Parasites
First day back to work and I filled and filed yet another grant application. That makes four, of which three successful so far.
I do not like this process. I do not like the language, I do not like the angle (“which ethnic groups will your project benefit?”). Above all, I do not like that there are pools of (nearly always taxpayer) money sloshing around for opportunists (like me!) to grasp at.
We don’t need the money. But if not us, some other grubby parasite will get it. Grants like this seldom trickle down to fill a genuine need in society.
Speaking of, I once read a book about parasites and nearly lost the will to live. You can get a taste of it from this string of Tweets by the author, Carl Zimmer.
The image is an Ophiocordyceps, taken from this NYT article by Zimmer with the charming headline, “After This Fungus Turns Ants Into Zombies, Their Bodies Explode.”
Sweet dreams!
January 3, 2023 — 7:41 pm
Comments: 10
The Judgement of a Weasel
Well! Brouhaha and skullduggery!
I call it for HottyTottyGirl. Leaving a placeholder in the rush of the moment and clarifying it later strikes me as within the spirit of the rules. In fact, I would much appreciate you correct a typo in this way, if you make one. I can’t properly search the thread with misspellings.
However, in the case LesterIII’s described, I probably would have judged otherwise. Making a pick and editing it to a completely different pick later is stretching “dirty tricks” too far. Though there would have been no dirty trick shaming, naturally. I assume it wasn’t a winning entry.
I am a little astonished at Uncle Al fighting his case. I owe him dick and have done for an embarrassingly long time. I’m surprised he’s still willing to play with me. Thank you, Uncle Al. May you harbinge another celebrity death soon. (No, harbinge is not a word).
This is not the giant security hole you might think. Comments are only editable by users for four minutes, after which you have to email and ask me to fix any problems. That’s a pretty tiny window for a self-respecting dirty trick.
And so, tomorrow I go back to work. Had a good holiday. Am sad.
January 2, 2023 — 7:23 pm
Comments: 3