A cry for help!

I know it's early but I want to do this while I still have some money before my overdraft limit. I need ideas please for very cheap Christmas presents for people I care about. Any contributions would be very helpful.

Boyfriend- likes: bicycles, Star Wars, the Matrix, T-Rexes, Lego
Was thinking maybe trying to make some bike or Star Wars-related cufflinks maybe. Alternative ideas warmly welcome.

Parents- likes: alcohol, kitchen-y things, terrible sci-fi films. (one likes art, but in a serious way that I don't want to get wrong, the other likes Manchester City)

Brother- likes: alcohol, his pet dog, women, Skyrim.

Sister- likes: assorted geekery, Manga (I don't know which other than Death Note), Half-life 2, half of youtube.

Grandparents- likes: grandchildren, crime dramas on tv, more grandchildren. (One likes Manchester City, the other likes crime fiction)

Grateful for any help!

Rape & Doping In Cycling, or Why I’m Never Going To Be Justice Secretary

Anyone reading this must be aware of the ongoing rape stupidity of the last couple of weeks. What is rape? What counts as rape? How do you prove rape?

The Oxford Dictionary definition is: the crime, typically committed by a man, of forcing another person to have sexual intercourse with the offender against their will. The legal definition in the UK is based on the 1956 definition, seen below. There have been additions and modifications since but in essence:

Rape of woman or man.

(1)It is an offence for a man to rape a woman or another man.

(2)A man commits rape if—

(a)he has sexual intercourse with a person (whether vaginal or anal) who at the time of the intercourse does not consent to it; and

(b)at the time he knows that the person does not consent to the intercourse or is reckless as to whether that person consents to it.

(3)A man also commits rape if he induces a married woman to have sexual intercourse with him by impersonating her husband.

(4)Subsection (2) applies for the purpose of any enactment.

[Sexual Offences Act 1956]

Consent is the critical term I believe and the one where some rape prosecutions begin to fall down, as some victims stop fighting if they’re scared for their life. But by the 1956 definition George Galloway is still wrong. “At the time does not consent to it.” Boom, done. Idiot.

Proof of the crime is tough unless you do something about it immediately. Later on there is no evidence. It becomes a case of witness statements, character assessments and a case of he-said, she-said.

Which brings me on to the doping in cycling, Lance Armstrong case. I was saying I don’t see how they can punish him, remove his Tour de France wins, without evidence. One of my twitter followers (@DavidMLindsay) pointed out there were supposedly ten people ready to witness that he had done it, even if there was no drug-based evidence.

What does it matter? Well this comment covers it and it was this comment that got me thinking about it further:

“This is about young promising cyclists on their way up looking up to Armstrong and Armstrong and Bruyneel letting them know they had no chance of getting on Armstrong's team if they weren't prepared to dope.

Would armstrong have won 7 tours if he hadnt had the most doped team in the race? No. Was he using these young riders? Yes.”

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/aug/24/how-lance-armstrong-strongarmed-cycling?commentpage=1#comment-17875275]

This isn’t a victimless crime. There were people with careers who had to either fail or comply. They had to submit or else. It will have had an effect on their lives.

Do I put too much faith in physical evidence for physical crimes? Do I trust the man, the witnesses or the agency? Am I applying a blanket judgment on very different types of crime? I don’t even know.

On hover-boards and jet-packs

So with the almost categorical discovery of the Higgs boson recently I saw a lot of non-scientists posting online to say "Good job guys, but where's my hover-board?" or words to that effect. As a scientist who was never promised a jet-pack I found it quite saddening. Here was a fantastic discovery, enabling the human race to learn something about the creation of life, the universe and everything and people were asking for more. It felt like watching a Christmas present being unwrapped, sharing in the delight right up to the moment the recipient asks for batteries.

Come the revolution you may design your own hover-boards
Scientists are people too, you know. We are you. We didn't hear some calling to stand up and reclaim the white coat for pride and honour. We enjoyed learning new things. It is a continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Ahem.

If you wanted hover boards then there was no reason you couldn't have studied engineering or physics and sketched out a viable schematic for yourselves. The scientists we had were busy designing computers and smart phones or building satellites so you can use those items to communicate with people across the globe. They're making sure you live longer or improving treatments for when you're sick. They're designing materials so that your life is improved dramatically from someone living one hundred years ago.

I used to be a scientist like you, then I took an jet-pack in the knee
Not everyone wants to be a scientist. And that's cool. I'm struggling to find a job with these qualifications anyway so more of us would only make life tougher. There are some people who feel they're incapable of being a scientist or they just don't get the maths. As the only member of my family who can't draw I can sympathise. Giving it a go can't hurt though. I wasn't born good at science. I studied. A lot of the people I studied with say that the third year of my degree course was the toughest thing they'd ever done. Scrawled on one of the desks was a statistic about the suicide rate for the course year and we were prepared to believe it.

A university education wouldn't even be required for a jet-pack. We don't even have courses in jet pack design! All you'd need is an imagination, some knowledge of fuels and ergonomics and an eye for picking up bargain materials. Collaborate! Kickstart! You can do it. We're all counting on you. 

Now let me go back to trying to understand the standard model.