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