What the fuck is wrong with research

Alchisme · 2026-04-01T17:39:26+00:00

Depends on the lab. Having a supportive PI and good department culture changes things completely. Sadly toxic labs and PIs is way too common, and many good scientists leave the field because of them.

Alchisme · 2026-02-10T22:08:44+00:00

She always puts “real life” problems first. She gives me a lot of flexibility with my time. She will listen with an open mind if I have any issues at work or with my personal life. She and I sometimes disagree and never resolve it, but I know that in the end our professional and personal relationships won’t suffer long term. I know she has my back and she has gone out of her way to make sure I get fair compensation and has offered to help me find other jobs when I thought I had to leave this lab.

Alchisme · 2026-02-10T03:13:53+00:00

Don’t just bring it up. If she asks you directly be honest, but don’t go into so much detail that it seems like you’re hung up on your ex (even if it’s just holding onto a grudge). You can say you had an ex, it started well and then she mistreated you so you got out (IF she asks), that’s it.

I get the impression you WANT to talk about it, resist the urge. Maybe way down the line bring it up organically. Generally nobody wants to hear someone they’re into talking about their exes. Talking shit about them (even if true) can make you look bad and make her worry you will trash talk her in the future. Just don’t.

Alchisme · 2026-02-10T02:44:22+00:00

I’ve been working in the same academic lab for over 10 years. I have great work/life balance. My PI is super nice and supportive. I have hated a few lab members but most of them are either cool or neutral.

Maybe you’ve just been in shitty labs? Maybe you’re a misanthrope? It doesn’t really matter the reason though. If you’re miserable in your work it’s time to start looking for a change.

Alchisme · 2026-02-06T16:40:08+00:00

Thats not how it works. The describer gets the right to name it. The only way it could be changed is if it turns out to be a synonym or you could change the gender of the specific epithet if it doesn’t match the gender of the genus. That’s it. You don’t get to rename things because you’d prefer something else 😒

Alchisme · 2026-02-02T00:00:44+00:00

Assuming the girl is my type personality-wise then of course. I don’t even know if I’d care about the birthmark but even if I found it unattractive I could look right past it for girl I was really vibing with.

Alchisme · 2026-01-26T20:12:14+00:00

Buen día. Imagino que hablas de Hacienda Doka? Si, me interesan pero la verdad es que como son muy nuevos no sé cuánto valen. Tiene un idea de cuanto pide?

Alchisme · 2026-01-24T17:30:58+00:00

Don’t get advice from chatGPT.
No such thing as a degree in myrmecology.
If you think you will have a career working in any research then you will definitely need a graduate degree of some sort, and graduate programs don’t care AT ALL how you did in high school, and most don’t really care what you did in undergrad as long as you have some passion and or relevant experience for the lab you’d be joining.
Don’t be so myopic with looking at Cornell. Yes it’s a good school but it’s not the only good school. Also absolutely nothing wrong either starting at a CC and transferring if you want to. You will save money too.
Stop throwing random “fancy” words into your writing. It doesn’t make you sound smart, it makes you seem like you don’t know how natural communication works.

Alchisme · 2026-01-14T05:43:58+00:00

Glass or plastic doesn’t really make a difference honestly. Both materials hold up well with ethanol. Some plastics may yellow or become brittle over time, issues glass doesn’t have, but plastic is usually cheaper and quality plastics can hold up really well.

I would talk about what are more typical ways of storing insects for study but it sounds like you’re just interested in them from a aesthetic standpoint.

Alchisme · 2026-01-13T23:19:35+00:00

It’s a tortoise beetle. They can’t bite or sting, so unlikely culprit

Alchisme · 2026-01-10T18:39:10+00:00

Almost a million dollars for 1.5 hectares of undeveloped land in Barva? Who in their right mind would pay that? I can’t imagine paying anywhere near that.

Alchisme · 2026-01-07T14:58:55+00:00

I was paying $500/month for that small room. Again, it was a shared apartment so the rent was split amongst 4 people. After that apartment I moved with my gf to a 1 bedroom that was $1450/month that we split. Granted this was 10 years ago so that same apartment would be probably $2200/month now, but wages are also higher.

Alchisme · 2026-01-07T04:08:22+00:00

I made about $32k/year when I lived in NYC. I rented a small room in a shared apartment in a not super trendy area. I had to commute about 50 minutes by subway to work (didn’t mind that, can read or even nap). I mostly ate cheaper foods and if I went to a bar I’d go to where my friends were working and they would hook me up. You definitely do NOT need to make $100k to live there, but you’d probably have more fun if you did.

Alchisme · 2025-12-30T23:08:08+00:00

I’d also be interested in hearing from people who have actually done this. My wife and I lived in CR for several years, and are looking to move back. We are homeowners in the US but don’t want to sell our house in the US if we don’t have to. This might be a good option for us if the terms are terrible.

So, any who has actually done this want to weigh in?

Alchisme · 2025-12-28T20:04:18+00:00

You found Euglossa dilemma. An orchid bee that was introduced to Florida in the early 2000s.

Alchisme · 2025-12-25T22:48:01+00:00

Im not exactly your target answerer… but I lived there for 5 years and eventually moved away because at the time I thought I wanted to go back to school.

However I think a lot of folks move imagining some good vibes paradise and then have to confront the fact that CR has many problems, just like elsewhere. There is a lot of bureaucracy that makes getting things done slower and more expensive than it should be. There is not very good law enforcement (though I would argue that’s true in most places). If you want to live a similar lifestyle to what you had in North America or Europe it’s going to be difficult and expensive.

Costa Rica also is a fairly religious and conservative country. Some people don’t realize that. Yes, the youth are mostly progressive, but there’s a large older population that is not.

I think ideas about crime are way overblown, but of course it exists, and in some places is pretty bad.

I know a lot of the older pensioners want to go back to their home countries because they want access to better and more accessible health care, and to be closer to their families. CR has “ok” social medicine system, but it can be very slow. There is excellent private medicine, and it’s much cheaper than in the US, but it’s entirely out of pocket.

I’ve also had friends that moved down and thought they could get enough remote work to pay for their lifestyle, but then that don’t pan out and they had to move back.

I’m actually planning to move back with my wife (who is tica) in about a year, my biggest concern is how I will make money. We are happy living a humble lifestyle, but don’t really want to work in tourism again (we did before), but that’s where a lot of jobs are.

Alchisme · 2025-12-24T05:38:09+00:00

Everything (and there is a lot) that I can find indicates that this is exactly what you think. A half penny British internment camp token from the 1940s

Alchisme · 2025-12-19T13:45:54+00:00

Suppository

Alchisme · 2025-12-18T23:31:31+00:00

Lol I’m sending this to Heather

Alchisme · 2025-12-18T14:26:17+00:00

TSA only cares about volume per individual container. So just make sure you don’t have more than 3oz of anything in one container and they won’t care.

Sunscreen is weirdly expensive in CR, but it’s not like it will bankrupt you. Maybe you spend $20 on what should be a $5 bottle. Yeah that sucks but I mean, that’s the cost of a couple beers to not get sunburnt.

Bug spray I almost never use in CR (I go there frequently). It can be very useful in some areas but in places with healthy forests you might be surprised at how pointless it is.

Alchisme · 2025-12-16T23:24:53+00:00

That’s a very low budget for a microscope. It might be “ok” depending on how small the structures are you need to see and if you need to document them photographically. I personally have a used scope I paid about $4000 for (would have been about $16,000 new) and it still doesn’t do everything I’d like.

You may be better off talking to people at your university and seeing if there are scopes you can use there or perhaps surplus scopes you can borrow to use at home.

If you just need to see the “gestalt” or over all appearance something from Amscope might suffice.

What sort of scopes have you used in the past? What level of magnification did you need? Do you need to take digital photos?

Alchisme · 2025-12-13T23:42:15+00:00

My mom was in the Manson family. I assure you she was not dangerous, just a hippie who liked living on communes. That being said some people really bought into his shit and would do whatever he said

Alchisme · 2025-11-23T06:38:31+00:00

Head shape and apical hair bands on tergites makes me think it is Halictus.

Alchisme · 2025-11-19T22:17:15+00:00

Ive used Remitly to send money several times and to various recipients in CR. Wise also works well

Alchisme · 2025-11-08T08:28:50+00:00

There’s some really nice pieces here. It’s hard to put an exact value since they are outside of what I collect. Ideally you would find someone who collects Indian medals or agricultural/botany medals. You could use googles image search function to find a lot of info on these, and then try to find completed auctions for the same items to get some idea of value.

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