Unless they're your manager. Then they stay forever or get promoted.
I was kind of thinking of that with the institutional journal bit. It doesn't need to be a traditional journal, the only things important to me are:
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peer review (skip #2)
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open access
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professional editors to help improve phrasing, spelling, flow, etc.
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DOI link or similar unique identifier
I'm totally down to ditch the traditional journal format otherwise. It was just a quick comment not meant to go in-depth, but point out that we already have public institutions that can host publications.
This should not be down voted.
Those of you that are down voting this comment just because this skepticism doesn't match your worldview or what you were taught from a textbook (which never tell the whole story) should stop and do a bit of research on your own. There is plenty of accessible evidence that points to nitrogenous fertilizers harming the environment and contributing to global warming without even digging into primary scientific publications.
It doesn't mean that the comment about chemical fertilizers are wrong, that's a more difficult claim to check (fertilizers increase crop yields, but could we support our populations without them if we didn't focus on overproduction). That said, it's what's driving much of the recent research into alternative fertilization methods right now. Chemical fertilizers are damaging and we need alternatives.
It's not necessarily that you hear more than someone else, but you have the experience to have trained your hearing to discern those sounds.
It's something I also experience from my time working around machines. Works on all sorts of things.
I'd say Paul's rise is portrayed as a mixed event throughout the books that depends on the perspective of different factions and what time period you view it from, but overall the main characters see it as good as the end of the first book. The movie doesn't try to explain many of the details that didn't fit into it's cinematic storytelling style (you get almost none of Paul's thoughts and struggles) so there is a lot of clarity that can be provided by the book. I think the movie left less of a sense of his ascension being motivated by good intentions (and magical foresight/inescapable destiny) than the book did, so it's a less optimistic ending.
The Fremen saw it as a good/liberating event and Paul as a true member of their tribe, and he genuinely seems to internalize that into his sense of self. (From the reader's perspective, this is disregarding the white savior bias of the book that the comment before yours alluded to. Paul is a colonizer who is sympathetic to the natives and helps them lift themselves up in ways the book implies couldn't have been done without his help). Overthrowing the Harkonnens and the Emperor's forces leaves the Fremen and moreso Paul in an overwhelmingly powerful position as Arrakis is the only planet able to produce spice at the time.
This is juxtaposed with the view of the nobles, the spacer's guild, and the populations of other planets that is explored in later books. Fast space travel is only possible due to the effects of spice that allow the navigators of the space guild to see short distances into the future to avoid collisions, etc in space travel. Control of the key to space travel grants the Fremen immense political and economic power, but also puts them at odds with the rest of the empire who are reliant upon the spice.
One aspect the movie didn't explain well is that the Fremen were not motivated by gaining the political and economic power of spice, but instead envisioned an Arrakis that was no longer a wasteland. They developed plans to terraform the planet to make it more hospitable and liberation allowed them that opportunity. On the flip side, spice is produced by the worms, but water is toxic to the worms (the scene with the worm dying in water isn't just from it drowning), so if they are able to accomplish this goal, spice production will be eradicated, affecting space travel everywhere.
I don't want to spoil the story after the first book because I believe they will explore it further in the movies. Ultimately, the first book is a story of liberation as well as a coming-of-age story for Paul and the outcome is generally seen as positive by the majority of the characters you get the perspective of. The ones who are opposed are portrayed as grotesque embodiments of evil, like the baron Harkonnen (the movie was too nice to him and cut out the pedophilia, though it kept some of his sadistic and cruel tendencies).
Whether your views of the events of the first book will hold up over time might depend on the events that happen next in the series. There is fallout from everything that happens in Dune as it's very much a story focused on political machinations. Something that is good or bad may turn out to have consequences with the opposite effect down the line.
Lots of contextual details were left out of the movie as well as a lot of the character building, so I suggest reading it if you are interested. The first 100 pages are tough to get through, but then it goes smoothly. For example, the lack of detail in the movie makes Chani and Stilgar feel fragile and insecure rather than resolute and pillars of strength/growth for Paul, Jessica sees less focus and you get little exposure to her thoughts, there is a miniscule amount of light shed on Paul's thoughts throughout the movie, so he comes off as callous in the movie while he is far more empathetic in the book.
I throw studded tires on my bike in about 15 minutes and go about my day as normal. It takes about 30-60 minutes to do the same to my car and I'm sore for a couple days after. Also, unless I'm driving 5+ miles, the car is usually slower or equal in time for the commute. The bike is faster and far easier to maintain. The commute isn't much different, but I'm forced to ride sidewalks because my city plows into the bike lanes. Maybe if I had a car with heated seats, I'd miss the car.
On the bike, I fall probably once per season, but that's always the result of doing something reckless like jumping over a small snow bank or riding into large chunks of ice that I should have gone around.
I was being reactive too and that made me crass. Did that commenter deserve it? Not really.
My point wasn't directly to prove someone wrong (their content wasn't wrong, just poorly explained), it was my gut reaction to what I perceived as a type of scientist of any level who sees themselves as better and smarter than everyone else. The most effective way I've found to shut this down is to bully them about their own weaknesses because the majority of this "STEM is the only viable education and makes you smarter than everyone else" attitude only ever comes from people who've never done anything else with their lives.
Most of these types have never held a full-time job besides working in a lab and the totality of their professional and academic experience is in science. Communication, art, history, the "soft" sciences, are things to be made fun of and contain nothing useful in the minds of these types and that leaves them wildly unqualified to communicate science in any format. Their presentations suck, their explanations suck, and their writing and figures suck even if their science is very well done. This means their science is effectively useless because a huge part of the scientific process is communicating what you've done. Almost all of these people become PhDs and then continue this behavior long into their careers! It's not every PhD, but it's a significant portion.
The comment I replied to sounded to me like this type of person (the poor science communication, not the ego part), so my gut reaction was to reply as if to one of those people. I left my other reply because it seemed like a waste of time to shit on the only useful reply while contributing nothing to the conversation myself, so I get why it also looks like an ego trip. I'd peg my actions as more self-righteous than conceited, which is also a problem of ego. :)
Everything you've said is true and you'll just have to take me at my word when I say that the approach you described is how I approach others in my offline and professional life. I work hard to make sure my own science communication is always accessible to my target audience and gives what I see as the necessary context surrounding the topic as well. My intention is never to talk down to people with less experience in an area than me, but no one is perfect and I'm sure it can come off that way occasionally.
That said, my first comment was made in short temper against an assumption/projection of a person and it's something I'll probably do again despite knowing it's not the most useful approach because I'm a fallible human and this type of forum tends to have a culture that encourages this behavior. What I mean by this culture comment is very evident on Reddit, but less so on the spaces I frequent on Lemmy. Commenters frequently leave very confident replies that are factually incorrect or unclear. There is no other way to combat this directly than to call it out and doing so in a way that shuts them down. Not shutting them down leads to drawn out arguments where the person who is wrong dogs in their heels. Yes, you are right that putting someone on the defensive just leads to more of stubborn replies.
I believe poor or inaccurate communications of technical topics can be more harmful than keeping the comment to yourself. It creates an uphill battle for those with expert knowledge and for those who don't have it, but are trying to learn. At that point, correcting the mistake becomes more about educating the commenter. Yes, corrections can theoretically help others, but I find it largely just propagates the false information. That's why I prefer to shut that part of the discussion down.
Additionally, I work in a space where credentials are weighted heavier than factual accuracy, direct critiques of those with power or credentials are dismissed as uncivil, while those from positions of power are not. The only ways to combat that force is to put your nose to the grindstone with those hopes that you one day gain the power that will lend you authority or you stop caring about credentials, offer a direct critique and deal with coming off as an asshole sometimes.
I guess I'm done justifying myself now, but I hope you understand the point of my justifications was to help explain the reasoning behind my approaches rather than to counter your critiques and absolve myself from my approach. I do justify my actions for myself, but sharing your reasoning always helps with empathy regardless of whether your actions are right.
I care less about replying or sharing my knowledge on social media these days, but your critiques are welcome and I have thought about my replies the last few days as well. Ultimately I decided to brush it off and move on after my last one despite disagreeing with your first reply, but I respect good faith discussions and think your last comment deserved a thoughtful reply. Thanks for putting up with me sharing most of my thoughts at length. I usually try to keep my comments short and unserious because I know that my serious replies tend to become very long otherwise.
You're right and I'll try to be less reactive and aggressive the next time I see a scientific comment that disappoints me. I replied more to a projection than to the actual commenter and they didn't deserve such a harsh response. Thank you for calling it out (and fuck Sheldon Cooper).
Thank you!
Outside of high-performance applications, most people are probably just as well using the $3 automotive thermal pastes. If I was feeling cheeky, toothpaste, but I suspect that would dry out quickly too.
Consistent, reliable performance is what matters. Who wants to apply new paste regularly?
Do you want a list of better sources in English, because I feel like you are asking for one. I'm too tired to be the one to give them now, but maybe later or someone else will provide some for me?
The NYT directly contributed to the US invasion of Iraq based on VERIFIABLY FALSE information. Despite this egregious lack of journalistic integrity also known as "doing your fucking job", they are still held up as a relatively unbiased and reliable source for reporting on war and geopolitical issues that relate to wars that the US elite has interests in.
No. This is your own bias and you have not looked at them critically. You want to trust them and I get it, I even AGREE with you that they do have some use as a news source on other topics, but you're also playing into the very game they are playing with our heads.
The NYT has had troubling biases that have had a material effect on our world since at least the 1970s.
Just a few to follow if you want alternatives. Note that ALL sources have a bias. It is unavoidable. Even scientists writing in scientific journals. It's not about their bias so much as being able to recognize their bias and see how it affects their reporting. This is how openly biased media can be a breath of fresh air in comparison to the "unbiased" media.
- Geopolitical Economy Report
- Novara Media
- FAIR.org (a media watchdog)
- Glenn Greenwald (I don't even particularly like him and he's had a bit of a bias in favor of Israel, but he still does good work).
I got the point you made here from your other comments and agree, but I guess what I'm missing is what is the point of arguing about the events individually accomplished?
Sure, they appear to us as discrete events, but even this event is tied to the events of Oct 7. It seems pointless to argue that any of these individual events has had relatively little impact on the status quo when they are all connected and the sum total of their impact will be what influences further events.
So what's the point of arguing them individually aside from just finding something to argue about?
While everything above and reading in particular is good advice, being a good reader doesn't make you a good writer.
You must read to learn and then apply those concepts in your own writing. Better yet, have your writing critiqued by a varied audience that includes at least one person with some training in English writing. Universities and libraries often have editors to help with writing or hold writer's workshops where you can find these people and get help for free.
To get good at writing, you must write consistently with pointed effort at improvement. This doesn't start at writing many pieces, but at repeatedly revising a single piece. Even the writing of the most experienced author begins to shine only after polishing. The revision steps are some of the best opportunities to learn and to reach out for advice on how to improve a piece of writing.