Did anyone see the news earlier this week re: maternity leave harming women's careers? The solution would seem to be: offer equal leave to dads, a lot of whom would probably like to take it.

But I was really suprised at the vindictive responses on news forums to this news: more than 90% of the responses were from men, and along the lines of "Oooh, bet you regret demanding equality now, don't you girls?"

Sorry to hijack your thread with this detour: I was just so suprised at the old-fashioned views still circulating

When I asked some American undergrads what the first thing they would so upon getting home was, they answered "Go to Taco Bell"!

What is the allure? I have never been to one of them, though I have had a home made Old El Paso taco.

Today, I am mostly thinking about:

1) Holland and Barrett Fruit Suprise (reasonably healthy, that one)
2) Yoghurt banana chips
3) Boterkoek

One more week to go...

Kind of: in my first year of PhD I was asked to develop a method using a certain bit of equipment. I tried for months, even though all the literature said it was impossible, cos one of our collaborators insisted on it. But it was hopeless. In the end I showed that you could get better results (or get results at all) using a different machine, and that seems to have kept them quiet.
It may be similar: perhaps the method is just not feasible.

I've been thinking about this, as I'm more than half-way now and the first half passed so quickly.

My approach:
1) Start writing proposals NOW: try to get a postdoc out of one of my ideas
2) Cultivate links with other labs/researchers: you never know where a vacancy may come up
3) Keep ear to ground re: internal vacancies. I like where I am now and unadventerous as it is, I would like to stay if possibe.

I recently began worrying about boring stuff like pensions, though: so much work these days is short-term. Am I going to be living in poverty as a pensioner cos I didn't make enough contributions?

Life's a pain in the behind sometimes, isn't it?

Hope things settle down for you

I quite like Luca too

But my dentist looks like a chubby teenager. I must be getting old.

I assume that the NHS subsidises dental treatment. I did check a few private practices, but they were charging upwards of 800quid for the same job.

Yes, I've since heard that other people were offered a gold tooth for around 50quid. Mind you, mine's near the front so I don't think I'd have wanted that.

Excellent.

I have a new tooth (185 quid). These were my dentist's words, upon opening the packet containing my new tooth:

"Oh, I don't think it's a good colour match. It's not dark enough."

Cheeky sod.

My supervisor says that he was never more proud of his last student than when, for the first time, she argued the toss with him. And she was correct, which made him even prouder.

Heh. It's my nightmare that I will discover a tiny error - just a piddling little mistake - that will render all my data meaningless.

Naturally, I will discover this error 27 hours before my viva.

Hi PhD,

I'm 18 months in, and each month have to present results to a borad of 30+ people (inc. my sponsors). I used to dread these presentations, feeling just the way you do, but I promise that after a while it got easier, and I now see them as discussions, and chances to air difficulties in a friendly environment.

I think everyone feels a bit thick during meetings sometimes, even established researchers

Olivia, I will have a go at that (good old tomato puree!). It sounds very nice already.

Swantje, let us know when you get there! We'll celebrate with you.

Olivia, thanks for the taco recipe: I think we do say salsa (chilli sauce, to my mind at least, is a sweet Thai dip).

Does anyone else have low-fat (and preferably cheap) recipes?

I use tomato puree as a base for loads of stuff: with basil for pasta, with garlic and chilli for chickpeas, and with cinnamon and garlic for tagines. And it's only 50p