Mossy Feathers (They/Them)

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 20th, 2023

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  • I don’t expect a scientific article to be understandable for someone outside the field, but do yourself the disfavour and ask a random scientist, what it is they’re actually doing and to explain it in simple terms. Most can’t. And that says to me, that these people never learned (or were taught) how to actually boil a concept down to its essence. And that I think is pretty bad.

    As an example, two scientists from different fields could work on almost the same problem from different angles, but they would never know that if they talked to each other, because they are unable to express their work in a way the other person can understand.

    This is why I believe scientists should be required to take liberal arts classes; especially related to written and spoken language. Trying to read a scientific paper as an outsider is painfully hard because you’re trying to understand what the Big Words are trying to say, but then the paper also takes a borderline meandering path that loops back on itself or has sections that mean nothing, leaving you (or at least, me) confused. Like, c’mon man, I’m trying to understand what you’re saying, but your narrative is more convoluted than House of Leaves.

    How can you expect to truly make a breakthrough in science if you struggle to accurately and precisely convey your ideas to your peers? Study the great writers so your papers can have great writing and results.

    If it helps, try doing it from a scientific perspective - as if you’re studying a brand new creature or property of physics - and make notes on things like,

    How the author expresses their ideas.

    Was the author easily understandable?

    What, if anything, made it easier or harder for you to understand what was written?

    What elements made the writing more precise, concise and/or accurate to what the author was trying to convey (using outside sources)?

    …and so forth.

    (And yes, I also think liberal arts students should be required to take some level of hard STEM classes (not watered-down “libarts-compatible” stuff, but actual physics, chemistry, biology, etc) as well.)

    Edit: you might even end up with a reputation for being more intelligent than you actually are, simply because you’re able to convey your ideas significantly better than your peers.

    Edit 2: or alternatively, study a programming language until you’re decent at it, and then write your papers as if you’re trying to explain them to a computer.




  • Hezbollah uses pagers for communication. Israel intercepted shipments of pagers and rigged them with bombs. Then, an unspecified amount of time later, Israel detonated them during the day, yanno, when people would be out and about in public places. Thousands of bombs went off across Lebanon and killed and injured children, elderly people, and adults.

    Of course, mainstream media is trying to pretend that Israel didn’t potentially commit what should be considered a warcrime while assholes on social media are spinning this as a masterfully precise and accurate strike that didn’t have a considerable amount of collateral (I’ve literally seen someone say “only people with something to hide would be around a pager in this day and age” verbatim), and that anyone injured or killed was a member of Hezbollah.

    Like, what if one of those had been on a plane when it went off?

    When ISIS plants bombs on people and detonates them in public places then it’s a bad thing. Israel does it and everyone stands, claps and tips everyone with $100% bills.

    Edit: I honestly wonder if it’s only a matter of time before some IDF or Mossad shithead hijacks a plane and flies it into the Burj Khalifa.



  • Extroverts don’t seem to understand that not showing interest in their sexual lives doesn’t mean disrespect, but simply that I don’t care about it.

    I was on the fence until this. This is extremely unprofessional and, if I understand correctly, could even get the company sued. Here’s how I’d personally handle it; but take this with a grain of salt because I’ve never actually had to deal with something like this before:

    First, talk to a lawyer. Tell them what’s going on an get their thoughts and suggestions. The suggestions following may be way off-base.

    Then, start keeping track of every time she brings something like that up, and log how you responded, how it made you feel, how she reacted to you response. You’re collecting evidence for a lawsuit on the basis of a toxic and highly unprofessional work environment that’ll hopefully never actually happen.

    Once you have enough info that you could potentially launch said lawsuit, double-check with your lawyer and then you go to HR.

    YOUR LAWYER WILL LIKELY TELL YOU THIS: DO NOT THREATEN A LAWSUIT. DO NOT EVEN HINT AT A LAWSUIT. DO NOT MENTION ANYTHING ABOUT A LAWSUIT, PERIOD. IF YOU MAKE ANY MENTION OF LEGAL ACTION THEN YOU WILL DESTROY YOUR CHANCES OF HAVING A POSITIVE OUTCOME FROM THIS MEETING. THEY ARE ALMOST GUARANTEED TO FIRE YOU AND THEN IMMEDIATELY LAWYER UP. THEY MAY EVEN ATTEMPT TO DESTROY EVIDENCE IF THEY THINK IT’S PREFERABLE TO A SUCCESSFUL LAWSUIT.

    Make sure you log your interaction with HR as well; what you discussed, if you felt your concerns were heard during the meeting, and then make a follow-up log a week or two later to note if there was any change as a result of your meeting.

    If there was no change, talk to your lawyer and consider trying again (and log everything again), and again, do not threaten, mention or even hint at any kind of legal action whatsoever. You’re trying to give the company ample chance to respond to your concerns.

    If there was still no change, go talk to your lawyer about the possibility of pursuing legal action. It could be legitimately worth it, especially if they decide to fire you after your first or second meeting with HR.

    Your goal is to have a paper trail so long and thorough that you can hang them with it (figuratively, in court) if necessary.






  • Everyone is overcomplicating this. Red = stop. When it’s red, that means it’s off.

    As for why indicators are sometimes red lights, that’s because casting light requires active effort, so if a light is on, then you can assume that the thing is at least receiving power. Red LEDs are the cheapest LEDs (or at least they used to be), which is why binary on/off indicators will sometimes use them. It has less to do with the color and more to do with the price (that’s also why older indicators are usually amber or have colored plastic filters; LEDs weren’t invented yet, so the cheapest thing was a tiny incandescent bulb with an optional color filter). Otherwise, red lights usually signal an urgent warning, error, malfunction, or some other event that requires someone to stop whatever they’re doing and give the device immediate attention.

    Edit: in the case of recording specifically, people likely started using red as a recording indicator because, well, recording is important and requires your attention.