The System
- Student N: Ms. F, if you were angry with us, would you tell us?
- Me: If I were angry with you, you would know.
- Student N: Oh...'cause it seems like you are angry with us for asking questions all the time.
- Me: [surprised] What? No, I love your questions. I'll never get angry about you asking questions. If I seem frustrated when your class asks lots of questions, it's because there is a schedule we have to get through and we don't have time to just discuss your questions.
- Student N: So you are angry but you're just angry at the system?
- Me: Yep. Frustrated with the system that's stymieing your curiosity.
- Student Z: That's a great word, Ms. F!
Even the loan person can’t interpret what the fuck is going on with my account.
Sigh. Tired.
And broke.
Impatience
Things I should be doing after getting home from school at 7:30PM:
- Showering
- Eating dinner
- Finishing making up the instructions for tomorrow’s DNA lesson
- Writing the GT test and/or study guide
- Writing my next ecology unit
- Packing my lunch
- Making coffee for tomorrow morning
Things I am doing:
- Sitting on hold with the student loan servicing people
Sigh. Tired.
“Even among men lacking all distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was.”
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22
Source: slaughterhouse90210
The Cost of Knowledge
Science should be open. If you support that sentiment, this initiative is good news. It is a call for researchers to declare a boycott of Elsevier, one of the largest publishers of scientific journals in the world. Elsevier makes enormous profits off the free labor of scientists all over the world. Scientists do the research, write the papers, do the editing and peer-review, and then the paper gets published by an Elsevier journal, earning the middleman enormous profit. In order to protect its business model, which consists of adding literally nothing worthwhile to science or the general public, Elsevier forces libraries to buy bundles of their journals, rather than just the journals they want or need. At the same time, they make every effort to restrict the free flow of scientific knowledge, supporting laws like SOPA, PIPA, and the Research Works Act, which seeks to prohibit open access mandates to publicly funded research.
The reason this works is that these are prestigious journals that everyone uses. If one researcher refuses to participate, it’s little more than a nuisance to their fellow scientists. If many people announce their unwillingness to participate in this scheme, however, maybe real progress can be made. Elsevier is only part of the problem, but it is probably wise to focus on one specific company to begin with.
Alternatives to the commercial journals—which, again, to emphasize, do not actually make any money for the benefit of scientists or science—already exist. Open access to scientific papers and data will make science more democratic, and likely more efficient as well. It will also benefit the general public. When I write about science on this blog, I try to rely on primary sources, but often, they are behind paywalls, and I can’t afford to spend hundreds of dollars to purchase access to papers only to write a free blog. If science is open access, that means people like you and me don’t need to rely on people affiliated with research institutions or with sufficient economic means to interpret science for us. We can do it ourselves.
Source: science
Quixotic and Absurd!: I'm anal about some things.
Probably a lot of things, actually, but some things way more than others.
One of those things is labeling reagent containers. Flasks, beakers, test tubes, bottles. I don’t care what it is, I want it to have a label on it. That way if whoever made it isn’t around and it spills, I know exactly how…
Yes, yes, yes. Label the shit out of all the lab things because after 4 hours of bench work you will not have a clue.
Source: quixoticandabsurd
This Is What A Scientist Looks Like
A new Tumblr that is setting out to change the perception of what the world sees when they think “scientist”. I’ll have to submit something here.
Love, love, love this idea. Previously: 7th graders draw scientists, nerdy stereotypes ensue.
Scientist friends, submit your own!!
(via theatlantic)
Source: lookslikescience
I told Engineering Boy I’d go see “The Woman in Black” with Him
Why?
Because:
- The way he asked me was really cute. He suddenly just said really quickly, “We should do something next week. If you want to I was thinking we could go see The Woman in Black. Daniel Radcliffe is in it.” It was obviously rehearsed, and it was also obvious that he was making a big effort to invite me before he lost the nerve.
- Daniel Radcliffe. Why not?
I didn’t ask what it was about. I just looked it up, though, and it is a horror movie.
I do not like horror movies. Not at all. I am the world’s biggest wimp when it comes to horror movies, or even just movies that have vaguely creepy music.
I may need to talk him into a different movie.
- Student N: How old were Watson and Crick when they were working on DNA?
- Me: Fairly young. Watson was less than thirty, Crick was a little older, probably in his forties.
- Students: [general expressions of awe]
- Me: Yeah, it's pretty impressive. It makes me feel a little under-accomplished, to be honest.
- Student P: It's OK. You're teaching the children!
- Student P, you usually annoy the hell out of me, but you really made my day today.
Teacher, scientist, avid reader, observer
