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“Tall, Dark, and Mysterious” the funniest math. geek on the web decided to go ask for job advice. She is obviously extremely smart and can’t find a decent job with a M.Sc. in Mathematics. I think she sums it very well: Like many members of my demographic – gifted kids of professionals, who…
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Privacy versus Accountability in Academia
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I just read a great paper in the Chronical called Evaluation and the Culture of Secrecy: For years now, I’ve been waging a private battle against the unexamined practice of confidentiality. When I write readers’ reports, I add a postscript requesting that the press or journal attach my name to…
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It is the fault of TV shows!!! Who knew? Princeton University Dean of Engineering and Applied Science, Maria Klawe, said so. In contrast, Klawe said the number of women in law and medicine has reached parity with men. Why? “I think there is a correlation with TV shows,” that even when Klawe…
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Rumors of Jython´s death were exagerated!
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Jython 2.2a1 is out! (see also here and here). This is great news. I use Jython a bit, but up to now, with some caution as it always seems like the project is about to die and bring me code down with it. However, if version numbers are any indication, Jython is still behind Python which is at…
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Expert Opinion: U.S. losing lead in science and engineering?
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I like Michael though I don’t always agree with him. This time, I entirely agree with his recent post of the US losing the lead in technology. Why are people predicting that the US will fall apart? Because of offshoring. Yeah. Right. Michael says it all: So, the cost advantage of offshoring will…
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Ryan sent me a link to a Chronicle article. Here’s the gist of it: If you stick your foot in your mouth during an interview, no one will interrupt to prevent you from doing further damage. So why risk doing it many times over by blabbing away in a blog? We’ve seen the hapless job seekers who…
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Presentation Skills
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If you are a graduate student, you might want to check out this PDF on Presentation Skills.
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Jay takes on the research funding debate: I noticed a curious phenomenon at the NSF. They define R&D performance in a way that is completely baffling to me as an industrial scientist. Take a look at the first paragraph here. Performance is defined as money spent. The truth is that funding…
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Ok, after my previous post, I’ve got to balance things out, so there you go: we like Americans. No, really, we do. We just wish you’d behave like one of the richest country in the world should.
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Balancing hate
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Ernie´s 3D Pancakes: some honest answers
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Ernie’s 3D Pancakes gives us a nice, honest answer for the next time you give a theory talk: Q: Are there any applications of your results? A1: Um no, this is a theory talk, why would there be applications? I once attended a talk by a solid mathematician who spent the last 4 years doing fancy…
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I can see it from here… I’m a nice, gentle Canadian citizen. I go work in the States for a few years and while I’m there, I’m tagged as a terrorist. Maybe because I said something nasty about someone on my blog. I end up in jail and I am labelled as an enemy combatant. Of course, there is…
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Map of a lake where I lived
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Google is great. I used to live in a remote area by a lake. Well, Google now gives me a high resolution satellite photo of the spot!
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Thanks to Downes, I found this paper on how business value qualifications (as in “university degree”) over experience. Employers regard qualifications as a signal of potential for future learning and skills acquisition, not as a signal of immediate competence. Overall, employers drew a strong…