DrBob
@DrBob@lemmy.ca
Recovering academic now in public safety. You’ll find me kibitzing on brains (my academic expertise) to critical infrastructure and resilience (current worklife). Also hockey, games, music just because.
- Comment on How come hotel check-in time is always 3-4? 1 day ago:
Because checkout isn’t until 11. It takes time to prep a room between guests. Depending on occupancy and staffing levels you may be able to get in earlier.
- Comment on 2x2 lumber at Home Depot is now 1.28x1.28. Nominal size is supposed to be 1.5 1 week ago:
Furring strips and drywall don’t count as load bearing. Structural means that it carries the weight of the overlying structure. Basically if the building falls down if that element is missing, it’s structural. So staircases for instance are almost never structural. Many interior walls are not load bearing so they can get knocked down without consequence. You can also split a room by building a wall that won’t be load bearing.
- Comment on 2x2 lumber at Home Depot is now 1.28x1.28. Nominal size is supposed to be 1.5 1 week ago:
Structural use means load bearing. So no.
- Comment on I feel old 1 week ago:
I am GenX so I can speak from my personal experience, which I realize is not universal.
I actually bought “Rappers Delight” on a 45 rpm single the year it was released. But it’s also true that Blondie’s “Rapture” was the first rapping song I heard on the radio. I would have been 13 at the time and rap was far from a mainstream musical style.
Looking back now there certainly were specific individuals of GenX and Jones who had access to rap, but it was certainly not available to me as a suburban kid in Canada. Even that Sugarhill Gang single was hard to find because “rap” as a concept didn’t really exist at that point. I am trying to find a recording of the Extras song “Hip Hop Hip Hip” as an example but it’s so obscure neither YouTube nor my streaming service seem to have it available. It would be unrecognizable to you as hip hop because nobody knew what hip hop was then. People were experimenting broadly and some of those experiments are now considered part of the movement. But we didn’t know that then. Another example that stands out for me was “White Lines” by Grandmaster Flash. It was largely spoken word and I would have identified it as funk then. Now I guess I don’t know.
“Straight Outta Compton” came out when I was in university. I really liked it because of the anger. The raw emotion felt like the best of the punk movement from 15 years before.
So yeah I could have been clearer. The early seeds of what we now consider “rap” were around when I was young. But I would not have called it a popular genre in my circles, or even mainstream. I don’t remember rap shows in the clubs (and I spent a lot of time there in my teens and twenties).
- Comment on Does middle name on plane ticket gave to match passport? 3 weeks ago:
As others have said you should be fine. A different middle name would be a challenge. But a truncated name should be business as usual.
- Comment on Art posting 5 weeks ago:
In my school too. Kids would get the strap for speaking in a language other than English. This was public school in the 1970s.
- Comment on Beauty and the beast 1 month ago:
Well yes. Except for the fuckable part. And whispering instead of singing.
- Comment on Can I drink the hotdog water? 1 month ago:
Old people with a deep tan look like this.
But even so, why are people so quick to jump on her for what is clearly a choice? I don’t like nose rings or ear plugs so I don’t have them. So her aesthetic is not what you would choose. Fine. Don’t do it.
- Comment on I feel old 1 month ago:
Uh Gen X predates rap.
- Comment on Can I drink the hotdog water? 1 month ago:
I regret to inform that you too will get old someday and want to go out in public. I’m sorry you had to find out his way.
- Comment on The joy of finding an interesting gap in the literature 1 month ago:
I see you’ve found my publication record.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 months ago:
Back in the old days (hangs onion from belt) we could smoke in the office. I knew a 3 pack a day smoker - Canada so 25 to a pack. The only way he could manage to do it is that he always had one in his hand. If he didn’t, he lit another one. That meant that he’d often put one down to do something, forget about it in the ashtray, and light another. I occasionally saw him with 3 going at once.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 months ago:
Because cocaine was not a widely distributed drug in the 60s. It was another 15 years before it was being moved in significant volume.
- Comment on Expertise 2 months ago:
There is some field dependency - mathematics is notoriously fast. The other one I talk about below is the PhD portion of an MD/PhD. In some fields (mine included) there’s 2 years of coursework plus lab research so it was heavily results driven.
- Comment on Expertise 2 months ago:
But to his point the UK is the place I know that will take a three year undergrad for a PhD program.
- Comment on Expertise 2 months ago:
The length/number of post-docs scales directly with your start up costs.
Need a computer and a desk? You can go on the market right after your PhD or one post-doc. Need seven figures of equipment plus animal space? Don’t expect to get a job until you’re pushing forty.
Committees want to see a strong funding track record before they make that kind of investment
- Comment on Expertise 2 months ago:
I came from a very large lab; 18 post-docs, and half a dozen grad students. The general observation about the PhD portion of the MD/PhD program is that it tends to be very programmatic research. Typically applying a known technique to a neglected but not novel area. The straight PhDs had much higher expectations for novelty and depth. The MD/PhDs were out in three and the PhDs were five to six.
- Comment on Expertise 2 months ago:
Three years for a PhD? Must be a Brit or combined degree. Average is almost six at the moment.
- Comment on I Can't Drink Now Like I Used to a Few Years Ago (26M), is that Normal? 6 months ago:
Mid-50s chiming in. In grad school I’d have 4-5 pints at the grad pub and then go downtown to go drinking lol. Those days are long gone.
I have a 2 drink limit now and will switch to water or soda. Otherwise I can’t function the next day. Hangovers are exponentially worse than they used to be.
- Comment on A pastor invited to DeSantis' Disney board meeting quoted the Bible telling people not to 'resist authority' as it strips workers' park perks 7 months ago:
Park passes and some discounts inside. This story has a few more details. businessinsider.com/disney-firefighters-backed-de…
- Comment on ‘The Idol’ Canceled At HBO After One Season 8 months ago:
I loved the cinematography…but OMG the writing could not be worse. I want the style but with any other story line