Open Thred

October 7, 2011

Yeah….

I’m getting bored with current conversations around and about. And I’m not feeling the blog muse.

What do YOU want to talk about?

No Responses Yet to “Open Thred”

  1. Elipson Says:

    Oh I don’t know, how about Thyco Brahe’s Moose & Midget? Those are always fun topics!

    Like

  2. becca Says:

    OOOh! Perhaps now would be a good time to farm out my research technician salary dilemma to a larger hive mind!

    That, or the amazing powers of lizards.

    Like

  3. Elipson Says:

    If you can present the research technician salary dilemma in the medium of shadow puppets, I would be willing to listen.

    Oh and Frogs > Lizards, just for the record.

    Like

  4. Lab Rockstar Says:

    I want to know about the research salary dilemma! Shadow puppets or no.

    Fungi > Fish > Frogs > Lizards, FYI.

    Like

  5. drugmonkey Says:

    AR wackanut moron caught lying about Darwin http://t.co/GXUjkgSd

    Like

  6. drugmonkey Says:

    Why is it a dilemma, becca?

    Like

  7. drugmonkey Says:

    Ok, that was amusing, thanks

    http://www.dailyhero.com/2006/02/tycho-brahe.html

    Like

  8. Elipson Says:

    Quite so! And the best part is, all Danes are like Tycho Brage! True story!

    Like


  9. Let’s talk about how England are going to crush France in the Rugby World Cup quarter final tonight, w00t w00t!

    Like

  10. becca Says:

    The dilemma is figuring out how much to ask for, and how to ask for it. Is “dilemma” too strong a term?
    Lab Rockstart- the problem is that how much techs get paid varies a lot (28-72k at my institution, with several salary bands possible), and I will be a weird kind of tech-not quite with the responsibilities of a postdoc, but kinda sorta.

    I have defended my PhD, but won’t ‘graduate’ until December. For various reasons (chief among them wanting to stick around in the town my SO is finishing off his degree in- we’ve done the long distance relationship/parenting thing, and it is a HUGE PITA), I’d really just like a job. This is not the lab I would have picked if I were looking for a great postdoc to launch a career- it’s just a job. Though I’m getting kind of excited about the lab.
    It’s also USDA funded. I’m not sure if that means I should ask for more than I would in an NIH funded lab (USDA postdocs advertised were at like 57k/year, NIH start at 37k/year).

    I have met Danes. Elipson is correct*, except most are more physically attractive than Tycho Brage.

    *about Danes, at least. Not about lizards, and their alleged lack of superiority compared to frogs. That is nothing but delusional crazytalk at best, and vicious, vicious anti-squamatism at worst. Or both.

    Like

  11. physioprof Says:

    Let’s talk about how the dirty swarthy jews have taken over academia and expelled all the Real White People!!!

    Like

  12. tideliar Says:

    Cheese and cheese based products. Why does no one wish to discuss cheese? What’s wrong with you FUCKS?

    Can one milk a lizard? I tried to milk but a frog but its lack of nipple(s) was a challenge. And an angry frog post non-titty twister is fearsome to both behold and behest. But a lizard! One could entertain-slash-distract it with witty banter and moths while miking it!

    Lizard cheese and lizardy cheese-based products. This is a good discussion!

    And Becca, USDA funding = USDA salary. Does the US Dairy Association have a lizard-based cheese research arm?….

    Like

  13. Elipson Says:

    @tideliar: I am sure modern genetic research will enable us to grow nipples on frogs one of these days, and the milk will be smooth LSD on your corn flakes!

    @Becca: Meeting Danes != Eating a Danish at the breakfast table. I feel the need to point out this basic fact, since I fear that the anti-frog propaganda has damaged your reality sense!

    Right now, I’m pretty sure DM is kicking himself for making an open thread…

    Like

  14. anon Says:

    tideliar, I have not heard of milking lizards, but have heard of milking goats for spider silk. Cheese makes me sick. I’m lactose intolerant.

    Like

  15. tideliar Says:

    Fuck that AR link has my blood boiling. EMJ is a hack & provocateur. FFS. Have rage. Dammit there goes my Friday chill.

    Like

  16. tideliar Says:

    Contrived, indulgent, self-aggrandising wankery.

    Like

  17. tideliar Says:

    OK, back OT – @anon, do the spiders lurk within the nipples of the goat? (FWIW an epically fine title to a dark prog rock album I should write one day.)

    Like

  18. drugmonkey Says:

    OK, back OT

    …that’s funny.

    Like

  19. anon scientist Says:

    @DM
    Nice title for a thread
    “AR wackanut moron caught lying about ….”

    I don’t think EMJ is exactly an AR wackanut though. Just encouraging them.

    Like

  20. DrugMonkey Says:

    I’ve had blog skirmishes with him before… Typical to troll out egregious AR shit in the original and then act more conciliatory in comments when called out. It’s a repeated and intentional strategy. AR moron fits perfectly well…

    Like

  21. anon scientist Says:

    It is so easy to throw AR shit out there though. It is not as though he’s making any suggestions or contributions about how to tackle the problems people are addressing with animal research. Or suggestions about how to fund the care for all those apes he thinks should be retired. And which budget item should not be funded in order to do so.

    Like

  22. Isabel Says:

    @CPP: swarthy? “real” white people? Where do you get this shit? Anyway, if you are willing to be more respectful and less disturbingly anti-semitic I’m game for that discussion 😀

    So what’s your take on it?

    Like

  23. becca Says:

    Let’s talk about how the dirty swarthy jews have taken over academia and expelled all the Real White People!!!

    Don’t you mean the dirty swarthy frogs that have taken over academia and expelled all the Real Squadate People?
    Xenopus, I’m looking at you…

    @tideliar- I think I am inclined to plead lactose intolerance on this one too…. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Lizard%20Cheese

    Like

  24. drugmonkey Says:

    Rugby…rugby….now what did I do with that link…..

    Like

  25. drugmonkey Says:

    For some reason that Ed Yong dude is way into polyorchidism http://t.co/sD3lNb3E #truestory

    Like

  26. drugmonkey Says:

    A bit surprised that Obama is cracking down on medical marijuana *wink* dealers, I mean, compassionate care providers http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/10/07/obama-administration-shatters-campaign-promise-escalates-crackdown-on-medical-marijuana/

    Like

  27. Isabel Says:

    Why are you surprised? Clinton had more people arrested for possession than all the Republican presidents before him combined.

    Hey DM, what do you think of the new ATF rule that medical marijuana users cannot own firearms?

    http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2011/sep/28/atf_says_no_guns_medical_marijua

    Like

  28. Janet D. Stemwedel Says:

    I was gonna bring up the enforcement threat, too. It’s odd, given that:

    (1) didn’t the Obama administration basically say it wasn’t going to mess with the dispensaries (especially if they were run in an orderly fashion, etc.)?

    (2) the dispensaries are actually PAYING federal, state, and local taxes (although the big one in Oakland was just told by the IRS that they couldn’t deduct business expenses because THEY’RE BREAKING FEDERAL LAW!!)

    It’s almost like there’s a presumptive suspicion of businesses that are willing to pay taxes. And the feds want to shut those businesses down?

    Are they high?

    Like

  29. Pinko Punko Says:

    Klytus, I’m bored. Bring me some new plaything!

    Like

  30. Isabel Says:

    This is charming:

    drugmonkeyblog Drug Monkey

    Trailer trash file extensions – #WhiteWhine bit.ly/mZCU3s
    5 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

    Trailer trash? wtf? You just got through saying on the other thread how much you cared about poor rural white people.

    I think this is anti-gentile. Anyone else agree?

    Like

  31. Isabel Says:

    Oops I mean anti-gentilic.

    Like

  32. drugmonkey Says:

    Why do you think “trailer” equates with “white”, Isabel?

    Like

  33. drugmonkey Says:

    I think this is anti-gentile.

    What does this have to do with nonMormons, exactly?

    Like

  34. drugmonkey Says:

    Oh and hell yes I’m down with potheads not owning guns Isabel. I mean ffs!

    Like

  35. Isabel Says:

    “Why do you think “trailer” equates with “white”

    1. It’s so obvious that anyone but a complete idiot would know that.
    2. because it says so when you follow the link.

    So, was I right about the lawyer parents?

    Definitely racist AND classist. I mean how do progressives get away with using terms like this?

    “What does this have to do with nonMormons, exactly?”

    I don’t follow. Is this another lawyer trick?

    “Oh and hell yes I’m down with potheads not owning guns Isabel. I mean ffs!{

    Yes, better that gun owners should drink alcohol. 🙂

    Like

  36. physioprof Says:

    AR wackanut moron caught lying about Darwin http://t.co/GXUjkgSd

    For some reason that Ed Yong dude is way into polyorchidism http://t.co/sD3lNb3E #truestory

    Dude, do you really have to pollute this place with your drooling tweeting illiteracy? Can’t you post a normal fucken link like a normal fucken person, so normal fucken people who aren’t in a clicky, clicky, tweety, tweety, FOLLOW ME, HASH-ADDICTED, dopamine-fueled frenzy can see what the fucken link is to before they click on it?

    Like

  37. TreeFish Says:

    How about the new Program mantra: rather than submit an -A1; change your grant 50% and submit as an -A0! This will most definitely increase the number of A0s that are funded, but because of shenanigans not because of changes in the review process!

    Also, TreeFish was bitten by the wrong study section. Even my PO admitted that it was reviewed by the wrong study section. The dang head of the IRG redirected it to a study section that was totally wrong, and then the SRO ignored my concerns. People, if your grant is assigned to a study section that you feel is lacking expertise, get your PO involved and don’t settle until you’re happy. I was told by mentors not to worry too much about it before review– well, that’s bad advice! You choose the school your kids go to, so make sure you have a voice regarding where your A0 is reviewed!

    Like

  38. drugmonkey Says:

    I share your pain, TreeFish.

    PP, nobody is forcing you to click homes. Stop being grumpy pants over the Wankees already!

    Like

  39. Carlos Says:

    I’d like you to talk about the difficult days ahead for scientists like you because of funding.

    http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/10/nih-grant-success-rate-likely.html?ref=hp

    I think the NIH budget should be cut. Most of it is waste of money. Too many people chasing the same or similar issues.

    I feel sorry for many of you, as you have devoted your life to science but soon will be bagging groceries at the local grocery store.

    Like

  40. Pinko Punko Says:

    Wow, Carlos brings the boreworms.

    Specific Aim 1:

    I propose to bag groceries with a smile.

    Specific Aim 2: ?????

    Specific Aim 3: Cure disease!!!!!

    Summary statement:

    Proposal does not provide evidence of grocery bagging resources. PI does not appear to have experience in this area. More importantly, PI does not draw clear picture of how bagging groceries and developing biomedical technologies to improve human health are related.

    Priority Score: ND

    Like

  41. blatnoi Says:

    How about you talk about pharma and other things outsourcing research to China, and now that all the researchers have been fired and Chinese salaries are rising, they are outsourcing to American universities, where parasite professors like you and physioprof have gigantic groups full of people grabbed based on false advertising, on temporary five year contracts with no hope of continuation, and no hope of getting a research job in pharma or something similar when they get kicked out with a PhD, just so you can get that Phase I candidate and maybe get a patent with a pharma company that refuses to hire your graduates and that has now become a glorified marketing company?

    If only the dirty swarthy Jews were the majority and not those useless white people, we would come up with something useful… like permanent research staff contracts and a university commercialization agency with teeth. Then we could also force physioprof to swear an oath of permanent loyalty to Israel on the penalty of no more funding.

    Like

  42. drugmonkey Says:

    I have definitely seen an uptick in non Western Contract Research Organization type companies, handling business that Big Pharma used to do inhouse. The market adjusts?

    Like

  43. blatnoi Says:

    Yes, for much smaller pay that is close to a USDA postdoc. For an experienced person laid off from pharma who used to make twice that (including benefits), it’s a bit of an insult. I’m not sure what new graduates think about it. They are probably happy to get it and think they will move on to something bigger later.

    Like

  44. physioprof Says:

    I didn’t clicke, fuckewitte! That’s the fucken point. Maybe I would have if you would write in motherfucken normal English, and not in illiterate tweetlish.

    Like

  45. drugmonkey Says:

    Oh you know you clicked for “polyorchidism” PP….

    Like

  46. physioprof Says:

    No, I didn’t, shitteasse.

    Like


  47. Get a room, guys. If I didn’t like DM so much I would say “murder/suicide pact?”

    Like

  48. physioprof Says:

    “Get a room, guys.”

    This *is* a room, dumshitte.

    Like

  49. Isabel Says:

    This piece by Joel Stein in TIME magazine I came across while waiting for a dental appt last week that might be a response to that DM:

    I’m not coming up with a new password. It will not contain a mix of letters, numbers and symbols. My password will be the same one I’ve always used — with, if you demand it, a number after it. And that number will be zero. Because as important as it is to your website that my password be able to impress other passwords at a password cocktail party, it is more important to me that I be able to remember it. If I were good at memorizing random snippets of information, I would go on Jeopardy. I would buy stuff for…

    Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2089349,00.html#ixzz1aJT4J7Xf

    Like

  50. ReHoScro Says:

    Dumbasses- don’t you remember the days before the Internet? When you had to actually remember everything? Now your only burden is to remember a couple of passwords and how to type a keyword search into Google. Cry me a river about the passwords…..

    Like

  51. Isabel Says:

    Yeah Dumbass we had to remember *tons* of random strings of letters & numbers back in the day. Sure we did.

    How do you get by with two passwords? Unless you are reusing them, like a dumbass.

    Anyway, saw this on Clarissa’s Sunday links. Thought DM might enjoy it:
    http://www.michaelalanmiller.com/?p=10464

    Like


Leave a comment