Jeffrey C. Erlich @jerlich@qoto.org

I wrote this post about my experience striking for the first time as an early career researcher

https://thompsonj.github.io/strikes

Despite the stress and unpleasantness, I've found immense inspiration in the strikes.

@OxfordUCU #ucuRISING #ucustrikes #ecrchat

Heard about MyST, a nice new way of writing papers using Markdown, but overwhelmed by how to get started? You could try this GitHub template I just created. Each time you edit and commit files in the repo, GitHub automatically builds a docx and pdf.

This is a pretty simple implementation for the moment, but I'll hopefully be adding some more features to it as I experiment with MyST. Thanks to Rowan Cockett and team for building the tech and advice.

https://github.com/neural-reckoning/myst-paper-template

Catastrophic (and to be frank - hugely depressing)

This new research in @PNASNews suggests earth will cross the 1.5 degrees C temperature increase threshold in the next decade (within just 10 to 15 years) and is likely to exceed 2 degrees C by around 2060.

This should be THE lead story on the news today (and onwards) and the lead action point for our governments. It should trigger a massive call for real global action to combat the #climateemergency - sadly though I fear this news will barely register.

We have to stop believing the siren calls of future technology solutions and #carbonoffsets - the immediate need is a rapid end to the use of #fossilfuels and a massive rollout of #renewableenergy

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2207183120

#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

Just sent this email to a student who is in that final stage of paper-writing where you tweak shit endlessly and just can't let it go. It's advice I wish I'd realised a lot sooner, and I think many of us in #academia could do with internalising...

It's a simple experiment. Take some of the ChatGPT generated content, then cut and paste into a browser in quotes.

BAM.

Word for word lifting from some sources.

Zotero just informed me that a paper in my database has been retracted. What an excellent feature for a reference management system to have! As if I needed additional reasons to love Zotero even more than I already did 🤩

this looks good!
"Trial-history biases in evidence accumulation can give rise to apparent lapses"
from @dikshagupta
Diksha Gupta, Brian DePasquale, Charles D. Kopec, Carlos D. Brody
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.18.524599v2
#neuroscience #cognition

Scientists! Have you read Gopen and Swan's 1990 classic "The science of scientific writing"? If not, you are in for a treat.

It's here, albeit weirdly formatted: https://www.americanscientist.org/blog/the-long-view/the-science-of-scientific-writing.

And if you prefer good pagination, check out this scan of the pre-web version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R9urPA7NWC5qdBqkCTim10tzwRYaLZC3/view?usp=share_link

Not bad at all, #chatGPT, not bad!
---
RT @bardmital
Asked #ChatGPT to rewrite the lyrics of "Blowing in the wind" as if it is about a scientist applying for grants...
https://twitter.com/bardmital/status/1617980584558743552

My project right now is #BikeHopper, an open-source directions app for transit+bikes.

https://github.com/bikehopper/bikehopper-ui

It uses #OpenStreetMap and a modified version of GraphHopper.

Two main benefits over other trip planning apps:
1. Bike-on-bus, bike-on-train etc. options
2. Tries really hard to find low-stress routes, avoiding main roads

Yesterday at a staff meeting we discussed how we often signal that we work at unconventional hours (sending emails in the weekend) but we do not signal when we do not work in regular hours to compensate. So just logging in to say I am bouldering this whole morning with a childhood friend.