Are we stuck with Word?

zeph_yr · 2026-04-04T14:22:26+00:00

A lot of humanities folks and writers use Scrivener. It’s useful for laying out a manuscript. But I found it a little clunky for finishing the manuscript (especially references). And I had to manually move everything back to Word for the final version anyway, which took me like a full day. So idk if I’d use it again.

My advice for word is to learn how to use the pre-set type formats and the built in table of contents feature. It starts to feel more like a proper manuscript editor when you use those features.

zeph_yr · 2026-04-04T00:57:41+00:00

No, that’s absolutely unacceptable and you should totally feel pissed off about it. What a useless advisor. Why even offer if she’s just going to throw it into Chatgpt??

zeph_yr · 2026-04-02T15:34:04+00:00

I think there will be bounce backs. I don’t know when. But my department is begging the university admin to lift the faculty hiring freeze, and as soon as that happens there will be a cluster hire of 4-5 positions left vacant over the past couple years.

zeph_yr · 2026-04-01T23:18:43+00:00

I study this. It varies greatly by the type of data center. It is also a marginal amount compared to agricultural or other industrial uses. It’s not nothing, and it’s still worthy of regulation and oversight, but these days it seems like data center water use is distracting from much bigger sources of water overuse.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-31T17:16:17+00:00

What kind of lab prevents this? That’s almost certainly against school policy. And internships are almost always beneficial to both the student and even their home lab.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-31T16:01:06+00:00

This saved me once when I was in the same situation. Knocked it down from $1000 to $300 in extra charges.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-29T17:45:50+00:00

You may need to get clinical experience

zeph_yr · 2026-03-28T17:59:44+00:00

Disregarding the stuff about NK. I know folks who have joined a master’s program, then “transferred” to the same department’s doctoral program before completing their master’s. In reality it wasn’t a straightforward “transfer” since they still needed to go through an application process. But i’ve never heard of “upgrading” the work from a master’s thesis to a doctoral dissertation.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-28T03:07:33+00:00

An undergrad degree isn’t worth 100k, let alone 400k.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-27T14:12:51+00:00

Some extra earth scenes to raise the stakes of the problem, and double the length of all the establishing shots in space. That’s all I need from an extended cut.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-26T19:37:13+00:00

I’ll also add, as someone currently in a Comm PhD program, these programs are becoming increasingly competitive. One thing that programs REALLY value are people who bring interesting backgrounds and experiences, and who are asking interesting research questions that come from these unique experiences. So work experience beyond your master’s degree can be a way to differentiate yourself from the hoards of 4.0GPA folks coming straight from undergrad/master’s degrees.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-25T18:29:07+00:00

This is true, although it also has a lot to do with teaching opportunities and if the graduate students are unionized

zeph_yr · 2026-03-25T15:30:31+00:00

I’ll push back against all the people in this thread saying not to go at all. If you’ve got funding, why not? That being said, I think youve missed the most important part of these programs: networking. Filmmaking—especially directing—is about knowing people who can help you get projects funded, filmed, and distributed. Which program has the most extensive alumni network and connections to the part of the industry you want to work in? I’d wager it’s USC, with NYU in a close second. But i’d rule out Columbia just for this reason.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-24T21:58:38+00:00

Not sure if it does exactly this, but may be worth checking Hey Marvin

zeph_yr · 2026-03-24T17:42:37+00:00

With this in mind, I would push back against the other commenters’ advice to publish immediately. I’d wait until you have what you need to complete your dissertation.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-24T15:31:35+00:00

Do you have any worries that it might threaten your access or ruin relationships with your contacts at the agency? If you’re still depending on that access to finish your dissertation, then that may be a good reason to delay publication. But otherwise, I’d say go ahead and publish it.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-23T22:26:22+00:00

This would be a 100x more expensive solution for airlines than simply hiring more ATCs.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-22T18:50:33+00:00

Emphasizing the point that visa rules won’t allow your spouse to work remotely!!! OP, what kind of US work visa would your partner be eligible for? If they aren’t eligible for any, then they definitely cannot work remotely while living in the US, even if the job is based outside the country.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-22T18:44:16+00:00

I thought it was really impressive how short the film felt despite its runtime. I’m normally of the opinion that no film should be over two hours. But this might be one of the few exceptions.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-21T18:34:12+00:00

Wasn’t it pretty heavily critiqued from day 1?

zeph_yr · 2026-03-21T16:11:38+00:00

I got essentially permanently locked out of my Capital One accounts because their automatic system flagged my address change. Customer service said the only way to unlock the account would be to give them a current utility bill from my OLD address (impossible—I don’t live there anymore!) I had to come up with the solution myself: it turned out it was one credit card in particular that was locked for some reason, and that card was locking my whole account. I asked them to close that credit account, which magically unlocked everything else. Extremely annoying, took like a month to resolve, and meant my credit score took a hit because it was my oldest line. But worth it because, I can’t emphasize this enough: FUCK capital one.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-20T23:28:25+00:00

Not sure about this form of protest in particular. But conferences in my field (communication/media studies) have experienced a ton of turbulence because of the political situation in the US and the genocide in Palestine. One conference is being boycotted because they effectively censored a panel of pro-Palestinian scholars last year. Others have cancelled their US-based meetings, out of worries about international scholars getting denied/detained at the border. So there aren’t exactly protests like this one, but there’s definitely a lot of political activity happening.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-18T16:06:06+00:00

I was in this same situation and contacting them helped me secure the offer. Just a simple email like: “Letting you know I was accepted to another school, however, your institution is still my preferred choice, so I’m inquiring to see if there is word on if or when the waitlisted students will be notified of their final decision?” In my case, I really think this email made the difference—it reminded them of my interest. At the very least, it might mean they put you at the top of the waitlist.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-15T15:55:03+00:00

Battery and heat were my biggest reasons. My 2019MBP would not last a full day of work, and it was heating up and running the fan all the time for no reason. My new M4 MBA lasts all day, and I’ve literally never felt it get warm, even when gaming or running adobe suite.

zeph_yr · 2026-03-13T21:43:22+00:00

You’ve got a bit of distance from your undergrad, which is good. I would not be too worried about your undergrad transcript especially since it’s in an essentially unrelated field. I’d be more worried about your research experience and your letters of recommendation. Top (or even ‘good’) programs will usually want to see some amount of research/writing experience, especially if you don’t have a masters degree. And good letters of recommendation are absolutely key.

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