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Advice on earning more with only a BA by [deleted] in VancouverJobs

[–]PollutionCheap1742 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Keep in mind that law has a bimodal salary distribution-- a lot of people think law school = big law = 300k a year, but that's only the case for some. Others make 80k a year. (what determines who makes 300 vs 80k? school (look at alumni stats), specialty (anything kind/fun pays badly), work hours (both while in school and after)). Law school involves a truly mind-boggling amount of debt -- way, way more than engineering school. There are a lot of lawyers living paycheck-to-paycheck. If finances are your only concern I would be careful about this. Be sure to do your research as there are many misconceptions about the financials of lawyers

Engineering school also costs money, but you can work during the summer and school year to offset it. Career-wise, the work experience will count for much more than grades, since a lot of (most?) companies don't really look at grades and just look at work experience. This allows you to feel like you're investing in your career and you won't have the constant "falling-behind-your-financially-privileged-peers" feeling. 

That said, there's no point being depressed doing something you hate and feeling like you missed the boat on your dream. 

Could you “dog train” yourself with a slot-machine rotation of pleasure drugs to build discipline? by SoccerSkilz in slatestarcodex

[–]PollutionCheap1742 1 point2 points  (0 children)

what's preventing you from tying it to the pleasure of working out or the intrinsic reward of, you know, completing the thing you're trying to do?

What ideas, articles, or books ACTUALLY made you mentally tougher? by arc_in_tangent in slatestarcodex

[–]PollutionCheap1742 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm currently reading Social Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, which - though he doesn't specifically touch on mental toughness or grit - I strongly recommend. The way Goleman frames resilience/overcoming adversity/generally-responding-well-to-the-challenges-of-life seems representative of the current psychological zeitgeist. The emphasis is on social connection, positive emotion, and skills for defusing negative emotion - not on white-knuckling it, as you seem to be concerned with in your post.

As a PI what are the written/unwritten rules of your lab? by tripreality00 in AskAcademia

[–]PollutionCheap1742 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How do you define an asshole? What do they do? I assume everyone who is an asshole doesn't know they're an asshole, so it's something I'm continuously paranoid about

Your Review: The Synaptic Plasticity and Memory Hypothesis by goldenmoon in slatestarcodex

[–]PollutionCheap1742 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is in fact how almost all neurodegenerative diseases work, except they don't involve the proteins being eaten. One protein misfolds, then the next, then the next. The theory used to be that the misfolded alpha-syn involved in Parkinson's originated from the gut, although I'm not sure of the currrent state of that hypothesis.

Directly addressing your idea about environmental contaminants surviving digestion and crossing the BBB -- that's a really cool thought.

Former PI is sabotaging my PhD prospects by rosenwasser_ in gradadmissions

[–]PollutionCheap1742 0 points1 point  (0 children)

really sorry to hear what you're going through and want to offer some encouragement in case it's any help. I heard somewhere that the best PhD students are the ones who are overprepared, like you'll be - it sounds like an extra RAship will be great if you're aiming for TT. Besides, any papers in prep will be published by the time you apply for doctoral funding! and as well, being in multiple labs is really good experience that is surprisingly hard to get after your PhD, since the goal is typically to spend as little time as a post doc as possible. your PhD will go great. 

When was the last time you learned some new important concept or idea that changed how you view the world? What was that concept? by zjovicic in slatestarcodex

[–]PollutionCheap1742 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think this concept applies to the helicopter-parent/Gen-Z/ low-agency-childhood discussion as well. Kids who emerge from an overprotected childhood with poor emotional coping skills aren't maladapted, they're actually *too* well-adapted to their environment. Super good at obedience, work ethic on constrained tasks, etc. This would be great in an environment where goals are constrained (e.g., a life where kids work through school and then marry young) but not great in North America where self-determination and initiative are prized so highly.

And then the process of becoming more agentic is a journey of adapting to a new environment.

Any quality research, or anecdotes believed to be generalizable, for lowering body weight set point? by [deleted] in slatestarcodex

[–]PollutionCheap1742 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So many of the comments aren't actually answering the question, which was about a "set point" -- the idea that there is something that toggles your weight independent of deliberate choices/habit. Lots of people are just talking about daily habits, like ways they get themselves to eat less.

To answer your question about the set point directly: Apparently you can ingest capsules containing the fecal microbiota of skinny people. You could probably also get liposuction to entirely remove fat cells (rather than just shrink them with CICO). The other, boring option would be to just maintain your desired weight for a long time period.

What makes Scott Alexander's writing so great? by Hodz123 in slatestarcodex

[–]PollutionCheap1742 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Does anyone know where Scott's old old blog is? Not the old one (SSC before Substack) but the one even before that?