scottsdad

Fifty-nine applied. Most were utterly unsuitable, from backgrounds in very different areas. You could see that most were applying everywhere and anywhere (ie wrong job title and institute on their cover letter). We shortlisted 4 because of these 59, only the four were even remotely suitable.

I appreciate your point of view, one shared by many. I don't agree with it myself though. 2017 was in the midst of some freak circumstances. It was less than a year after the Brexit vote, and the ~4 million UKIP voters split fairly evenly between Labour and the Tories, really bumping their vote share. Lib Dems were still on the naughty step. We were post-Brexit referendum but before the negotiating had started so there was a bit of unreality about what was really going on. In hindsight it was a stupid election to call, but as has been said earlier Theresa May's political instincts are just awful. The fact Labour couldn't defeat the Tories says something here. May is the worst campaigner I have ever seen leading a party. Her reaction to Grenfell was tin-eared, her election strategy included not talking to anyone other than party members and journalists, and repeating the words "strong and stable" every third sentence. They had been in power for 7 years, with austerity gutting every part of the country. And still Labour couldn't beat them. Labour did in fact lose to the Tories. Labour never get a fair shake in the media, that's not unique to Corbyn. I wouldn't hang my hat on that. And Labour were in-fighting (as they always, always do). Plus, Corbyn - for all that made some folk love him - wasn't liked or trusted by most people. In some ways 2019 was back to normal. Labour hopelessly divided, badly led, rather pick internal fights than take on the Tories.

Every year we get "fresher's flu" on campus. Guaranteed, 3 weeks after semester starts staff and students go down with a cold or flu, like clockwork every year. It is no big deal really. I'm used to it. This year though, when we reopen, add covid to the mix and there will be major bed shitting in mid-October. Cases will rise, no question - but with what effect? Looking at this "delta wave" hospitalisations etc. will probably stay flat. I should add we are planning on-campus teaching in the autumn, with limited class sizes (maximum of 50 where I am). We also planned that last year and it got binned by mid-October.

Oh no. I don't know if i have the energy for another series. It's so unoriginal - always referencing minor parts of past series - and the storylines are just a blubbering mess. I couldn't care less if the characters all get killed off in episode 1 of the new series. Well, except Tilly. Genuinely have to decide if this is worth watching.

How come there don't seem to be any good animated shows any more? I don't mean kids cartoons but shows for adults too. We're still living off stuff that started in the 90s like Family Guy, South Park and (OK, the 80s) The Simpsons. I can't find many new/funny/interesting animated shows these days. Look at what we had in the 90s. These were some of my own favourites. Duckman. Starring Jason Alexander (aka George Costanza from Seinfeld) about a private eye who is hopeless. It was very funny. The Critic. From makers of The Simpsons, this was really funny and made a lot of fun of 90s movies. Beavis and Butthead. The movie kind of ruined them - the TV show was mostly about reviewing music videos in a funny way with a bit of storyline around it. My friend's dad - in his 50s when this came out - had this as his favourite show. And it spawned a funny spin-off as well, Daria. Are there any new ones like these?

My retirement plans are quite modest.

I think part of it is that we were hit less hard in earlier lockdowns. As such we have less natural immunity in younger folks and they're now catching it (albeit not getting ill, having symptoms, etc)

Tough one! I was a fan of The Soul Cages, and would have put that top until Brand New Day came out - that for me is his best one. Some of the tracks on that are his best work (Desert Rose, After the Rain has Fallen, Brand New Day, etc). I have a soft spot for Mercury Falling but it could also be labelled "Bog standard Sting album".

Bit bonkers this, but a lot of fun

No worries. I had a 3 and a half hour Teams meeting this morning that has turned my brain to mince. Hence why I am posting nonsense here instead of tackling a pile of marking. Don't think I'd do the students justice today.

I've had a long day. So it's bad news on all 4 measures. Bawbags. Sorry.

Baws, yes - you are right. 133 to 140. Apologies.

missed opportunity imo

Cases up by 188. Deaths up by 3 ICU down by 3 Hospital down by 7 Mixed day. Good news on hospitalisations/ICU. 4 deaths isn't great. Pay no heed to "cases".

I thought I'd give it a try. When I eventually found "Dewbs & Co", I lasted less than 5 minutes. Just boring. Discussion on if liberals are less tolerant than conservatives...

Just gone through a lengthy recruitment process. We shortlisted 4 applicants. When interviewed, 3 turned out to be utter no-hopers (fairly sure 2 lied on their CV's). So we offered the post to one guy, who has now turned us down. Likes it where he is. A hell of a lot of time and effort down the pan, and back to square 1.

You would be amazed at how many of my students developed Long Covid, especially around deadlines and exam dates.

I wonder if we are near the peak of this "third wave" yet. Certainly feels like the rise in infections is slowing down, and hospital numbers going down instead of up shows that the vaccines are utterly bossing this.

Mother-in-law coming over? No worries - just arrange a practice football match with apprentices. You can avoid the bint.

It really is. I came off Twitter about 4 years ago and in hindsight, best thing I did. I remember during the referendum how polarising it was; I can only imagine the nutjobs on there now (anti-vax, 5G, lockdown-forever types amongst others)

When I got my PhD, I went on a flight with my supervisor. He was a Professor, but on his plane tickets he was listed as Mr. I asked him about that and his answer was simple. When he got his PhD, he (like me) could use the prefix "Dr" on his name when out and about. But his worry was being on a plane or a train and someone having a heart attack, and someone standing up, pointing at him and saying "That man is a doctor!" His X-ray diffraction of protein skills would have been useless there. Good advice. I use Dr at work, though students all call me by my first name (very different to when I was a student 20 years ago). At home, just Mr. I know a guy also who lists memberships of organisations after his name, as well as all his degrees. I'll anonymise his name but it goes like: Dr Fluffy Bawbags, BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, IHBC, ICON, FRSA...and so on. Some of these he just pays a subscription to.

I believe that masks are a requirement not to protect people from covid-laced breath, but rather to keep people reminded that there is a pandemic on. It's psychological, not medical. As long as mask wearing goes on, it is a self-reminder to everyone about what has been going on. Medical grade masks can help, but cloth masks, not so much study here - and even this study says that masks can make a difference but only in conjunction with other measures. So if you take away social distancing etc. but keep masks (as in New York), there is no real reason to do it. Makes no difference.