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Bell rock jingle rock
Bell jingle rock
Rock jingle rock
Bell jingle bell
Rock bell
Jingle
Rock rock bell
Jingle rock, jingle rock
Bell bell bell
Quite possibly the greatest Christmas song ever - Jingle Rock Bell (Jingle Bell Rock sung using only the words ‘bell’, ‘jingle’ and ‘rock’.

I was idly flicking through a book someone gave me about hieroglyphics when I decided to look up the Rosetta Stone in the index. I was initially consternated and then outraged when I couldn’t find it - what sorry excuse of a hieroglyphics book was this if it doesn’t have anything about the Rosetta Stone […]

A reworking of ‘The Night Before Christmas’, Syzygy-style.

There’s an advert on TV for I, Robot where a typically breathless voiceover proclaims that in the movie, ‘Will Smith defines excitement’. For some reason I can’t get out of my head the image of Will Smith beginning the movie by reading out the definition for ‘excitement’ from a dictionary.

The notorious cult of ‘al gebra’ is a fearsome cult indeed. Says Attorney General John Ashcroft, “The desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on a tangent in a search of absolute value.” The fact that I understand it and find it funny is a true testament to my geek credentials.

A beautiful example of what our elected representatives get up to in Parliament these days: the proper pronunciation of patent.
Paul Flynn: My hon. Friend will remember the outrageous suggestion that I tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the Committee by saying that the 1,000 people in Newport who have to say “patent” […]

Among the usual CDs and bills that I pick up in the mail whenever I return to Oxford was a strange package claiming that I’d bought the rights to one acre of land in the Loch Borralan Estate. Within the package was a certificate declaring me ‘Lord Hon of Loch Borralan’, a map of my […]

Two conversations with intelligent American undergraduates I know:
Them: So how far away is Wales then?
Me: About two or three hours.
Them: Will we get a passport stamp when we go?
(pause)
Me: Get a what?
Them: A passport stamp. It’s a different country, right?
Me: Well, yes, in a historical sense, but no in any other useful sense.
Them: But I […]

The light in the sky is different these days, stronger and more persistent. Wind sweeps through the streets and the weather can change faster than a footstep, transforming the air from a muggy heat to a crisp freshness. The almost-transient population of Oxford undergraduates migrated away to warmer climes weeks ago, and now they have […]

During the England game yesterday we came up with an idea for a new reality show. There are already shows centred around pop stars, hospitals, pirates and all sorts, but what about scientists?
Introducing LAB: The Show. 12 graduate and postdoc students in biology are placed in a lab for ten weeks in order to produce […]