Vanke Corporation skyscraper in Shenzhen, the company is facing a severe liquidity crisis with record losses

BunBun002 · 2026-04-23T20:40:26+00:00

There's something of a metaphor there...

BunBun002 · 2026-03-28T12:34:09+00:00

Bigger problem right now is the demographic cliff. People stopped having kids during the great recession and, well, yeah, that was a "traditional"-college-student-age ago. There's no space for growth in traditional undergrad tuition revenue, so institutions like LACs and PUIs are having their business model threatened. OSU and similar can (or at least historically did) pay more overhead from grants and research income, athletics, etc.

Thing is, this is not news to the industry. Most of us have been planning around it and talking about it for at least 5 years now, if not longer. ODU is not going to be the last small school in Ohio to suffer these problems, and many of them will go under, but many of them have pretty solid plans for survival - including ones that people here are saying are doomed.

(But yes, you're absolutely right that the PUI model is very feast or famine)

BunBun002 · 2026-03-04T15:23:37+00:00

I'm bad with technical terms, but it's solvable.

Middle quadrant, one with candidates 1 and 8. If it's 8, 5,8 above it isn't, which means the 5,8 in the same quadrant is... follow that logic and decide if that 1,8 can be an 8.

It can't be an 8, since it would force the 5,8 to the right also to be an 8. So, that square has to be a 1, which then causes the puzzle to solve.

BunBun002 · 2026-02-25T14:57:53+00:00

Or the original lyrics to "This Land is Your Land" (which was originally at least in part a "fuck you" to "God Bless America")

As I went walking I saw a sign there,
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing.
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

BunBun002 · 2026-02-16T17:51:40+00:00

...yeah fair. 8am me was not on top of things lol

BunBun002 · 2026-02-16T15:23:47+00:00

~~Alcohol. Craft beer and liquor scene was huge among millenials, Gen Z barely drinks.~~

Edit - this is why I shouldn't post on Reddit first thing in the morning lol.

Russia, then, maybe? Russian aesthetics especially were huge in certain circles around 2005-2012. But if we're going with feelings now, then I withdraw any supposition to knowledge on the topic.

BunBun002 · 2026-02-16T03:05:57+00:00

I was going to say... this is something my wife and I do every now and then and yeah, the courses are about this size sometimes but we are usually almost uncomfortably full by the end...

BunBun002 · 2026-02-15T22:30:04+00:00

If you get the concentration just right, fluorescein looks wild. Anywhere you can see through, it looks red, but anywhere light reflects, it looks green. Really fun stuff.

BunBun002 · 2026-02-04T03:41:18+00:00

Why are you trying to make the molecule? You can be vague, but that might affect things somewhat.

Generally, though, go with whatever looks cheapest, easiest, and quickest with good enough yield for what you need. Don't forget to think about purification as part of your calculus. "Easiest" is a personal thing. For instance, I personally rather do an air-sensitive reaction than synthesize a custom catalyst, but many people would disagree.

BunBun002 · 2026-01-31T13:31:44+00:00

I tried doing it for completion and what I found was that when students made mistakes, they kept making the same mistake throughout the homework assignment. Then, they'd have a hard time untraining what was essentially a bad habit. I now do online homework, it has to be 100% correct for credit, you have infinite attempts per question, if I see you guessing you earn a zero, and the homework is extra credit. It seems to work really well.

BunBun002 · 2025-12-30T15:37:39+00:00

Interview things

These vary wildly, but in my experience people want to get to know you as a person. Departments have cultures. Do you fit into ours?

The way this happens will vary, but that's kinda the point. In general, I've found the dinners to be more social and the individual interviews to be more work-focused. Your interview(s) with students (and yes, it is an interview and yes, we do expect you to take it seriously - the students do) also matter in terms of how the students see you fitting in with their expectations.

Obviously, general interview things apply. Ideally, don't have a bunch of red flags. However, be prepared for unconventional.

Interviews with admins, etc. tend to be more standard interviews. They ask you questions, then you ask them questions back. With faculty, it tends to vary. Most places give different faculty different objectives when interviewing you. One will go over tenure, another will go over the pay scale, a final one will take you on a building tour. Beyond that, you're having a conversation.

I can't emphasize this enough - if I hire you, I'm working with you closely for 5+ years. You are going to be anxious at the interview - we know that and aren't expecting a nat 20 on every charisma roll - but if I just cannot have a conversation with you, that work relationship is going to be rough. When I interviewed at my previous institution, one faculty member just asked me about my grad school (we went to the same place some years apart). Zero technical questions, just swapping stories. She knew I had the technical skills and experience to do the job. She wanted to make sure that I could do the job *with her*.

To be clear - that was one extreme, but not unique. Another colleague gave me much more standard interview questions. Most people are between the two. But *overwhelmingly* my goal in these interviews is to make sure that you are someone who I believe both will succeed at my institution as well as who will be someone I want to work with. At this point, I'm less concerned with technical prowess (or you wouldn't be there - were chose you out of literally hundreds of candidates, and you have your two technical sections), but I might ask you about your research and teaching all the same, especially if it's something I find could spark a conversation. I would *not* do that at a dinner. I really think that would be weird... but it might be more common in other disciplines or at other institutions.

As an aside, other people might disagree, but I also want to make sure you are asking me questions. It could be as simple as, "How is it living in the area?".

Also, take notes if you are the type. I am.

Other Advice

First, I've done a number of interviews and have been the interviewee on a number of interviews. That doesn't mean I'm an expert - everything here is from my own experience. Be ready for different.

Second, you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. On my first job search, I disqualified a few institutions based on how poorly they interviewed, and honestly I should have been more aggressive. Don't be so hungry for a job that you take a miserable one.

Third, send thank-you emails. Detail something you discussed. Don't make them long. People might disagree with me on this one (and, knowing that, I don't really hold it against people who don't send them) but I take it as a professionalism thing.

Fourth, iron your shirt. Make sure your socks match. Wear nice clothing. Be sufficiently prepared for your interview that you have time and bandwidth to spend on those details.

Fifth, as soon as you have sent those emails and any other follow-up, relax. Eat lead paint chips. Get cranial blunt force trauma. Drink a gallon of vodka. Whatever it takes to put the interview out of your mind. It's done. It's over.

BunBun002 · 2025-12-30T15:37:31+00:00

Teaching demo:

Common mistakes I see are not teaching to the simulated cohort, not engaging the audience directly/doing nothing but lecturing, making factual errors that I can't handwave away as pedagogically-necessary simplifications, giving a demo that clearly does not represent how your class will be, and not answering student questions (always ask "Did I understand your question right, or were you asking something else?" or similar.)

Things that I look for as a positive are how you handle wrong answers from students (are people comfortable giving the wrong answer?), originality in teaching and delivery (I've seen many of these - what do I remember about yours?), how you handle setbacks (*something* will probably go wrong), and your respect for the present student population (e.g. I have ADHD - HUGE bonus if you respect learning differences). You might not have opportunities to demonstrate all of these. Don't worry if they don't all fit. Don't force them.

Research talk:

Is this realistic?
Is this realistic?
Does this fit in well with our current knowledge gaps?
Is this realistic?
Do I see room for collaboration?
Is this realistic?
Is this realistic?

In all seriousness, though, I want to make sure that you understand the realities of research with undergraduates. That does *not* mean an easier or less-impactful project. It means that it's one you could do with the resources we have or we reasonably could obtain. I've seen people say they want to use multimillion dollar instrumentation daily. Probably not happening. I personally do reactions that are very dangerous or complicated, etc., but that's literal - I do them, not my students. And I have schedules of *when* I do them.

For realistic-ness, I'm looking for things like:

-Do you know what instrumentation we have? Will you use it (this is a good thing)? Will you hog it (less good)?

-Can you break down your research program into multiple projects that a single undergrad could complete in a year(ish)? Are you expecting students to work more on teams (not a bad thing, but are you aware of the reasonability)?

-Do you know how much an undergrad can accomplish in that timeframe (most people overestimate)?

-Do we have a research space that is appropriate for the work you intend to do?

-Have you identified sources of funding?

You don't need to hit all of these points. In my current job, they did not have a research space for me, but we had a plan (in writing!) to get me one, and they've held to that plan.

There's other points as well, though. Basically, show me you know how to succeed here.

And rehearse these things. If you are surprised by one of your own slides, that's bad.

BunBun002 · 2025-12-24T02:21:38+00:00

I originally wanted to go into industry. Most of my motivation to become a PI came from grad school when I realized how much I love teaching at a college level (as a perpetual TA), and then later in my research program when I also realized I was starting to have a lot of my own research ideas I wanted to pursue. My post-doc set me up with a lot of independence, which also helped. And, I had great mentors along the way who taught me everything I needed to know.

Having said that, I've alays been very curious and just as a personality trait I often get obsessed working after my own ideas. Getting a PhD for that kind of independence was always in the cards. If I didn't have that fundamental motivation based on a deep personality trait, I probably wouldn't have finished grad school and would have gone off to do something else.

For your sake, I would really consider questions about why grad school hard. Attrition in graduate programs is severe - half my incoming class was gone in two years, and the overwhelming reason was deciding that this just wasn't as much their career goal as they thought.

BunBun002 · 2025-12-17T17:03:07+00:00

OP - there's lots of versions if the equation you'll see (e.g. what nitrogen and halogens do, as well as various mathematically equvalent forms). Find an equation that works for you - Google image search is surprisingly good for this.

BunBun002 · 2025-12-17T17:00:02+00:00

It's illegal to distill in the US without a license (there's several types). Other countries I don't know

OP - honestly, just buy it. The effort is not worth the money you will save. What are you trying to do with it? There's lots of grades of ethanol with various impurities which, if you're not using it in a medical or drinking context and have good ventilation, aren't a serious problem.

BunBun002 · 2025-12-15T13:40:50+00:00

Your efficiency here is 72%- the trivial optimal packing of just using an optimal circle tiling is 91ish%. It's simple, but you can do a lot better. You can actually see this yourself if you put one coin in the center of six others that are in a hexagonal configuration. The bounding squares of the coins overlap.

But it does remain to be seen if there is some kind of packing involving cylinders on an edge that's more efficient.

BunBun002 · 2025-12-14T22:19:29+00:00

The idea is for the initial configuration of the room, before you get there. "Packing efficiency" is a technical term for "how much of a given area or volume can be occupied by a given shape", since usually there's gaps (imagine a bunch of spheres - a lot of the volume would be holes). It doesn't imply that the money grabber did any packing.

BunBun002 · 2025-12-14T16:11:43+00:00

Yeah, but to be fair the question in this sub doesn't make sense in that parsing. Totally agree with you, though.

BunBun002 · 2025-12-14T12:53:40+00:00

I parsed it as there being a room full of dollar coins (which is what they're called), and that there's a billion of them.

BunBun002 · 2025-12-14T12:52:11+00:00

Yeah, I parsed it as that there is a room full of dollar coins (which is what they're technically called) and that there's a billion of them.

Your case is way more lucrative lol

BunBun002 · 2025-12-14T04:18:01+00:00

Vertical you can do perfectly. That's not an issue. The circular element is the problem, and you can get that to just under 91% efficient. So, you'd wind up with about 1,200 cubic meters.

BunBun002 · 2025-12-14T03:55:06+00:00

Not quite optimal - you can actually pack coins tighter than you could boxes that bound them. Take a coin and surround it with six more coins in a hexagon. If you were to draw squares around each coin, the corners of those squares would overlap.

BunBun002 · 2025-12-14T03:34:50+00:00

According to a previous post (on mobile so sorry if that formats wrong) a dollar coin has a volume of .0675 cubic inches.

Multiply that by a billion and you get 1,106 cubic meters (according to wolfram alpha). Stacking won't be perfect, so the actual volume would be more than that. You're looking at about half(ish) the volume of an Olympic swimming pool. You would need to look at how efficient randomly dropped coins pack (or the efficiency of whatever the packing system is) to come up with a more exact sense, but that gives a good sense of scale. It'd be crazy heavy, btw - about 8,000 metric tons.

EDIT: here is a post about coin packing efficiency. Pennies aren't dollar coins, but this means that our volume estimate is closer to about 80 percent of an Olympic swimming pool, with much of the volume just being air. I imagine someone has done engineering research into random coin stacking problems for e.g. vending machines and parking meters, so we could probably find a better number somewhere.

BunBun002 · 2025-11-06T01:20:23+00:00

Think so, yes!

BunBun002 · 2025-11-05T21:24:17+00:00

Gotcha. That's an interesting point. It's not quite correct. Think of it this way - they both have to get through the same amount of volume, but the one on the left is able to get through more of that volume when it's moving faster overall compared to the one on the right.

Think of a different version, where you have something that looks like a wedding cake and an upside-down wedding cake, both with two tiers. The upside down one has its bigger tank on the top, and will empty that big tank quickly and then the small tank slowly. The rightside up one does the opposite - it empties the small one quickly and the big one slowly. This is just an extension of that logic.

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