CJ @flsounds@qoto.org

New album coming from SUN SUN! #Toronto #hiphop producer with Above Top Secret and Witch Prophet. Great list of guest features, especially excited to hear the DijahSB collab.

https://sunsunbeats.bandcamp.com/album/no-friends-in-toronto #music

The Pleiades star cluster in Taurus, about 444 light-years away. 90-minute exposure from my driveway in Albuquerque’s North Valley.

#astronomy #astrophotography #space

My #1 album of 2022 is "Extreme" by Molly Nilsson. Her tenth album, it came out all the way back in January 2021 and I've been listening to it constantly ever since. A lo-fi electronic pop record for the ages. Probably my favourite current songwriter.

https://mollynilsson.bandcamp.com/album/extreme

#music #berlin

Regular anxiety:

Everyone hates you

My anxiety:

Everyone hates you and here are the many reasons they hate you:

1. That time you said that thing
2. That time you did that thing
3. That time you forgot about that thing
4. All of the above

#anxiety #AllOfTheAnxiety

Staying in an airbnb where the host clearly thinks "nice" = lots & lots of aromas. Perfumes. Scented candles. Incense. It smells like one of those shops in the mall where you buy soap.

Folks, a little aroma goes a long way.

Seen in the wild: “All a #PhD tells me is you were at least able to cram study and pass tests.”

I can’t even.

Do people really think this? Obviously this guy does, but in general? An honest question, not a rhetorical one.

I’ve spent a significant chunk of my life in the company of people with #doctorates—including two grandparents, so I understood from childhood that getting a PhD was quite different from any other kind of degree. Most people I know haven’t, but everyone who was part of my life through my long and winding #academic career has a pretty good idea what I did to become #Doctor Dvorkin. For anyone who doesn’t know, I’m always happy to give a quick sketch.

Among people who don’t have family or friends who have done it, and have never thought seriously about doing it themselves … is that the perception, that grad school is just a more intense version of elementary school through college? More tests, more cramming, more regurgitation, and then you get some shiny new letters after your name?

If that’s the case, I guess I can’t blame them, exactly. Like I’ve said before, most people have no idea how most of the things I’ve done for a living in my life actually work. The #military, #medicine, #science: all quite mysterious except for what people think they know from movies and TV, which is often worse than complete ignorance. So I guess it’s shouldn’t be a surprise if #academia is on that list.

But I would really like to know how widespread this view is. Maybe I can do something with that.

I should probably do a proper introductory toot, seeing that more and more people are making the move from the avian to the proboscid side of the internet...

So, #hello 👋

I'm a zoologist and a science communicator, from Poland, based in Oxford, UK. Currently, I split my time between #academia (Senior Lect at #Brunel Uni London) and public engagement (at #Oxford University), I also do freelance #scicomm in both Polish and English.

Oh, and I wrote a #book (non-fiction, about animals, not for kids unless you're happy to do your own explanations of awkward sex stuff): https://geni.us/modernbestiary

What I like:
- #animal facts and factoids
- #cycling as the main mode of transport
- #HigherEd teaching

What I dislike:
- pictures of fake animals posing as the real deal
- lack of public transport infrastructure
- scary movies

Pic © 2022 Greg Blatchford yewneek.com