BMR Lite

[Rommie]

Well, if you can get out of here and get to Canada and avoid any more crap from them, excellent. Otherwise, I think it might be time to engage an attorney, because this is bullshit. You aren't imagining things and you don't have a martyr or persecution complex. You also don't have an overinflated ego. They're just trying to gaslight you.

I would be very cautious about that approach.

First, one would have to know if there is relevant Dutch or European law on the topic.

Second, I think that would be a complete burning of bridges. I have to imagine that at the point of "lawyering up", one would completely poison one's reputation in the astronomy and academic communities. Maybe that's unfair, but that's the reality. I fully expect that people that are sympathetic to Rommie now, and are willing to help her, would back off quickly if this turned into a lawsuit.

Yes. In a lawsuit, it would drag on for likely a few years in the Netherlands to boot, and likely not get a PhD at the end of it. The other option is to petition the Dean who would appoint an independent council to determine whether the thesis is acceptable, which frankly by the end of next year would be a more than reasonable thing to do (unlike last July, when I didn't have half as much to show).

Further at the end of the day, honestly, don't forget that in the Netherlands any institute that graduates a PhD student gets tens of thousands of Euros from the Dutch government. Someone will agree to its defense, particularly at that point when there's little work on their part to get the money.

What I will frankly bet will really happen is they'll keep fluffing their feathers, but once I'm no longer here they'll just accept whatever Bryan tells them to accept. Because Ralph said he had confidence in Bryan as a supervisor, and he'll likely be co-promoter, so whatever they claim here why the hell would they go against him? Let sleeping dogs lie, and all that.

Finally, unlike last year I already got my report for this year from the Inqui guys, and none of the "are we having fun yet?" dialogue made it in there.

[code monkey]

I had no idea that the purpose of getting a Ph.D. was to have fun. I feel so enlightened now.

Really. I want my money back; it wasn't fun (though there was the night I hyperventilated about my prelimins.... maybe that was the fun part?)

mine wasn't fun either. do you suppose that in Europe fun is expected?

[Swift]

I had no idea that the purpose of getting a Ph.D. was to have fun. I feel so enlightened now.

Really. I want my money back; it wasn't fun (though there was the night I hyperventilated about my prelimins.... maybe that was the fun part?)

mine wasn't fun either. do you suppose that in Europe fun is expected?

Probably. I blame it on the French (I work for a French company, so I'm allowed to blame everything on the French).

[Thumper]

I blame Michigan, then Canada, for everything. In that order.

[SciFi Chick]

I blame Michigan, then Canada, for everything. In that order.

Michigan?

[Thumper]

People in Ohio hate Michigan so much they don't even say the word.
Either OSU's Big 10 or National Championship trophy from two years ago, has an engraving that lists all opponents and scores, does not have the word Michigan on it. It says something like "November 29, 2016 2014 OSU 42-TUN 28"

*"Team Up North"

So I blame them, then of course Canada for everything else.

[Swift]

People in Ohio hate Michigan so much they don't even say the word.

Also known as "The M word".

[Thumper]

And all over that little sliver of land.
Sad really.

[pumpkinpi]

[SciFi Chick]

People in Ohio hate Michigan so much they don't even say the word.

Also known as "The M word".

Ah... then y'all would appreciate how my mom pronounces it. Mitchigan as opposed to Mishigan.

[Thumper]

Hmmm, don't think I've heard that much. Heard alot of "Meeshigan."

[Thumper]

This is minor, but still.
We went to the Final 4 NCAA Women's volleyball semi-finals last night. I mean how often does that come to your town? so it was getting bone chillingly cold and the had decided to put airport style metal detectors in for security. They don't usually do that at our arena so you had new equipment and new people who didn't know how to operate it. They set the d@mn things up about 4 feet inside the door. So the line backs up out the doors, people are holding the doors open and the rush of air either swooshing in or blasting out creates a wind tunnel effect with a wind chill factor somewhere in the negative 100's.

They're telling everyone to take wallets, keys, phones, and large metal objects out of their pockets. There is no place to put these items as you step through. So I finally get to step through and the alarm goes off. A little guy looks at me and goes, "You got anything in your pockets?" I say, "hat, gloves, kleenex." He looks at me for a second and says, "OK." I just subverted the entire security system in 2 seconds. Maybe he was a really good facial profiler, but I could have snuck anything in under my thick winter coat, on top of a thick flannel shirt.

Like the way I feel about most security measures: Go through the motions and create the requisite inconvenience to hold up the appearance of security.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Like the way I feel about most security measures: Go through the motions and create the requisite inconvenience to hold up the appearance of security.

In IT we call it "Security Theater"

[Thumper]

Brilliant!

[code monkey]

They're telling everyone to take wallets, keys, phones, and large metal objects out of their pockets. There is no place to put these items as you step through. So I finally get to step through and the alarm goes off. A little guy looks at me and goes, "You got anything in your pockets?" I say, "hat, gloves, kleenex." He looks at me for a second and says, "OK." I just subverted the entire security system in 2 seconds. Maybe he was a really good facial profiler, but I could have snuck anything in under my thick winter coat, on top of a thick flannel shirt.

Like the way I feel about most security measures: Go through the motions and create the requisite inconvenience to hold up the appearance of security.

so what did you actually have in your pockets?

[Thumper]

Let's see,
Fingernail clippers,
Chapstick,
3 lucky quarters,
Lucky pennies,
Pedometer,
about 15 bucks,
Driver's license,
credit card,
Wallmart plastic watch,
two pens,
my ticket,
Hat, gloves, kleenex.

[Thumper]

So we return Saturday night for the finals. We pick the shortest line to get in. Ends up being the slowest line. While we wait behind 4 people at our metal detector, we see 15-20 people breeze through the other ones. Then it's my turn. They had installed a small 6 inch x 6 inch ledge between the detectors where people were now piling their wallets and phones on. I put my phone on it, walk through and the buzzer goes off. Rambo stares me down. "Is everything out of your pockets?" he mumbles. I said, "did you just ask me if everything was out of my pockets or tell me to empty my pockets?" He mumbles something and nods his head towards the tiny ledge. I put my phone back down, and place my fingernail clippers and chapstick on the ledge. I'm starting to go through my other pockets and again ask if he wanted me to empty all my pockets. He mumbles something again and then says "I'm going to wand you." I ask again, "didn't you ask me to take Everything out of my pockets?" He mumbles something like "it's all right." The wand hovers over my crotch about 5 times and he says, (I'm not kidding) "What's that?" I look down at my junk then back at him then back down. Then I realize he sees looking at my watch attached to a beltloop off to the side. I say, "A watch, a plastic watch." He mumbles something, I say "what?" He mumbles again, I say "what, sir you are going to have to speak up." "Turn around." He wands my @ss for a while then says, "ok." I say, "what?" He says, "ok." I say, "May I pick up my items now?" And for the first time in the encounter, loud, slow and clear, he says, "We'll they're yours aren't they? You don't want anyone else to pick them up, do you?"

At that moment, I almost wish I had been wearing an IED vest...

[Swift]

I suspect rent-a-TSA-agents are not selected from the highest IQ segments of society.

As I believe was mentioned earlier, this is really Security Theatre, and it ain't the Broadway production. More like the West Lugnut Community Theatre production of Security Theatre.

[Thumper]

Yes, yes, and yes.
Sigh.

[SciFiFisher]

I suspect rent-a-TSA-agents are not selected from the highest IQ segments of society.

As I believe was mentioned earlier, this is really Security Theatre, and it ain't the Broadway production. More like the West Lugnut Community Theatre production of Security Theatre.

Guaranteed to cure tremors, warts, consumption, and make you feel safe!

[Rommie]

It truly amazes me how much worse the TSA can be than any other country, from the machines they use to the staff they hire. I have never found European TSA equivalents to be anything except professional and courteous (perhaps because almost by definition the air passengers know what their competition is like in other countries?).

Meanwhile, I'm typing this in Newark, where I went through TSA an hour or so ago (connecting on my way to Florida for Christmas). I'm behind a group of three tween children and their dad, mom is still fiddling with her bag in the line. TSA guy at the machine asks who the mom is, tweens say the woman in pink, TSA guy proceeds to bitch about how he can't let them through if they don't point her out and makes the dad walk through the machine several times even though he never sets it off. So really no reason for it, just a dick having a bad day taking it out on a family for no real reason.

[pumpkinpi]

For the record, I've never had anything but uneventful if not pleasant experiences going through TSA checks. For the past few years I've flown a half dozen times or more per year. I'm not trying to challenge anyone's negative experiences, just prove that there are anecdotes on both sides of the issue!

Another issue I'm fortunate to have been on the positive side of is both doctors and insurance providers. I average about an appointment per month, and in my adult life (20 years) I've had nothing to complain about other than a crotchety old doctor or two. Two anomalies out of the dozens of doctors I've seen. And insurance has almost always done what it was supposed to--the only problem I've had is making an appointment with a specialist without getting an official referral, so I was over billed. It took me some effort to get that cleared up, but it was my mistake, not theirs. And it worked out in the end.

I know--a lot of people have had a lot of bad experiences. But that doesn't mean that every doctor is inept/ineffective, nor is every insurance agency corrupt. I'm a rather large sample size for one person--just given the number of doctors I've seen. Still only in the anecdote range, but much more of a case than if I have only seen a couple doctors and both have been good.

[geonuc]

So I'm driving in to Norfolk Virginia to drop off some prints for my wife at a gallery. She has an upcoming show there and I'm always the delivery minion. The deal is that I'm supposed to text the gallery director a couple of hours or so before arriving so he can be there to accept the work.

And I do ... except I see no bars on my phone despite being on a fairly major four lane traffic corridor. No problem, the text will send as soon as the phone gets a signal. Except it never does. I'm in Norfolk now, a big city, outside the gallery and the fucking phone still hasn't grabbed a signal. I've restarted it three times already. And the gallery is locked up tight. Fuck. Guess I'll just have to look for a pay phone, right? lol

Fortunately, I see a guy in the parking lot with a gallery t-shirt on. It's not my guy but I get him to go inside and get someone who will take the prints from me. So, that works out.

While inside, I fiddle with the phone and take it out of its case. It immediately gets a signal and sends the text. The text that says to the gallery director that I'd be at his gallery ten minutes ago. Did you know that you can't delete a text you've 'sent' but the phone hasn't been able to transmit yet? Fuck again. So, he comes down to the gallery, unnecessarily as it turns out because the other people there have already accepted the prints and we're good to go.

Fucking phone. I've had problems with it not getting a signal for a little while now but never that bad. And even without the case, as I sit here typing this in a Virginia Beach hotel, no signal. I didn't think it was the case causing the problem anyway.

[Thumper]

I've had issues with my phone not being able to acquire a signal before, but it usually clears up if I turn it completely off for a bit and fire it back up. Sounds like your phone may have an issue. I also doubt the case is the problem. With instances like these, I'm reminded of one of Gus Grissom's last quotes, "How are we supposed to get to the Moon if we can't talk between two or three buildings."

[Thumper]

The Kid was required to have an expensive TI graphing calculator for her math classes at school. So we got her one. Sunday night she spilled a bunch of crap on it (along with her phone, and her mac book, she's talented that way.) We each went to work cleaning up one of the devices. The computer was fine, only minor splatter. The phone and calculator we got powered down, quickly cleaned, and then immersed in a big bag of rice. Phone worked the next day. Calculator is having issues with a couple of buttons.

Before we buy a new one, I thought I'd take it apart and see if I can clean the keypad contacts. So it's got about 3 different types of micro screws and with my vast tool collection, I couldn't get one type out. So I've ordered a micro tool kit off Amazon with the proper screwdrivers and the dis assembly and repair will reconvene tomorrow night.

Oh what did she spill? She had found a recipe on her phone somewhere for a "stress relief ball" made out of flour, liquid soap, and water balloons. The balloon burst while she was squeezing it above her thousands of dollars of electrical devices.....I don't know how it's working for her, but my stress hasn't gone down.