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Category Archives: Rants
Let’s Call a Denier a Denier
***Update – In a huge win for everyone who isn’t a doofus, the AP has now officially changed the language it will use to refer to people who don’t accept modern science. From the AP blog: To describe those who … Continue reading
All Salt is Sea Salt
OK I’ll put an asterisk in the title because I suppose some salt can come from dried up lake beds but really, doesn’t this drive other geologists nuts? This afternoon I was following a recipe that suggested I use Himalayan … Continue reading
Posted in Rants, Uncategorized
2 Comments
The Heartland Institute: Comically Ignorant Poop Factory or Greedy Lying Dumbasses?
Ignorance is the fifth horseman of the apocalypse. In many ways it should be the main one, seeing as it is ignorance that is the root cause of so much of the evils assigned to the better-known four. I am not of … Continue reading
Developing a sense of place
I’ve noticed a few common threads in the books, movies, and songs that I like the most. For whatever reason, I tend to respond to media that describes place well. It wasn’t something that I did on purpose, but something I … Continue reading
Posted in earth science, Rants, science and society, The Woods, Uncategorized
1 Comment
Sustainable publication rates
Peer-reviewed publications are the currency of academia, and are the primary driving force in determining who gets faculty jobs. There are other considerations, but this is #1. This hasn’t always been the case, take a look at older faculty CV’s, … Continue reading
Posted in Academia, questions, Rants
5 Comments
Let’s all just downsize the libraries now that everything is digital, what could go wrong?
A few years ago some doofuses at my post-doc institution decided that libraries were basically a waste, and that it made more sense to store most of the collections off-site and turn the existing library into more of a lounge, … Continue reading
Posted in Academia, Figure Hall o' Fame, Rants
5 Comments
Why we do so little about climate change
As I’ve discussed in earlier posts, the evidence showing that humans are causing climate change, and that the change will be bad for our society, is well-established, overwhelmingly accepted in the scientific community, and to a first-order, not too difficult … Continue reading
I’m almost worth a burrito!
It appears that the typical position of the adjunct instructor is starting to get a little more attention. There is a recently-released documentary on the subject, a congressional report, there have been numerous op-eds, and of course the well publicized … Continue reading
Posted in Academia, Rants, teaching
3 Comments
Hello, my name is Thermochronic, and I love the U.S. Standard system of measurements
My brain has a variety of settings; work, home, soccer, Stout Month…..One of the more pronounced divisions in my brain (work and not work) expresses itself in a variety of ways, perhaps most notably in my preference for systems of … Continue reading
Posted in Rants, science and society, The Woods, Uncategorized
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LONG LIVE SPHENE!
I took my first geology classes in the mid 1990’s. That was where I first learned about the mineral sphene, a calcium-titanium phosphate common in a wide variety of rocks. I first saw it in my Introductory Lab, and then … Continue reading
Posted in Rants, Uncategorized
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