Ben Dickson

@drbenomycin.bsky.social

307 Followers 109 Following

Pākehā lecturing chem @ University of Waikato Ex-academic precariat, still in the fight. NZAS council and NZSR editorial board Rides a 💖pink💖 bicycle. he / him

Screenshot of text reading: The Free Speech Union ‒ which exists to defend free speech
A poster advertising the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry conference. Key details are: Conference runs 15th - 19th November 2026. Abstract submissions close Wednesday, 12 August 2026 at 11.00pm NZST. A list of plenary speakers is included: André Isaacs Martin Banwell colette Boskovic Jolon Dyer Gwendolyn Lawrie Nigel Perry Lisa Pilkington Ziyun Wang Elizabeth Yuriev
A black clock with a white face. The numbers are replaced by cartoons of elements from progressing from hydrogen to magnesium. It exudes an aura of undeniable coolness.
Screenshot of website showing "Requested page not found" plus further details of likely causes that are not relevant to the intended meaning of the screenshot.
A photo of legs terminating in brown suede shoes. They have been equipped with rainbow laces as a subtle hint that the bigot of the world should take a long walk off a short pier.
SpongeBob SquarePants holds his hands apart with a rainbow in between. Above the rainbow the word "Excipients" appears.
An image of Emperor Palpatine (bad guy from Star Wars) with the text "Come Join us!!!" superimposed on it
A table of the festival programme. The categories are Band Performances, Solo Performances, Ensemble Performances and Workshops. Apologies, extracting all the timetable information for alt text is beyond me, but if you have a specific query please ask in a comment.
Two ambulance officers stand in front of an ambulance station scribed out in light on a concrete pad bare other than an ambulance. The text reads 'We urgently need 10 new ambulance stations. Today only every donation doubled "
Two people dressed in bright colours standing at a protest rally carrying trans and pride progress flags. One holds a rainbow sign saying "A bill can't erase people, identity or science. Trans rights are human rights". The other holds a pink and blue sign saying "Policing genitals is very weird".
The splash screen for the ChemDraw software. It features a green hexagon with rounded points and stylised CD in its centre, the text ChemDraw, the company name "revvity signals" and some amorphous green blobs.
Press Release from the New Zealand Association of Scientists Science and Gender As an organisation, the New Zealand Association of Scientists (NZAS) recognises the importance of inclusiveness and kindness in science. Transgender, intersex, and gender diverse Kiwis experience significant discrimination within our society. This is partially due to our science system’s inability to even engage with them as part of our population - only this year has Stats NZ offered guidance for collecting sex and gender data which addresses the full scope of gender diversity in Aotearoa. Additionally, misinformed claims of ‘science’ are often used as a tool of oppression against these groups. It concerns us to see incorrect claims being made that ‘science’ supports the definition of all humans into one of two categories based on assignment of sex at birth. We see science as one of the most important ways we have of learning and talking about ourselves, our world, and everyone within it (we are, after all, scientists). The NZAS recognises that the scientific consensus tells us that gender cannot be reduced down to any simple combination of an individual’s chromosomes, hormones, genitalia, or any other characteristic: it is not a simple binary. The principles of inclusiveness and kindness in science tell us to engage with people as who they are, recognising the world around us, and within us, as it is rather than as we think it should be. Despite the challenges they face, we already work with trans, gender diverse, and intersex scientists of all genders. They are working and leading in science in Aotearoa as scientists and equals. We support them and all efforts to make science and society in Aotearoa safer for everybody, by taking the stance that this is not only the moral thing to do, nor only the scientifically most valid perspective: supporting trans, gender diverse, and intersex scientists of all genders produces better science for all of society.
A photo of a bunk in a cabin. The bunk has stripped blue and green bedding on it.
The word "pharmacokinetic" with the KI stylised as if they're a standalone symbol italic K, subscript I.
The old TipTop logo is a white swirl with diagonal bands of colour through it. Underneath this it says Tip Top in a cursive font and the T definitely looks like a J
Screenshot of game score, the key text is 47.96/50 and #172,920 of 2,237,478
Screenshot text reads: PhD and Masters research students There is no limit on the hours you can work if you are enrolled in a doctoral degree (PhD) or Research Masters programme at a New Zealand tertiary institution. If you work full-time, you must also keep studying full-time.
Screenshot from website with text reading: Why did you change the wind barbs to arrows? Our user research showed a strong preference towards arrows. In future, we plan to provide the ability for users to select their preferred option.
I head and shoulders picture of a mid-20's white man with eyes downcast and the caption "There were no books. Okay."
A photo of a very big fan
A bunch of pale pink flowers with three green leaves behind them
A photo of the bright moon in the night sky
Screenshot of a post by Merriam-Webster that reads: Take a screenshot of this GIF, and whichever new word you land on is YOUR word for 2026. Let's. Go. The word shown in the screenshot is "Sultry".
A couple wearing brightly coloured jumpers and sunglasses sits on outdoor tiered seating in the sun. The centerpiece of the photo is two large almond croissants being held up to the camera, one for each of the happy and hungry couple.
A tandem bicycle parked on a city street. Brightly coloured helmets hang from the handlebars (pink and blue).
Screenshot of text saying: A separate group of church leaders, the Coalition of Ministers Supporting Israel in New Zealand, said in a statement it distanced itself from the groups that protested.
Advertisement for a concert, text on a music themed background, plus images of a trumpet and a saxophone. The text reads: Join Waikato Symphonic Band for our concert "Loco-motifs and Symphonic Shenanigans" 3PM, Saturday 20th September, St Aidan's Church, 24 Thames Street. Entry free or by koha.
Advertisement for a concert, text on a music themed background, plus images of a trumpet and a saxophone. The text reads: Join Waikato Symphonic Band for our concert "Loco-motifs and Symphonic Shenanigans" 3PM, Saturday 20th September, St Aidan's Church, 24 Thames Street. Entry free or by koha.
A steam locomotive at the station
A screenshot of a notification from Instagram. The icon is the comedian Melanie Bracewell and the notification says: "Melanie Bracewell invited you to join their channel: ChemScrapes"
A photo of a tandem bicycle in front of a great wall. A purple helmet hangs from the front handlebars.
A pale male is appears not stale by virtue of the red, green, yellow and blue hat they wear with a propeller on top. They are also wearing a boring gray jacket, and clear framed glasses. They look into the camera over the frame of the glasses.
This is a screenshot of the "This site can't be reached" error page for uag.org.nz. The screenshot is merely used to illustrate that the website is gone, it's appearance is not otherwise relevant.
In this video a user of the Microsoft Word software attempts to add a caption to a Figure in a document. They specifically select that the caption should appear below the figure, yet the software places it above the figure.
A photo of two bars of music. The first bar features staccato quavers pitched at e flat. The second bar features more staccato quavers followed by a marcato minum this bar is all pitched at d sharp.
A photo of the Mexican Tall Ship Cuauhtémoc entering port. Each of her horizontal yards is lined by crewmen standing on top of the poles, bracing against ropes and each other
Screenshot of an email reading: Hello there Do you have enemies? Do you hate someone? Let me know their e-mail addresses by replying to this e-mail. And I'll tease them for your behalf. Thanks Punsi
A table of data relating to Marsden application and invitations to the full round. The key take home is that only the Fast Start rate for a single panel is near 28%. The majority of success rates are around 20 - 23%
A screenshot with the following sentence highlighted: In light of this, these new speed reviews are proposing to change back to the lower speeds immediately following this change in July The full text reads: What we propose Changing speed limits is a legal process. The Rule allows NZTA to set speed limits for roads under its control where there is alignment with the intent and requirements of the Rule. These 2 new reviews in Hamilton and one in Tūrangi propose lower speeds at specific locations. The new reviews acknowledge that under the Rule, on 1 July 2025, these locations must reverse to their previous higher speeds (for eg, 70km, 80km or 100km, depending on where they are). In light of this, these new speed reviews are proposing to change back to the lower speeds immediately following this change in July (eg back to the lower speed they have today). Each proposal shows the economic impacts, which NZTA then considers alongside the views of road users gathered during consultation and technical safety assessments, to determine if we set the lower speed limit. Below you will find more detailed information on each proposal including a description of each state highway section, why a speed limit change is proposed, and a Cost Benefit Disclosure Statement describing the estimated safety and travel time impacts and implementation costs of a proposed speed limit change.
Screenshot of a news headline reading: Sam Altman Admits That Saying "Please" and "Thank You" to ChatGPT Is Wasting Millions of Dollars in Computing Power The headline is accompanied by a picture of Sam Altman standing with palms upraised, but it's not important to the post.
A graph featuring a shape that is reminiscent of the beloved character Totoro's ears. I edited an umbrella emoji over the ears to be cute.
A photo of a smiling (ish) man (it's me) in PhD regalia wearing a black tie with red and white strikes and the logo of Glenfield College.
A chart of pka values posted on an office wall
Screenshot reads: It's estimated 750 cubic litres of treated water, or 750,000 litres, was lost as a result of the pipe vandalism.
Screen shot from article containing the text: Dystopias every time. I mean The Handmaid's Tale - what an incredible way of warning us all.
Screen shot of text reading "These antibiotics are not outright bacteriocidal, unless you can get them up to high concentrations, but are rather bacteriostatic. Antibiotic developers tend to prefer the latter, but clindamycin still has plenty of uses, especially against aerobic cocci like Staphylococcus and many anaerobic Gram-negative rod-like species. A notable complication can be the bloom of Clostridioides difficile ("C" The line "Antibiotic developers tend to prefer the latter" is highlighted.
A person in a green bicycle helmet is locking a tandem bicycle to a bike rack on a school grounds.
A photo looking East (ish) over Hamilton. There is a big plume of dark grey smoke from a fire of unknown (to the photographer) origin
An octopus looking happy and holding six cups of coffee. Nobody knows where it's remaining two legs are, but it looks happy enough...
3D printed models of some atomic orbitals
A screenshot of Google's AI overview readings: "Bona fide" means "in good faith" or "genuine" in Latin, essentially signifying something is real, authentic, and done without deception or fraud; "no e" simply means there is no "e" at the end, so "bona fide" without the "e" would be spelled "bona fide.".
A square photo of a tall sailing ship next to a rising sun. The sea fills the bottom half of the image and the ship floats in the centre with a string of islands in the background on the right hand side. To the ship's left the sun is an incandescent ball sitting on the horizon with a trail of light on the water in front of it. The top of the photo is the cool blue of a morning sky.
A Pākehā male (me, a white man) is wearing a white shirt with flamingoes and plant fronds. He is doing double finger guns and the display is topped off with very large single lens sunglasses with a yellow-orange tint. The viewer definitely gets the impression that he is trying too hard, but in a knowing ironic fashion.
the word disadvantaging is underlined by spellcheck and the recomended word is "disadvantagering", which isn't a word.
A screenshot from a Google search showing the text "Can't generate an AI overview right now. Try again later."
The current (Dec 11 2024) front page of the Marsden Fund website where the tagline reads: Supports excellence in physics, chemistry, maths, engineering and biomedical sciences in New Zealand by providing grants for investigator-initiated research.
A take on the classic Drake meme format featuring Geordi La Forge from Star Trek. The image is split into four segments, each located in a corner. In the top left corner Geordi appears with a physical disposition suggesting "woah there". In the top right corner is the image of Barbara Lecomte from the article who thinks that "[Māori] seem to want more and more and more". In the bottom left corner Geordi adopts a "hey you're onto something posture" and in the bottom right corner is an image from the article of Rose Raharuhi Spicer who is attending her fourth hīkoi fighting for the legacy of her descendants.
A photo of the hīkoi travelling through Kirikiriroa. There a many many people waving flags, all walking together in unity.
A screenshot of an Excel function window showing it adding numbers contained in two cells (50 and 50) and coming up with 50.