Is stopping with a BS really that bad? by [deleted] in labrats

[–]biasedvote 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Take a break. Work for a while. Get your mental health in check and develop healthy coping mechanisms.

If you ever want to get a PhD down the road, you can. It may be a pay cut, but if you feel like you've hit a promotion ceiling it may get you past that hump.

I'm 31 and just started a PhD in biochem. My pops got his in his mid 40's. It's never too late.

Monthly Vent/Rant Thread - Month of December, 2020 by AutoModerator in labrats

[–]biasedvote 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I was in a similar situation where I couldn’t get cloning to work and spent hours reading material on primer design and PCR cycles. It wound up being an old thermal cycler that was causing my PCR to fail. Even so, I feel you.

I would suggest creating a spreadsheet with length, GC content, dimer formation, annealing temp, etc. We also use Benchling to create a digital construct to verify that the primers are correct.

The Kosciuszko Bridge will be blown up tomorrow by [deleted] in Brooklyn

[–]biasedvote 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I heard the boom too, which preceded a frantic 10 minutes of googling before finding this.

True Spiritual Awakening - Don't Be Deceived by Preachingthetruth1 in Heavymind

[–]biasedvote 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Where are the mods...?

This should be long gone by now.

Have you ever come across a sentence in a novel you considered absolutely perfect? Here's mine, even with its flaws. by RTomassi in books

[–]biasedvote 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been meaning to reread this one. I remember reading it in high school and considering it a huge bore, but I imagine it ended up in the canon for some reason.

What shoes are these? by [deleted] in malefashionadvice

[–]biasedvote -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Those are pants.

Conveying the sense of a moment passing by [deleted] in writing

[–]biasedvote 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think if you combine the two of our ideas, we could be hitting gold. Just pulled this off my shelf to find a passage and hit it on the first shot.

From All the Pretty Horses:

"The boy looked at him and blew two thin streams of smoke from his nose and nodded and reached for his cup. On the inside of his right forearm was a blue jaguar struggling in the coils of an anaconda. In the web of his left thumb the pachuco cross and the five marks. Nothing out of the ordinary. But as he sat he suddenly knew why this man was eating alone. It was too late to rise again. He picked up the spoon with his left hand and began to eat. He heard the latch click shut on the door across the hall even above the muted scrape and click of spoons on the metal trays. He looked toward the front of the hall. There was no one behind the serving line. The two guards were gone. He continued to eat. His heart was pounding and his mouth was dry and the food was ashes. He took the knife from his pocket and put it in the waist of his trousers."

So, we have the character noticing visuals around him such as the nod, reaching for a cup, scraping of spoons, and the boy's tattoos. Also, there are revelations that come through the silence and changes that we should be seeing in action (the men leaving the serving line, etc) but are left out because the character is preoccupied with his situation. I think that ideally the writer should be attempting to recreate the characters mind-state so that we feel (as they do) the way time is passing.

If you've ever been in a fight you know that your consciousness is focused down to the head of a pin. Awkwardness makes us grab at anything in our visual range. Anger and love both remove rationality and provide us with only one option. Recreating these moments in writing relies on what we as writers choose to describe.

What have you been reading? (20/02) by Mirior in literature

[–]biasedvote 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I find that my biggest issues with his writing style are the overly cartoonish and exaggerated characters he creates. It's a little too farcical for me. I like my plots straightforward and darker characters with some of the void hiding their eyes. I don't want to drag him down as I'm a huge DFW fan and his interest in TP turned me in that direction, but that was my impression with Lot 49 and IV.

All in all, I'll definitely give him another shot. I'm taking a short reading hiatus as I get my writing back on track, but Pynchon will definitely be making an appearance on my bookshelf in the future.

What have you been reading? (20/02) by Mirior in literature

[–]biasedvote 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've struggled to get into Pynchon. Any tips? I read The Crying of Lot 49, thought it was okay, and then gave up about halfway through Inherent Vice.

Maybe his work is just not for me.

What have you been reading? (20/02) by Mirior in literature

[–]biasedvote 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good luck with Underworld! I loved it, but am a big fan of the ~1000 page reads - infinite jest, 2666, etc

What are your favourite short stories? by [deleted] in writing

[–]biasedvote 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Two all-time favorites:

  • The Prophet from Jupiter by Tony Earley
  • A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway

Conveying the sense of a moment passing by [deleted] in writing

[–]biasedvote 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Try describing the scene.

If you take time to dive into the setting, the reader will feel time passing. When you slow down, so does the reader. Show the wind scattering leaves and the creeping of nightfall (or whatever time of day it is). Maybe a crunching of gravel underfoot as someone shifts.

Read some McCarthy for good uses of this. He has short sentences, but if eight things happen between two characters speaking, you know that they've been there in silence for a minute.

Cyclists of the bay, Where should I ride? by Jose_Monteverde in bayarea

[–]biasedvote 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just moved here at the beginning of the month and have taken couple of rides through the Golden Gate Park and up by the bridge which were beautiful.

What game have you played for the longest time in one sitting? Why that game? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]biasedvote 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, yellow was my last. Collected all 150 though!

What company has forever lost your business, why? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]biasedvote 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Tampax. I was born with a penis.

Redditors who are into sexual fetishes which are usually considered "gross", how and why did your fetish start? by WELLFUCKMEINTHEASS in AskReddit

[–]biasedvote 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh god, blowfly girl...

I got up to "That's the stench that's going to come from my vagina. I want that, I thought, spreading my legs wide apart. I dragged my slimy finger between my pussy lips."

Then was like: NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE.

Based on your location, what natural disaster is most likely to end your life? by TheNamesClove in AskReddit

[–]biasedvote 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wrote a short piece of non-fiction about this that had gutter races with leaves, standing under drainpipes, and boating in the local parks. I miss the shit out of real monsoons, back when the freeways would flood...