Eska, that's a brilliant idea! That way I could finally beat my arch nemeses Gary Barlow and Darius Danesh by progessing to B list celebrity ahead of their C list celebrity status. I'd love to see the look on Darius' beardy weasel-face when I steal all of the column inches in The Sun and The Daily Mirror. Take that Darius! That'll teach you for making my ears bleed with your hideous song Colour Blind. And when I get to A list celebrity status, just to peeve Posh Spice off, I'll release my own perfume that will outsell hers: Eau de Peasucker - aromatic composites for the cerebral woman.(up) I vote we do this!(up)

Hmm, I'm not too encouraged by the idea, since if it's true to real life, you'll probably have to be a PhD student for longer than you expected, you'll have to be a post-doc more than once, there's no telling whether you'll ever get to be a lecturer and will have to stay as that for ages, then there's senior lecturer, all the competition to be a reader and then even more competition and uncertainty over whether you'll get the rating of Professor. And then, then, by the time you get to Vice Chancellor status, which will be years away, something better than the t'internet will have been invented and this site won't exist. Oh, and I forgot to mention, outside of cyberspace you'll probably have been awarded your PhD ages ago and so you'll have not need for the forum.

Oi Sneaks, hush your mouth! Bill Murray is one of my favourite actors; I defo think he shares my perspective on life. Don't agree? Well, were it not for Bill Murray, Ghostbusters would have been rubbish. And then he gave us the gift of Caddyshack too. I do side with you regarding films always ruining books (if that's what you're inferring). As far as films based on books, I've yet to see a film that is as good as the book it's based on, let alone better! I think it's because there so much more personal meaning and intimacy with a book; it becomes your film in your head - not some sterile re-imagining by some Hollywood hack with dollar signs for eyes.

Ohhh, I like this thread. I've got loads to do before the night is over, so I can only think of one off the top of my head without expounding on the inspirational life philosophiser, Sylvester Stallone. I heard the quote below a while back in a conversation between two old ladies about the bad driving of the bus driver, whilst we were all getting off the bus (before I could drive). Erm, I think they meant to say erratic...

*Funny quote*

"His driving was so erotic"

Hello, I've completed it for you - feeling kind today. Just thought I'd mention that a few of your items are redundant and it might be a bit ethnocentric for the multicultural population of the UK. Other than that, it wasn't too bad to do.:-)

Right, I've actually got a favourite film for now (you can actually watch it on Youtube), Man on Wire! What a belting film - and what a belting musical score that goes with it. I had to keep checking my pulse because my heart nearly stopped and jumped out of my throat during some parts of it. Thank God I'm training to be a researcher and not a wire walker!

Blimey, Eska, so many names of notable women. I need to be careful here, lest I come across as a male chauvinistic pig - which I iz not. Audrey Tatou and the mass infatuation she receives from male PhD students? I was not aware of this, probably because I'm not exposed to any other PhD students in the main. I, personally, think she's quite nice because she's just, well, different and (I'll pass you the sick bucket) cookie. Thank you for answering my global warming question too - thought we had a hand in stuff. I thought the philosophy was crap in the leather clad Matrix movies, but Agent Smith with his Weetabix Pocketbook Guide to Philosophy was right when he said, "Humans are a virus..yada yada..."
Thanks to melsie for helping me with my plummeting lift quandary. However, you've now single handedly destroyed any hope of survival I had should I find myself in a plummeting lift. Fortunately, the one's at my uni would only drop about three floors. So, a broken ankle at worst and time of from my PhD - yeah!
Bug, you've made me even more confused with your similarly baffling questions! And given me reason to procrastinate with Word - I'm now going to mess around with sentences that include the word 'good' to see if I can replicate your traumatic experience. W.r.t insects laying eggs in your brain, there's quite a lot of tissues between your ear canal and brain - drugs have enough trouble trying to get there. I think you're quite safe from something like that happening. But, I remember watching some Star Trek movie years ago, and the bugs in those movies had no trouble getting into your grey matter, via either the ear or nostrils. So, terrestially your problem is solved but as far as Hollywood and the matter of the universe is concerned you question still stands.:-)

Hello Chrisrolinksi. The jobs situation is largely the same for many of us. Being 12 weeks away from submitting does not, admittedly, leave you long to get a post-doc proposal together, so I can see how, career-wise, things may seem temporarily opaque. It makes my moaning pale into insignificance. It's a real shame with your parents, since that would seem like an ideal temporary solution. In moments of procrastination, if they exist at such a late time in your thesis production, could you not get your CV out to some recruitment agencies in advance of your arrival so that they can maybe sort you something - Office Angels, Kelly's Recruitment and Hayes? I don't know how crisis loans from the social services work, but you're effectively homeless in 12 weeks and, as a UK resident, you may be able to get a loan off them just to set you up - my brother has posted on the Moneysavingexpert forum about this and some knowledgeable bod was very helpful, so it may be a good idea to solicit some advice from there via a friendly post. Would your parents also not be able to lend you a small amount of money to set you over until you get a job and lay down a deposit for accommodation (it's usually a month's rent in advance isn't it?)? Also, could you arrange an overdraft facility with your bank?
In your situation, and sorry it's not soothing words, I would find it hard to switch off from such a dilemma because nothing is sorted for when you finish in 12 weeks. I hope that I've managed to offer some sort of advice that requires minimal effort while you're intensely writing up.

Sue, I use Endnote. I have version 11 and it integrates well with Microsoft Word (better than it used to). All of my references, barring books, are stored in Endnote and so when I finally get to the writing up stage it'll be much easier to insert references into my text and compile the bibliography at the end - it'll save a lot of labour! You could go the old-fashioned route but if you have nearly a thousand refs like me, won't it take you ages? Then there's the getting them in perfect order. If you did decide to re-train to use Endnote, it would be simple enough to just track the refs down online and automatically insert them - just a bit of mouse button clicking. I'm a technophile, however, so it's what you'd feel most comfy with. If you do decide to use Endnote, PM me and I can sort you out with the latest version at no charge. :-)

Well, women are actually slightly more than half the population. Physiologically speaking, if men were petrol engines, women would be diesel engines. So, good point Sue. But who could I invite? Certainly not Germain Greer. Although very smart indeed, it'd be like putting caustic soda on mi cornflakes - she's far too cutting and biting. Wouldn't mind Audrey Tatou (Ooh la la :$) or Dawn French though - not sure if they'd be able to help me with my questions, but may liven things up.

Hi Sue2604, I'd like to think that the whole stars system or any other system that may or may not be implemented in future does not create any kind of competitiveness of underground bartering system. For me and, though I can't speak for others, most people it's just a bit of frivolity. I wouldn't mind, in all honestly, if it was scrapped if the site is revised at a future point. It's just something to joke around with - occasionally at the expense of forum etiquette (I admit). However, though I only use this forum due to time constraints, a rating system of sorts is widely implemented in many other forums across the net and I'm not aware of it leading to widespread rivalry and competitiveness, even in forums of a similar nature to this - such as The Student Room. Having said that, I've heard that The Student Room has got quite few snobs and elitists on it - horses for courses!:-)

I've had an idea. As I'm working away on my PhD, there's a million questions not related to my PhD that I want to ask and I'll probably never find the answers for. So, I thought we could start a thread with an aim unlike any of the others that has gone before. A thread with serious intent. A thread designed to uncover and answer mysteries that have forever baffled us. I'm involved in a particularly weird profession and my research is related to it. I have so many questions concerning it, but, alas, they are not fit for public consumption. I am cognizant that some of the finest minds in the world frequent this site because I've read some sentences of late that have complicated words in them, so we may be able to help each other out with this - that would be great.
So, in Question Time with Walminskipeasucker...

1) Is man-made global warming real or not? I read so many stories in the media, but like a blade of grass in the wind I'm tossed from one side of the argument to the other. I really, really want to know.The right-wing part of my brain says no, but the left-wing part does protest.

2) Why, if you're in a plummeting lift, can't you just jump up high right before it crashes to the floor and thus avoid inevitable death?

3) Not sure how to word this one, but will it ever be possible to transform atoms in such a way that lead can be turned into gold and so forth?

Now to the rational man, they may seem stupid, but these are the questions that baffle me daily and if I was having tea with Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton and the lads, this is what I would be asking as I passed around the After Eights.

So, does anybody have any answers or like to list any questions that befuddle them senseless? Please join in in Question Time With...



:-)

I would think very, very carefully about doing a PhD. Forgive my curtness, but you really need to read around and talk to people at your institution who are doing PhDs because it would be very silly to march blindly into something like this. Are you aware of what you have to do to get on a PhD course? I'd like to recommend you read a book about it first, called How to Get a PhD - it will offer you a good insight. I have this book and could send it to you if you wish - just private message me if you would like it. I'm sure that some of the other members of this forum may be able to give you more insight.

Hmm, having thought about it, I like Sneak's idea. We could have a points reputation thing going on, where the OP could recommend the value of a particular post and in doing so award reputation points to that poster. That way, it acknowledges the value of the contributions a particular poster makes to the forum. The recommendation of a particular post, like with the stars system could be completely anonymous, so we wouldn't have poster's saying "I gave you some advice and you didn't recommend it, tra la la".

Hello Someone 3, I just fancied a change of avatar really. I got bored of the old man look and decided to be young and dynamic instead.;-)