They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Northern superiority

Just occasionally, one is invited by circumstance to be acerbic.  I think it is slightly pointless but rather fun. In the latest case and in a single sentence, we have a straight-laced blue stocking with little elegance and no wit, but an abundance of appropriateness and good taste without forgetting shallowness, her being blonde, and early 20s.  Sometimes feeling superior is just a bit too easy.

Three grey hairs

On the day before yesterday, my 27th birthday, I had three grey hairs. I had one grey hair on my 25th birthday.

I'm not going to win on this one long term am I?

I had a six pack on my 25th birthday and I still have today, that will have to do.

Dimension jump

Is not the received knowledge about a 5th dimension a bit crass?  Why is it that beyond length, breadth, depth and time a decision by a human being should 'create' another universe simply by making a decision?  Why should all that matter be created or split or whatever it is (I have not read much science fiction on this, can you tell) by a person making a decision?  What about a horse making a decision, or a cat or a dog or an insect, in the latter case onto whom we do not bestow the belief that they are consciously aware of it.  A weakness in the plot as well as in my understanding?  Possibly.  Either way, I have a theory.

          I think it is more plausible that a fifth (or sixth or seventh) dimension might be explained a bit more fundamentally.  First, a basic analysis of the dimensions known and their progression.  Area requires length in order to be explained, but is not entirely explained by it.  There is an additional level, something that sets it apart that is perhaps not so easy to put into words.  The same comparison can be made between area and volume, and between time and volume.  One interesting description of time is that it stops everything happening at once.  It is based presumably on the premiss that time is a line (rather like dimension 1...?) and so if time did not exist, but the events that are distributed within it and the time they take do still exist, they would be on a dot rather than a line.  Anyway, where would time, volume area and length take us?  Well, nowhere beyond that -- we require another dimension (Ha! you were not expecting a Victorian wit were you) for that.  What about life?  The concept of being alive.  It cannot be explained by the others, they do not inspire its existence, it is above it.  Is that the sixth dimension?  It makes a certain amount of sense but somehow does not sit perfectly.  If we extrapolate further however, to a seventh dimension, perhaps the power of thought is that.  An Amoeba fulfils six dimensions satisfactorily by this reckoning.  Living organisms with conscious decision making processes (even if many are decided for the by instinct -- you have to have some of this in the present system.  Entirely free will just would not fit now would it?) form the next dimension.  I wonder if being alive mirrors area in the way that time reflects length.  That fails to sit very well either, however somehow thought reflects volume rather neatly I think.  What about an 8th dimension then.  What could reflect time?  Perhaps nothing.  Either because what I have written is drivel or because it is not within us to witness/interact/take/understand the 8th dimension.  An Amoeba can be involved (it is by virtue of my thinking about it now) but it cannot understand it.  Perhaps people are like that but of the 7th dimension, with no understanding or even sense of the 8th, nor any ability to know/assimilate/deal with it.  You can see I am struggling for words here.  Again, by my reckoning that is because these ideas are drivel, or because me gesturing towards it (and you reading this) invalidates an 8th dimension on those grounds alone.  No?  Somehow I have got myself in a slightly knotted-making position philosophically.  Can you do better?

What are you going to do...next?

In reaching the final year of my PhD in biological chemistry (non-clinical cancer research really, but let's not get too carried away) one is asked more frequently "what are you going to do next?".  There is usually a slight pause before the word 'next', presumably where the questioner thinks better of asking what s/he would have done 10 years ago, "what are you going to do when you grow up?".  This is not because it is patronising you understand, though it would be, but because I am 26 and stand 6'6" tall  in front of them.  But I digress.

It is a nagging question.  I don't have one definite idea or desire for my 'career pathway', so depending on the humour of my co-respondent either I sound flexible to the opportunities out there or arrogant/weak with a dash of 'can't make up my mind'.  The truth of it is the former needless to say, I have looked at a number of positions on the bigger vacancy websites (and the not so big) as well as making decisions based on experience (I worked in the pharmaceuticals industry for a time between my first and second degrees), leading me to various possibilities.  Practical considerations are unavoidable -- the student lifestyle I have had for the best part of the last decade (my sojourn in industry as a graduate scientist was far from lavish) has more than run its course.

         Normally carefully interrupting my wide-ranging answer the questioner, who let's be honest may well have just been breaking the ice, will sympathise about the current financial climate.  This is of course an awkward point.  One is lead in this case to be nauseatingly, neé gleefully, positive and so my response is usually based on the 'there are no problems, only opportunities' mantra.  I'm not sure whether I believe that entirely or not, but it being 'management speak' it's not to be taken at face value -- and one could do worse that a positive take on it.

         So where does all this meandering take me?  Well, practical considerations (i.e. needing money) push me towards management and consulting where once it might have been the city.  My experience points to post-doctoral work in a research group somewhere.  The latter is not appealing on two grounds, both one's natural desire to move on and the pay is far from appealing.  It might be comfortable though.  Hmmm several options then.  Thinking of the Cheshire cat and Alice of wonderland fame, I need to pick a road, at least to look at.  Well, I shall pick strategy consulting for PwC.  Let's see what that application process brings.   Time to update the old CV.

"Sam, you care too much"

First, imagine you are a basketball player.  It does not matter which sort, just someone who plays.  Now imagine that one day you can, all of a sudden, throw the basketball 30% further than you could, and perfectly at will -- without arms that look like something out of archetypal 'action' film.  It would be handy would it not, if surprising?  You would have some work to do, you would have to re-calibrate all your shots, re-judge everything so you can control it and use it properly.  After all, who wants to hit their team mates in the face?  Or the opposite team, or themselves come to that?  But still, one thing is, despite the changes, you would never give it up, would you?  No.  And neither would I ;-)