Dead horse

The “dead horse” dakota wisdom…

I stole this from a colleagues facebook just because I liked it so much and thought id spread the amusement by sharing it.

Although… it’s a bitter-sweet amusement.

Dakota wisdom

I would add two more points before the final point –  “Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.”

• Name the dead horse “paradigm shift” and keep riding it.
• Harnessing several dead horses together to increase the speed.

 

Any bells ringing?

Do you recognise the points above as well?

Science vs Craft (Επιστήμη κ Τέχνη)

These last days I have been listening to audio-books while biking. One of them (my memory fails me) reminded me of the philosophical distinction made by Aristotle between Episteme and Techne (Επιστήμη and Τέχνη) or Science and Craft in plain english. Where Science is knowledge and craft instrumental how to.

Ever since I was reminded of that concept it’s been nagging in the edge of my mind… how we in modern natural science use the term science to describe the merger of the two. Theory and practical knowledge. The two complement each other… and the dichotomy is for me a fictive one, meant to illustrate – but it can be good to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the two sides. Especially in experimental science where a great lot of out knowledge is the result of painstaking trial and error.

As scientists (natural scientists, cause humanities often play by different rules) we like to pretend everything is straightforward, rigid and governed by the the theoretical framework of science. In the reality of the lab there is episteme – protocoll’s and theoretical knowledge, and there is techne – tweaking of protocols based on qualified guesses*, “muscle” memory of steps to be done, the feel of the work/samples etc.

*”qualified guess” just sounds more scientific than “gut feeling”.

…. …. …. ….

Today I finished in the lab too late to go home and put on make up etc for going out with the “girls”, but too early to go directly to the restaurant… so since 20 minutes definitely is not enough to start any serious (read scientific) writing… I opted for writing some of my thought here instead.

Email scams…

When you have a public email you often get scam- emails. Some days I wonder HOW stupid do they think the recipient is???

Like today… I got an email urging me to klick on a link to re-validate my email since my inbox exceeded it (yes “it” not “its”) storage limit…

The sender though? It’s a former colleague at KI! Why on earth would a colleague from Karolinska institutet have anything to do with an email at Uppsala university?

At least try and make it look like it comes from MY university… then were talking!

*shaking head laughingly*

Oh oh… they even have a copy-write notice… Copywrite 2012…

I guess I’m risking getting sued for posting online?

;-P

Goodmorning… with a smile and a song. 😉

Murphy and the lab ghost…

So… its been almost a month since my last post. The one about flow…

One of the reasons for the lack of updates is the my Hybris struck me down… I had barely commented on the feeling of flow when the lab ghost decided to play some tricks with me. And it was not alone… Mister Murphy and mister Finagle joined it for some nice fun. Then it was time for some well needed time off before rejoining the troupes of the uni for the summer.

And yes… running into the mischievous lab ghost and those two gentlemen is as well a part of science and of the life of a PhD-student. We cannot only have good times we need to drop some as well.

The laws of Mister Murphy and his collaborator Finagle:

Murphy’s Law:

Anything that can possibly go wrong, does.

Finagle’s corollary to Murphy’s Law:

Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment.

Another corollary to Murphy’s law (one of my favourites):

If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.

 

So now you know who the gentlemen are… time to introduce the “Lab ghost”. Very few people have seen this elusive entity…

Some say it takes the form of semitransparent researcher… others of a disembodied labcoat…

Or maybe it just looks like this:

Labghost

Nevertheless it’s mischievous… and it plays trick on you. Experiments fail without reason or things that should not be possible to break/do wrong will…

The lab ghost is most active when you have a deadline to meet, or when summer starts… potentially summer is a boring time with very few people in the labs so it tends to be bored and focus on individuals for longer timeframes.

Flow – on a Survival guide for your PhD

Survival guide for your PhD, to be continued in infinity!!!

(It is a never ending subject)

After the previous post a few days ago on the subject – lets continue on this theme. And my subject for today is:

FLOW

Feel the word.

Taste it.

You will need it.

What is then flow? It’s hard to define… but anyone who’s felt it know it. And it is one of the things that keeps you going in science.

We always hear how important it is to put in the hours. To work long, to work late.
“A true PhD lives in their lab. They work day and night, weekend and not alike! “
We’ve all heard this phrase, or variations of it. No?

The thing is… I agree… but not for the obvious reason. Working 24/7 is generally not advisable. Even though for some time periods it is needed. One often overlooked aspect of working when no one else does, is it allows you to enter this flow state. I used to choose to work a lot on weekends. Until my need for a social life took over and I stopped. But having worked late, and on several weekends, this last few weeks; I’ve rediscovered the feeling of flow you can get these days. When you’re working alone, with no distractions – no one to interrupt and nothing to hold you back.

So let’s go back now to defining the word “flow”. I still can’t, but I’ll use some examples.

When you dance around in the lab (cause being alone allows you to listen to any music, as loud as you wish), smiling while pipeting PCR products* you know you’re in the flow-zone.
Also when you feel like you getting somewhere, even though maybe the data is not there yet, or the experiment is not finished yet. Then you’ve got flow…

Maybe I’m romanticizing this feeling of flow. There will be moments like that in all jobs. But for me – who is in laboratory intensive science (and let’s face it, whose main job during long stretches of time is to be the monkey who flips’ the switch) flow is one of the feelings that keeps me going.

*Enter: Picking transformed bacterial colonies, counting cells, setting up PCR’s, proofreading code – any drone-like tedious job that applies to you.

P.S. This was a infinetely more optimistic post than this day deserves… but what goes up – has to go down! Let’s leave the down for another day though… or maybe for no day at all… we’ll see if it’s worthy being called into words.

Mentor or dementor – When Harry potter world goes into academia

Some days there is just flow… while reading another blog I got directed to this text written by a fellow science blogger: “Are you a Mentor? Or dementor?”

The concept is known. And I’ve read many elaborate ways of describing the opposite of a mentor* but this word “dementor” just rang true when I read it. You know that feeling you get – “Ahaaa!” followed by the appearance of that bright light-bulb above your head?

I wish I could say I’m always a “mentor”… I’d be lying and deluding myself though if I did. None wants to be a dementor, but willingly or not I believe everybody will end up being in that position. The trick is to not do it too often. And to try to be a mentor, or at least neutral (neither mentor or dementor) and hope its good enough.

As an ending remark Zuska writes: “My patronus is unusual in that it is not an animal – it’s a silvery spew of puke landing on a shoe.  Let me know if you are ever in need.  I’ll be glad to let it loose.”

I love the mental picture that has left in me – and even though I’d like to steal her patronus, I’m happy mine isn’t an animal either.

Its a silvery pipette shooting sharp silvery tipps at high speed.

 

*Energy thief is one of the ways I’ve seen it described – note the similarity with the concept of a dementor.

Some tough love for surviving during your PhD…

A colleague of mine posted this blogpost on facebook earlier today: “Tough love: An insensitive guide to thriving in your PhD“. It is a factual, very straightforward blogpost and i found myself smiling broadly while reading it. So I bookmark it as a must read for all my friends who are or are planning to do a PhD. Before you click in the link please note the disclaimer of the author himself, this is not a pat on the back guide. It’s raw and honest.

I will admit already today, that I might (read probably, but I’m trying make it sound better) be using this post to get inspiration for my own writing periodically – since most of the 42 pieces of advice given here could be discussed upon….

The one that drew my personal attention today is nr 25:

“During tough times – and you will have them – remember two things. The first is the passion and enthusiasm for science that got you where you are, right now. This is your guiding light throughout the PhD. The second is to remember how darn competitive it was getting on a PhD programme in the first place. How many applicants would chew their arm off to be in your position? Suck it up, stop complaining, and move forward.”

Tough times will come… and during tough times we PhDs wonder over our life choices and complain loudly.

“Why the hell did I choose to do this?”

“I’m sure… after this no more! I do NOT want to stay in academia!”

“I should have gotten a real job!”

and loads more on that subject…

Hard times or easy – Most of us periodically jump into the existential crisis mode described so nicely by this comic strip by Jorge Cham:

PhD comics: The Daily routine
This can be a daily, weekly, monthly and all the combos in between occurrence… but it you experience it more than once a day you should seriously consider your career choices.

Been there, done that.
Several times…
Will probably be there again often during my last 7 months as a PhD…

Despite that… even in my darkest moments I could always feel the passion for what I’m doing. What Chris Chambers so nicely describes as: “the passion and enthusiasm for science that got you where you are, right now.”

That makes me believe I did chose the right career path. Even when I swear loudly that I did the worst mistake of my life – I know I’d do that mistake again – but swearing about it does make me feel better during the frustrations of life as a PhD.

And as soon as we move to our new offices I’m adding this definition of the PhD to my office wall:

“… a PhD is hard. It’s hard because it is an apprenticeship in science: a frustrating, triumphant, exhausting, and ultimately Darwinian career that will require everything you can muster.”

Tattoo…

Newly made… (after 12 hours)

It’s been a while again since my last post… Many subjects have popped up in my mind during this time. Especially during the long hours doing mechanical work in the lab I’ve sketched the beginnings of many posts. Soon i hope to have a bit more time to write some of them down and share them.

The reason for today’s post though is that yesterday I got the first tattoo of my life. It might not be the last…
My brother teased me in the evening: “So how does it feel to be the first in the family to get a tattoo?” Until that moment it hadn’t occurred to me I would be that. To me… this tattoo is personal.

It stands for this poem:

mosaic

We all walk our twisted paths of life.

We bend.

We break.

We mend.

Our mirrors break to shards.

Once. And twice … and again… again…

And laboriously we gather our pieces,

grateful that the mosaics we’ve become is far prettier than the mirrors we started with.

Anonymous goes for greek ministry

This morning Anonymous hacked the website of the Greek ministry of justice according to the newsite neolaia.gr, mycampus.gr and facebook posts. When I tried to check myself, I got the tell-tale message “This Site is Under Construction”. A search on google offered additional support of the hack even though the message itself has been taken down…

Googling "υπουργείο δικαιοσύνης" today, 03-02-2012

Nevertheless, nothing is lost in the age of the net, so we can still enjoy above said message…

Stop ACTA in Greece.
#codehack – #opSupportgreece – #opGreece – #Cyprus

Greetings Greece. We are Anonymous.

What is going on in your country is unacceptable. You were chosen by your people to act on behalf of them and express their wishes, but you have derogatorily failed. You have killed the most sacred element your country had and that is democracy. Democracy was given birth in your country but you have now killed it. What an irony! Your own people hate you and you stare at them doing nothing to prevent that. You have joined the IMF against your people’s acquiescence. You have so introduced a new dictatorship upon your people’s shoulders and allowed the bankers and the monarchs of the EU to enslave them both economically and politically. They pay their government’s mistakes heavily and you made foreign people hate them for something they are not responsible for. What a shame! Police is taking advantage of its powers and attacks people who demonstrate in order for justice to be done. They demonstrate against you but you do not want their voices to be heard. You deprive them from their right of freedom of expression and of their right to live. Your arbitrary actions must be punished. By signing the ACTA bill you are going to deprive your people from further freedom and you are pushing them one step towards oppression. You ignored our warnings and now WE ARE IN CHARGE!

We are Anonymous
We are Legion
We do not forgive
We do not forget
You should have Expected us !

People should not be afraid of their governments.
It’s governments that should be afraid of their people.

After having my cynical laugh for the day I’m off to do something useful… like drilling some more teeth.

Vad är det för fel med grekerna… fortsättning… (Swe/Eng)

För några dagar sen så spelades dokumentären ”Vad är det för fel med grekerna” upp i SVT (själva dokumentären har jag kommenterat tidigare). När man läser kommentarer på A.Paschalidous blogg angående hennes dokumentär så kunde man se vissa undra om hon var partisk för att hon var grek. Att hon kanske överdriver lite.

Här kommer liknande reflektioner från en annan källa, en artikel från BBC, som även den pekar mot den grekiska krisens mörkaste baksida.

” Greece’s financial crisis has made some families so desperate they are giving up the most precious thing of all – their children.”

Låt mig påpeka att det är den värsta tabun någonsin för en grek att ge upp sitt barn. Familjen är vårat allt. Även om man bråkar, skriker och gormar… så ställer man upp. Jag har till exempel alltid vetat att mina föräldrar skulle kunna göra vad som helst för att hjälpa mig när det behövs. Min far skulle kunna ge mig hans sista krona utan tanke på hur han skulle överleva ifall jag behövde den. Eller faktiskt bad om den, oavsett om jag behövde den eller ej. För så resonerar man.

När man i Grekland lämnar sitt barn vid prästens dörr, eller vid SOS barnbyars ingång, så har man redan dränerat vartenda liten resurs man har, och har nått desperationens botten.

För någon som vuxit upp i ett land som Sverige så kan det här te sig märkligt… men i Grekland har man en ytterst liten socialtjänst. Socialbidrag har aldrig varit en norm, ens för dem i stort behov av det. Endast ett fåtal, gamlingar utan barn, narkotikaberoende och totalt utstötta har fått någon form av minimalt socialbidrag. För resten av oss har våran motsvarighet till ”socialen” varigt familjen och bekantskapskretsen. (Barn har lagstadgad skyldighet att ta hand om deras föräldrar när de blir gamla till exempel)

Både Pascalidou och BBC tar upp det tyngsta fallen. I storstaden där man kanske inte har familj som stöd. Eller de där familjen och bekantskapskretsen är lika illa däran som barnens föräldrar. Men dessa är toppen av isberget. Tro mig… För varje barn som lämnats hos en präst eller hos SOS barnbyar så finns flera som skickats till far/mor-föräldrar på landsbygden. Eller där mor och farföräldrar medvetet ger allt de har och lever under svältgränsen så att barnbarnen inte ska drabbas alltför hårt.

Som en tjej sa i Grekisk TV för ett par dagar sen: ”Krisen har påmint oss om det viktiga i livet, medmänsklighet.”

Men det är till ett högt pris…

Länkar till andra som skrivit om ämnet: fruntimmersbloggen.se, Metro – vad är det för fel på grekerna, vidsynt.wordpress.com, Steve reflekterar, Danne Nordling,

In English:

What’s wrong with the Greeks … continued …

A few days ago a documentary with the title “What’s wrong with the greeks?” was aired in the swedish television. (For a cemmentary on the documentary itself, in swedish though, see my earlier post here) While reading the comments on A. Paschalidous blog about the above mentioned documentary, many pondered whether she might be biased because she was Greek. That she might be exaggerating a little.

Here’s similar reflection, from anothers source – BBC, on the darkest side of the greek crisis.

” Greece’s financial crisis has made some families so desperate they are giving up the most precious thing of all – their children.”

Let me point out that it is the worst taboo ever for a Greek to give up her/his child. The family is our everything. Even if you argue, scream and rant … it’s the way our society is set up. For example I have always known that my parents would do anything to help me when/if needed. My father would give me his last dollar, without a second thought of how he’d survive himself in case I needed it. Or actually just asked for it, whether I needed it or not. That’s how it is… that’s how he (and most Greeks) reason.

For greek  parents to leaving their child at the priest’s door, or at the SOS Children’s Villages, means they have already drained every little resources they have, and have reached the bottom of despair.

For someone who grew up in a country like Sweden, this may seem strange … but Greece has a minimal amount social services. Social assistance has never been a norm, even for those in great need of it. Only a few, old people without children, drug addicts and extreemely poor has been receiving some kind of minimal social assistance. For the rest of us have our equivalent of the “social services” has been our family and acquaintances. (Children have a legal duty to take care of their parents in old age her, for example – the law is rarely invoked, but it shows the way family is perceived)
Both Pascalidou and BBC deals with the hardest cases. In the big city where you may not have family support. Or where the family and acquaintances is in just as a bad shape as the children’s parents. But these are the tip of the iceberg. Believe me … For every child who’s left with a priest or at SOS Children’s Villages, there are several that have been sent to the grandparents in the countryside. Or where grandparents knowingly give everything they have and are living on as little as possible, so that their grandchildren will not be hit too hard.

As one girl said in Greek TV for a couple days ago: “The crisis has reminded us of what is important in life, humanity.”
But it is at a high price …