this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

At least they showed up. Or was this after the fourth last-minute and/or late-minute reschedule?

"Sorry. I was busy trying to find research grants so I could dodge teaching activities for the semester."

[–] [email protected] 37 points 3 months ago (1 children)

A lot of professors are judged on how much grant money they bring in unfortunately.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

Oh, I know. And I'm currently setting up audits on qualifications and alignment to our nation's higher education standards...at a research university.

I've already had industry colleagues remind me of that time a major university here had a big grant puller non-chalantly say, "I never actually completed my PhD" thinking it was just gonna go down totally fine because of how much his reputation pulled research money in over the years.

Clearly a very smart human that contributed a lot, but that's not how academia works and obviously an atomic bomb went off with fiends lined up for the scraps while the CFO weeps.

This is my big fear. If I stumble across something like this, I'm quitting for something less stressful like pest control, test piloting, or child care.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Clearly a very smart human that contributed a lot, but that's not how academia works and obviously an atomic bomb went off with fiends lined up for the scraps while the CFO weeps.

I’m sorry, do you mind explaining this a bit further? I don’t understand what you mean. Thank you :)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

The faculty member probably got nuked from orbit, sponsoring orgs would be horrified to learn that a PI (principal investigator) they funded had misrepresented their credentials that badly.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Oh, I know. And I'm currently setting up audits on qualifications and alignment to our nation's higher education standards...at a research university.

My condolences. My wife is in academia as well. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy 🤣

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Is a PhD a required qualification in your uni? I know it's expected, but there are quite a few well-respected academics, particularly in engineering and comp sci, who don't have a PhD.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

It depends on the country.

Here it is required for certain levels of "quality education to students" whereas those with lower tiers certainly are allowed to teach some units, especially lectures. But they're not curating or a primary teacher in courses. If these aren't met, your official recognition as a university is gone. It's regulation protecting the quality of education in the nation.

Obviously research it's entirely up to whoever's putting the grant up. But most research journals these days are regulated by the academia version of a HoA, and such incidents as I mentioned are very dramatic.

Edit: Personally, I don't agree with it and think it's an archaic culture that holds back progressive and brilliant ideas. But it balances out in that a university can recognise an equivalent status. Any university or country that respects that system will recognise an "under qualified" person breaking such ground when an entire institute vouches for them. But that view isn't shared around the world.

My personal opinion/experiences are that those that are the worst in their field are the ones that clutch onto their degrees the most and will think lowly of a mind that hasn't amassed as much documentation; being officially recognised is more important than your hypothesis.

I certainly lean a certain way in my thinking, but it's only because I believe the core of academia is meant to be for the advancement of knowledge and ideas. In modern academia, this no longer occurs as effectively as it once did, therefore it is failing at its core purpose. More and more younger generations are determining it's not as valuable as it once was and are so far successfully proving that to be true.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

It's regulation protecting the quality of education in the nation.

I understand and agree with that logic (although personally I have experienced excellent teachers who had no PhD). But like you said, I don't think it is a useful criteria in research.

My personal opinion/experiences are that those that are the worst in their field are the ones that clutch onto their degrees the most and will think lowly of a mind that hasn't amassed as much documentation

Lol yes!

[–] [email protected] 56 points 3 months ago (1 children)

To be fair, the meme shows her ( Kim Yeji of South Korea) from a tense angle, unlike the one from her original viral pic

Also, afaik, they both won silver and she broke the Olympic record before her compatriot Oh Ye Jin broke THAT record to take the gold.

Basically, they're super cool in each their way, he's just older and prefers regular glasses over the actually pretty standard for the sport headgear she sports.

Bonus info: that cute plush elephant she has hanging from her belt? That belongs to her 5yo daughter back in South Korea.

I highly recommend this The Athletic piece about her.

One last bit of trivia: the author shares a name with a New Girl character and it's not Coach 😛

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago

I know. Still worth celebrating how much of a badass she is 🤷

[–] [email protected] 31 points 3 months ago (1 children)

My very esteemed advisor admitted to me that he would often just make the ppt during the flight to a convention. He also admitted most of his time at the convention was hitting pubs with the boys from his grad school he knew eons ago.

While it's admirable he knew his stuff well enough to pull it off, hangover and all, he was also kind of an ass so it's a bit of a push.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago

Usually the talks are just an advertisement for the paper. The real value of in-person conferences is meeting your peers and talking about your field in less-formal settings i.e. during the dinner and breaks.

btw if you're a student, see if there are any student organizations to join, especially if they do workshops or research tracks at a conference, it's a great way to build a network.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago (1 children)

When I was in grad school I would split the difference with 25 slides and 57 backup slides clicked together frantically 15 minutes earlier

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago

Oh, I would go with 25 elaborated slides, crafted for months, that won't work at the time of presentation so I'd look like the one on the right.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Same kinda happens in industry, too.

Intern: 12 shitty slides. No appendix. Mumbles through the entire pres.

Jr/Associate: 47 immaculate slides, full appendix, 30 minutes to present, runs short on time, skips half of them and the audience fell asleep 20 minutes ago.

Senior: 10 slides, good enough but not pretty; too busy being technical for pretty slides. Serves the dessert first because that’s what we’re fuckin’ here for, the meat and potatos are there afterwards but we probably won’t have time for it because of Q&A. 30 appendix slides and ready for any question including “when is the heat death of the universe?”

Tech lead/director: 100 slides, 2 or 3 at the front called executive summary, agenda, recommendations; 2 more slides to back it up and introduce the team/rest of the presenters, and 95 other slides ready to go for whatever, spliced together from like 30 other slide decks they have for every occasion.

CTO: I don’t have slides. I have a spreadsheet; but I need you all to tell me the numbers. Here we go.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (1 children)

People keep saying that this guy had no kit, but I'm pretty sure you can't buy that pistol over the counter, even in America.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Nah you totally can, they're PCP target pistols. My local sporting goods store has several. By no means cheap, and these are doubtlessly customized as much as the rules allow, but in many (most?) states they're not even considered a firearm.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago (1 children)

PCP target pistols

Call me a nervous ninny, but target shooting while on Angel Dust sounds SUPER risky 😛

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Isn't that like half the plot of New Jack City?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

That and Spin City, yes.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I assumed these were small caliber, having not watched the event.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

They are, either (iirc) 4.5mm (for womens 25m and mixed 10m) or 5.7mm (for mens 25m rapid). I'm pretty sure ~~he's competing in~~ 25m rapid, which has much more restrictive rules about kit than 10m or womens 25m.

(EDIT: He was not, this was the 10m mixed team where he and his partner took silver. I had forgotten that 25m rapid uses five round .22LR target pistols and not 5-shot PCP)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

Gear up versus git gud.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

If this were a D&D meme, I'd much prefer being at the latter table.