I need to apologize to my commentators. I only realized that I had a spam comment tab recently, and I found a bunch of great comments buried there - some from 2011!
About half of the comments flagged as "spam" were legitimate, which is only slightly higher than the proportion of spammy comments that aren't flagged. I didn't see any trend, except that comments mentioning salary were flagged at a higher rate.
So now I know to keep track of spam. I appreciate all the new features that have been added to blogger - I guess I should poke around the available features more often.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
first experiment
I came across this post recently and it reminded me of one of the "games" that I played as a little kid.
I think I was probably 8 or 9 - old enough that I didn't need to be watched constantly, young enough that I wasn't allowed to wander too far afield. I roped my younger neighbor into a long-running study whereby we waved enthusiastically at every single person who drove by and dutifully recorded whether they waved back, did a weird non-wave acknowledgement of our existence, or ignored us. For maximum coverage, I would station my neighbor by her house (she wasn't allow to go as far as I could) and then position myself at a crossroad at the end of our street to capture anyone who didn't pass her. I couldn't do this for long, because she would get bored and wander off. She also didn't care about confounding variables (what was the difference between strangers vs. people you knew?). Quite frustrating.
I'm pretty sure I made up this little study entirely of my own volition. Science at my elementary school was more along the lines of "fill in this worksheet" and if we were especially lucky, "build this thing according to very specific instructions."
I don't remember how the actual tallies ended up. As I recall, they filled several pages - pretty impressive considering how few motorists actually rolled through in any given time. I'm sure my parents came across an old notebook filled with hatch marks in columns entitled "Yes" "No" and "Other" years later and chucked it without a second thought, so my epic First Experiment has been lost to history.
I think I was probably 8 or 9 - old enough that I didn't need to be watched constantly, young enough that I wasn't allowed to wander too far afield. I roped my younger neighbor into a long-running study whereby we waved enthusiastically at every single person who drove by and dutifully recorded whether they waved back, did a weird non-wave acknowledgement of our existence, or ignored us. For maximum coverage, I would station my neighbor by her house (she wasn't allow to go as far as I could) and then position myself at a crossroad at the end of our street to capture anyone who didn't pass her. I couldn't do this for long, because she would get bored and wander off. She also didn't care about confounding variables (what was the difference between strangers vs. people you knew?). Quite frustrating.
I'm pretty sure I made up this little study entirely of my own volition. Science at my elementary school was more along the lines of "fill in this worksheet" and if we were especially lucky, "build this thing according to very specific instructions."
I don't remember how the actual tallies ended up. As I recall, they filled several pages - pretty impressive considering how few motorists actually rolled through in any given time. I'm sure my parents came across an old notebook filled with hatch marks in columns entitled "Yes" "No" and "Other" years later and chucked it without a second thought, so my epic First Experiment has been lost to history.
Monday, May 6, 2013
yep, it fits
This is one of my occasional random posts that doesn't have anything to do with the geology or the environment or writing...
I've been thinking about getting a Large Object for a while now. About a month ago, I noticed a shabby little storefront with a prominently placed Large Object near my place. I'd been keeping an eye on it ever since.
I was running errands yesterday and feeling particularly productive, so I stopped by. The price on the Large Object was on the high side, so I dickered with the owner and ended up with an agreement for a slightly lower price. Cash only. Since I hadn't originally planned on this little shopping expedition, I didn't have enough cash on hand. I also had a bunch of bags from my shopping earlier that day, so I told the owner I'd clean the car and come back for the Large Object.
My visit had attracted a small crowd of bored retirees/nearby shabby shop owners.
One of the guys asked, "Isn't your car that (color) hatchback?"
Yes, it was.
"Oh, there's no way that Large Object will fit."
So there was nothing for it but to open up the hatch and show them that the seats did fold down, and if I moved all my stuff out, I would indeed have room. I left them to mutter about bungee cords and rope to hold Large Object in with the hatch up.
I came back an hour later, having more or less cleaned my car (threw out the accumulated junk like the horseshoes, stuffed the important field stuff and the grocery bags in the footwells of the back seats, pushed the shovel, ice scraper, and umbrella to the front of the cargo area), put the back seats down, stuffed the cargo cover in the front seat and gotten the cash. I'd also done a quick internet search to confirm that my price for the Large Object was indeed reasonable.
The crowd (still there - this was apparently the most exciting thing they'd seen in a while) was dubious. But the Large Object fit in my car with no problem at all.
After he received the cash and was relieved of the Large Object, the owner was in an expansive mood. He was also quite impressed with my car. He wanted to know how many miles the car had, how reliable it was, etc. How old was it, anyway?
The car's about 10 (give or take) years old.
So how long have I had it?
Um, I got it new, so 10 (+/-) years.
He sort of boggled at that, and I realized that (as usual) he'd thought I was at least 15 years younger than I actually am, and was trying to figure out how the hell I'd bought a new car at such a ridiculously young age. I wasn't as annoyed as I would usually be, because I had a new acquisition... and my hatchback had proved itself yet again!
I've been thinking about getting a Large Object for a while now. About a month ago, I noticed a shabby little storefront with a prominently placed Large Object near my place. I'd been keeping an eye on it ever since.
I was running errands yesterday and feeling particularly productive, so I stopped by. The price on the Large Object was on the high side, so I dickered with the owner and ended up with an agreement for a slightly lower price. Cash only. Since I hadn't originally planned on this little shopping expedition, I didn't have enough cash on hand. I also had a bunch of bags from my shopping earlier that day, so I told the owner I'd clean the car and come back for the Large Object.
My visit had attracted a small crowd of bored retirees/nearby shabby shop owners.
One of the guys asked, "Isn't your car that (color) hatchback?"
Yes, it was.
"Oh, there's no way that Large Object will fit."
So there was nothing for it but to open up the hatch and show them that the seats did fold down, and if I moved all my stuff out, I would indeed have room. I left them to mutter about bungee cords and rope to hold Large Object in with the hatch up.
I came back an hour later, having more or less cleaned my car (threw out the accumulated junk like the horseshoes, stuffed the important field stuff and the grocery bags in the footwells of the back seats, pushed the shovel, ice scraper, and umbrella to the front of the cargo area), put the back seats down, stuffed the cargo cover in the front seat and gotten the cash. I'd also done a quick internet search to confirm that my price for the Large Object was indeed reasonable.
The crowd (still there - this was apparently the most exciting thing they'd seen in a while) was dubious. But the Large Object fit in my car with no problem at all.
After he received the cash and was relieved of the Large Object, the owner was in an expansive mood. He was also quite impressed with my car. He wanted to know how many miles the car had, how reliable it was, etc. How old was it, anyway?
The car's about 10 (give or take) years old.
So how long have I had it?
Um, I got it new, so 10 (+/-) years.
He sort of boggled at that, and I realized that (as usual) he'd thought I was at least 15 years younger than I actually am, and was trying to figure out how the hell I'd bought a new car at such a ridiculously young age. I wasn't as annoyed as I would usually be, because I had a new acquisition... and my hatchback had proved itself yet again!
Thursday, May 2, 2013
MOOCs and geology
Janet Stemwedel has a new post up regarding the use of massive open online courses (MOOCs) in (replacing) university classes. Would MOOCs work for teaching geology?
I doubt it.
Geology is an applied science of observation, of going outside and looking at stuff (rocks, soil), and trying to piece together what happened. Often, you need to most of your senses (ok, don't try tasting stuff in the environmental biz). Taped lectures will have examples of what to look for, but you really need to be given a bunch of samples or to go out and ponder road cuts and learn how to figure things out on your own. Is that a natural fracture, or did someone manhandle the sample? Which direction is "up"? How did those rocks get smushed together like that? How can I get a reliable indicator of fracture orientation in this mess? Being a good geologist is only partly about learning facts, and is more about developing an eye for important observations.
And being a successful environmental consultant is about more than just knowing your facts. It's about being able to use different lines of evidence to determine what's going on out there, and to evaluate other folk's theories. It's about writing reports that don't actively piss off the target audience. I've harped on this before, but the critical evaluation and writing skills I got from my small liberal arts college (SLAC) were what allowed me to progress quickly from where I started as a field tech. And my expensive, labor-intensive SLAC must have done something right according to my management, because my office hired a succession of new grads from that same program for years after I paved the way.
If I had no ability to access good teachers and relevant samples, then a MOOC would help to get some of the basic science down. So would a good textbook. But I'd have a serious deficiency in my understanding of geology if I didn't have someone to call attention to my bad habits and show me where my interpretations were going astray.
I doubt it.
Geology is an applied science of observation, of going outside and looking at stuff (rocks, soil), and trying to piece together what happened. Often, you need to most of your senses (ok, don't try tasting stuff in the environmental biz). Taped lectures will have examples of what to look for, but you really need to be given a bunch of samples or to go out and ponder road cuts and learn how to figure things out on your own. Is that a natural fracture, or did someone manhandle the sample? Which direction is "up"? How did those rocks get smushed together like that? How can I get a reliable indicator of fracture orientation in this mess? Being a good geologist is only partly about learning facts, and is more about developing an eye for important observations.
And being a successful environmental consultant is about more than just knowing your facts. It's about being able to use different lines of evidence to determine what's going on out there, and to evaluate other folk's theories. It's about writing reports that don't actively piss off the target audience. I've harped on this before, but the critical evaluation and writing skills I got from my small liberal arts college (SLAC) were what allowed me to progress quickly from where I started as a field tech. And my expensive, labor-intensive SLAC must have done something right according to my management, because my office hired a succession of new grads from that same program for years after I paved the way.
If I had no ability to access good teachers and relevant samples, then a MOOC would help to get some of the basic science down. So would a good textbook. But I'd have a serious deficiency in my understanding of geology if I didn't have someone to call attention to my bad habits and show me where my interpretations were going astray.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Five years ago
In this recent Ask a Manager post, the commenters had a side discussion about predicting career paths. Five years ago, did you plan/expect to be where you are now?
Five years ago, I was an active lurker on the geoblogosphere, and was getting exercised enough to consider writing my own posts. The five-year anniversary of this blog is coming up in a couple of months!
But I digress. Five years ago, I was in the weeds of my fieldwork for my master's thesis. I was more worried about my immediate future (finishing!), but I had a couple vague ideas of what to do after graduation. I would move to my sweetie's city as a permanent base. I would do something environmentally-related using the stuff I was learning in grad school, but I was not planning on going back to environmental consulting.
So did my predictions pan out? Sort of... sideways.
I did end up using the stuff I learned in grad school, but not right away. I spent a couple of years spinning my wheels, career-wise, doing lots of different things that were not what I went to school for. And my sweetie and I had a revelation and moved somewhere completely different.
So I'm in a different region, in a different corner of the environmental consulting biz, but I am doing really interesting stuff that uses what I learned in grad school.
Where will I be in 5 years? I am a little bit superstitious about voicing future plans. But I hope that I will still have my current gig (I really like where I ended up!) and that I'll grow into an expert in my little corner of geology and contamination. Specifically, I hope to be awesome enough that when folks inside and outside my organization run into a particularly knotty remediation problem, they say, "I know, let's call Short Geologist! She's perfect for dealing with this!"
Five years ago, I was an active lurker on the geoblogosphere, and was getting exercised enough to consider writing my own posts. The five-year anniversary of this blog is coming up in a couple of months!
But I digress. Five years ago, I was in the weeds of my fieldwork for my master's thesis. I was more worried about my immediate future (finishing!), but I had a couple vague ideas of what to do after graduation. I would move to my sweetie's city as a permanent base. I would do something environmentally-related using the stuff I was learning in grad school, but I was not planning on going back to environmental consulting.
So did my predictions pan out? Sort of... sideways.
I did end up using the stuff I learned in grad school, but not right away. I spent a couple of years spinning my wheels, career-wise, doing lots of different things that were not what I went to school for. And my sweetie and I had a revelation and moved somewhere completely different.
So I'm in a different region, in a different corner of the environmental consulting biz, but I am doing really interesting stuff that uses what I learned in grad school.
Where will I be in 5 years? I am a little bit superstitious about voicing future plans. But I hope that I will still have my current gig (I really like where I ended up!) and that I'll grow into an expert in my little corner of geology and contamination. Specifically, I hope to be awesome enough that when folks inside and outside my organization run into a particularly knotty remediation problem, they say, "I know, let's call Short Geologist! She's perfect for dealing with this!"
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
I detect...
I keep seeing TV ads for metal detectors. You can detect coins! Jewelery!
If I'm going to a site with potentially buried monitoring wells or other useful infrastructure, I take along a metal detector. I never find anything interesting - I'm lucky to find what I'm actually looking for.
But that's because we wouldn't expect to find anything terribly interesting in the back of an old industrial park or factory, right? What if we go to a more interesting location?
I once had to remove all metallic debris from a historic military site - prime pickings, right? So what did I find?
1. Several horseshoes.
2. About 20 old bottles with screw caps.
3. A couple of bucks' worth of modern loose change (mostly nickels and pennies)
4. More than fifty feet of barbed wire, all snarled around itself 2 feet below ground surface.
5. Approximately 10,000 rusty nails, washers, paperclips, brads, and staples.
6. Lots and lots of indeterminate scrap.
7. A surprisingly large number of iron-rich rocks (unexpected for the local geology).
8. A bunch of bottle caps.
And then I found something explodey and I didn't get to pick nails out of the ground anymore.
Anywhoo, the point is that after poring through this fertile ground for almost a week, I had found little of interest and zilch of monetary value. So no, I will not be purchasing my own top-of-the-line metal detector to explore the detritus around my yard.
If I'm going to a site with potentially buried monitoring wells or other useful infrastructure, I take along a metal detector. I never find anything interesting - I'm lucky to find what I'm actually looking for.
But that's because we wouldn't expect to find anything terribly interesting in the back of an old industrial park or factory, right? What if we go to a more interesting location?
I once had to remove all metallic debris from a historic military site - prime pickings, right? So what did I find?
1. Several horseshoes.
2. About 20 old bottles with screw caps.
3. A couple of bucks' worth of modern loose change (mostly nickels and pennies)
4. More than fifty feet of barbed wire, all snarled around itself 2 feet below ground surface.
5. Approximately 10,000 rusty nails, washers, paperclips, brads, and staples.
6. Lots and lots of indeterminate scrap.
7. A surprisingly large number of iron-rich rocks (unexpected for the local geology).
8. A bunch of bottle caps.
And then I found something explodey and I didn't get to pick nails out of the ground anymore.
Anywhoo, the point is that after poring through this fertile ground for almost a week, I had found little of interest and zilch of monetary value. So no, I will not be purchasing my own top-of-the-line metal detector to explore the detritus around my yard.
Friday, April 19, 2013
Hi, I'm a student
FSP has a recent post here regarding students introducing themselves when they start presentations. She dislikes them. And so does most of the commentariat.
This is a little strange to me. When I was in grad school, I gave a bunch of presentations, and I really couldn't tell you if I started out by saying, "Hi, I'm Short Geologist, a student at X". I probably did. Not because I was angling for a job (that's what the conference networking is for) or because I was hoping to that the audience would go easy on me (hey, this presentation got accepted, and I've got interesting things to discuss! What's to be afraid of?) but because that's how I generally introduced myself at conferences.
I don't really see what a big deal it is. If you're not formally introduced, it makes sense to give the audience some context as to where you're coming from. Are you from a think tank? A federal agency? Academia? Industry? And besides, part of the point of the presentation is to publicize whatever institution is supporting your awesome research (even if it's just the institution that's paying your salary).
I agree that it would be a little strange to go into the nitty-gritty ("I've been working on my thesis for two years now, and I'd really like to wrap things up and be paid an actual salary"), but a one-sentence introduction that mentions you're a student seems completely reasonable.
This is a little strange to me. When I was in grad school, I gave a bunch of presentations, and I really couldn't tell you if I started out by saying, "Hi, I'm Short Geologist, a student at X". I probably did. Not because I was angling for a job (that's what the conference networking is for) or because I was hoping to that the audience would go easy on me (hey, this presentation got accepted, and I've got interesting things to discuss! What's to be afraid of?) but because that's how I generally introduced myself at conferences.
I don't really see what a big deal it is. If you're not formally introduced, it makes sense to give the audience some context as to where you're coming from. Are you from a think tank? A federal agency? Academia? Industry? And besides, part of the point of the presentation is to publicize whatever institution is supporting your awesome research (even if it's just the institution that's paying your salary).
I agree that it would be a little strange to go into the nitty-gritty ("I've been working on my thesis for two years now, and I'd really like to wrap things up and be paid an actual salary"), but a one-sentence introduction that mentions you're a student seems completely reasonable.
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