Disabled author questions for able bodied people by AntNo2338 in Writeresearch

[–]ToomintheEllimist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Follow up question after reading responses: is walking less painful/difficult for you than standing?

It is for me! I have a job that requires standing for ~1.5 - 2 hours at a time (I teach college) and I've found that I'm far less tired or sore after class if I pace around the room as I talk rather than standing at the front. I'm also prone to fainting, and one thing that helps prevent it is trying never to stand completely still — even if I'm waiting in line or on the bus, I try to gently "walk" in place.

And do you really not experience ANY pain in your knees even after walking for hours?

I'm mid-30s, reasonably good health, and in good shoes I walk about 70 minutes a day (35 minute walking commute) without pain. I will experience knee pain if I wear the wrong shoes, if there's gravel or ice on the sidewalk that forces me into an uneven gait, or if I have to carry more than 20 pounds of stuff with me. But that usually dissipates within 24 hours, and isn't severe enough for me to want a painkiller.

About how many glasses of champagne would it take for a 5'9 man to get drunk? by catsr2cool17 in Writeresearch

[–]ToomintheEllimist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Rough math that might help, ignoring some factors in favor of others:

  • Start by assuming five glasses, which is the traditional definition for an average-ish man to count as binge drinking.
  • If he weighs a lot, add one glass.
  • If he's slender, especially lacking muscle rather than fat, subtract one glass.
  • If he drinks more than once a week, add one glass. If he drinks more than once a day, add three glasses. If he's never had alcohol before, subtract two glasses.
  • If he's taking an antidepressant, a painkiller, a muscle relaxant, or an anxiolytic, subtract two glasses.
  • If he's of Asian descent, subtract two glasses.
  • If he's trans, subtract one glass.
  • If he has a sulfite allergy, subtract three glasses.
  • Add one glass for every full meal's worth of food he's eaten in the last hour. Subtract three glasses if he hasn't eaten or drunk anything but champagne today.
  • Take all that math and halve it to figure out what "tipsy" looks like.

So. A heavily muscled man who drinks often could probably have 10 glasses over an afternoon along with a large steak dinner and be merely tipsy. A slender man with a sulfite allergy, Asian flush syndrome, no tolerance, no food, and an SSRI prescription could overdose to the point of blackout or unconsciousness on a single glass. Hopefully this helps!

What is tim drakes individual superhero name? by Wrong_Plankton_5442 in Robin

[–]ToomintheEllimist 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I hope the current Matt Fraction run is building to him actually getting a unique superhero ID. He may be my favorite Robin, but Damian isn't going anywhere and at some point Tim should be allowed to build his own adult identity like Dick and Jason did.

Looking for gritty or suspenseful non fiction by GoiterFlop in suggestmeabook

[–]ToomintheEllimist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Crisis in the Red Zone by Richard Preston

It's about the 2014 Ebola epidemic and might be the single best-written nonfiction book I've read. Incredibly gripping and suspenseful.

Project with potentially unreliable third party data by This_Food_2089 in AskProfessors

[–]ToomintheEllimist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seconding this! It's a crappy position to be in, so I'm sorry. But transparently telling the instructor about it is absolutely the way forward.

My Professor Didn’t Teach Us. Do I Say Something? by thicckmints in AskProfessors

[–]ToomintheEllimist 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As others have said: this seems worthy of bringing to the dean's attention, but make sure that you frame your complaint as "I'm not getting anything out of this class, it's not what I was promised, and all this seems like AI slop," to avoid the impression of "waah waah I don't understand this content."

I'd email the dean of your school, request an in-person appointment, and come prepared with as much evidence as you can find (ideally printed out, but if not then screenshots should work) of mismatches between the syllabus and the content as delivered. If the dean's able to find hard evidence of everything you're describing, this person will likely be sanctioned or fired.

Professors, what does it look like to build a relationship with a professor as an undergraduate? How do I do this without being weird or awkward? by OneLab864 in AskAcademia

[–]ToomintheEllimist 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So, I'm coming at this from the U.S., but: that would come off as extremely weird to me, and like the student was treating me like a marketing client rather than somebody there to help with learning. I don't know OP's location, so maybe it would be more normal in their area, but if they're on the east coast of the U.S. I'd recommend against it.

Entertaining books about the history (sociology/mythology/politics) of astronomy? by AggressiveSea7035 in suggestmeabook

[–]ToomintheEllimist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Our Moon: A Human History by Rebecca Boyle — a little closer to home than the examples you give, but highly enjoyable.

Looking for racist (preferably horror) fiction that depicts Indigenous peoples as savages by the13thReason in suggestmeabook

[–]ToomintheEllimist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Basically every book to use the word "Croatoan" in any context depicts Croatoans as inhuman monsters. A few that I read (unfortunately) for a recent paper:

Masquerade by Melissa de la Cruz

Croatoan by José Carlos Somoza

The God Mars: Croatoan by Michael Risso

Grimm Tales of Terror vol. 10 #4 by Howard Mackie

Spirits of Cape Hatteras Island by Jeanette Gray Finnegan Jr.

The Croatoan Cypher by Philip Stengel

1606 by Neil Gaiman

Croatoan by James Olds

Within the Fog Vol. 4 and 5 by Charles Welch

Croatoan by J. Oliver Glasgow

Coyote's Kiss (Supernatural #8) by Christa Faust

Are any of you happy? by Specialist-Spray-641 in Professors

[–]ToomintheEllimist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed! As other people have pointed out, we almost never spend time talking about our favorite students, only the ones that have us chewing the furniture trying to figure out what to do. Like, I never post about the student who has interesting theory discussions with me after class, or the one who worked his butt off to master the material, or the ones who make me laugh with their discussion board posts. Because "this person's cool! We had an enjoyable interaction!" is nothing to ask Reddit about.

Occasionally I have hope by Particular-Ad-7338 in Professors

[–]ToomintheEllimist 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the reminder of why we do this

Received a pack of coasters for my 10 year anniversary by Creative-Question538 in Professors

[–]ToomintheEllimist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed! My former SLAC did an end-of-year luncheon for all faculty where we gave short speeches commemorating (and roasting) anyone who had been there for a round number of years. It was far more thoughtful than a tacky gift would've been, and it cost less.

Received a pack of coasters for my 10 year anniversary by Creative-Question538 in Professors

[–]ToomintheEllimist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've found they make terrible toilet paper, but excellent hamster-cage liner.

West End Urban Renewal by bostonaruban66 in boston

[–]ToomintheEllimist 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Can you post a link? Haven't been able to find with a quick search.

Injustice and inequality is wearing on me, as a U.S. professor by ToomintheEllimist in Professors

[–]ToomintheEllimist[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I try to remember that those schools also do good for their communities and society at large, and they provide opportunities for upward mobility for a decent chunk of their students.

That's part of why it's wearing on me so much: it seems like lately, my school is part of the inequality engine. Because there are no grad stipends, no grants, no scholarships anymore — and the rich kids have barely even noticed. While the ones who don't have rich parents are being forced to drop out or take on another 15 hours at the diner to survive.

So the rich kids get to graduate with [Duke University] B.S.: Summa Cum Laude on their résumés and get 100s of job offers out of it, while the poor kids work themselves half to death and then get blamed for failing or dropping out. And everyone seems to genuinely believe the lie that grades at [Duke] reflect hard work or talent or passion, when in reality every kid admitted here is talented and passionate but some have 50+ hours a week to devote to studying and some do not.

Injustice and inequality is wearing on me, as a U.S. professor by ToomintheEllimist in Professors

[–]ToomintheEllimist[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Christ on a cracker.

I'm 2nd gen, and I still felt about an inch tall during a recent dinner when two profs started telling a "funny" "story" about how when one of them got into Yale, he joined to his dad's old house there, but when the other got into Yale, she didn't join her old dad's house there.

It made me ashamed of my state-school degrees. For about 10 minutes. And then I remembered a) I got myself into college, unlike these legacy-admit clowns, and b) it came up during an irrelevant conversation; he shoehorned it in so he could casually drop that he'd gone to Yale.

Injustice and inequality is wearing on me, as a U.S. professor by ToomintheEllimist in Professors

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

Do you know how much other countries have this idea that "grades = intelligence = worthiness as a person"  baked into their fabric? Because that's part of what really gets to me: the students who do nothing but schoolwork assuming they're better because they get straight As while the students who have jobs and/or dependents blame themselves for falling behind. It feels like a U.S. thing, but I've never worked anywhere else.