#carbonqt

[smilesandvials]

carbonqt replied to your post:My early childhood crushes were… Alton Brown ...

I still have a crush on Alton Brown

Same. Can't help it. Unfortunately, not a huge fan of contest type cooking shows so less of a fan of Chopped but man Good Eats (a selection of) is back on Netflix it's gonna be good break.

[justscienceseeker0602]

music tag!

I was tagged by shychemist ! :) 

Playlist on shuffle; list ten songs you come across!

Come Around- M.I.A feat. Timbaland

Talk Dirty to Me- Jason Derulo feat. 2 Chainz

Teqkilla - M.I.A. feat. Nicki Minaj

Wings- Little Mix

No Angel- Beyonce

Love Sex Death- Fall Out Boy

Shit Song- Kate Nash

Miss Missing You- Fall Out Boy

Trucker Hat- Bowling for Soup

Boom Skit- M.I.A.

I didn't even have to cheat! lol These are all excellent songs and v. representative of my taste. 

I'll  tag fatwasandfanboys , scienceshenanigans, carbonqt, greatestprairiechicken, and smilesandviles

[smilesandvials]

Hi! I noticed that your hair is dyed purple and that you also work in a lab setting. Are your supervisors ok with your color choice? Have you ever been asked to change it? I want to dye my hair an unnatural color but I worry about the "professionalism" I must uphold when looking for jobs/research in a lab setting. Thanks!

I've never had anybody in charge of me comment negatively on anything about my personal appearance in lab, no. My advisor, who is very cool in many ways (and much younger as far as social issues than his generation is), actually seems to enjoy my hair color changes -- the only thing I actually remember him doing is saying, "It's purple now!" and then smiling and wandering off to do whatever. I was even sent to a research grant information session (along with two graduate students) to represent our professors (who were in DC and Europe, respectively) at the time. We discussed professional clothing choices, business card etiquette, and handshaking techniques beforehand, and I was asked what I was wearing but they never asked me to change my hair for it (it was bright blue at the time). (See here.) I typically wear much brighter make-up (glitter!) on presentation days, nobody has ever commented on that either (it helps me have confidence when speaking). Overall, I would say that in my experience, people who work in lab settings tend to look however they want to look. One of our grad students has hair down to his lower back (always in a bun in lab, but as far as men's hair goes, you can tell it's super long). One of our grad students streaked his naturally black hair with bleach-blonde highlights right before his thesis defense. (My hair was a red-purple color with blonde streaks at the time, too.) I've seen guys just straight up covered in tattoos never covering them up, nobody seems to say anything. I've seen professors in lab with shirts bearing beer logos or Led Zeppelin shirts that look like they're really from the 70s (and probably are). We have a professor who is in a metal band who has the hair to go with, ponytail, everyday. 

I think in lab, dress code is really a matter of safety first. Secondly, is coming off like you know what you're talking about and can communicate well. Professionalism seems to come much later.HOWEVER, my lab is in a university setting which is going to typically be significantly more liberal than a for-profit or company lab, but I have entered the professional world expressing myself the way I do. I think things are starting to change a little bit in regards to what kinds of alternative are okay. For example, my friend works at a company that is 100% business - office, accounting, travel, meetings, handshakes, company cars - but many of his coworkers have pink/purple/green hair. I am going to ask my committee if they believe I should go back to something natural-colored before my undergraduate thesis defense but I suspect it won't matter. In the end, it is just hair and it is very, very, very easy to dye over it in a pinch. (I've been dying my hair since I was 14 so this is all kind of old-hat to me). You could cover it if you had to or dye it once you scoped out the attitude of the company/lab. 

[preppybiologist]

carbonqt replied to your post:What blogs are your favorites so that I can follow more cool blogs like yours? :)

Thank you!

Of course! Good luck with your search for awesome science :)

[preppybiologist]

What blogs are your favorites so that I can follow more cool blogs like yours? :)

thanks! some of my favorites (in no particular order):

sweetteascience

stemettes

mo-mtn-girl

parttimebiologistfulltimeninja

markscherz

s-c-i-guy

eternalacademic

buggirl

radioactivepigeons

femscinerd

If you guys have any to add, go for it!

[sciencetylia]

Hello! If you don't mind me asking, what made you decide to become a feminist? Applause to you!

I can't say exactly.

I had good parents growing up, and I have a little sister. That may have factored into it.

I think a lot of it, though had to do with the fact that I have had few friendships in my life. I was never really into strong friendships with people where casual misogyny can develop. Because I was alone a lot of the time in school, I watched people a lot and noticed their behaviours.

My shyness likely played a large part. I would be over cautious of how I thought the world would view me. So because of this I thought a lot about my actions, what I would wear and how I was perceived. This lead to applying this to other people.

I was heavily bullied in middle school. I believe this made me more aware of misogynic comments and insults people (a lot of put downs and insults were aimed at making other men seem feminine). As a result of my bullying I became very concerned when I felt other people were bullied or victims of 'injustice' like I was. I'm not only a feminist, I'm very finely tuned to other instances of injustice such as politics, racism and income inequality.

On personality tests I always score highly on the judging category. So I think I've always been very attuned to things which I view as wrong or injustices of society.

Thank you. :)