What, you expected me to marry Laura and NOT turn into an anal pedant?

Get it right people! Over the past few months I've noticed more and more instances of people confusing the words 'then' and 'than'. Even though they are almost homophones1 it's not that hard to tell the difference, one has an 'a' where the other has an 'e', but I'm guessing the real problem is not knowing their definitions and usage properly. Then Then has a variety of meanings and is used primarily as an adverb but can also be used as a noun. An adverb is a word used to alter the meaning of another word or phrase (either a ... more

Yay for jazz!

I loaded up Wikipedia today and was delighted to find Miles Davis is the feature article today.

A couple of photos to keep you interested!

This is actually a really, really, really old post that was never ported across properly from my old blogging platform. It's been sitting in my drafts for ages and I don't want it there any more. Snow in Paris After the engagement on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees Thank you everyone for your congratulatory emails.

Transposon

I hereby resurrect the "something I learnt this week" posts. Although they are still unlikely to be weekly. I have just been enlightened (mostly via Wikipedia) on what a transposon is. In short a transposon is a small part of DNA that can move around within the genome of a single cell. They can cause mutations and increase or decrease the amount of DNA within a cell. The amount of DNA within a cell can be changed because some of the transposons (types I and III) copy a section of the DNA and transpose it to another location. Type II ... more

So how long until it's worth buying one?

We might laugh at Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (well I do anyway - not necessarily at him, but at the Californian people for electing him) but with goals like the California Hydrogen Highway I have to respect him. Maybe I should be re-thinking my opinion of the people who elected him, because a quick look over his website reveals a few initiatives which look (at least on a cursory glance) very intelligent. It looks as though many of his policies are about addressing some serious social issues and improving the quality of life for Californians. The thing that sparked my interest ... more