I have so many thoughts on this. First, I have hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon via the corridor trails. The trails are really well maintained, and honestly, a bit crowded for my wilderness loving tastes. They're very accessible. You can also plan ahead and ride a mule down and up, too. There's also great…

Everest is already this way to a great extent. But yeah. It makes me roll my eyes so far back I can see my occipital lobe when I read about people wanting to turn nature into Disney World.

It's fought back before. Please watch Ken Burns's National Parks documentary and educate yourself.

I had my friend tell me this. No, I really am a C cup please stop telling me I need a bigger bra my boobs are thoroughly average.

Yes it is. Engineers are fine with industry (aka, making money). It's a particular problem in the basic sciences, especially biomedicine.

The ability to receive criticism and (honestly) being accepting of the sexist bullshit she had to deal with.

This doesn't surprise me at all. I worked for one of these women. It was a nightmare, and this is why I will tell any young woman scientist that will listen to *not automatically* assume you should seek out a woman mentor. Pick your mentor based on management style, not gender/race/religion.

In Europe, the PhD does work more like an apprenticeship program. It's not designed with a classroom/teaching focus. My PI thinks the US programs focus way too much on teaching and taking classes and should solely consist of research supplemented with conferences and talks.

In PhD programs, they don't. They get stipends.

Young academic scientist here. This is a real struggle, and I know many people who do want to bail on academia. Part of the problem is I personally think a lot of students go to grad school because it's the 'next step' in their schooling. They don't intend to work in this (quite low paying) academic job market. Tenure…

UGH CANADA why are you keeping this from me? I guess I'll have to go back and watch Zombieland for like the 10th time.

Anything that has a chain called Liquor Donuts has to be genius. It looks like those of us in the States/most of the world will have to wait until it's out of theaters, though. Hopefully this goes on Netflix ASAP.

I loved the beat down they delivered to the over-hyped group D, but they're playing the Dutch, who are going to win their side of the bracket.

...where they will promptly be eliminated. There, fixed that last sentence for you.

This makes me laugh. A lot. I had a formal IQ test administered when I transferred from home schooling to public school; I've thought about using it to join MENSA, but figure I could put that $70 annual membership towards rock climbing and beer instead.

The Wall story line has had the roughest adaption from books to TV. This episode just wasn't that strong, and it certainly doesn't help that the previous two episodes were magnificent. Also, Blackwater had a real ending, and the Wall battle didn't. It *should* have, but unless we get that next episode, it didn't have…

I haven't been watching season 9 week by week, and the episodes in both 8 and 9 do hold up way better marathon style. The plotting is slower, which I think makes weekly viewing more difficult.

It's also career dependent. If you're tenured (a set of jobs that's disappearing, btw) or an important department head or chair, you can probably talk to policy makers without hurting yourself. But if you're anything below that? And you want to continue to stay in academia? Yeah, good luck. There's a reason many…

The UK is home to some great cidar. I think it's more socially acceptable there, too, and is on tap more often. It's where I really acquired a taste for it, too.

Cidar doesn't seem to be as 'hard' on my stomach as beer. If I have to choose between a cidar and a 'meh' beer, I'll pick the cidar.