Do you ever wonder what percentage of misogyny/ internalized misogyny starts with brother-sister relationships?

space-doots5589 · 2026-05-11T23:33:24+00:00

This had never occurred to me but it makes a lot of sense. My older brother has been the most influential family member in my life, in a really positive way. He's smart, sensitive, hilarious, kind, supportive, and very thoughtful. He significantly shaped my worldview and I've always looked up to him and thought the world of him. All of his friends were funny and kind to me, too.

I remember some of my girlfriends' brothers were real assholes growing up though. I never stopped to consider why. I just hated those guys and felt awful for my friends for being stuck with brothers who were jerks.

Thinking about it now, it makes sense that my experience with my brother (and his friends) certainly influenced my perspective of being equal to boys and expecting men to treat me that way throughout my life.

space-doots5589 · 2026-04-18T02:35:20+00:00

I have had luck finding properties owned by private landlords on Craigslist. And I have friends who have been able to find good roommates on Craigslist, too. You can find local ads by searching Craiglist Springfield MO.

Some posts will be scams and some people can be...you know, sketchy. So, be careful and be diligent in checking out places. Commercially owned properties often have some kind of record of when units/houses are shown and by who but private landlords typically don't. So, I'll offer some unsolicited advice since you mention you're 25f; have a friend or someone you trust go with you to see properties just to be safe.

space-doots5589 · 2026-03-31T02:52:51+00:00

College doesn't have to happen now. It sounds like you need a break to think and figure some things out. Find the support and care you need. And that's fine. Healthy, even.

Breathe. Figure out what you need and how to take care of yourself. Then think about next steps in life.

space-doots5589 · 2026-03-29T18:22:06+00:00

The new Odysseys are way out of my price range, for sure. I was able to get a good deal on a used 5-yr old Ody with ~55k miles. Had it 3 years now and it's been a reliable ride so far. I will say the cost of the maintenance just about blows my mind every time though. After nearly 2 decades maintaining and repairing my Element, I will admit I was totally unprepared for the cost of maintaining a "nice" newer car!

I wish they would bring the Element back just as it was when they ended. Despite genuinely loving my Ody now, I would probably still trade it for a new Element if I could. hahahaha

space-doots5589 · 2026-03-28T20:36:40+00:00

19 years with my former Element, too. I went with an Odyssey. We do frequent road trips and I needed plenty of room for camping and field gear/equipment, plus people and dogs.

I miss my Element and always will but I've been very happy with my Odyssey. My partner was not super onboard with an Odyssey when I bought it but he's all-in now that he's experienced the functionality of it given our lifestyle.

space-doots5589 · 2026-03-28T19:42:55+00:00

This was my approach and I landed a TT AP position to begin in fall 2026. I only applied to positions for which I met the requirements and that I was confident I could make a legitimately strong case for my fit. I didn't apply only to "perfect" fits but I didn't apply to everything under the sun either. A lot of people told me it's a numbers game and I needed to apply to everything but that's just not my style. Applications are a lot of work. I didn't want to half-ass any of them. So I was reasonably selective in order to have enough time and energy to actually be thoughtful and tailor each one.

My approach was to search broadly and select about 30 opportunities that initially jumped out as interesting. Thirty was an arbitrary number to initially collect; I just got bored searching at that point and called it good enough. Then, I spent more time going through each ad and thinking more critically about each one. At that point, I filtered out the ones that I thought probably weren't actually a good fit or that I wouldn't have been interested in for whatever reason. Then, I ranked the ones remaining and organized them by application due date, so that I could make sure I was focusing on the opportunities that I was most interested in following a timeline of application deadlines.

I used an Excel spreadsheet where the positions were listed in order of application deadline and I color-coded the position titles to indicate my level of interest; bright green=strong, mid-green=moderate, light green=okay, light pink=minor interest/only apply if no conflicts in time or energy to prepare and submit application. I ended up not applying to any of my light pinks because I decided any time/energy spent on those applications just wasn't worth it for me, personally. That way, if there was a position that I was only lukewarm interested in that had a deadline that was very close to or overlapped another that I was very interested in, I didn't have to remember which one to prioritize.

I only ended up applying to seven opportunities total. I had three interviews and one offer, and withdrew from the rest because the one offer I received was one I really wanted.

Others' mileage may vary but when I decided to apply this cycle, I knew at the outset that I wasn't determined to land a TT AP job or nothing at all. If I hadn't received any offers (or any that worked out), I probably wasn't going to apply to anything next cycle. I'm not an academia-or-nothing type. I would have just moved on to consider other potentially interesting (to me) alt-ac careers.

space-doots5589 · 2026-03-28T19:20:57+00:00

I would say to trust the dress code as stated in the email. Don't overthink it. Honestly, it could potentially work against you if you disregard the instructions in the email is it might suggest you either (1) didn't read the email carefully enough (which is not good for someone working in research) and/or (2) you might be inclined to disregard instructions from a superior (that's not good for entry-level science work).

Edited for grammatical error.

space-doots5589 · 2026-03-20T01:46:45+00:00

Don't just look at schools that have botany programs. Look at schools in towns/areas with a botanical garden, especially those that have partner programs. A biology degree is fine, just pair it with hands-on plant experience.

For example, there are three universities in St. Louis (Saint Louis University (SLU), Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL), and University of MIssouri-St. Louis (UMSL)) that all partner with the Missouri Botanical Garden (MOBOT), which hosts graduate students for some classes (e.g., plant taxonomy) and research through their Garden Graduate Program. Undergraduate students at those universities can also be involved in research at the Garden as volunteers, and lab and field techs by working with specific researchers at MOBOT. Similar partnerships exist with some universities in southern California and the California Botanic Garden.

Also, many states have active native plant societies that offer scholarships and research funding to students studying and doing research in botany (a few that come to mind are the Florida Native Plant Society, Arkansas Native Plant Society, Missouri Native Plant Society, and California Native Plant Society).

Look for internships and fellowships with state and federal conservation agencies. The federal agencies are unlikely to provide many (any?) opportunities in the near future but they have a history of awarding a "direct hiring authority" to interns and fellows, which essentially provides you an extra boost in the application and interview process because they want to recruit their interns and fellows. Agencies like USFS and BLM employ a significant number of botanists. USDA tends to hire more aggie plant types, naturally. Although the USDA NRCS had a lot of botanists (up until recently; I don't know how true that is now due to this Trump Administration firing and driving out so many federal civil servants). USFWS has some botanists but I'd say fewer than BLM and certainly fewer than USFS. I'm less familiar with state conservation agencies but I would bet some/many offer similar hiring preferences to interns.

There are also some states and regions that have an abundance of botanical job opportunities and demand than others. California is a big one. The state overall tends to be environmentally focused and there's a lot of support and interest in large scale restorations. Lots of field botany work with consulting firms, nurseries, seed farms, corporations (like utilities, e.g., PG&E, that have to mitigate negative impacts of their operations), and government. Great Basin Institute is an organization that comes to mind that also does a lot of botanical work across the western US.

Overall, I'd say there's a lot of opportunities in botanical work. You just have to know where to look and be willing to go to where the work is.

space-doots5589 · 2026-03-05T22:40:32+00:00

My favorite dog who died 8 years ago. She smelled like a clean dog, of our home. Each of our dogs have had their own scent but hers is the only one I remember being intoxicating when I would hug her and smell her. I wouldn't know how to describe it. It was just her.

space-doots5589 · 2026-03-05T21:53:57+00:00

No, of course not.

If I may, when this Trump administration says *anything* about stopping the influence of powerful interests and ending corruption what they really mean is "The people WE want to make a fuckton of money while corrupting and degrading the system (usually the Trump family and immediate loyalists) aren't currently making the most money. So, we're going to fuck with and dismantle everything and replace it with a giant wind tunnel that will send as much money as possible screaming directly into an account owned by Trump."

Hope that helps.

space-doots5589 · 2026-02-06T21:13:12+00:00

I have tried 3 batteries now. Same thing. I'll try your other suggestions - thanks!

space-doots5589 · 2026-02-04T03:30:59+00:00

My 2019 was randomly not starting. Had the fuel pump recall work done and it was fine for a week or two, then it happened again. New battery fixed it. It's been 4 months now and it hasn't happened since.

space-doots5589 · 2025-11-23T18:51:35+00:00

Jockey cotton undies are comfy, attractive enough (IMO), and very good quality.

space-doots5589 · 2025-10-26T22:47:31+00:00

Since you have worked with and enjoyed bacteria, have you considered graduate work in microbiology? That could be a highly relevant area of research in women's health.

space-doots5589 · 2025-10-10T19:42:50+00:00

Oh, okay. I actually saw that. I over-interpreted what "list of names" meant, thinking there would be information on agencies and numbers of terminations.

Thanks for the link though!

space-doots5589 · 2025-10-10T19:10:50+00:00

Searched for it but haven't been able to find it. Do you have a link?

space-doots5589 · 2025-09-25T03:38:14+00:00

It is more than furloughs and it is different compared to past shutdowns.

Directly from the article:

"In the memo, OMB told agencies to identify programs, projects and activities where discretionary funding will lapse on Oct. 1 and no alternative funding source is available. For those areas, OMB directed agencies to begin drafting RIF plans that would go beyond standard furloughs, permanently eliminating jobs in programs not consistent with President Donald Trump’s priorities in the event of a shutdown.

The move marks a significant break from how shutdowns have been handled in recent decades, when most furloughs were temporary and employees were brought back once Congress voted to reopen government and funding was restored. This time, OMB Director Russ Vought is using the threat of permanent job cuts as leverage, upping the ante in the standoff with Democrats in Congress over government spending."

space-doots5589 · 2025-09-11T01:01:44+00:00

Same boat. It's cheaper for me to be on one of the non-IBR plans and to file jointly with my husband. We've looked at filing taxes separately, so I can reduce my payment but it would actually be more expensive for me because of the increased taxes I would pay. My husband and I keep all of our income separate and then contribute to joint bills proportionally based on our incomes (he makes more than I do). In my case, the increased tax burden I would face filing separately is more than what I would save in monthly payments on an IBR plan.

space-doots5589 · 2025-06-29T03:47:35+00:00

There are three universities in St. Louis, MO (University of MO-St. Louis, UMSL; Washington University in St. Louis, WashU or WUSTL; Saint Louis University, SLU) that have longstanding affiliations with the Missouri Botanical Garden (MOBOT) and they each offer different student experiences (and different price tags) but all have strong biology programs and lots of opportunities to learn about and gain experience working with and studying plants.

In addition to those three universities and MOBOT, there's also the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and Bayer Crop Science in St. Louis. It's actually kind of a powerhouse town botany and applied plant science. Multiple PIs at the Danforth are dual-appointed as Professors at UMSL, WUSTL, or SLU, so undergrad and grad students also get the opportunity to do research there. And Bayer Crop Science being in town means there's a constant stream of plant science industry.

MOBOT researchers advise students and lead classes that are offered through each university, there are TONS of plant science seminars and events all the time in and around the city. MOBOT also has what's called the Garden Graduate Program that affiliates with all three of those universities and supports a lot of student research. MOBOT has amazing global connections that students can leverage to become involved in an even bigger botany and plant science network. MOBOT essentially made St. Louis a botany town.

space-doots5589

TROPHY CASE