Great Britain and Historical Perspective: Episode II

Episode Two in this saga brings us to the Scottish Parliament, where the assigned topic is clearly restated in the introductory paragraph of my essay that follows. I enjoyed the visit and greatly appreciated the time given by Scottish National Party MSP David Torrance. I would rate the experience 5/5 on TripAdvisor. (For the record, my mention of New Coke predates the announcement of a promotional re-release in cooperation with Netflix and Stranger Things and the subsequent issues with the marketing website.)

Great Britain and Historical Perspective: Episode I

As part of a faculty-led study abroad trip to the United Kingdom, I have been required to write topical essays each day on a subject of the professor’s choosing. The following is my first response on the moral costs of scientific and economic progress, originally written 13 May. The first series of haikus are based on the story of William Burke, a murderer who delivered his victims to the University of Edinburgh for profit.

Yes, We Can: Building a Better Future Despite Political Devastation

When news broke that Donald Trump had defeated Hillary Clinton in the Presidential election, countless U.S. citizens bombarded the Canadian immigration website, causing it to crash. While I understand the motivation behind their actions, I find this solution to be unreasonable. When encountering a wolf, one can sheepishly run and be chased into the woods or stare the wolf in the eye and make it feel your fear. Rather than viewing Canada as a potential sanctuary from the wolf that is Trump, we should all look to them for the inspiration to stand tall and roar.

Moving My Own Cheese: On the Finite Nature of Life and the Perpetuity of Change

Introduction

           

The book Who Moved My Cheese?, by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard, is a story within a story, teaching some readers about change and adaptation in work and everyday life. It portrays the concepts simply, using mice, cheese, and remarkably tiny people in a maze. As with any story, the book have an impact on some readers, but I found the juvenile presentation, redundant prose, and rampant clichés to be off putting. It served little more purpose than to remind me how chaotic my life has been.

Open Letter to the Society for Neuroscience

Dear Society for Neuroscience,              

This is an open letter concerning the recent launch of the new open access journal, eNeuro.

We welcome the diversification of journal choices for authors looking for open access venues, as well as the willingness of eNeuro to accept negative results and study replications, its membership in the Neuroscience Peer Review Consortium, the publication of peer review syntheses alongside articles, and the requirement that molecular data be publicly available.

An Open Letter to the AAAS About Science Advances

Dear  AAAS,

This is an open letter concerning the recent launch of the new open access journal, Science Advances. In addition to the welcome diversification in journal choices for authors looking for open access venues, there are many positive aspects of Science Advances: its broad STEM scope, its interest in cross-disciplinary research, and the offering of fee waivers. While we welcome the commitment of the Association to open access, we are also deeply concerned with the specific approach. Herein, we outline a number of suggestions that are in line with both the current direction that scholarly publishing is taking and the needs expressed by the open access community, which this journal aims to serve.

Adventures in Professional Development: Episode I–Fossils and You

I think my apartment is haunted. Next to my computer is a list of asked questions from my time here at Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry and every time I look down at it, a voice says, "Answer them! Aaaaanswerrrr themmmm. . . in a seeeeries of blog poooosts. . ." In an effort to appease this oddly specific and surprisingly concerned ghost, I have decided to finally initiate the limited blog series I seem to recall mentioning in my last post. What follows will be somewhat informative, possibly useful, and at the very least, some light reading to kill a few minutes of your day. Brace yourselves for the fantastical first episode of Adventures in Professional Development!