Adam J Taylor

Suddenly feeling rather tearful after finishing re-watching the...

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:47:00 +0000

Suddenly feeling rather tearful after finishing re-watching the fantastic NY-LON from 2004, chronicling the transatlantic romance of Michael and Edie. Catch it on 4OD.

Josh Ritter - Change of TimeNew Josh Ritter Song, record out May...

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:44:06 +0000

Josh Ritter - Change of Time
New Josh Ritter Song, record out May 4
(via brainfo, bunkercomplex, sometimesagreatnotion)

"This morning, I woke up thinking that if something is worth doing it’s worth doing poorly. Which at..."

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:38:34 +0000

“This morning, I woke up thinking that if something is worth doing it’s worth doing poorly. Which at first seems to be completely opposite of what we always here: “If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.” But I think both are true and should actually be considered together. That anything you do you should do the best you can, but even if you don’t have it perfected before you start, for goodness sake, man, still start.”

- Shawn Blanc. A Job Should Also Be an Education.

"Poetry matters. Poetry is what elevates the banal and neglected object to the realm of art."

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:28:11 +0000

“Poetry matters. Poetry is what elevates the banal and neglected object to the realm of art.”

- Aimee Mullins

Am I the only person on the interwebs who doesn’t love (or suddenly pretend to love) the small...

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:30:01 +0000

Am I the only person on the interwebs who doesn’t love (or suddenly pretend to love) the small literary canon of J D Salinger?

The composer, Dmitri Shostakovich, serving as a fire warden in...

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:13:03 +0000

The composer, Dmitri Shostakovich, serving as a fire warden in Leningrad, on the cover of Time Magazine. 20 July 1942.

Fiery European Festivals - The Big Picture - Boston.com The...

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:50:26 +0000

Fiery European Festivals - The Big Picture - Boston.com

The Norseman’s Home

The Norseman’s home in days gone by
Was on the rolling sea,
And there his pennon did defy
The foe of Normandy.
Then let us ne’er forget the race,
Who bravely fought and died,
Who never filled a craven’s grave,
But ruled the foaming tide.

The noble spirits, bold and free
Too narrow was their land,
They roved the wide expansive sea,
And quelled the Norman band.
Then let us all in harmony,
Give honour to the brave
The noble, hardy, northern men,
Who ruled the stormy wave.

iPad + Numbers + Papers for iPad (pretty please?) = The Ultimate...

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:10:57 +0000

iPad + Numbers + Papers for iPad (pretty please?) = The Ultimate Lab Notebook

Josh: “Toby, come quick! Sam’s getting his ass...

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:38:00 +0000

Josh: “Toby, come quick! Sam’s getting his ass kicked by a girl”
Toby: “Ginger, get the popcorn.”

— The West Wing S02E04 “In This White House”.

DNA before Plate tectonics

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:11:00 +0000

Its almost unbelievable to think that the the structure of DNA was described [1] a full 13 years before the theory of plate tectonics [2].

[1] J. D. Watson and F. H. C. Crick (1953). “Molecular structure of Nucleic Acids: A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid”. Nature 171: 737–738. doi:10.1038/171737a0.

[2] J. Tuzo Wilson (1966). “Did the Atlantic close and then re-open?”. Nature 211 (5050): 676–681. doi:10.1038/211676a0.

(More landmark Nature papers here)

Socrates in America - Arguing to death

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:45:00 +0000

Socrates in America - Arguing to death:

The Economist:

“If the most famous philosopher of all were alive today, he might find America remarkably similar to his own Athens of the fifth century BC. Socrates would witness a vibrant and proud democracy, and disdain it as an indulgence of the benighted, unphilosophical “herd”. He would interrogate America’s politicians, talk-radio and cable-television pundits in search of honest discussions that lead to truth, and thereby expose their confusion, contradictions and ignorance. He would avail himself of America’s as of Athens’s freedom of speech, and simultaneously be horrified by the speciousness of the speech that Americans choose to make. And he would challenge America just as he had provoked Athens, and possibly be prosecuted and condemned for it a second time.”

La Rose Complète Setting by Lauridsen Poetry by Rilke J’ai...

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:16:00 +0000

La Rose Complète

Setting by Lauridsen
Poetry by Rilke

J’ai une telle conscience de ton
être, rose complète,
que mon consentement te confond
avec mon cœur en fête.

Je te respire comme si tu étais,
rose, toute la vie,
et je me sens l’ami parfair
d’une telle amie.”

“I have such awareness of your
being, perfect rose,
that my will unites you
with my heart in celebration.

I breathe you in, rose, as if you were
all of life,
and I feel the perfect friend
of a perfect friend.”

"Fifteen percent believed that web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee was either head of MI5 or an Arctic..."

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:16:31 +0000

“Fifteen percent believed that web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee was either head of MI5 or an Arctic explorer.”

- BBC News - Steve Jobs and Sir Tim Berners-Lee baffle the Brits

Science fact

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:12:44 +0000

Science fact:

If you took all the veins from your body & laid them end to end, you would die.

“Your research methodology is flawed!” (PhD cohort...

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:16:03 +0000

“Your research methodology is flawed!” (PhD cohort in-joke)

“They didn’t break me. I am broken.”

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 01:58:01 +0000

“They didn’t break me. I am broken.”

Brrr.

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:20:07 +0000

Brrr.

Carla Bruni - L’amoureuse I’m seriously considering...

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:50:50 +0000

Carla Bruni - L’amoureuse

I’m seriously considering having an affair with The Wife of the President of the French Republic, despite her husband’s nuclear arsenal.

The Ministry of Justice. Chillingly Orwellian in name and...

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:39:02 +0000

The Ministry of Justice. Chillingly Orwellian in name and architecture.

The year that was 2009

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:19:28 +0000

Jan: Should have worked harder
Feb: How not to be a teamplayer
Mar: So this is how a team should work
Apr: Slaving 24/7
May: Finished!
Jun: Graduation, great wine, and surprisingly good fencing
Jul: Parents moving from childhood home
Aug: Flat hunting
Sept: Barolo and Barbaresco
Oct: Welcome to postgraduate life
Nov: Settling in, ‘Do embryonic stem cells form adult tissues?’
Dec: Hard graft, and home to family