This is a screenshot to protect yourself... It's very clever innit? Except of course that the http it sends you to starts:

http://wikijapon.com/data/meta/ville/data/httpsonline.hmrc.gov.ukhome&Reason=-1&APPID=Common&URI=httpsonline.hmrc.gov.ukhome/httpsonline.hmrc.gov........

PHISH-tank also confirms it as 100% scam.

I applied for a trainee medical writer position today.

I got rejected within 2 hours. The agency's client apparently wants someone with a PhD in a medical field.

Well. This explains why Paramount Recruitment (main agency for medical writers) haven't contacted me *at all*.

I wish looking for a job didn't feel so... enigmatic. I seem to have zero skills for anything going at the moment. FML.



ETA: just for the hell of it I've applied for a post-doc at Birkbeck in studying Chlamydia infection. Deadline's tomorrow. It'll be LOL-worthy if I get it.

I bloody LOVE Will Self. That is all.


ETA: x1000000 (this all in reference to last night's Question Time)

Mike Carter cycled around Britain and wrote a regular column for the Guardian about it. I'm just looking at some of his favourite photos...

This was taken at Callanish, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides: 'Dating from 2,900BC, the origin of the Callanish Stones are subject to much speculation. A calender system, a place of human sacrifice and giants who were turned to stone as a punishment are all put forward as theories'

These stones have been around for almost 5000 years. FIVE THOUSAND. I have difficulty picturing the world 500 years ago. That's just unbelievable. Anything pre-dating Jesus Christ is unbelievable, but these stones best him by 3000 years!



Also, here's MY favourite photo of his selection (that's a sign of the town's name):


Mike's trip as well as his selection of photos are here.

Apparently Carnage hits Lincoln tonight (tomorrow?).

http://invictusmovie.warnerbros.com/

How rugby united South Africa. Sadly it didn't hold, but possibly the movie might remind us/them of what we attained (before losing the plot).

Oh dear Claudia Winkleman. Not even flashing (as in, lighting) Noel Fielding within an inch of his life has taken away a scrap of your nuclear orange glow...

More interesting iPlayer goodies. Prof. David Nutt features in this one, pointing out how alcohol affects our bodies (in ways that mimic other, "harder", drugs).

http://bbc.co.uk/i/ndtxm/

Interesting programme on BBC HD about how we develop self-awareness. At around 27:00 he explains our cultural belief in Mind/Body dualism. It was started by Descartes who actually developed the philosophy around body and soul (in a religious context). The whole idea that there's mental health and bodily health is based on that, but it really is one thing, isn't it?

Just after that bit there's a REALLY fascinating bit where they use cyber-vision goggles to give the wearer the impression that he's standing behind himself, or viewing the world from someone else's point of view (in which case you identify with the other person's body). Apparently the brain manufactures an External Eye from which we view ourselves. Or something like that. Admitedly I wasn't paying much attention...


Go here for more: http://bbc.co.uk/i/nhv56/ (eh, sorry, only available in the UK; perhaps YouTube might have it eventually. Marcus du Sautoy presented it and the programme is called "The Secret You")

I'm in a dreadful mood. Just woke up irritable. Then I followed a link that good old Charlie Brooker Tweeted and now I'm worse:



That explains *exactly* how homeopathy works. If your brain doesn't bleed out your ears towards 2:30, you're terribly strong.

In one month I'll be a Londoner.

*contemplation*

I love you England. Except your drinking culture:

Shame of drunken student caught urinating on war memorial during 'Carnage' mass pub crawl

I'm sory to sound like a Daily Mail reader, but this IS revolting. I was relieved to see it wasn't a piece about Exeter, because I've seen posters up, however...

Today Exeter University officials voiced their outrage over planned Carnage events in the city, where a student died following a binge-drinking session in 2006.

Business student Gavin Britton died on a pub crawl with the university's golf society, just days after starting his course. He was caught on camera the night he died standing on chairs and downing spirits - including one cocktail which contained twelve shots. Gavin, of Barton-on-Sea, Hampshire, was found in the street still wearing his fancy dress costume.

The Carnage events are expected to take place on October 25 and November 15 in several pubs Gavin visited before his death.

Exeter Police Commander John Vellacott said: 'We understand that Carnage UK is a legitimate company but we had a student die on a similar event. 'Any kind of event that encourages and includes binge drinking to such an extent that medical attention is needed is not welcome.'

A spokesman for Exeter's Student Guild added: 'We in no way endorse this event. The message portrayed by the title and nature is not something we agree with.'

WHAT IS THIS?! The Gavin Britton Tour of Death? Pfft. Bloody student culture. Where's the fun in 2000 drunken students on the streets of any city? 2000 people with their inhibitions removed and their hormones raging. ~brilliant~

My Tier 1 visa application is on its way to Durham.

*fingers crossed*

I've got so much to write, but the weight of Stuff To Do is pressing down heavily on me, so a quick update:

I got my English exam results back. Candidates are tested on listening, reading, writing, and speaking ability, and awarded a score on a 9-band system (e.g. band 7 = good user, band 8 = very good user, band 9 = expert user; more here).

I got all 9's for Listening, Reading and Speaking. I got 8.5 for Writing. I'm an ~expert user~ of English LOL.

So, I'll be finishing up my visa application today and couriering it off tomorrow/Weds. The application is a 73-page document. My supporting evidence is approximately 20 pages. This is a very hefty thingummy.

In other news: wonderful weekend. Cycle show was amaaaazing. I fell in love with the Pashley Clubman 3-speed fixed gear (which is still only in prototype - see piccie). There were also gorgeous wooden rims. I suggested they put wooden rims on this bike, and the guy whipped out three samples of wood they've been considering. Hah. Good idea!

The wonderful, gorgeous, irresistible Pashley Clubman


A Fixie with wooden rims


Also, we wandered about and were lucky to run into Puncture Kit (aka David Osborne), an Australian busker who converts his bike into a percussion kit. There should be some videos of him at YouTube. He's amazing.


That's all for now.

From: Nature 461, 697 (8 October 2009) | doi:10.1038/461697a; Published online 7 October 2009

Just an excerpt...
Until a few years ago, the genetic variation of humans was understood only in terms of superficial characteristics, such as hair and skin colour. Today, thanks to the advent of cheap, fast genetic sequencing and DNA-microarray technologies, population geneticists can chart such variations in a more systematic way. Yet most experts agree that these studies are still in their infancy.

So it was with understandable incredulity that researchers received a plan by the UK Border Agency to use genetics to determine nationality — specifically, the origin of asylum-seekers claiming to be from war-torn Somalia. The agency's pilot programme, which began last month, aims to determine whether some 100 individuals really are Somali nationals by checking them for the individual DNA variants known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in mitochondrial DNA, on the Y chromosome and elsewhere in the genome. The scheme will also use isotopic ratios of elements found in hair and fingernails — which can vary depending on a person's diet or environment — to try to establish where the migrants previously lived.

The border agency says that the project has undergone scientific peer review, although it is difficult to say by whom: several geneticists contacted by Nature saw a preliminary proposal from the UK government in 2007, and warned that it was unlikely to work.


Why isn't THIS featured in the Daily Mail?! /sarcasm

LOL FOREVER AND DIEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1217335/Has-Stephen-Fry-gone-far-Actor-shows-amazing-stone-weight-loss.html

DNA tests on mummy show TB killed ancient Egyptian

This article made me think... this lady died in 600BC - very very long ago when food was natural, there were no artifical colours or flavours, and people weren't exposed to hazardous chemicals as much as they are today. Yet, her body seemed to have been wracked with a cluster of diseases. Not only TB, but also ovarian cancer and malaria.

People who insist that people from ancient history were healthier just don't know. It's not a valid argument as nobody currently alive could've witnessed it, and records don't exist. And the evidence that we do dig up shows that people had all sorts of horrible diseases.

Soooo... I've been ill. Some kind of fluey thing. Sore throat, nausea, fatigue. Extreme fatigue. I'd be in bed right now if I didn't have a ridiculous amount of work to plow through.

I wrote my English exam on Saturday and I reckon I did pretty well (read: "if I don't get a band score equivalent to Native Speaker, I'll be really upset"). The "Speaking" section was a laugh. Literally. I had my examiner in stitches for 15 minutes (although this wasn't the idea at all). I'll receive my result in 13 days, which will be Friday the 9th of October. I'll try to get my visa application couriered to Durham that Monday or Tuesday. And then I should have my Tiger 1 visa sort of mid-to-late November hurrah!

Other than that, I feel disgusting - both because I'm ill but also because I haven't done any exercise in a week and yeah... But I can't breathe properly so increasing my heart rate is not a wise idea at present.

IN OTHER NEWS: I bought this book yesterday:


Yes, kids, you can reach the age of 31 and still not know what you should do with your life. I've only read a little bit of it so far, but it makes some comforting points:

- your decisions aren't final and irreversible
- you shouldn't necessarily do what you're good at, but that which fulfills you
- you can't make a decision untill you've tested and tried things out a bit

It looks really good so far.

Eddie Izzard triumphantly finishes 1,100 mile marathon around Britain in Trafalgar Square

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1213682/Eddie-Izzard-completes-mega-seven-week-marathon-blisters-blisters.html#ixzz0RGHTlRBW


WHY wasn't this better publicised?!! DAMN YOU BBC AND ALL OTHER IGNORANT MEDIA!

I wouldn't have known if it weren't for my triathlon-crazy friend. And the dailymail today, of course.