Been quite busy in the last weeks…
I’ve finally submitted my Phd thesis (more on that in another post), and been quite busy preparing project proposals for FP7 Call 5.
But I still had time to register for this year Codebits 2009. This year it will be held in Cordoaria Nacional.
Hope to meet you there!
It’s that time of the year again, when everyone rushes to upgrade their OS to their latest version that just got release or is in the process of…
Upgrades are done because people techies just need to have the latest version of everything. Even when the new version will enable them to do exactly the same task they were doing before. And lets face it, if the new version wasn’t released yet, you would still be able to do your work.
“do your work”, now this is tricky… because most of the times an upgrade to the OS breaks a lot of applications (and I’m not even calling in Linux Upgrades that sometimes leave the System Inoperable…).
Reports fly all over the Internet about failed applications, some quite amusing, and there is even a wiki just to track the subject.
In the end it all comes down to a week or two of low productivity for anyone that just had to be the first to upgrade…
I don’t have the time to be less productive, especially considering that I’m preparing the final version of my thesis. To lose a single day upgrading would cost me dearest…
I’m not saying that I will not upgrade, I’m just saying that I will wait until all dust settles.
This is something that came up during a talk in my research group, which I would like to share, in order to check if someone agrees:
It’s true that I haven’t attended a conference in a while. And my main opinion is that they are mostly not worthy the travel expenses… but that will be a different post!
Either way here is my caustic view of the 3 kinds of people attending a Science Conference nowdays:
- The authors of the papers (which usually sit in the front row) and will only ask you a question out of courtesy.
- The friends of the authors (well the folks you know, and who happen to be attending the conference that will sit there while you present, before leaving with you to go somewhere else more interesting)
- The “Others” which could actually make you a good question but will not. Either because they are polite not to shoot you down in public, or simply because there only there for the free wifi and not really for you paper.
The economy might be shrinking but …
… my family just increased it self by 50% 
While doing my best to finnish my Phd this summer, I’ve got new “help” that keeps it’s parents wake all night long…
Welcome Helena!
European Elections are to be help during the these days around all europe, and a major abstention is unfortunately expected. Most people invoke the fact that they are tired of politicians, and that they can do nothing about it.
In my view they are wrong since politicians only exist due to us, the people who elect them. It is us that mold the profile of the politicians, being the vote our only truly democratic tool. Regardless of our political view it is important to vote and to express our opinions on how society should be governed by choosing a party.
A good way of doing soo is through a tool such as EU.Profiler that can help you to find the party that shares your view points from more then a dozen parties (yes, because there are more parties then those that show on TV).
Diogo Gomes Blog