Mark vs. the Toaster - A German Unity Special Edition!

This is our toaster:

It burns a skull and crossbones pattern onto our toast:

Pretty nifty.

This is my former PhD advisor, Mark Roth, celebrating with me after my thesis defense*. He dyed his hair blue to honor my previous hair color experiments.


For the last several months I've been tormented by the following question: Who is more intelligent - Mark? Or our toaster?

Luckily, the nice people at the MacArthur Foundation have resolved this issue by awarding Mark with one of their Genius Awards. For his work examining suspended animation **. If you aren't aware what the hubbub is about, check out more info here:

Mark is a genius

It really is quite a prestigious prize, and should put you heads and shoulders above the majority of toasters in the world.

So I guess that's that.

Oh, and today is Mark's 50th birthday.

Congratulations and happy birthday from Berlin!

It's German Reunification Day today, so I'm off to drink beer and eat fried meat.

* check out the fledgling chops. and the 22 oz. can of Rainer. yum.
** while not directly involved in this work, I do remember the first day that Mark came into lab and started describing how he was going to induce suspended animation in C. elegans. At that point in the game I had grown pretty accustomed to a certain level of lunacy escaping from his mouth - but this seemed different. Lunacy, yes. But more like a core of genius covered in a rather thick veneer of madness. Similar in many respects to a peanut M&M.

2005 vs 2007

Same photo, different chops:

Berlin 2005 Brighton 2007

MULLET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello ladies

Finally, after years of hassling, Alex mulleted his hair, specially for brighton- all i can ask is why the wait?

Bogan-chic*, it's the new black


*for the americans in the audience (and possibly also for that crazy french dude that sometimes pops by) a bogan is the australian variation of a redneck - just without the gun

yeah yeah we know

that we said we would put up more photos from the competition and we are also well aware that we have not done it yet

here are two more photos as a teaserthe final steps on the road to brighton
jeff freshly styled (personal stylist to the left) and ready for the stage

seriously, look at those chops

A Preview

Kate is attending a conference on the Italian coast this week (which apparently also involves some beach reclining), so we won't get around to assembling a complete collection of Beard and Moustache Championship pictures for a couple more days. Here's a little teaser though, taken by a professional photographer in Brighton. The rest of his photos can be found here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimnaughten/

and should include pictures of most of the contestants.

Woo hoo!

Pbbbbbbbbbt!

Yes, we have been very lazy about updating our blog lately. As you'll read below, things have become increasingly hectic as the Beard and Moustache Championship approaches. Dry cleaning needed to be picked up. Buttons had to be sewn. The proper headband/shirt combo had to be found. And it's not like we live in France where you only need to work four hours a day. So yes, things have been busy. But we're back again. And many more photos will magically appear after we return from Brighton.

Gold medal here I come!

Well, the beard and moustache championship is almost upon us and preparations have hit a fever pitch. After a two hour salon session today, I think the beard is looking in top form. Now all that's left are a couple of critical decisions. For example: Do I wear a head band?



or funny glasses?



And perhaps more importantly, what will I eat first when arriving in England? Curry? Fish n' chips? or bangers?

As always, opinions should be left in the comment section.