Cyborg Robot Squirrels @cyborgrobotsquirrels - Tumblr Blog

When your former advisor takes three months to get comments on your paper back to you, CLEARLY the best response is to send a highly detailed email in response elaborating (with supporting documents attached) on why (in the politest terms) most of what he’s suggesting is Not a Good Idea and Definitely Not Worth Doing When You’re Not Even Paying Me Anymore. Clearly.

#to be fair I quit on him #but the point remains #also #you can take the girl out of the Midwest #but you can't take the Midwest out of the girl

Teleconferencing

Attendee: Can you see me?

The Gentleman: No! Therefore you do not exist!

...

Attendee: This is Eric!

The Gentleman: Eric? Which Eric?

*top of Eric’s head appears on screen*

The Gentleman: Oh, that Eric!

#teleconferencing #timely and yet this is from three years ago #sherwood just forgot to post it #apparently

#science #good luck snipe!

Meetings in the time of coronavirus

Sherwood has been meeting weekly with The Gentleman and the-professor-who-will-replace-The-Gentleman-when-he-finally-retires weekly via Zoom. This week, she shared her screen to show some of her most recent results.

*dead silence*

Sherwood: *did my power go out again? did the Internet freeze? what is going on?*

The Gentleman: huh

The Gentleman: this is really weird data

Other professor: very weird

Sherwood: *unsure if she should be relieved or not*

#science #grad school #coronavirus

Just getting started on your experimental design? Trying to figure out the appropriate test for your data? Wondering how much normality actually matters? Sherwood cannot recommend this (free!) resource highly enough.

#science #statistics #handbook of biological statistics #grad school

To standardize data or not to standardize data--that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune using variables measured at different scales Or to take arms against multi-scaled data with a vast array of available SAS Procs, Data step approaches, and CAS Actions And by doing so, end unplanned analysis bias. To standardize, to normalize, to leave unchanged - How do I know?

This post at https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Communities-Library/To-standardize-data-or-not-to-standardize-data-that-is-the/ta-p/361726#

#what even #statistics

The Gentleman: I really like this figure! I think you have three colors, but I can’t really tell....

There were nine colors.

#colorblindness

For better or worse, Snipe loves being Helpful. This means that when a colleague asks if anyone in the lab can lend a hand with a collaboration, Snipe volunteers (or is volun-told). This has been kind of annoying, as other people’s projects have cut into Snipe’s lab time, but also, it means that this semester Snipe accidentally became second author on two new papers. Which is great. Except that at this very moment, while she is trying to finish her thesis, these two colleagues are also submitting their papers for publication. In the same day, both of them have e-mailed her asking for her comments before submission. Too many things at once! Is this what it’s like to be a real scientist?

#Snipe #collaboration #at least all the Helpfulness is paying off #assuming the papers get accepted

Sherwood: Do you think the Gentleman would tell me if he thought I could reach my goal, or would he just politely let me crash and burn?

Baseball Cap: .....I actually don’t know.

#not encouraging #some professors need to be a little less nice and a little more firm #sherwood is beginning to appreciate the Iron Lady more and more

Faith Driving

Earlier this year, Snipe was unicycling while talking to her sister on the phone. "A car just passed me from "Faith Driving School" . . . 'Jesus take the wheel!' That's probably their motto. Or maybe, 'I drive by faith, not works." "I'm more concerned about, 'I drive by faith, not by sight.'" "I think it's more of, 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and /he/ will direct your path!'" "It is not /I/ who drive, but the Spirit /through me/ who drives this car."

#Snipe #faithdriving #the things you see unicycling #it's better than the giant scary dogs that chase you #we drive by faith not by sight

Snipe and Sherwood have been writing their theses at the same time. Sherwood’s Professor is, perhaps, much more exacting than Snipe’s. As is Sherwood herself for that matter. Snipe and Sherwood have also been sending agonized thesis-writing texts to each other. Sherwood: *text* “I did a two-way ANOVA which I think technically uses least square means rather than arithmetic means. However, due to mathematical weirdness, some of those means are negative, which makes for some weird graphs. So is it dishonest to graph the arithmetic means with ANOVA results when that’s not what the ANOVA is based on?” Snipe: *text* “. . . I have literally never seen a paper that specified the type of mean it was graphing.” Sherwood: *text* “Maybe I’m overthinking this.” Snipe: *text* “Maybe you are.”

Sherwood, we’ve come so far from sitting in the biostats lab together at our Very Hard Undergrad Institution figuring out Chi Square tests for those squirrel phenotypes. And yet, it feels unnervingly the same. (Except that you are much better than me at stats now.)

#Snipe #I have turned in my thesis now!#And I have cleverly written down the tumblr password this time #I'm just a slacker when it comes to adding to the blog #Sherwood is my hero #She writes her thesis #and writes the blog #and does important life things #all at the same time #You can do it Sherwood!

Snipe has submitted her dissertation to her committee!

She’s on track to defend in two weeks and graduate in August, whereupon she will become Dr. Snipe.

#sherwood is posting this because probably snipe has forgotten the password again #also sherwood likes to brag on snipe #cool by association is a thing #also #congratulations

#also how statistics work #science

Families can be so difficult sometimes. Clones are way easier.

Things that are said during data analysis

#science #grad school #it's true on multiple levels though

Oh yay, only ONE of my things is screwed up! I thought all of them were.

Sherwood’s current dissertation-writing stage

#one thing screwed up is pretty good at this point #also don't believe professors #when they say it will be easy to add new data into your analysis #sure you can just ADD the data #but if you want to do it RIGHT #you may have to redo your entire analysis #which is a problem if you've promised your advisor the complete chapter by the end of the week #just saying

Sherwood’s Young Man: I am not going to bed until I finish writing this research proposal.

Sherwood: I am not going to bed until I finish writing this dissertation chapter.

*high fives of solidarity all around*

#science #get yoself a man that is just as crazy as you? or something #one of the perks (or downsides) of socially isolating is that time has no meaning #except somehow we're still tired in the morning

Scene: It’s 10:30 PM at Sherwood’s house, which means Sherwood is getting ready for bed. She goes into the dining room to find her Young Man staring at his phone, oblivious to the world.

Sherwood:

Sherwood: you’re reading a scientific article aren’t you

Young Man: no!!!!

Young Man: it’s a perspective, not an article

#science #married life #sherwood

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