tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111303718232102418.post8081491813662259474..comments2024-03-28T03:15:43.015-04:00Comments on Spasms of Accommodation: My Self-deprecation Pet PeeveBeachtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13792937145012547220noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111303718232102418.post-15038722976702339122010-12-10T11:44:51.206-05:002010-12-10T11:44:51.206-05:00I've been following all the arsenic aftermath ...I've been following all the arsenic aftermath with great interest. I notice everybody is being very careful not to criticize the researchers directly. My experience in oceanography graduate school taught me that my hyper-emotions are excellent at detecting the bona-fide scientist. I also have a very sensitive alarm for people who lack a full appreciation for what they don't know. I'm glad people who have the expertise to apply rigorous logical analysis to the chemistry are around to prove me right so much of the time.Beachtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13792937145012547220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111303718232102418.post-10567019338219529522010-12-10T10:46:27.781-05:002010-12-10T10:46:27.781-05:00A nice followup article from Ed Yong summarizes so...A nice followup article from Ed Yong summarizes some of the other scholarly pushback (besides yours) that ironlisa has been getting:<br /><br />http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2010/12/10/arsenic-bacteria-a-post-mortem-a-review-and-some-navel-gazing/John Callenderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11622194201173858607noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111303718232102418.post-67794152589906773042010-12-03T12:09:46.988-05:002010-12-03T12:09:46.988-05:00I tend to just take opportunities as they come ins...I tend to just take opportunities as they come instead of taking a strategic long term approach to my working life. I'm sure that has everything to do with my situation. I only had the option to go to one college. The strategic move would have been to find the subject where I had some natural talent and would be top in my class and get a loan if it took more than 4 years. Not pick the major with the least number of hours required for graduation so I could graduate within the 4 years my dad would pay for. I just had no idea what I was doing. I had no plan what I was going to do for a job. I made good money in college with writing and photography and I think it warped my perception. I didn't associate the things I did for money with things I studied in school. My role models were professors who were so much smarter than me I never for a second thought I could succeed in academia, professional engineers like my dad who told me the PE exam was so hard I'd probably never pass it, field scientists who spent way too much time with snake guts, and elementary school teachers who sold stories on the side. I should have gone to more career fairs.Beachtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13792937145012547220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111303718232102418.post-70661181377264394982010-12-03T11:11:18.114-05:002010-12-03T11:11:18.114-05:00Wow. The typo in the quotation ("begining&quo...Wow. The typo in the quotation ("begining" with one "n") is from the original. Apparently she's too busy following the elephants in front of her (or posting clips of her oboe playing, or whatever) to employ a spellchecker in advance of her big day in the spotlight.<br /><br />On an unrelated note, I'm interested to what extent you've thought about the odd datum that all the lamentable incidents in your derailed career path share a common variable. That is, I wonder if it's as obvious from the inside as it appears to be from the outside that the differences between your scientific career and that of (say) ironlisa are based not only on the vagaries of random events, but also on the choices you've made, and continue to make.<br /><br />That sounds snarky when put that way, for which I apologize. I enjoy your take on things, and the fact that you're on this kind of interesting alternative career track makes for entertaining reading. Tolkien wrote:<br /><br />"Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway."<br /><br />Your having to deal with career setbacks and un-self-aware idiots and other gruesome things makes for a good tale, but speaking for myself I'd rather you have days that are good to spend, even if the telling suffers as a result.John Callenderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11622194201173858607noreply@blogger.com