I have to tell you what Kid said yesterday.
What?
Kid: That lady has a bigger belly than anyone in the whole world.
Mom: Well, honey, some people are big and some people are small. Everyone’s different. Would you want everyone to be the same?
Kid: Yes, everyone the same!
So, basically, our Kid is Hitler.
I think all 4-year-olds are [...]
I.
The same joke has been in the past two books I’ve read.
What’s the joke?
Something like “Two behaviorist psychologists have sex. And then afterwards, one says to the other, ‘It was good for you. How was it for me?’”
I read that in a book, too!
II.
A lot of Irish people immigrated to the U.S., and [...]
From someone who is ABD. This is a very liberal paraphrase (you will note that the language is strongly shakha’s), but still accurate, I believe.
I have two committee members who don’t get along. They pull me in different directions. They’re not really interested in what the other person suggests, and sometimes even seem to pull [...]
~5 year old: Dad, what’s the biggest building?
D: That’s a good question. Do you mean what’s the biggest building in Boston, or in the United States, or in the whole world?
5: In the whole world!
D: That’s hard to answer, because they keep building very tall ones, but I think it’s in Malaysia. Why don’t we look [...]
From an esteemed colleague:
What set of issues should be discussed before two (or more) people agree to write a paper together? There are obvious contenders here - order of authorship, timeline, etc. - but what else is important?
Here is a suggestion that emerged from olderwoman about our ask a scatterbrain series. This emerged as some had expressed that the series was anxiety producing. Ane one of the causes of this was that the advice often seemed to come from folks at the “top 20″ - where few sociologists actually are (and few [...]
Some questions on publishing:
What are the politics of publishing? Which journals are professional brass rings? Are there journals that might accept my articles but at the same time are so unrespected that publishing in them is tantamount to admitting I’m a lousy academic? The impact factor is one way to go about it but my [...]
As long as we’re having name tag ribbons, I think we should also make a sash. The sash should be given as a great honor, worn by a different person each day. We can decide who gets it through a series of competitions. One of the competitions should be at the scatterplot party, and the [...]
From grad students, a series of questions that I have compiled into one big mess. Basically: how do you build a network and does it matter what kind you build?
People keep telling me how important it is to “build networks.” I understand why. I just don’t understand how. So, how do you go about “building [...]
From a student:
I’m a few years away from the job market. But not THAT far away. What matters? Everyone I talk to alternates between telling me how hard it is to predict the job market while acting surprised that I’m not doing what I “should”. So, what “should” I do? What matters on my CV? [...]
Our question of the week: How do you “break up” with your adviser? If you feel like the relationship isn’t going well, and you’ve already made the decision to go with someone new, what is the best way to do this without upsetting the adviser?
Question number two in our weekly installment:
“What are the most important things to highlight on your vita while on the job market. Follow up, what is most important to have on your vita (as in publications, conferences, training, etc.) ?”
I didn’t make up this quote.
Here is our very first question of the week. If you have a question you’d like me to post, email me (see the side-bar with my name - this will be a weekly feature on Wednesdays). I will not reveal who asks these questions. From a grad student:
Is it a bad idea to have an [...]
In having some drinks with Josh Whitford last night (and a group of Pakistanis and Indians), Josh brought up a nice point about “one of the fundamental insights of sociology:” sometimes things just don’t add up.
That idea of Jeremy’s where grad students ask questions about things they’ve heard about the discipline, the job market, navigating grad school, etc.? And then folks who’ve been around the block chime in and answer. Wasn’t that going to be a regular feature of this blog? I really liked the idea. It was first suggested [...]
It occurred to me recently that while my wage may be quite high (even as an assistant professor) my hourly wage may not be. So I’ve decided to do a little calculation. Two weeks into next semester I’m going to start counting my hours (I figure two weeks in because then the semester will actually [...]
I just got the new issue of Footnotes. It fit in well with my attempt to look busy but avoid doing my immediate work. Two pieces were what I would consider “lobbying” or “position-taking” on the part of the organization (excluding a South African Scholar from the US and a letter of protest to the [...]
I.
“I had dinner last night with someone who self describes as a ‘quant jock.’ Is that a familiar phrase to you?”
“Yeah, it gets used a lot at the Kennedy School.”
“So, I understand what it is to be a ‘quant’ - both in finance and in social science - but what’s a ‘quant jock’?”
“It just [...]
A: The toys and holiday gifts are in that corner.
B: Oh, okay. * picks up holy family finger puppets *
A: But don’t buy those finger puppets, go for the generic animal ones.
B: Sure, you say you’re not religious, but suddenly you get all squeamish when you see my finger up an angel.
rss feed
