I like the people I work with and where I work, but the state itself is a pit of nothingness. It's tepidly pleasant in parts, that's all, and not too terribly inconvenient to get places.

I did a research study that put me in a calorimeter pod and calculated all kinds of things about my body, including a scarily precise number of calories and the multipliers used for low, moderate, and high activity days. If you're really curious about things like your oxygen mass, body fat composition, and your body's…

ME TOO, and yes, I laughed to see it was Elsa, one of the most skeptical people in the Disney cannon. It's fun, but don't base your career/life on it.

There were a ton of conscious decisions to include weird fiction references, and those were purposeful. But it's only because they wanted to reference the theme of Lovecraft, who wrote about indifferent cosmic forces and inherited guilt like Lauren said. The point is, there wasn't anything supernatural creating the…

One of the entire points of the show is that evidence and reality trumps conspiracies and fantasy. I described it to someone as the anti-LOST. There's weird fiction motifs in the show, but that only further underscores the point that there's no supernatural elements at work in the story. The cultists bring their own…

Because what they do is more science education and science journalism, they can take a political stance. Science communicators are important, but it's equally important to realize that being a scientist doesn't automatically equal being political. I've known people who've found out what they're really passionate about…

There are a lot of scientists already, it's just that there aren't as many professorships or research funding for them. There's definitely room in the field for people who aren't liberal, and if you want a conservative culture, academia at research universities (weirdly enough) has it. It's not a hippie liberal…

To a point. There are many people who work in science, engineering, and medicine that are religious or identify at least culturally with a religion. But I'd like to note this: it doesn't get in the way of their work. They compartmentalize a bit. Skepticism is mandatory if you're going to be a good scientist (or a…

Science has been political, but the question of should a scientist be political is a different matter. There's evidence that a scientist taking a political stance can harm their career. This is why science education is important. People who aren't scientists need to be educated, so they can take that knowledge into…

There's a reason why you have to disclose all funding sources in research. Everyone has an agenda, even if it's a more esoteric one. I'm not sure science is treated like a religion, honestly. At least not by the scientists shuffling around the lab everyday. It's a career, like other careers, but if you like analysis,…

As a research scientist, it becomes incredibly difficult to speak outside of your field of expertise, and that's something I always try to be vigilant about not doing because I don't want to spread misinformation. I'm not surprised we've had problems with scientific journalism and understanding break throughs in…

Bill and Ted. That is all. Didn't even need the quiz for this one. :)

The captain America one didn't belong on that list. That movie had a plot that made way more sense than anything involving Iron Man and/or Thor.

Olympia over Rainier sounds off to me. Rainier is the best shitty beer of the PNW. Also, wish Tecate would be on here.

That's the thing about ED, though. You know pizza, ice cream, and tacos taste good, but that doesn't matter. And when delicious foods stop tasting good, well...why is there a reason to eat? Seriously, part of recovery is learning to like food again.

I couldn't read all of this because it left me feeling claustrophobic. It was a little close to home. I cried getting a crepe on vacation. We'd walked around all day, and my boyfriend was starving, but there's a high you get from not eating when you have ED. So bf forced me to eat a crepe, and I had this huge…

Bf's mom from NC did the same thing. She was telling me she consciously developed a 'standard' Midwestern accent based upon a teacher she had in school.

I'm from Appalachia and don't have nearly the accent that Southerns do, but I feel you. Oh boy, do I. I love to meet people who haven't tried to cover up their accents, too, because I've given up on the battle of losing mine.

I want an app or program or something that removes the laugh track from shows that have it, so I can watch them and judge them on their jokes without getting annoyed that someone is telling me it's funny. Laugh tracks are like when someone tries to explain a joke to you. It doesn't matter if the joke was bad or good,…

Another answer: math and puzzles. Very serious here. I was super possessive about having my own 500-1000 piece puzzles to build. I would've never survived more advanced courses in science without a strong handle on math (abstract thinking) and puzzles (problem solving).