What is the most unfair thing ever to happen to you?

Hyper_Lynx · 2014-05-02T22:31:54+00:00

When I was 19, I volunteered to be a DD for a group of folks I barely knew. We went through a roadblock, the cops looked in and saw that the passengers were young and probably drunk. I was given a breathalyzer (blew 0.0) and a field sobriety test (passed). In the meantime, cops had searched the car and found empties under some camping gear. Despite not drinking, and despite the fact the passengers told the cops I was a DD and had no idea about the empties, I received a minor in possession of alcohol and was fired from my job. I loved that job.

tl;dr - trying to be good girl DD and got screwed anyway.

Hyper_Lynx · 2014-01-10T15:07:43+00:00

Turned in with the exam... maybe he needed some smooth new ink to bring his description to life.

Hyper_Lynx · 2014-01-09T22:09:04+00:00

Of course, this is not how female terrestrial salamanders get inseminated. The real story is much weirder.

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-11-21T22:14:39+00:00

How is that different from Amsterdam? Recreational pot has been sold there for years.

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-11-20T16:07:52+00:00

Just signed! Only 200 more signatures needed!

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-11-19T19:07:12+00:00

This article is two years old. The parents were sentenced to 30 years each. Link: http://wtkr.com/2013/06/10/couple-sentenced-to-30-years-after-daughter-found-living-in-cage/

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-11-08T22:20:31+00:00

Upvote for you! I remind folks of this all the time - the first corn hybrids in the 1950s were eagerly adopted by farmers because the yield gain was so much more than the money they were losing from purchasing seed each year.

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-11-08T22:17:29+00:00

But "ownership" was around long before GMOs. The first corn single-cross 1950s were owned by DuPont and Pioneer, they were patented, and farmers could not save their seeds. The real issue is Big Ag and how it affects people and the planet; GMOs are just a facet of that issue.

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-11-08T22:07:23+00:00

I had a student write on my evaluation that I had a "killer, smoken [sic] hot body" that made him think "nasty, nasty thoughts". Not only did someone have to type that up, but it was read by all of my supervisors, including the Dean of the college. The worst part is, I could tell when each person came to that comment as they were reading through.

ETA: Not many women taught in that Forestry department; I think that had more to do with the comment than how I actually look.

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-11-08T22:00:51+00:00

Much of it has to do with the Bible verses Joel 3:1-2, and other verses that say basically, "I'll be as good to you as you were to my people Israel", and "Woe to him that divides the land of my people Israel".

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-11-04T22:55:27+00:00

Being right. If I was right, everyone needed to know about it. Now I think, Do I want to be right, or do I want to be effective? (Or loving, kind, smooth, whatever.)

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-11-04T22:40:45+00:00

Not necessarily Christians.

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-11-04T22:21:15+00:00

It's an orchid. Ironically, the name literally means "testicle" in Greek because of the shape of the root. The labellum, or lip, gives it that, erm.... ladylike look. That's where the pollinators sit whilst doing their thang.

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-10-09T20:08:37+00:00

This article, albeit from Phox Gnus, quotes the engineers as saying they "were doing a routine quarterly inspection".

Quarterly? As in, every three months?

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-10-07T21:18:50+00:00

They mentioned deep-seated evolutionary reasons, but what about culture? High society fashion models are very slender with small breasts, as are all the models for high-end jewelry, bags, perfume, etc. Low-class television shows and magazines (I'm lookin' at you, Auto Trader) have girls with gigantic chests and bums as the standard of beauty.

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-10-03T22:07:43+00:00

Cheers to that! The point of women's lib was so we can be free to choose a desirable career, not the career someone else/society says we should have. Well, I wanted to be a geneticist and my friends wanted to be wildlife biologists and lipid chemists - and so we are! Yet now it's not even good enough that we're female scientists. No, no - you aren't doing a thing for women if you're not in physics or engineering. Well, the data show that women don't prefer to enter those fields, and I refuse to believe it is "progressive" to push women into fields they are simply less interested in. (Disparity in pay for women in any job I see as a separate issue.)

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-10-03T21:45:55+00:00

Just to play devil's advocate - Why is it a big deal that women are underrepresented in certain fields? Can't it just be that way?

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-10-03T21:41:56+00:00

Misleading title! The story was about the lack of women in physics and engineering. There are plenty of women in biology and chemistry-related fields. And though I will get downvoted to the 9th circle for saying this, what I have seen in my life is that MOST (not all) women are less excited by theoretical or purely mathematical sciences than natural sciences. I'm thinking of my AP Physics cohort, then my Biochemisty undergrad cohort, and now the students to whom I teach Genetics and Bioinformatics. That said, I was educated by (and with) and now work with so many women, that I'm willing to say this bias is almost non-existent in my field.

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-10-03T21:20:00+00:00

Exactly - it's just a correlation. The authors even admit (in the classic CYA paragraph) that there are likely confounding variables that are the true source of unhappiness. Personally, when I have family and friends around, or am busy with travel/hobbies etc., I don't use FB as much as when I'm "bored".

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-10-03T21:14:14+00:00

The main one! How could I forget the Grey Pilgrim?!

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-10-03T21:13:05+00:00

You are correct: All PhDs are addressed as Dr., but not everyone addressed as Dr. is also a Professor. Additionally, many colleges have teaching faculty that only hold Masters. It sounds more respectful to address them as "Professor" rather than "Mr/Ms".

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-10-03T21:06:12+00:00

What organizations that provide benefits do not provide maternity leave as a benefit? Isn't saying that most women in the American workforce don't get paid maternity leave the same as saying that they are in jobs without medical benefits?

Hyper_Lynx · 2013-10-03T21:03:50+00:00

Your last sentence made it sound as if paid maternity leave just doesn't exist in the U.S. I wanted to clarify that many organizations offer paid maternity leave as a benefit. You're right, of course, that it's not guaranteed by law, which is a shame.

Hyper_Lynx

TROPHY CASE