6-8 fillets anchovies <span style="font-style:italic;">(not available so used 2 - 3 spring onions)</span><br />1 tbsp capers<br />flat-leaf parsley<br />olive oil<br />mustard<br />crushed black pepper</span><br /><br />1. Crush and chop garlic, place anchovies on top of garlic and chop again.<br /><br />2. Add capers and chop again, then plenty of flat-leafed parsley to the other ingredients and chop once more.<br /><br />3. Place chopped mixture into a bowl, add a trickle of olive oil and mustard to bring it all together and pepper to taste.<br /><br /><br />Stuffing Two:-<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">one cupful of uncooked haggis<br />125g dried ready-to-eat apricots, chopped<br />75g fresh white breadcrumbs<br />leaves from 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped<br />grated zest and juice of 1 lemon<br />wee dram of fine single malt scotch whisky<br />olive oil</span><br /><br />1. Mix the stuffing ingredients together in a bowl and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.<br /><br />You should then have something resembling this:-<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRxsdzpv9oLT1UBMeb21tgX17zcaq8w70EhxHH-MS0_iIm6UzajPY-w1gfBbLzKbD6X4DZ187XdgqnqKb1ZPHuHzVTLzbMpB8UMwuOXrgVNgGXSC8THjo58aWOMfMZoIjFEcJZRDVsouk/s1600-h/SDC10695.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRxsdzpv9oLT1UBMeb21tgX17zcaq8w70EhxHH-MS0_iIm6UzajPY-w1gfBbLzKbD6X4DZ187XdgqnqKb1ZPHuHzVTLzbMpB8UMwuOXrgVNgGXSC8THjo58aWOMfMZoIjFEcJZRDVsouk/s320/SDC10695.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419972029671612642" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Stage FOUR</span><br /><br />Bring back the already prepared joint and by the spoon and then the hand, it's time to get stuffing. Spread all over the inside <span style="font-style:italic;">(for this recipe, half and half)</span> of the opened-out lamb, covering all cut surfaces and into any crevices.<br /><br />One should now have something like this:-<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoVl12E-utOypJDfKGfOL8M_W-lUn0hGNbmY1ClL8kbX84rlfqtFSD3tzjpDDGr2k_3r1BQXCoJ1XDFviuuTWYQvIyCjDrWFccFgpga0C_rWoRz-HGtJqZirJHlPvopVi9gLXCs3OzIkIQ/s1600-h/SDC10697.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoVl12E-utOypJDfKGfOL8M_W-lUn0hGNbmY1ClL8kbX84rlfqtFSD3tzjpDDGr2k_3r1BQXCoJ1XDFviuuTWYQvIyCjDrWFccFgpga0C_rWoRz-HGtJqZirJHlPvopVi9gLXCs3OzIkIQ/s320/SDC10697.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419975384567386514" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Stage FIVE</span> <span style="font-style:italic;">aka the difficult bit.</span><br /><br />Roll up the gigot of lamb and tie it together with string to make a neat parcel.<br /><br />Having never done anything like this before, this was a tad on tricky side. Two pairs of hands were required and this was the best we could manage under the circumstances:-<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVMsg2HJD0b-0RDKIy-5EoTrBwkI46u2udsdAOnV7yqt5lLaCials2P3ad30jHXLvYxs7x7zEGx8xzrrcZq0i7GHB4FcRaHwAAjLHcpFcOnwOZ09ljurs2eIoHWGRwMzhFIk4kIeKYToOY/s1600-h/SDC10703.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVMsg2HJD0b-0RDKIy-5EoTrBwkI46u2udsdAOnV7yqt5lLaCials2P3ad30jHXLvYxs7x7zEGx8xzrrcZq0i7GHB4FcRaHwAAjLHcpFcOnwOZ09ljurs2eIoHWGRwMzhFIk4kIeKYToOY/s320/SDC10703.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419977519828095986" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Stage SIX</span><br /><br />Place on a roasting tray in a pre-heated oven at 220°C <span style="font-style:italic;">(gas mark 7)</span> for 40 minutes, then turn the oven down to 150°C <span style="font-style:italic;">(gas mark 2)</span> for approximately 2-2 ½ hours until tender.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">(By twenty minutes in, I soon realised <span style="font-weight:bold;">that I should have listened to my Mum</span> and put a lid on it. Things were getting a tad smokey in the kitchen). </span> <br /><br />After the 40 minute mark and having reduced the heat as instructed, time to <span style="font-weight:bold;">chillax</span>. PHEW !<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Stage SEVEN</span><br /><br />With an hour to go, add some frozen seasonal veggies into the oven <span style="font-style:italic;">(e.g. roast potatoes and parsnips.)</span><br /><br />Prepare some more veggies for the microwave (in this case, peas, mushy peas and broccoli):-<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF28tHwcdyZ8nZ_SWkLnlufy2qtoKamdIixGW4cPFhoGXMY-2GWUAeOe-qaztYzTPq9RBrTTs2qYrHhUnd2rFTSwS_U7wkEmwMk3hM-Zf3Se5343-4eJ_QL4glCpSyCyZQ2EZgneg_S5Uk/s1600-h/SDC10705.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF28tHwcdyZ8nZ_SWkLnlufy2qtoKamdIixGW4cPFhoGXMY-2GWUAeOe-qaztYzTPq9RBrTTs2qYrHhUnd2rFTSwS_U7wkEmwMk3hM-Zf3Se5343-4eJ_QL4glCpSyCyZQ2EZgneg_S5Uk/s320/SDC10705.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419981896018700290" /></a><br /><br />Also prepare some gravy, of course. Went for the easy method with a sachet of Colman's lamb gravy powder, and 1/2 a pint of water. Seasoned it with a dollop or two of blackcurrant jelly, (another) dram of whisky, chopped rosemary, most of the juices from the roasing tin and salt & pepper.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD9f5gxlDoNeymIryrpfzHIkK_s7LDrLep-P9dQ7jQfXoQZ5wLeXJviS51q2-oIKK3OWG2uh2FmVsxEFOZOFqKYkwQ5tHMVr5S9wTsFLakNNNj299F5-K0Fgey0YmcLqgGFY1hydKs7IcF/s1600-h/SDC10706.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD9f5gxlDoNeymIryrpfzHIkK_s7LDrLep-P9dQ7jQfXoQZ5wLeXJviS51q2-oIKK3OWG2uh2FmVsxEFOZOFqKYkwQ5tHMVr5S9wTsFLakNNNj299F5-K0Fgey0YmcLqgGFY1hydKs7IcF/s320/SDC10706.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419985149115004306" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">(Note the slight scortching from not using a lid as mentioned in Stage SIX). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Stage EIGHT</span><br /><br />Time to get the carving knives <span style="font-style:italic;">(in this case, machine)</span> out having rested the meat for 10 mins.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk5kPIjDJY-c6jJp4pBHGAFbbTvZI1ToF0FtmAzJ9_cBCpjrHqFNah-jl-BuxvqhcVvPLfkiDqoeGvJcfySrRgi0gR737VbfDsFyLK5icDh59ysEH58LtsmW9enlF_pml-zpXZpFFnAWeK/s1600-h/SDC10719.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk5kPIjDJY-c6jJp4pBHGAFbbTvZI1ToF0FtmAzJ9_cBCpjrHqFNah-jl-BuxvqhcVvPLfkiDqoeGvJcfySrRgi0gR737VbfDsFyLK5icDh59ysEH58LtsmW9enlF_pml-zpXZpFFnAWeK/s320/SDC10719.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419988470349080370" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Stage NINE</span><br /><br />Find somewhere appropriate to serve and eat. <span style="font-style:italic;">Oh, this looks nice</span>:-<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAKp3Oqn0LtxtKwevwMwad7FwNoguMux3M0Ubgt_CqSun8PyZ5hZWBNXarI3rqN91Wyh7Yu6ljQqBOSg7zlDCcBTjBd69MUs3AM2CZHOmKarQLfLgEy_TaoYG-ihVZh8CJ9XEkarwQN1EO/s1600-h/christmas2009diningroom.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAKp3Oqn0LtxtKwevwMwad7FwNoguMux3M0Ubgt_CqSun8PyZ5hZWBNXarI3rqN91Wyh7Yu6ljQqBOSg7zlDCcBTjBd69MUs3AM2CZHOmKarQLfLgEy_TaoYG-ihVZh8CJ9XEkarwQN1EO/s320/christmas2009diningroom.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419992723569790466" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />"Nom nom nom"</span> time.....<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ZkZGZM2uFYTRgdzvx-xQkDRYF3kktiARDU0c24fpqk-FK69MyS3hs5fCFVgYg3EKuaFiwyu0tRicsd7GUQEWFNC9D5hutIIOMAOIfWCKPKz7v4FrcdwA-7MJWg-MUkUxi2HAi8p2lN9Q/s1600-h/christmas+2009.jpg"><img style="float:center; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ZkZGZM2uFYTRgdzvx-xQkDRYF3kktiARDU0c24fpqk-FK69MyS3hs5fCFVgYg3EKuaFiwyu0tRicsd7GUQEWFNC9D5hutIIOMAOIfWCKPKz7v4FrcdwA-7MJWg-MUkUxi2HAi8p2lN9Q/s320/christmas+2009.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5420000793838246994" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ylKV37CvCUoB6Z48jsvThyphenhyphenbPonTpqoGxb_CgrSDhHfSDAsFHt7LzqOw6bX_OeWqeuUYqijQktmzERmwBphwon8TO_ufjMWjMJiZIqZSAgMgAsaEyGxtO_IsV8hFaVqv3BCvaW5O2kKXg/s1600-h/christmas2009diningroom2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ylKV37CvCUoB6Z48jsvThyphenhyphenbPonTpqoGxb_CgrSDhHfSDAsFHt7LzqOw6bX_OeWqeuUYqijQktmzERmwBphwon8TO_ufjMWjMJiZIqZSAgMgAsaEyGxtO_IsV8hFaVqv3BCvaW5O2kKXg/s320/christmas2009diningroom2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419998682614019714" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisyDHz2eq0NGRJUvxFWTM6Srej1dzoO9f1pWRr3VgqY2LOXxPN43wW5KYGPISH2RnXspXExtnLD7nFp83lKQl70z4PEOBLA1VfEauTDMEz-_ZLh2OgGqN1u15sh2YG9MT2jC1ILAgexjYI/s1600-h/SDC10724.JPG"><img style="float:centre; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisyDHz2eq0NGRJUvxFWTM6Srej1dzoO9f1pWRr3VgqY2LOXxPN43wW5KYGPISH2RnXspXExtnLD7nFp83lKQl70z4PEOBLA1VfEauTDMEz-_ZLh2OgGqN1u15sh2YG9MT2jC1ILAgexjYI/s320/SDC10724.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5420002110228486434" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-5666716165690622322009-12-21T12:23:00.000-08:002009-12-21T12:28:00.093-08:00We Have the Right to Open Access (video)<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/poE5efIIx6Q&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/poE5efIIx6Q&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />"A short video promoting the Open Access Movement created by a Library and Information Science student".</span> Posted by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/heatherhalliday">HeatherHaliday</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-14061333594384168462009-12-09T10:41:00.000-08:002009-12-09T12:56:08.842-08:00OMG !!! - Ticket master at my local train station had a heart attack today when I was buying my ticket<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl7jKeei1drpw9Jhaaj47RpPlaPTg6Wz80wIe5BohSsTK35A-vx6C639VaFEL9lFEKCZiRsV6D15rgayUSSSV7nU2r4w_pZSMYKEfHjYKJyveVfabPbthVOHVnYit-o8k05RJlOSO9oOlR/s1600-h/queens+park+station+copy.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl7jKeei1drpw9Jhaaj47RpPlaPTg6Wz80wIe5BohSsTK35A-vx6C639VaFEL9lFEKCZiRsV6D15rgayUSSSV7nU2r4w_pZSMYKEfHjYKJyveVfabPbthVOHVnYit-o8k05RJlOSO9oOlR/s320/queens+park+station+copy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413335536659166178" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />Well, a slight embellishment but I might have grabbed your attention !! He <span style="font-style:italic;">almost</span> had a heart attack.<br /><br />He <span style="font-style:italic;">(he has a name and that is Dennis)</span> has been urging me for a wee while <span style="font-style:italic;">(read on)</span> to purchase a monthly rail pass rather than daily tickets. <br /><br />I was speaking with Dennis yesterday to ask about what appeared to be a new change of policy on purchasing daily return tickets onboard the train on my daily commute to work. During the discussion he brought up a "history lesson". Dennis said that 15 years ago, he first suggested going for the monthly travel pass thingy. I stated that it was actually 12 years and that I had a note of this in my diary. I was of course just kidding. Anyways, he said that all he needed from me was a passport photo.<br /><br />Hhmm. So I gave this some reflictive thought over the next 24 hours.<br /><br /><br />Cutting a boring story short, on the way home from work tonight, I purchased these:-<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg7zeGIm3v0-a0UlcaUMDb1lnobpq5oFgDIqktlzZKytVHFP6H0SJNovc91pqiPVEN1GKx1zuqVP8DOkCWZBI1jBtoA9swUzw3X1psfkLSU3M1elV4e_sMG8DxwxGOW3MV3Z54_VOpBnAn/s1600-h/passport+photos.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 289px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg7zeGIm3v0-a0UlcaUMDb1lnobpq5oFgDIqktlzZKytVHFP6H0SJNovc91pqiPVEN1GKx1zuqVP8DOkCWZBI1jBtoA9swUzw3X1psfkLSU3M1elV4e_sMG8DxwxGOW3MV3Z54_VOpBnAn/s320/passport+photos.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413314495608087794" /></a><br /><br />Now the last time (circa 5 years ago) I calculated the cost of daily tickets v's travel pass, it was still cheaper to pay daily. I wondered if this had changed.<br /><br />Armed with my hidden passport photos, I leapt into Queens Park Stattion and to my delight, Dennis was on the shift. This was gonna be fun. "Hey Dennis. How much is a monthly travel pass?" It was £9 a month cheaper than buying daily tickets. I promptly ripped up my daily return and played my next card. El photos.<br /><br />And that is where, he must have thought to himself, OMFG.......<br /><br />Thankfully, rather than Dennis having a heart attack, he actually took a photo of me. Photo not shown as he doesn't yet know how to upload stuff to teh interwebz :-(<br /><br />Anyways, the upshot to all this "utter pish" is that I now can haz one of these:-<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQn6fO5o0bt86Fk2XbNYK0kBwg52PH1Vlw3B4OlMsnZF45-X7_-h8rVzeVTQtyFVVxllyqpVgUpFoLwQOH8SQgJj0ExEYP6pscYy6iWsgapF9LzE2rUfrdY1E5YXNXx3TG_gcvdCI6AFt/s1600-h/travel+pass+copy.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 286px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQn6fO5o0bt86Fk2XbNYK0kBwg52PH1Vlw3B4OlMsnZF45-X7_-h8rVzeVTQtyFVVxllyqpVgUpFoLwQOH8SQgJj0ExEYP6pscYy6iWsgapF9LzE2rUfrdY1E5YXNXx3TG_gcvdCI6AFt/s320/travel+pass+copy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413322978528047442" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">(As I told Dennis tonight, the reason that I didn't opt for the travel pass initially was that it was very easy to dodge paying for a ticket on the train back in the old days until they erected a human ticket barrier system to Glasgow Central Station a few years ago).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://www.scotrail.co.uk/buytickets/index.html">Scotrail 2.0</a></span><br /><br />So, now that I haz my new pass thingy, will this mean having less banter with Scotrail staff ??? Only time will tell.<br /><br />Cue this classic Glasgae sketch from <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/tv/chewinthefat/">Chewin' The Fat</a> featuring "Gary & James" <span style="font-style:italic;">et al</span> .....<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1hm8s6tTyh4&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1hm8s6tTyh4&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-34290505032235220132009-11-28T10:14:00.000-08:002009-11-28T10:29:51.567-08:00"Wake Up Now"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY_C8Vq626aqTxp_v9uQ7g1LBMAgeQk40kcEUnOA_QrNU1zXuZSiqKA5gzzdV1V8II2VE_5OeUu18XeLmTCqaAmz6pPHiBMsCoE9w31vjMJvy20PyK7kwZsYtXP53c9oZsC9v8w8QcBMsD/s1600/waterside800+v+2+copy.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY_C8Vq626aqTxp_v9uQ7g1LBMAgeQk40kcEUnOA_QrNU1zXuZSiqKA5gzzdV1V8II2VE_5OeUu18XeLmTCqaAmz6pPHiBMsCoE9w31vjMJvy20PyK7kwZsYtXP53c9oZsC9v8w8QcBMsD/s400/waterside800+v+2+copy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409220280766246978" /></a><br /><br /><br />Since my last post <span style="font-style:italic;">(c/o a robot)</span> mangled the layout of McBlawg, here is an air-freshener.<br /><br /> <br /><br /><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,18,0" width="325" height="28" id="divmp3"><param name="movie" value="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=9519090-c9e" /><embed src="http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=9519090-c9e" width="325" height="28" name="divmp3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object><br /><br />You can read how this song was re-mastered <a href="http://www.macjams.com/song/34800">here</a>. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">(The re-mastered version of this track got lost in cyberspace, so I self-archived it into another repository) </span><br /><br />It was great to get "the whole band" to sing on the Choruses and a recording I'm quite proud of.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-88498397048125276012009-11-26T12:16:00.000-08:002009-11-26T12:30:26.203-08:00An attempt to fathom out why Hamsters love PLoS...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZGvzL1D7zGOzUp1Q1fEwXFDv1mJQ4vdTcEGo1-zJFORNfI892VQjYhgsbvrxbkT-ATAwCSisVHJUXF10xB55f-XoRRl4aCJeSs33EZbbAeSGS0HK4pnSA0Pl_MFUuleV8JpXjKOVGSqMX/s1600/PLoS.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZGvzL1D7zGOzUp1Q1fEwXFDv1mJQ4vdTcEGo1-zJFORNfI892VQjYhgsbvrxbkT-ATAwCSisVHJUXF10xB55f-XoRRl4aCJeSs33EZbbAeSGS0HK4pnSA0Pl_MFUuleV8JpXjKOVGSqMX/s400/PLoS.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408471717233522706" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />My package from Razzle, sorry <a href="http://www.zazzle.com/">Zazzle</a> arrived at work this morning.<br /><br /><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2009/11/introducing_the_rigorously_pee.php">This post</a> by <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/clock/about.php">Bora <span style="font-style: italic;">aka</span> Coturnix</a> on 17th Nov essentially set the scene.<br /><br />Closely followed by this FriendFeed thread:-<br /><br /><iframe src="http://friendfeed.com/coturnix/d6794698/introducing-rigorously-peer-reviewed-of?embed=1" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170);" frameborder="0" height="600" width="400"></iframe><br /><br />And without any further ado, here is my cool PLoS hoodie:-<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAhMXx0oHlIyYtz3bc-kcjtiX4pYpWVJAb8fCt5qslFHVq85cBmpo_p3S9rv-gJeFJfBkV7Uf8_SNrBbwcBueNdCIJfW0F5_8waczmf_NufQ1-R66IFMDZn259nWghZsVIqo85DGCvna3I/s1600/hamsters+hoodie.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAhMXx0oHlIyYtz3bc-kcjtiX4pYpWVJAb8fCt5qslFHVq85cBmpo_p3S9rv-gJeFJfBkV7Uf8_SNrBbwcBueNdCIJfW0F5_8waczmf_NufQ1-R66IFMDZn259nWghZsVIqo85DGCvna3I/s400/hamsters+hoodie.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408472229515103762" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">FAB !!!</span><br /><br />Excellent quality material and online print on demand/shipping time from CA, USA to Scotland took only 7 working days. Nice one, Zazzle <span style="font-style: italic;">(plus they threw in a freebie white Zazzle t-shirt too). </span><br /><br />--<br /><br />Whilst I've wanted a <span style="font-style: italic;">"Hamsters love PLoS"</span> garment for a while, I remain at a loss as to what the logo might actually mean. And even before wearing it, some peeps have been asking. I expect more to do so when I wear it to work tomorrow and <a href="http://www.horseshoebar.co.uk/">down the pub</a> afterwards.<br /><br />So I searched teh interbebz and here's what I found.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1) The connection of the logo to PLoS.org</span> Not surprisingly, the best resource was from PLoS <a href="http://www.plos.org/cms/node/239">via this blog post</a> by Liz Allen, July 2007:- <span style="font-style: italic;">"We hope that you like our picture entitled "Hamsters love PLoS.org". It was drawn by one of our founders' kids and has even appeared on a tee-shirt."</span><br /><br />OK, so there is the connection to PLoS.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">2) But what about the hamster in the spherical object.</span> Hhmm. During my search, I happened upon <span style="font-style: italic;">(again)</span> the blog post, <a href="http://network.nature.com/people/henrygee/blog/2009/01/20/impact-fauna">Impact Fauna</a> January 2009 by a certain <a href="http://network.nature.com/people/henrygee/profile">Dr Henry Gee</a>, Senior Editor at <a href="http://www.nature.com/">Nature.com</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46AFMFfjWz9IlCSEP30LxoPv1vwXOIkMJUNQzNKpEf2Cjg59tNyle-J9RRWvQ8JYR169sEuHlpicu6jJjZBRj2PcUWwLkDtp6tyLAzW_7CGUdKXFBz5M3LGY-DCpAsJPqGWc1AVxzYbuZ/s1600/plos+shirt+worn+gee.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46AFMFfjWz9IlCSEP30LxoPv1vwXOIkMJUNQzNKpEf2Cjg59tNyle-J9RRWvQ8JYR169sEuHlpicu6jJjZBRj2PcUWwLkDtp6tyLAzW_7CGUdKXFBz5M3LGY-DCpAsJPqGWc1AVxzYbuZ/s400/plos+shirt+worn+gee.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408480642193190066" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Gee Minor models ScienceOnline09 swag, earlier today"</span><br /><br />On the "X" loves "Y" front, I created a few images of my own. And here they are again....<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A) Chickens love Nature.com</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3451/3219005040_734a99e2ed_m.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 164px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3451/3219005040_734a99e2ed_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">B) Centaurs love Improbable Research</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3418/3220205761_914ab1c97a_m.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 229px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3418/3220205761_914ab1c97a_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />and <span style="font-weight: bold;">C) Dolphins love Science</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3482/3222521416_cc8f88647d_m.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 229px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3482/3222521416_cc8f88647d_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />--<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So, bearing mind the above and also, this<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzY2bA7UmVhseRgthR2_Mx8l3Q5z3UEsP-dNFQYauNaTwEX6R_f7rsFt8sZbRt6Bc7xi3-xL1QPN-dK7F0LF7gA4jc9uoBVrOvs9zOWTdtlvKvuMlqxRtQ4S9GkKPzlSTsIlCWlQ5IhMSr/s1600/hamsters+like+hamsters.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzY2bA7UmVhseRgthR2_Mx8l3Q5z3UEsP-dNFQYauNaTwEX6R_f7rsFt8sZbRt6Bc7xi3-xL1QPN-dK7F0LF7gA4jc9uoBVrOvs9zOWTdtlvKvuMlqxRtQ4S9GkKPzlSTsIlCWlQ5IhMSr/s400/hamsters+like+hamsters.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408495826114208722" /></a><br /><br /><br />and that,<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3032/3003467920_ffdc58bae4_o.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3032/3003467920_ffdc58bae4_o.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />I've come to the conclusion that for whatever reason, Hamsters love PLoS. End of story. They just do.<br /><br />If you support the likes of PLoS and Open Access, please do drop by <a href="http://www.zazzle.com/plos">the official PLoS store</a>, have a good look around and <a href="http://www.plos.org/cms/node/494">happy shopping</a> !!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-56920094389030523312009-11-25T11:51:00.000-08:002009-11-25T12:01:06.435-08:00Symptoms of being over 25<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3548/3396654613_4107bbc898.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3548/3396654613_4107bbc898.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Image c/o <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/17541857@N05/">Moomettesgram</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/17541857@N05/3396654613/">here</a> on Flickr.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">From a friend via email today....</span> <br /> <br />1. You leave clubs before the end to "beat the rush".<br /><br />2. You get more excited about having a roast on a Sunday than going clubbing.<br /><br />3. You stop dreaming of becoming a professional footballer and start dreaming of having a son who might instead.<br /><br />4. Before throwing the local paper away, you look through the property section.<br /><br />5. You prefer Later with Jools Holland to Top of the Pops.<br /><br />6. All of a sudden, Tony Blair is not 46, he's only 46.<br /><br />7. Before going out anywhere, you ask what the parking is like.<br /><br />8. Rather than throw a knackered pair of trainers out, you keep them because they'll be all right for the garden.<br /><br />9. You buy your first ever T-shirt without anything written on it.<br /><br />10. Instead of laughing at the innovations catalogue that falls out of the newspaper, you suddenly see both the benefit and money saving properties of a plastic winter cover for your garden bench and an electronic mole repellent for the lawn. Not to mention the plastic man for the car to deter would-be thieves.<br /><br />11. You start to worry about your parents' health.<br /><br />12. You complain that ecstasy's "not as pure as it used to be coz you know that if you have some it will take about 48 hours to recover and anyway,you might look a bit of an idiot.<br /><br />13. Sure, you have more disposable income, but everything you want to buy costs between 200 and 500 quid.<br /><br />14. You don't get funny looks when you buy a Disney video or a Wallace and Gromit bubble bath, as the sales assistant assumes they are for your child.<br /><br />15. Pop music all starts to sound crap.<br /><br />16. You opt for Pizza Express over Pizza Hut because they don't have any pictures on the menus and anyway, they do a really nice half-bottle of house white.<br /><br />17. You become powerless to resist the lure of self-assembly furniture.<br /><br />18. You always have enough milk in.<br /><br />19. To compensate for the fact that you have little desire to go clubbing,you instead frequent really loud tapas restaurants and franchise pubs with wacky names in the mistaken belief that you have not turned into your parents.<br /><br />20. While flicking through the TV channels, you happen upon C4's Time Team with Tony Robinson. You get drawn in.<br /><br />21. The benefits of a pension scheme become clear.<br /><br />22. You go out of your way to pick up a colour chart from B&Q.<br /><br />23. You wish you had a shed.<br /><br />24. You have a shed.<br /><br />25. You actually find yourself saying "They don't make 'em like that anymore" and "I remember when there were only 3 TV channels" and "Of course, in my day...."<br /><br />26. Radio 2 play more songs you know than Radio 1 - and Jimmy Young had some really interesting guests on.<br /><br />27. Instead of tutting at old people who take ages to get off the bus, you tut at school children whose diction is poor.<br /><br />28. When sitting outside a pub you become envious of their hanging baskets.<br /><br />29. You make an effort to be in and out of the curry house by 11.<br /><br />30. You come face to face with your own mortality for the first time<br /><br />31. You find yourself saying "is it cold in here or is it just me?"Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-71967988397963135982009-11-07T11:30:00.000-08:002009-11-07T12:13:29.379-08:00'The Seduction of Claude Debussy'<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiekDsQo8fYfWgvL2I8CTW_fJi0HNdBC01QbgDzddQvcrthoHAD_qK8_OmzzfvNk-70V8EfQAbuSdXW81NCI_j3N8u7KXF_88T7ufKtgiJHM8EshnQZMOis4dxqyuRcrWCEMdGnEzqx7IRb/s1600-h/art+of+noise.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiekDsQo8fYfWgvL2I8CTW_fJi0HNdBC01QbgDzddQvcrthoHAD_qK8_OmzzfvNk-70V8EfQAbuSdXW81NCI_j3N8u7KXF_88T7ufKtgiJHM8EshnQZMOis4dxqyuRcrWCEMdGnEzqx7IRb/s400/art+of+noise.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401446637472471314" /></a><br /><br />As a close follower of the workings of Producer, Trevor Horn, I was most attracted to this CD back in 1999. It inspired several tracks that I produced myself over the following years.<br /><br />--<br /><br />Cue <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Debussy">this wiki page</a> about Claude Debussy.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEW8aXX4y2IbDjrouB8eb7QcYUMzbY8qp04OnhW0uQVFhrge6pEIa1oXruKtWmSsyE2_6l2-orfXNegi1fXiPuJdGZzISWztHfOtGhtWZ5m-CMrF4oC1a9zm8-awvqqHr0COR7QAliFn1C/s1600-h/debussy2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 316px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEW8aXX4y2IbDjrouB8eb7QcYUMzbY8qp04OnhW0uQVFhrge6pEIa1oXruKtWmSsyE2_6l2-orfXNegi1fXiPuJdGZzISWztHfOtGhtWZ5m-CMrF4oC1a9zm8-awvqqHr0COR7QAliFn1C/s400/debussy2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401455702791027666" /></a><br /><br />--<br /><br />With the web 'n all that, in this case thanks largely to last.fm.com, you can now <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Art+of+Noise/The+Seduction+of+Claude+Debussy">listen to this album in it's entirety for free, or purchase the CD.</a> <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Track listing</span><br /><br /> 1. <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Art+of+Noise/The+Seduction+of+Claude+Debussy/Il+Pleure+%28At+the+Turn+of+the+Century%29">"Il Pleure (At the Turn of the Century)"</a><br /> 2. <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Art+of+Noise/The+Seduction+of+Claude+Debussy/Born+on+a+Sunday">"Born on a Sunday"</a><br /> 3. <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Art+of+Noise/The+Seduction+of+Claude+Debussy/Dreaming+in+Colour">"Dreaming in Colour"</a><br /> 4. <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Art+of+Noise/The+Seduction+of+Claude+Debussy/On+Being+Blue">"On Being Blue"</a><br /> 5. <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Art+of+Noise/The+Seduction+of+Claude+Debussy/Continued+in+Colour">"Continued in Colour"</a><br /> 6. <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Art+of+Noise/The+Seduction+of+Claude+Debussy/Rapt%3A+In+the+Evening+Air">"Rapt: In the Evening Air"</a><br /> 7. <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Art+of+Noise/The+Seduction+of+Claude+Debussy/Metaforce">"Metaforce"</a><br /> 8. <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Art+of+Noise/The+Seduction+of+Claude+Debussy/The+Holy+Egoism+Of+Genius">"Holy Egoism of Genius"</a><br /> 9. <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Art+of+Noise/The+Seduction+of+Claude+Debussy/La+Fl%C3%BBte+de+Pan">"La Flûte de Pan"</a><br /> 10. <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Art+of+Noise/The+Seduction+of+Claude+Debussy/Metaphor+on+the+Floor">"Metaphor on the Floor"</a><br /> 11. <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Art+of+Noise/The+Seduction+of+Claude+Debussy/Approximate+Mood+Swing+No%3A+2">"Approximate Mood Swing No. 2"</a><br /> 12. <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Art+of+Noise/The+Seduction+of+Claude+Debussy/Pause">"Pause"</a><br /> 13. <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Art+of+Noise/The+Seduction+of+Claude+Debussy/Out+of+this+World+%28Version+138%29">"Out of This World [Version 138]"</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-89800111079391281432009-11-02T14:40:00.000-08:002009-11-02T14:56:11.618-08:00"GOLD" - 1994 by Symbol aka PrinceThis one has been on my mind all day and eventually found a version previously posted online.<br /><br /><object><embed src="http://video.coolstreaming.us/flvplayer.swf" FlashVars="config=http://video.coolstreaming.us/flvplayerext.php?viewkey=46f0cca7dc63b2604f5c" width="425" height="350" loop="false" allowScriptAccess="always" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" /></embed></object>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-44060068130213025752009-10-18T12:12:00.000-07:002009-10-18T12:14:25.223-07:00Welcome to Open Access Week 2009, from SPARC<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.openaccessweek.org/wp-content/themes/neoclassical/headers/oaweek_header.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 565px; height: 180px;" src="http://www.openaccessweek.org/wp-content/themes/neoclassical/headers/oaweek_header.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><object width="500" height="281"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7048906&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7048906&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="500" height="281"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/7048906">Welcome to Open Access Week 2009, from SPARC</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user817079">Jennifer McLennan</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">SPARC is a proud co-organizer of Open Access Week 2009 and is pleased to offer this welcome to the global celebrations, to be held October 19 - 23, 2009. See <a href="http://www.openaccessweek.org/">openaccessweek.org</a> for details. In addition to a welcome and thanks to organizers, partners, and participants, SPARC principals cast the Week in the context of the international movement toward free, open, online, and immediate access to the results of scholarly research. Ideal way to open your week or your session, or to spread the word by email.<br /><br />(c) Subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License </span><br /><br />--<br /><br />A short, but informative introduction by <a href="http://www.arl.org/sparc/about/staff/joseph.shtml">Heather Joseph</a> and <a href="http://www.arl.org/sparc/about/staff/mclennan.shtml">Jennifer McLennan</a> from <a href="http://www.arl.org/sparc/index.shtml">SPARC</a>. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Ways to keep up with Open Access Week 2009</span><br /><br />1) Follow events via the Official <a href="http://www.openaccessweek.org/">Open Access Week website</a><br />2) Page, <a href="http://oad.simmons.edu/oadwiki/Events_celebrating_Open_Access_Week">Events celebrating Open Access Week</a> wiki on the <a href="http://oad.simmons.edu/oadwiki/Main_Page">Open Access Directory</a><br />3) <a href="http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/fosblog.html">Open Access News Website</a> and also <a href="http://twitter.com/oatp">OATP via Twitter</a><br />4) Twitter, via the official hashtag <a href="http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23oaw09">#oaw09</a><br />5) Friendfeed, via the <a href="http://friendfeed.com/open-access-week">Open Access Week Room</a><br /><br />---<br /><br />Spinning back, some previous related McBlawg posts:-<br /><br />1) <a href="http://mcblawg.blogspot.com/2008/10/open-access-day-on-friendfeed.html">Open Access Day on FriendFeed</a> Oct 4th '08<br /><br /><br />2) <a href="http://mcblawg.blogspot.com/2008/04/open-access-week-highlights-from.html">'Open Access Week': Some Posts from the Blogosphere</a> April 13th '08<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLADXEI6QHhDAfFZSgjy1zlem7ItywYm26lDvDnit4Nv2mZbH8oyM6YColXCLaFbdd5MD73C1_NpzwrSIY3waUpW1TRSpflRtvXhHNGOk8YYRhpORBKLR4lI6jWH9cieYBJf86UdY2SxEU/s320/www.earlham.edu-~peters-fos-fosblog.html-world+copy.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLADXEI6QHhDAfFZSgjy1zlem7ItywYm26lDvDnit4Nv2mZbH8oyM6YColXCLaFbdd5MD73C1_NpzwrSIY3waUpW1TRSpflRtvXhHNGOk8YYRhpORBKLR4lI6jWH9cieYBJf86UdY2SxEU/s320/www.earlham.edu-~peters-fos-fosblog.html-world+copy.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qzotNmcIeG0&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qzotNmcIeG0&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-38408100001881768342009-10-10T11:55:00.000-07:002009-10-10T12:16:54.834-07:00The Isle of Lewis and The Birth & Death of an Oil IndustryAs a follow on from <a href="http://mcblawg.blogspot.com/2009/07/its-all-about-steam.html">"It's All About Steam"</a>, this one is about Oil.<br /><br />Just there on BBC2, was a fascinating 10 min <span style="font-style:italic;">"time-filler"</span> as the previous programme (snooker) finished earlier than scheduled. They chose a segment from the 2007 series of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/coast/archive/">Coast</a> on the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/coast/programmes2/07-outer-hebrides.shtml">Outer Hebrides</a>. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/coast/images2/outer_hebrides_map7.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 455px; height: 256px;" src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/coast/images2/outer_hebrides_map7.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"This rugged remote coast is a wonderland of stacks, secret inlets and wind swept secluded beaches. The dramatic coastline is rich with culture and traditions which are deeply rooted across the 120 islands that make up the Outer Hebrides".</span><br /><br />The main focus of this segment was specifically in terms of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis">Isle of Lewis</a>.<br /><br />Plain sailing so far, but what's the historical connection between the Isle of Lewis and oil??? Follows a semantically enhanced version of a link above.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Isle of Lewis - Birth of an Oil Industry</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stornoway">Stornoway</a> is the largest town on Lewis and the commercial hub for the islands. Over 150 years ago it saw the surprising birth of an oil industry.<br /><br />In 1844 the island was bought (£190,000) by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Matheson">James Matheson</a> who helped build the area for the community.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">Ed- He also had a wee Castle built for him. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lews_Castle">Lews Castle</a> to be precise. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">"Lews Castle is a Victorian era castle located west of the town of Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland. It was built in the years 1847-57 as a country house for Sir James Matheson who had bought the whole island a few years previously with his fortune from the Chinese Opium trade". Hhmm.</span><br /><br />Although Matheson had retired he was forever the entrepreneur, and it was more than the natural beauty of the island that caught his eye - it was the islands vast resource of peat.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/coast/images2/prog7_oil_peat_field_1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 180px; height: 150px;" src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/coast/images2/prog7_oil_peat_field_1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />For years peat had been used as a domestic fuel. Matheson wanted to take it one step further and use the peat to make <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrocarbon">hydrocarbon oil</a>. At the time paraffin oil was used for lighting and it came from fish and whales. But how did Matheson make oil from peat?<br /><br />Armed with a bag of peat and a metal drum, <a href="http://www.open2.net/roughscience2/html/scientists/mikeb/mikeb.htm">Mike Bullivant</a> from the <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/">Open University</a> illustrates the magical properties of peat. By burning the peat, tar is extracted and distilled further, extracting paraffin oil.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/coast/images2/prog7_oil_experiment.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 180px; height: 150px;" src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/coast/images2/prog7_oil_experiment.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Originally, Matheson set up his works at his castle, but the process poisoned the fish in his pond so he moved the process outside. But when all the fish were poisoned in the nearby river, Matheson called in chemist Dr Benjamin Paul <span style="font-weight:bold;">(Ed - can't find anything abot him on teh webz)</span> to take charge of <a href="http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/resources/tariff/chapter27notes_a.pdf">the distillation</a>.<br /><br />The process also gave of a flammable gas - which the night watchman discovered when doing his rounds with a candle, resulting in the chimney catching fire. Forever efficient, Dr Paul used the excess gas to burn the peat, which was used to make paraffin lamp oil, candles, and the excess tar was sold as lubricant and sheep dip.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/coast/experts/index.shtml#p4">Alice Roberts</a> joins Ali Whiteford and discovers how this area of peat land was transformed into a full blown chemical works.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaAloeYijG8mYyPtWkxNoXiztX_TB_zgVI915AXRphG7jHqzg2LY9O1U3q_LyQ-x0sr6eWlHBgJL9uydU6mUoNfkW2Zw_lD-9cfWZzGtiKAGfbkZt6bO-qP3IW7GSohTOVoSsVp-yi73M/s1600-h/prog7_oil_cgi_2_people_scal.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 180px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaAloeYijG8mYyPtWkxNoXiztX_TB_zgVI915AXRphG7jHqzg2LY9O1U3q_LyQ-x0sr6eWlHBgJL9uydU6mUoNfkW2Zw_lD-9cfWZzGtiKAGfbkZt6bO-qP3IW7GSohTOVoSsVp-yi73M/s400/prog7_oil_cgi_2_people_scal.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391040252975274626" /></a><br /><br />The <a href="http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/4325/details/lewis+stornoway+paraffin+works/">Lewis Chemical Works</a> was the first company to be a commercial success of converting peat into oil. But Dr Paul left and his successor cooked the books, lining his own pockets.<br /><br />Twenty two years later the site closed and all that's visible today is the track of the Works.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/83/52/835223_1fe0e49b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 480px; height: 360px;" src="http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/83/52/835223_1fe0e49b.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/835223">SOURCE</a><br /><br /><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069483685082228078.post-58868903539459219742009-10-05T10:32:00.000-07:002009-10-05T10:51:13.088-07:00Model sues Mexican plastic surgeon for not making her nipples "even" after a breast implant !!!<span style="font-weight:bold;">'Would You Believe It' (WYBI) - Part two</span><br /><br />As a follow on from <a href="http://mcblawg.blogspot.com/2009/02/introducing-would-you-believe-it-wybi.html">'Would You Believe It' (WYBI)- Part one</a>, here is, err, part two.<br /><br />Fresh in email box is the following.<br /><br />Being a public domain blog, McDawg has placed what appears to look like a plaster <span style="font-style:italic;">(strategically angled)</span> over part of the following image <span style="font-style:italic;">(nipples not shown)</span>. Other than that, you'll get the picture/story.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq_J-IQeQkEkiLZ8-t-MO6WfXV5D9LOvFArKdM39BYRaqOfFe1oi27EI4hOkcniCh8XlaoKcitxLREBYve3iWcwr-7QUrVWI4Q2XYOlDqNYywh90ULRc1jPdnPcJh6oW_mkPKdYY6xWitm/s1600-h/nillpes+not+shown+copy.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 380px; height: 500px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq_J-IQeQkEkiLZ8-t-MO6WfXV5D9LOvFArKdM39BYRaqOfFe1oi27EI4hOkcniCh8XlaoKcitxLREBYve3iWcwr-7QUrVWI4Q2XYOlDqNYywh90ULRc1jPdnPcJh6oW_mkPKdYY6xWitm/s400/nillpes+not+shown+copy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389172825673503010" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06161711368434758108noreply@blogger.com0