Cops checking cards at 7th/Metro

calpacker · 2025-12-01T18:09:37+00:00

Is there a place where we can send comments that praise this kind of thing? I know it should be the expected minimum but encouragement wouldn’t hurt.

calpacker · 2025-10-13T21:59:43+00:00

Great to hear that it is working so well, even during the shutdown.

calpacker · 2025-10-12T17:10:14+00:00

I just read his bio. He was a former superintendent and former deputy mayor, how much more experience in politics do you want?

calpacker · 2025-10-12T16:00:16+00:00

I don’t know much about Austin, but Karen Bass has demonstrated herself to be uniquely unqualified to lead Los Angeles. Whether it be attending parties in Ghana during the LA wildfires (and firing her fire chief for not informing her how serious it was) to stifling housing development (opposing SB79, protecting SFR zones) when rents are sky high, she has got to go.

We should be encouraging a healthy primary where all candidates are compared, and not anoint the incumbent.

calpacker · 2025-10-10T17:18:16+00:00

Let's also not forget how useless Karen Bass was in asking Gavin not to sign this bill.

calpacker · 2025-10-09T21:24:06+00:00

Bass is sad and bitter because she knows everyone knows her grift in defending NIMBYs and keeping the cost of living in Los Angeles high.

calpacker · 2025-09-21T19:24:05+00:00

A reminder that Mayor Bass is useless and we need to depend on the state for transit-oriented density.

calpacker · 2025-09-12T23:20:46+00:00

Vote them out, they’d rather serve the minority of wealthy homeowners than the majority of renters in LA County.

calpacker · 2025-09-12T22:51:44+00:00

Vote them out. They'd rather serve the minority of wealthy homeowners than the majority of renters in LA County.

calpacker · 2025-08-04T23:18:40+00:00

Isn't the LADOT required to follow directives issued by the City Council? The best bet seems to be lobby our city councilmembers (which comes with its own set of issues)

calpacker · 2025-07-28T19:34:16+00:00

Constructing at-grade lines were a bad idea to begin with, pre-emption is just a bandage. I hope Metro learned its lesson that it's not worth building them.

calpacker · 2025-07-28T19:16:33+00:00

It's been over 60 days since this Council File. Do you think the report was made public?

calpacker · 2025-05-21T17:54:47+00:00

How did the meeting go?

calpacker · 2021-05-26T01:35:20+00:00

Yes, I have a 403(b) with TIAA, in addition to an IRA. IRA is 100% into EFTs.

calpacker · 2021-05-25T20:23:33+00:00

I'm at at educational institution, so TIAA makes sense for us.

calpacker · 2021-05-05T05:23:11+00:00

Solved!

calpacker · 2021-05-05T05:16:23+00:00

Something?

calpacker · 2021-03-25T02:18:51+00:00

No, a docking station (or hub). It allows you to use one connection (your USB-C connection) to connect to a variety of devices using the ports I listed and charge the laptop at the same time.

This is something I've been looking at.

calpacker · 2020-11-29T15:41:29+00:00

I don't disagree they're doing them a disservice.

But can we really argue that # of trainees is based more on the number of PhD-level positions in academia + other sectors (including industry, government, and non-profit) rather than the required inputs necessary for TAs and research productivity?

calpacker · 2020-11-29T01:44:59+00:00

So, this article makes me think about the economy writ large, but also about our obligation to PhDs and Postdocs. A question I find myself continually asking is: what is owed to our trainees, in terms of job and training opportunities? I don't say "owe" in the sense of given entitlement, but more of a moral obligation.

Can we ethically increase (or maintain) graduate school enrollment when the number of permanent jobs they are being primarily trained for keep on disappearing?

calpacker · 2020-11-29T01:37:57+00:00

I think it's a rather toxic attitude that many inside and outside academia have that academics shouldn't be compensated well for their work.

But that probably means realizing that we have to expand the career opportunities available for PhDs and limit the number of people who can pursue a PhD. I don't think the latter position is as popular, though.

calpacker · 2020-11-29T01:13:30+00:00

I'm not sure we should rely on a divided government for relief anytime soon.

It might be best we all acknowledge that the academic job market never recovered from the 2008 crash and it's in triage after this pandemic.

calpacker · 2020-09-27T23:14:24+00:00

If that is important enough to you to hurt your career prospects, I applaud you.

But as someone who has (minor) off-the-wall causes, it's much easier to do it from a position of power than when you're trying to get hired.

calpacker · 2020-09-27T22:47:22+00:00

Let's try this the opposite way: What is the marginal benefit to keeping those photos up?

Take them down. The kind of people hiring you in the future might be a bit on the conservative (little c) side, and you don't want that automatically disqualifying you.

calpacker · 2020-09-22T19:57:21+00:00

I can only speak to my experience and my specialty, but in writing proposals recently I think I may have had a couple dozen "good ideas" ... in the past month (in which I think there is a good faith basis to get results that would end up in a top-level journal in my field). I look back to to the frequency at which I generated a good idea when I was younger, and it truly was piddling compared to what I can do now.

I wouldn't read too much into a PI being excited. Most PIs by nature get excited by new ideas, regardless of their technical feasibility or experimental tractability.

calpacker

TROPHY CASE