We all know that life now is not as good as it was in the Golden Days, where everyone wore rose-tinted spectacles, the sky was blue, before the days of colour. It is this obvious that things must be getting worse.

Well, at Nature they are. Standards have fallen. The Watchmen were asleep at duty. And, whilst they were distracted by some strange rubber bands I slipped in.

Now who, you’re wondering, am I? Let’s start by pointing out that my avatar is not actually me, it’s the cat (currently flopped behind me, recovering from chasing bits of food). He’ll turn up on the blog at some point. Like all cats, he’s the one who’s really in charge. I mean, guess who he made throw the food for him to chase.

As for myself, I’m a Brit living in Helsinki, I came here for a real Winter, to be followed closely by global warming. My scientific life is base around beating up other people’s data until it confesses, mainly in ecology and evolution. The Academy of Finland were generous enough to pay me to do this for five years, giving me a contract that specifies the maximum amount of teaching I can do.

Sorry, I just had to gloat.

On the blogosphere, I’d been adding comments around the place for a couple of years, mainly on science blogs. In the middle of last year I finally succumbed to the lure and started writing my own blog. This has largely been a mixture of science and stats, along with some odder pieces, particularly about the cat (BTW, his name is Jack, but is sometimes known as The Beast).

I have also been watching and commenting on the comings and goings of the Intelligent Design movement. I guess I’ll be doing more of that, but perhaps mainly at BPSDB. I think someone might notice if I drag an explanatory filter in here.

So, here I am. I’ll re-arrange the furniture and try and look at home before I’m spotted. Hopefully they’ll think someone else let me in.