zlatiah
@zlatiah@lemmy.world
- Comment on Mary E. Brunkow, one of this year's Nobel Prize winners in Medicine, has only 34 published papers and an H-index of 21. 1 day ago:
Important additional context on this… TLDR is that the post is only a “feel-good” post and misrepresented reality; real life is a lot more nuanced and fucked up
Mary E Brunkow solely worked in industry (a.k.a. the scientific slang for working in something like a pharmaceuticals cpmpany) after her PhD, instead of in academia like most Nobel Prize laureates. Industry researchers rarely publish. And 34 published papers may seem low by Nobel standards but is a lot. I don’t think I personally know any industry researchers that are this prolific; some full professors even don’t have this many papers
The bigger takeaway from this story is not “anyone can make it” if they have a good idea… Brunkow was extremely prolific as a researcher. If anything, her old company (Celltech) went defunct in 2004 and Brunkow was allegedly laid off (and no one at the time realized the importance of her discovery) which is probably a better take home message
Her Wikipedia page as reference: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_E._Brunkow
- Comment on I landed in another toxic workplace after quitting a previous one. What would you do in this scenario? (Open to all suggestions) 3 days ago:
Currently none; the country is known for having a very high union participation rate, but I don’t know what’s the situation is for researchers specifically… As in, I don’t even know if there ks a union for PhD students/postdocs. I’m convinced to do something about this though, we’ll see. Thanks!
- Comment on I landed in another toxic workplace after quitting a previous one. What would you do in this scenario? (Open to all suggestions) 3 days ago:
I… learned something new today about Lemmy I guess
No that’s definitely not me, my workplaces may have asshole bosses but actually all have surprisingly little drama all things considered (and I hope I don’t jinx it)
- Comment on I landed in another toxic workplace after quitting a previous one. What would you do in this scenario? (Open to all suggestions) 3 days ago:
… Thanks, is there an in joke that I didn’t quite get somewhere??
- Comment on I landed in another toxic workplace after quitting a previous one. What would you do in this scenario? (Open to all suggestions) 4 days ago:
I did unironically tell my old mentor that I’d quit academia if my next job doesn’t work out, so there’s that… I have seriously introspected for the last position and didn’t resort to blaming my boss until like 6-8 months in and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t at fault. But rest assured I do introspect a lot. Maybe too much sometimes but that’s a separate discussion…
- Comment on I landed in another toxic workplace after quitting a previous one. What would you do in this scenario? (Open to all suggestions) 4 days ago:
Frankly it helps… your experience tracks with mine as well. I did hear from one colleague that they adopted the Dutch explicit/super-direct communication style and I think it worked for them, so I will give it a shot too. My coworkers are nice so thankfully I believe I will have some ppl to talk to, I’ll make sure to do that
Seems most are on the autism spectrum, and that makes it hard to interact with
Funny you mentioned that… I’m Autistic and somehow the worst boss I’ve had so far was extremely ASD-coded, while the best one I’ve had was not on the spectrum but super understanding. And yes there are lots of assholes in academia
- Comment on I landed in another toxic workplace after quitting a previous one. What would you do in this scenario? (Open to all suggestions) 4 days ago:
Thanks, that helps a lot… I definitely had an issue with just detaching from my work emotionally for the last job, hence why I literally got sick despite the job being really, really favorable on paper. I will try to do this more for the current job for now; the job is also quite favorable on paper after all. I did mention in another comment that it is unlikely I will get fired, so if I really want to stay I will try to adapt these concepts to the best of my abilities. Thanks!
- Comment on I landed in another toxic workplace after quitting a previous one. What would you do in this scenario? (Open to all suggestions) 4 days ago:
Nice! I was on the unionization effort with my last employer too; I’d make a terrible leader but I have the skills for helping out. I am trying to get to know my coworkers better, so that is definitely not off the table
- Comment on I landed in another toxic workplace after quitting a previous one. What would you do in this scenario? (Open to all suggestions) 4 days ago:
It’s the supervisor. I’d say it may be more close to the second one than the first: bossman was trained in German academia and it shows; they are from what I’ve gathered a micromanaging person with really bad management skills that also has pretty blatant favoritism, also heard from coworkers that bossman disallowed vacations previously. Not the worst thing in the world but does appear to be pretty nasty; if I don’t want to get fired there are ways I can adapt. My coworkers are honestly quite nice atm. I suppose I will try to do both then, apply for other things while use my… currently strong arsenal tool of dealing with ppl to get through things for now
I’d also be looking for an EU sugar mama as much as possible on the side
I eh will get on Hinge again and visit Luxembourg in the future 💀
- Comment on I landed in another toxic workplace after quitting a previous one. What would you do in this scenario? (Open to all suggestions) 4 days ago:
Thanks. One of my colleague did suggest that, I suppose I’ll start being selfish & start applying now. The problem itself will only get worse unless my entire institution unionizes or something similar… but it’s unlikely that I will get fired (my skills are very in demand) so there’s that; I am also trying to get independent funding which would mitigate the problem a lot
- Submitted 4 days ago to [deleted] | 30 comments
- Comment on Why do companies always need to grow? 1 week ago:
Disclaimer that I’m not an economist
I believe I have heard a discussion about this before… that the “always grow bigger” model is not only not a necessity under capitalism, it wasn’t even the predominant economic model in the US for a while. Post war, FDR’s New Deal followed the Keynesian model, which from my understanding led to the type of regulated capitalism with a much heavier emphasis on shareholder/employee satisfaction… and also when the extremely high progressive income tax brackets happened. The always need to grow bigger idea may or may not have come from Milton Friedman of the UChicago school: one of the core assumptions of the Neoclassical model is that companies maximize profits.
Also this is definitely not just a US megacorp thing. Other countries have megacorps too. Case in point South Korea…
- Comment on When a person gains weight and keeps the weight on for a long time, is that old fat in your body, or does the fat get replaced over time? 1 week ago:
From what I remember from nutrition science research… our body fat are literally living, breathing cells. As in, fat cells which specialize into fat storage, which can grow/shrink, and are in fact very metabolically active. So not only do they get replaced over time, they are biologically quite relevant and probably more “active” than, say, the nearby muscle cells
- Comment on Is anyone NOT steaming their Music? 1 week ago:
Well of course not. I don’t have physical discs or a steamer so steaming them is a bit difficult
Jokes aside, I have literally never used music streaming… First of all I don’t listen to that much music. Even when I did, I tried Soundcloud for a bit but then quickly switched over to Bandcamp. I’m not that big on having to listen to the latest music and I don’t like mainstream stuff, so YouTube is sufficient for discovery for now
I’m not very big on audio quality so I mostly just do yt-dlp these days on songs that I listen a lot… I could go back to Bandcamp (or pirate and leave personal donations) if I ever become an audiophile, but realistically a lot of musicians I listen to are financially stable if not wealthier than me (most of them probably have stable contracts from large gaming companies) so I don’t see a lot of point…
- Comment on What's the most offensive word I can use that isn't a slur? 1 week ago:
In a professional setting: disappointment is the strongest word I’ve ever said to someone
Outside that? I don’t know if there is a good cutoff between slur/not slur… The one I vividly remember was old Chinese social media users (before the blockage) calling some people “Wumao” (translates to 50 cents). This is implying that the person is being a troll, and they did it because they were so pathetic that they accepted a 50-cent commission from the government to say good/bad things on the internet. Probably still the worst insult I could imagine till this day
- Comment on whatever happened to in-store coffee grinders? 1 week ago:
Sooo I guess since others mentioned this, I would like to clarify a few things…
TJ is indeed marketed as a “boutique” grocery store, and I think I heard somewhere that their founder made the store in a way where their ideal customer would be a rich kid who graduated from Harvard (not kidding). But they have been bought by Aldi a few decades back and follow a similar business model. Because of this, their prices are quite reasonably especially for how “high-class” they feel. Drawback is that TJs tend to have incomplete offerings, but are really well-stocked and reasonably priced on essentials and some trendy stuff (for example, vegan food: I’m not kidding they had more tofu than the nearby mainstream grocery chains)
I thought folks here would hate TJ not because the price, but because of their union busting practices (I won’t judge anyone for shopping there, but it’s just a good thing to know)
- Comment on whatever happened to in-store coffee grinders? 1 week ago:
This is interesting… I was not into coffee before COVID so I didn’t notice it before, wonder if it was indeed because of the pandemic as others mentioned
I don’t think Trader Joe’s is exactly a popular brand on Lemmy due to unrelated reasons, but if there is a Trader Joe’s near you, would you mind checking if they still have coffee grinders? I do vividly remember that my local Trader Joe’s store had one. Also I’m pretty sure most coffee roasters would still grind the beans for you (not that most serious coffee enjoyers ever use that service, but still)
- Submitted 2 weeks ago to [deleted] | 11 comments
- Comment on What is in for the antivax in a government? 3 weeks ago:
Two possibilities…
- RFK does have a supplement/snake oil business(?) if I recall correctly, so he does have a personal stake in "MAHA"
- This sounds nuts but there is a possibility that he really believes what he is doing is correct, and became a useful idiot in the process
And don’t forget the people within CDC who are more involved… I will never forgive Jayantha “Jay” Bhattacharya and Matthew Memoli for dismantling the NIH. Btw the motive for Bhattacharya was very clear: he was an economist who proposed a fringe theory on COVID that was widely criticized, but then doubled down and essentially became entrenched in antivax himself. Which is also why I wonder if RFK also got high on his own supply
- Comment on How does the Chinese government even work 3 weeks ago:
Oh boy. I don’t think I’m remotely an authority on this and I guess I will be downvoted to hell… but here goes nothing
- PRC (China) is an one-party state led by the communist party (CCP, CPC, Gongchandang… whatever); there is no opposition party because they got driven to Taiwan and became today’s ROC. That means, present day the CCP is the Chinese government, and the Chinese government is the CCP. There’s no real democracy since there’s only one party
- China has always been authoritarian for its entire history. CCP started as a far-left authoritarian Marxist/Leninist party, and later became a… Maoist party. I don’t think there is any party currently in the world that is Maoist (probably better to keep it that way), although there could be some fringe Marxist/Leninist parties somewhere
- After Mao died and the subsequent mayhem subsided, the successors still hang on to the communist/socialist naming schemes (where the socialism with Chinese characteristics or something came from), but have mostly adapted a blend of state capitalism and free market capitalism models, especially on the economic front. In practice, that means that China is very free-market, but most of the largest companies are either fully or partially owned by the CCP. The past few chairmen before Xi massively tuned down on the authoritarian scale because no one wanted another Mao. Culturally, Marxism is anti-religion so CCP purged a lot of folk religion and Confucianism, so ironically China might be culturally more progressive than their East Asian neighbors…
- Funnily enough, even though there is no democracy, a lot of Chinese emperors/dictators tried to be benevolent dictators. Because China’s social contract is kind of like “we give away our freedom but demand prosperity in return”. If China ever becomes not prosperous, the people are known to revolt and overthrow the government; happened a dozen or so times in recorded history. So CCP does still have somewhat of an incentive to try and not screw over its people too much
- China did retain some socialism stuff, notably: planned economy in 5-year increments, citizens technically can’t own property (but can “lease” for 70 years…), heavily state-sponsored public infrastructure, universal high-quality education… But at the same time China’s actual economy is also insanely unequal and highly resembles a free-market, anything goes model. Again, more like the US than anything else
- On the other side of the equation, the lives of the average citizen in China is… surprisingly similar to those in the US, despite everything. It’s just that China basically has their own version of everything the “Western world” has, because China’s economy and internet are quite walled off. If anything, maybe Chinese citizens have a bit more of a pent-up anger? Since you are thrown into a metaphorical meat-grinder but can’t even protest… I think the pent-up anger shows up on Chinese social media a lot if anyone is interested. But that’s pretty much it
I’m not a political scientist so I probably missed a lot… but that’s the gist I think. If you are asking about how the actual government is organized, I think Wikipedia explained it way better than anyone on Lemmy could, and honestly it is not as exotic as most would think (there are a lot of parallels to governments of most democracies)
- Comment on For people who relocated: when did you realize you want to live in the new place long-term & why? 4 weeks ago:
Personally I work in academia so relocating is significantly easier (doesn’t require local language at work, academia has a foreign worker culture), and I did it before US scientists collectively realized what happened and wanted to get the fuck out… Even then it was difficult for me to find a job. Sadly I don’t think it is as easy for tech…
Also I suspect moving between different states in the US or between different EU member states would be significantly easier
- Comment on Awooga 4 weeks ago:
Holy shit that is terrifying. I’m glad the woman got the breast reduction (and somehow ended up with bigger honkers at a healthy size lol, from B to GGG back to D)
I’ve never seen any one studying sudden breast growth now that I read this… Hope this doesn’t get me into some weird rabbit holes
- Submitted 4 weeks ago to [deleted] | 22 comments
- Comment on would you visit an authoritarian country if you had the chance to live there up to 4 weeks for free even if you believe multiparty democracy to be something non negotiable? 4 weeks ago:
… Are you sure it will only be four weeks? Sounds to me like your grandparents really want you to just stay there forever. Since traveling & living long-term (say a year or more) will be very different especially if I’m politically active
I did just go back to China for two months and was fine; lived in Beijing too so there’s that (I think ppl in the South are less… monitored). China is huge… so if someone just minds their own business the authoritarian government (and probably 99% of the population) basically just leaves them alone. But then I also am not very social & most of my family circle are neutral-/anti-China so… If for any reason I offend the government or anyone affiliated who reports me, then I’d probably be done for, and I’m afraid it is bound to happen if I stay there for too long
So yeah, I dunno but I would never stay in China long-term if I were you. Traveling is fine but I really don’t know how to make of your aituation
- Comment on If you argue for a cause like affordable housing for everyone, is it necessarily hypocritical if you also own investment properties? 5 weeks ago:
On this… I did read a prior research work suggesting that US government should use subsidy/housing vouchers in private markets instead of public housing construction; this way it helps with creating affordable housing while avoiding risks of defunding public housing projects due to political changes. I’m not sure if the findings of that work apply to other countries or if the author was mainly thinking about US
I guess I was thinking more about my personal morals. In terms of actual implementation, I do think you’re correct that the goal of “affordable housing for everyone” can be done even in a completely private housing market, as long as the market is well-managed with abundant supply (so no shortages, no excessive investor bidding, etc)
- Comment on If you argue for a cause like affordable housing for everyone, is it necessarily hypocritical if you also own investment properties? 5 weeks ago:
Methinks it is only not hypocritical under a few circumstances:
- I am renting a place myself and simultaneously leasing out my otherwise primary residence
- The property is my primary residence and is not overly big, but I rent out parts of it for roommates/traditional BnBs
- Unique property ownership situations that shouldn’t last longer than 6 months (maybe I’m downsizing, maybe house swapping… Not sure)
Any other condition is in principle hypocritical… Although there is probably still a massive moral difference between someone with a severe disability who owns a few rentals to pay for bills vs a professional investor who systematically prices out locals to improve profit margins
- Comment on Why does everyone hate Income tax ? 3 months ago:
I don’t hate income tax. But from my personal experience, when I was young lad with no political leaning, seeing a quarter of my first paycheck just… disappear into the void (what I thought back then) definitely made me feel something not great
I mean right now I can see that an income tax system is at the very least a “necessary evil”, but I could also see how ppl without a fuller perspective of things might interpret this as almost theft (the evil guvunment stole muh money!!!)
- Submitted 3 months ago to [deleted] | 10 comments
- Comment on [deleted] 4 months ago:
Absolutely not. There is a reason I’m personally noping out of the US and told every international person at my former workplace to do the same so…
- Comment on [deleted] 4 months ago:
Disclaimer, was an international student for many years, not a law expert
I think realistically, an administration has many ways to make it incredibly difficult to recruit international students even without a blanket ban…
Such as making overseas visa applications even more difficult (it already happened between US-China during Trump’s first term), making legislation that require more from unis if they have international students, general societal xenophobia, …
I’m not sure if an actual blanket ban would be permitted under US law though