h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ooh, hope all is ok, Loony. Assume this is a check up?

Thankfully it's not a Tuesday today.

[Munchkin] I hope you all enjoy the meet-up, while I am in Glasgow, in the rain! Typical rightly.
Other thoughts include;
Isn't passing a viva great.
Pity Harold didn't get hit in the lung (rather than the eye) as he might have been able to find that lung guy and been fine.
Off to Glasgow tomorrow morning, for to be bumped on the head with a purple cusion and ritually garrotted.
Scars have I none, hurrah.
How come the UK doesn't have a national day, like Bastille Day, Independence day or even Canada Day?
I wonder if the server has cooled down enough to run a tape backup yet?

Who would we celebrate independence from?
I do believe the weather forecast for London is possible thunderstorms today (there have been some big ones elsewhere in the UK).
Road trips to cornwall, not been down there for a while. Must go sometime.

You could celebrate independance from the Romans.

/* Steps out on the the veranda, and and lights up a firework, first setting the time-warp back 10 hours. It was immediately seen 2 LEDs ago, and lingers */

Oooooo!

Aaaah!

Amy, if you're not gone yet, try to get to Poldhu if you can. It's where Marconi first received wireless transmissions from America, and there's a rather fine monument to him there. As I work in broadcasting it was sort of a pilgrimage for me, but it's a lovely spot anyway, and sort of mystical in a way. The hotel Marconi stayed in is close by, and looks practically unchanged from his day judging by the photographs I've seen.

B17, have fun in the London, and remember to keep your wits about you. Last time I went I was only there half an hour and bang went saxpence!

And can someone please tell me what the heck a viva is? Last time I used the word was to describe a rather unlovely car made by Vauxhall in the 70's...

Viva, oral examination (no not someone looking at teeth) / defence of a dissertation or thesis. It's the exam that PhD students get when they've written the book of what they spent the last three years supposedly doing. The outcome is usually re-write a chapter or two to the satisfaction of the examiner. If you're lucky you just get a few typos to change.
The examinee is usually quite nervous about it all (even though they're the expert at this time) because several months can pass between handing over the book and getting examined. Still the academics I know have admitted to reading the thesis on the train on the way to be the examiner!

Right, thank you.

Sounds marginally worse than colonic irrigation to me.

Reckon I'll continue to be a dunce, thanks very much

I've not gone yet. We're going tomorrow morning. I promised my friend (the one who has just done her viva) that I would take her once she had finished but before she flew back to Brazil. It was always likely to clash with the London Meet-up . But I will be able to go to the Northern Spring Onion on 4 August .

Nervous is not the word. During my viva I took quite a liking to the idea of electro-shock therapy.
On the "Read it on the train" bit, when writing up I was advised to keep it short, as anything that could not be read on the train would be ignored. Somewhat explains why they ask the most bizarre questions, and how you can confuse them with a busy graph

Munchkin, whose thesis contains a graph of only two lines, both the same colour, yet no-one noticed.

Wohoo! Second issue of Ask Prof in the Post today!

Those were some top questions you sent in, Amy!
And congrats to your friend!

*wandering in, hearing bits of the conversation*
I have a book called a Random Walk in Science which has a marvellous article aimed at the examiner at a viva teaching them how to intimidate the examinee and make themselves look like the coolest one in the room...

Just had a very awkward 4th of July dinner last night. I think I'll write about it in my journal, but I have nothing really to add to the current conversation here

Ah, good day Joanna!

I need no books - I can seem both intimidating and cool at the same time. Heck, I can even /be/ both intimidating and cool at the same time!

Oh yeah? Well, well, I can be NEITHER at the same time! So there!

Gah!

*Cowers in fright.*

That's pretty impressive.

[MTG slogging though a huge backlog, but this one is at work]

[BB]
Ottox has created a new badge for the likes of me who lurk more than post

it's at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A588396