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The diaTribe blog is our occasional take on life, the universe and everything. Observations on current affairs, the environment, politics, humour and music/gig reviews. Travel diary and extreme sports stories, along with the usual rants/raves are also chucked in for good measure.

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Sep16

RIP: Richard Wright

Rick Wright

Very sad news today about the death of Rick Wright, talented keyboard player with the legendary Pink Floyd and often under-appreciated musical craftsman.

Wright was part of the core talent of the Pink Floyd sound, having first formed the band together with Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and Nick Mason, back in 1967.

He was a key part of the sound, recording and performing with the Floyd from their debut album “Piper at the Gates of Dawn” onwards.

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Sep08

Physics Milestone or Lodestone?

Star Gases

As most people will be aware, the world’s largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider is due to be switched on for the first time, this Wednesday the 10th September.

When the LHC switched on, it is hoped that the data collected from the collision of sub-atomic particles will go some way to providing information on how the universe began, right back at the dawn of time, with the big bang.

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Sep05

Farewell UCB

M4 Commute

Another contract completed and it’s time to move on again. I’ll miss the team and the interesting work but not the pre-dawn commute to beat the traffic. wink

Feels a bit weird to be largely unemployed again…the last 2-3 contracts have been largely back-to-back and have all been pretty busy, so I’ve not had a lot of time to focus on other things. It’s going to take a couple of days to get into another groove.

Ah well, on we go…

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Sep03

My South Park Character

Plucking Phil

Courtesy of one of my work colleagues at UCB-Celltech in Slough, is my very own South Park Character (the whole team has one).

It’s been reworked with Su’s help (she thinks that I’ve downplayed the grumpiness element of my character, but it’s my character and I can have what I want! lol)

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Aug31

Reciprocity on Republicans

Hurricane Gustav 2008

A few days back, a particularly dim Republican God-botherer called the “Rev.” James Dobson (interestingly, an anagram of his name is:”Demon Ass Job” lol) asked his so-called “Christian” parish to pray that torrential rain would disrupt Obama’s acceptance speech, at the Democratic convention in Denver.

But it seems that the Lord got a mite pissed off with that request.

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Aug20

Remembrance

August the 20th is always a tough day. It’s the anniversary of my brother’s death and I always phone home. It’s hard to hear your mum cry from 7,000 miles away and not be able to give her a hug.

David McKenzie (1968-1994)

David McKenzie (1968-1994)

David was born in October 1968 with Cystic Fibrosis, a genetic disorder that affects the lungs, liver, pancreas, and intestines and of course has a major effect on virtually every aspect of it’s victim’s life. At the time, there wasn’t a lot known about this disease even by doctors and he was mis-diagnosed for the first two years of his life as suffering from colds, flu, suppressed immune system, asthma and God knows what else, before a canny GP referred my worried parents to a consulting professor at Auckland Hospital, who was delving into CF and recognized the symptoms.

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Aug18

Olympics

Olympic Flame - Salt Lake City, Utah (Winter 2002)

Anyone who knows me will tell you that in general I couldn’t care less about the Olympics.

While I can appreciate the commitment and self sacrifice that individual participants make in order to be the best they can be (and if at all possible, the best in the world), I loathe the inevitable dirty politics, shady dealings and backhanders that are now so interwoven into the whole spectacle, that they’ve actually become part of the fabric.

When was the last time we had an Olympic games not marred by drugs scandals, huge cost over-runs, civil right clamp-downs, forced relocations or environmental issues?

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