Archive for October, 2012
Back in my day, people worked for a living
Randy Shore advocates for a shorter work week so we can get our hands dirty in the garden. Sounds like a lovely idea, right? Unfortunately, he prefaced those thoughts with this: I grew up in a world where every adult worked five days a week and I know that isn’t the case so much today. […]
Advice for watching the presidential debates
The last two presidential elections, I watched all of the debates in their entirety. This year I just watched the Gregory Brothers‘ versions. I think I’m just as informed as I was when I watched the real debates AND I’m much happier.
I’m not a special snowflake
When I started graduate school, I knew I didn’t want to do the tenure track professor thing. To be successful, I’d have to work harder than I think I can physically work and harder than I know I want to work [Seriously, it’s really hard to even get your foot in the door]. But I […]
E. C. Pielou is awesome
After an intro ecology class, you might think that women had nothing to do with big, historical developments in the field. If you’re lucky, your class may have mentioned Jane Lubchenko or Rachel Carson. One of the amazing ecologists left out of your textbook was E.C. Pielou. She is a mathematical ecologist and author with […]
Music for sending drafts to your supervisor and feeling pretty damn good
While you’re waiting for the bus
Why haven’t you read more George Eliot? Science fiction and real wars (via Per Square Mile): Fiction does not replace policy analysis. But science fiction is the literature of “what if?” Not just “what if X happens?” but also “what if we continue what we’re doing?” In that way, science fiction can inform policy making […]
Berry Go Round
You saw September’s Berry Go Round, right? That monthly delight full of all sorts of interesting things about the most interesting things on the planet (i.e. plants)? Well if not, now’s a good time. And if you like it, you should volunteer to host the next one!