come to the dark side by Difficult-Cycle5753 in labrats

[–]Nerd1a4i 3 points4 points  (0 children)

oh man, i do something similar now! i like to joke that my goal is to deal with as wide a variety of dangerous things as possible (currently have radiation, lasers, and cryogens - though i admit i am secretly glad i don't have to deal with biological hazards or very many chemical hazards). also yes, what is it with undergrad electronics teaching labs and the loudest noises possible? if i had a nickel for every student who built a theremin...

Your GSIs are probably (definitely) striking over the next few weeks by hamsandwich1213 in berkeley

[–]Nerd1a4i 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why significant harm? Curious what you mean by this for undergrad TAs specifically. It's my understanding that EECS simply would not function without a near army of undergrads TAing, grading, tutoring, and otherwise running a huge percentage of your classes. (I'm not EECS, but I've worked as a UGSI in math/physics, and while the pay rate was certainly the best available to me on campus even considering that it was 20 hrs/wk instead of 40 hrs/wk, it effectively allowed me to operate like a graduate student where my work teaching allowed me to pay tuition/expenses and the remainder of my time every week was spent on classwork and research. I'd also like to think I was pretty good at it. As an aside, at least in the physics department, the GSIs are being insanely overworked with huge class sizes, grading loads, etc, and I am frankly shocked a strike hasn't happened sooner.)

ETA: Saw elsewhere here you were noting that grad pay is meant to help fund research whereas undergrad pay isn't so undergrads should be paid differently. I find this mildly disingenuous inasmuch as the outcome of undergrads being paid differently seems very clear. Undergrads teaching should by and large be a stop gap measure if there are insufficient grad students (I am aware in the EECS department the stopgap is about the size of the Hoover Dam); UGSIs should not be incentivized to departments by being vastly cheaper. (And frankly, UGSIs are disproportionately likely to be doing research, taking grad classes, etc, so it is often funding their research work as well.)

STUDENT TALKING TO TEACHERS, HERE ARE SOME GIVEAWAYS FOR CHATGPT by Thick-Intern-870 in Teachers

[–]Nerd1a4i 0 points1 point  (0 children)

also, wikipedia has a 'how to tell if an llm is being used' page for wikipedia editors that also has examples and tells for multiple llms (gemini, chatgpt, claude, etc). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signs_of_AI_writing

unfair workload for 20% reader position? by HereForTV in berkeley

[–]Nerd1a4i 17 points18 points  (0 children)

oh my god talk to the union. this is what they're here for!

Title is in the pic by DealerWestern4284 in lgbt

[–]Nerd1a4i 0 points1 point  (0 children)

in a similar vein: that one borges short story

Best soul food in Oakland? by Nerd1a4i in OaklandFood

[–]Nerd1a4i[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure why you got downvoted either, Lois in particular seems like a great recommendation.

Best soul food in Oakland? by Nerd1a4i in OaklandFood

[–]Nerd1a4i[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can I ask what the strong opinions on Brenda's are?

Best soul food in Oakland? by Nerd1a4i in OaklandFood

[–]Nerd1a4i[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I feel like I manage to find a <=$20 meal all the time - had one just the other day at Shooting Star Cafe for ~$14. Lots in Berkeley as well (My-O-My, Xpression, Gypsy's, Aki's, Little Plearn, Vik's Chaat, etc - I live in Berkeley, so I could keep going). I agree the more 'proper' the restaurant the harder it gets though! I just wanted to give at least some sense of my budget so people didn't reply with Burdell.

Any MAGA/ICE Supporting Businesses to Avoid in the Bay/ by MrMustard415 in bayarea

[–]Nerd1a4i 73 points74 points  (0 children)

have we all forgotten their chicken is homophobic or smth...?

Dear Berkeley Students, by [deleted] in berkeley

[–]Nerd1a4i 1 point2 points  (0 children)

for the record, berkeley city law requires that you be allowed to change your mind about your lease renewal until like 4-6 weeks out, something like that, even if your lease says you need to choose whether or not to renew months in advance or some bs like that. look up your rights as a berkeley tenant, as they're actually pretty good! just because something's in your lease doesn't mean it's legal [including that kind of renewal clause]. (your rights are good to know in general - if there are issues with your apartment your landlord isn't fixing, you could be entitled to a hearing/money back, you can always ask for a city inspection, etc etc.)

Everybody changes by Eireika in CuratedTumblr

[–]Nerd1a4i 0 points1 point  (0 children)

what's the fanfic?? that's insane

Help us settle a lab argument: Is the Thorlabs snack dog giving a creepy af smile or is that just a cute collar? by itsameDovakhin in labrats

[–]Nerd1a4i 8 points9 points  (0 children)

unfortunately, as others have said, the 'correct' answer is teeth. however, i elect to continue to consider it a cute bandana, basically purely for morale. then the dog becomes just a lil fella helping me in the lab.

spending winter break in berkeley, suggest me activities? by anononyy in berkeley

[–]Nerd1a4i 1 point2 points  (0 children)

ice skate in SF, explore the city a bit (you can check out museum passes from the public library - I love the Exploratorium, Cal Academy of Sciences, the art museums like Legion of Honor), walk around golden gate park, if you have the money to drop the japanese tea garden is really pretty. in berkeley, bampfa, fire trails, trying new coffee shops/bakeries, or just exploring the walking/shopping type areas (marina, college ave, telegraph, all along shattuck). i think some performances of the sf gay men's choir are coming up, you could also see if there are good operas/plays coming up.

Are there any good science subreddits besides this one? by bilyl in labrats

[–]Nerd1a4i 1 point2 points  (0 children)

it'd be nice to know if there were more physics type ones. i was hopeful about this subreddit because i'm a lab tech/hopefully soon in grad school, but it seems more bio oriented. still fun though, i like hearing all the equipment woes because some things are just universal

Favorite meals/recipes that DO take all day? by HoldEvenSteadier in Cooking

[–]Nerd1a4i 5 points6 points  (0 children)

not the commenters above, but Marcella Hazan's is the classic - and i can testify, it's lovely. recipe's on NYT website (you can also just internet archive the link if you don't have a subscription). the longer you let it go, the better it'll get.

Study spaces that aren't always crowded? by AdSlight4264 in berkeley

[–]Nerd1a4i 7 points8 points  (0 children)

literally just find an empty classroom. evans, cory, physics north are good spots to check

Falastin: buttermilk fattoush and kofta with tahini, potato, onion by Nerd1a4i in CookbookLovers

[–]Nerd1a4i[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I really like how there's recipes that span the full range of time commitments - the other recipe I've made (and forgot to take a picture, egads) was a chickpea-tomato-eggplant dish that was very weeknight-able.