Because six years wasn't enough.

I have gone back to school. For the next two years I will studying Business Creation and Entrepreneurship in Bioscience at the Göteborgs International Bioscience Business School. The school aims to provide a practical education on starting bioscience based venture by... making students start a bioscience based venture. Can't argue with that.

Today was an introductory day that one couldn't help but feel positive about. The BCEB student group is small (~15) and made up swedes and non-swedes with a mixture of medical, science and engineering backgrounds.

I can't really say what the next two years will bring. But looking through the Encubator portfolio of GIBBS ventures, talking to an alumni today and meeting my fellow students makes me more confident in my decision to move here to study.


An aside on Australian Masters courses: For people who, like me, have a very poor opinion of Australian Masters, Swedish courses appear to be quite different. The difficulty in getting a visa and then job in Sweden post study combined with the low cost (free) means Swedish universities can't use Masters courses as simply a form of reliable income. In fact one student was basically horrified when he heard how things worked in Aus. He studied in Eastern Europe and said that the universities there would do anything to fail you, because then you'd have to pay for that subject again. He also made the pertinent point:

"Doesn't that ruin their reputation"


Yes.

Complicated mechanisms explained via gifs

World Of Technology has a great post displaying the operation of some complex mechanisms. The sewing machine had always intrigued me and the animation combined with the explanations in the comments have finally cleared it up for me.

I could imagine giving a high school or later class the task of designing a circular to indexed-circular mechanism as displayed in the Maltese Cross. For one, it's not a ridiculously complex solution but most importantly I imagine it is also possible via other methods. (that I'm trying to not think of, I want to save that for moments of boredom)

I wonder if mechanical engineering courses have a "machines" subject that attempts to introduce students to all sorts of complex mechanisms. I remember studying Machine Design in robotics but that was a terrible subject that just involved specifying engine powers and appropriate chain pitches, it definitely didn't introduce me to any complex mechanisms.

How valuable would it be? My first guess was very. The knowledge of how complex mechanical problems can be solved must help, right? But then I wondered how many engineers are actually out there designing mechanisms to do things these days. Also, most of these designs would have evolved. Surely there couldn't have been a rotary engine eureka moment but a series of steps from some initial, simple design, maybe the only people who need to know how a mechanism works are people designing evolutions to the current ones. For instance, watch makers need to know how the second hand currently works just in case they need to change it slightly but, for the rest of us, we just need to know that it's possible to generate indexed circular movement... somehow.

I am undecided.

2010 Reith Lecture Series: Scientific Horizons

I caught the last 15 minutes of this on my way home and was thoroughly impressed with the quality of the questions from the audience

 

2010 Reith Lecture Series: Scientific Horizons - Part One

2010 Reith Lecture Series: Scientific Horizons - Part Two

Swedish language band of the week: Masshysteri

In preparation for my emigration I am pretending I understand Swedish. Thus, I present:

Masshysteri - Låt Dom Hata Oss

Or if you prefer your punk performed acoustically in a park then:


They're a punk band that are able to tour internationally despite singing in Swedish. It appears that punk can now be added to the list of musical genres not limited in their appeal by language.

Image: Riverfront Times