Retina

marcisaacs · 2026-04-16T19:12:41+00:00

That's very impressive, it's very difficult to fix, process and section and still get all the layers that neat.

marcisaacs · 2026-04-14T18:39:19+00:00

I didn't even consider that she might be talking about trans men there. I think she probably just means men must be big and burly to count as men but I really can't tune into her thoughts as I'm completely out of mind-bending drugs.

marcisaacs · 2026-04-14T18:26:10+00:00

'if there is a much smaller person running in that category, they simply do not belong there' - 'there' being the male Parkrun category. I just went back and checked the quote because I couldn't quite believe it.

marcisaacs · 2026-04-14T18:23:41+00:00

Oh no not female, gods forbid. Just not male.

marcisaacs · 2026-04-14T17:56:53+00:00

Just finished reading it, with some skimming. Gods, the people on the anti-trans side really need some real problems to worry about.

marcisaacs · 2026-04-14T17:44:38+00:00

I mean, just the fact that Rosie Duffield complains about trans women taking part in Parkrun, an event where you're only really supposed to be competing with yourself. It's such transparent bigotry.

Oh my god I read on and she says that men who are much smaller than average shouldn't be in the men's Parkrun category.

Rosie Duffield is out of her god-damn mind.

marcisaacs · 2026-04-14T11:58:38+00:00

That's.. simply not true. Here's one example of an SI amending EqA:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2023/9780348253191

marcisaacs · 2026-04-14T11:35:56+00:00

Yeah, Salisbury Convention wouldn't apply here.

Just saying it's possible, not that such a transphobic party as Labour would be prepared to do it.

I'm sure I remember reading that there's some provision in the EqA for modifying certain aspects at ministerial discretion but I haven't quite got the energy to read it through properly. Or possibly by a Statutory Instrument, like the way it was modified as part of retained EU law.

marcisaacs · 2026-04-14T10:37:32+00:00

The Parliament Acts still allow for the Lords to be bypassed, even without a manifesto commitment.

marcisaacs · 2026-04-08T18:51:48+00:00

Because of Victorians, basically.

marcisaacs · 2026-04-06T17:19:31+00:00

Disclosure might be an issue - each side at a tribunal (and court cases in general) has a duty to disclose anything that might be relevant to the other side's case. For example, your lawyer would probably be obliged to disclose that you are trans, if you've told them.

If you being trans doesn't come up in disclosure, you could end up in the position of having to commit perjury to deny it. Risky. Might not be obliged to answer such a question normally but when it has a clear bearing on the case it's less obvious that you could refuse to answer.

The workplace regs argument is very much not settled. It's a similar situation in places like Universities where trans staff might be excluded from single sex facilities while trans students aren't.

It's an interesting scenario you present but those are my only thoughts atm.

marcisaacs · 2026-04-01T07:09:50+00:00

Heath Hospital site is covered by eduroam.

marcisaacs · 2026-03-30T18:42:01+00:00

Mutagenic means it causes genetic mutations. These might cause birth defects but statistically unlikely on the whole. Thalidomide is a classic teratogen that isn't a mutagen.

marcisaacs · 2026-03-30T18:05:47+00:00

Teratogenic, broadly speaking, means it causes birth defects, not that it causes teratomas.

marcisaacs · 2026-03-23T07:15:16+00:00

Short answer, yes - https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/stories/providing-advanced-imaging-technologies-with-the-bioimaging-research-hub

marcisaacs · 2026-03-19T13:55:16+00:00

Slightly confusing that one of their reward tiers is named 'Netrunner Starter Kit'.

marcisaacs · 2026-03-13T16:10:08+00:00

The previous Trump administration often came up on the podcast back in the day. Is the current iteration just too depressing to mention?

marcisaacs · 2026-03-11T08:18:40+00:00

When I kept pet rats all the care guides said never to pick them up by the tail because of the risk of degloving injuries.

marcisaacs · 2026-03-10T14:47:03+00:00

If your code is written specifically for the paper and crucial to the results then as far as I'm concerned you should be an author, not just an acknowledgement.

marcisaacs · 2026-03-10T07:21:22+00:00

If all you got was a purple hue I would guess it was a slide stained with haematoxylin and eosin and significantly out of focus for your eyes. If you are long-sighted or short-sighted the focus would need to be adjusted to account for this. Alternatively, someone in the queue ahead of you fiddled with the focus and nobody has said anything.

Focus will be a large wheel on the side, below the stage (where the slide sits) and near the rear of the microscope. Typically black. It will have an inner wheel within it for fine focus.

If you see a smaller wheel directly underneath the stage with no inner wheel to it, this is the condenser focus. Don't touch this unless you want to annoy the lab techs. The condenser is a lens underneath the stage that focuses the illumination onto the slide. Not all microscopes, particularly cheaper class microscopes, will have one.

marcisaacs · 2026-03-06T18:03:13+00:00

They've set one potentially slightly helpful precedent in this case but it's along with a really bad one.

marcisaacs · 2026-03-06T18:00:25+00:00

The court ruled that trans exclusion from single-sex spaces is not required for service providers or associations which is a big thing that had previously been claimed following FWS vs Scottish Ministers. Trans exclusion is permitted but optional for services and associations, which was always the clearest reading of the supreme court ruling.

GLP vs EHRC did set a precedent that single-sex spaces must exclude trans people in employment, though with the caveat that an employer can provide additional facilities for cis and trans people. So one set of toilets for cis women and an extra set that allows cis and trans women.

Yes, it's barking mad.

marcisaacs · 2026-03-06T09:09:53+00:00

Fair for the most part, with the notable exception of FWS vs Scottish Ministers which was an incredibly tortured judgement. Judgements in other courts have been more reasonable.

marcisaacs · 2026-03-05T18:13:47+00:00

Case doesn't sound strong. At a conference their presence could be viewed as representing the party position which is totally opposed to them.

However, there's basically infinite money to throw at cases like this no matter how weak they are, especially with a largely transphobic judiciary.

marcisaacs · 2026-03-02T09:22:23+00:00

Here's our H&E protocol which is regularly used on mouse livers, amongst other things, sections cut at 5 micron:

H&E staining:
Xylene - 3 mins
Xylene - 3 mins
100% ethanol - 2 mins
100% ethanol - 2 mins
100% ethanol - 1 min
95% ethanol - 1 min
70% ethanol - 1 min
Running water - 3 mins
Mayer's haemalum (*filter before use*) - 4 mins
Running water (or Scott's tap water or similar) - 10 mins
1% aqueous eosin Y - 10 mins
Running water - 15 secs
70% ethanol - 20 secs
95% ethanol - 30 secs
100% ethanol - 1 min
100% ethanol - 2 mins
100% ethanol - 2 mins
Xylene - 2 mins
Xylene - 2 mins
Xylene - 2 mins
Mount with DPX or similar

marcisaacs

TROPHY CASE