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Do you love being an architect or is it overrated? | I love it, so much. The work is very fulfilling. Spatial, tectonic, and construction problems are enjoyable to solve; and the marriage of art and function uses both sides of your brain. Contrary to many rumors, I’ve always found great pay and low hours. I’ve been working for nearly 15 years, never had more than 40 hou... | Yes, yes, and yes. However I'm lucky enough to be able to spend my time between teaching, research ,building, and designing and the constant swapping and shifting stresses are things I enjoy. |
Is Drawabox REALLY going to help me draw better? | The point of the lessons is not to create pretty drawings. Its to excercise your brain to think in 3d among other things. The end result is not important. | I would say that it can help you learn to see a lot of information you would not otherwise see. I recommend paying $5 for drawabox cookies to get official critique. Coming from someone that completed all the lessons, I would say myself that I need a lot of work. I think only you have the power to become a better drawer... |
Am I Supposed To Rotate The Paper Each Time I Draw a Line In The Draw A Box Course? | Yes. Uncomfortable mentioned on his videos that it is quite essential at the early stages of your training you perfect drawing a line from a single angle to maximize the speed of your progress. Sadly in my hubris I didn't pay heed to this advice the first time and it delayed my progress by months. Work on these exercis... | I don't rotate the paper a full 90° each time, but I definitely move it (or me) about a fair bit. |
Should I still use the sausage method for drawing legs even if a segment looks like a different geometric shape? | Your eyes can play tricks on you, especially when you're drawing from a photo instead of real life. If you view a sausage at a certain angle it does look straight like a cylinder, but the form is still curved. It helps to look at multiple photos https://i.imgur.com/tahJKFa.jpg In this photo the leg has a clear bend b... | Yes, still use sausage shapes. They will just be long sausages. |
What are some of the more absurd journal article titles you're come across? | You Only Look Once: Unified, Real-Time Object Detection Yes, they called their framework YOLO. https://arxiv.org/abs/1506.02640 | I came across a genetic screening approach called Big Papi yesterday 🤦♀️ |
What is the strangest thing that happened to you during your PhD? | Got bullied for 3 years straight, supervisor knew, confidential advisor knew, everyone knew. After officially transfering to another uni got an email from HR asking me to fill in a satisfaction survey and to include me in their “success stories” | I wrote a NIH career development grant that was supposed to be turned in by the grant office at my university. Months go by and I get some review comments back with scores- they were good but apparently it didn’t get funded. I call NIH program officer that was supposed to be in charge of reviewing my application- they... |
How did universities do hiring, promotion, and tenure before “publish or perish”? | I've heard one senior faculty at a top school brag he's never had to apply to a single job in his life. Back in his day, he was just recommended to jobs by his seniors, who were extremely respected scientists | Supply and demand. The number of people applying for each position is now so much larger, so the competition is tougher. There is also now a lot more employment regulation meaning universities have to prove their hiring practices are fair, so they have to use criteria that have the appearance of objectivity such as ci... |
Why do academics seem to loath their profession? | As a fellow Computer scientist I can tell you it's kinda depressing to be always short of money while everyone else is making enough to retire at 35. I love research I really do, but I love good food and traveling the world. If you can be an academic + a side job, money is not a big problem but you may burn out quickly... | Academia lures very smart people with promises they can research what they love and be recognized for their achievements. But day to day, even the good academic jobs are mostly teaching and administration. The more precarious positions are all that stuff for even less pay. EDIT: grammar. |
Dating struggles as an older phd student...to date or not to date? | Age difference isn't there, you aren't his professor, godspeed. | My wife and I (of 17 years) met when I was a non-traditional undergrad and she was my prof. This is no longer allowed by our university (at the time, we had to set up a plan whereby she didn't grade my work or assign grades, etc.). I'm sure your university has rules to address student-staff or student-faculty relations... |
Why are all geology professors so nice? | hahah I've experienced this phenomenon, I was a geo major. My theory is based on how very aware geologists are of our laughably short presence on the geologic timescale. Maybe once you contemplate your insignificance you have more fucks to give in the "be a decent person" department and fewer in the "People must know ... | Because they... rock. I'll see myself out. |
Positives and benefits of a life in academia? | There are tons of positives. I have loads of flexibility in terms of my schedule and what I work on, I can change projects by writing new grants. I'm not limited by directing my work towards a commercial product. I love my work, my research and my colleagues. The challenges are always the leadership (inept at best, c... | I wouldn't say love but I'm definitely happy with my life in academia at the moment. There are plenty of fun challenges like coming up with creative ways to explore your data. There's literally always more to learn that applies to your work in interesting ways. It is a very conducive environment for personal growth,... |
Does sitting for long hours on an academic job have made negative impacts on your health? | As a student in my early twenties, I ALWAYS regretted the times when I was "too busy" for exercise as it lead to back aches, fatigue, increased stress, etc. Over time, I found that regular exercise was beneficial for my physical and mental health so I highly suggest finding a good routine and sticking to it. Sometimes... | Most campuses have a decent gym and places to go for walks. Don't feel chained to your desk. I was definitely guilty of spending too much time at mine. I got fat, got a bad back, and developed issues with my eyes. I decided to get away from my desk often and use the gym. I've admittedly been less productive but I'd... |
Why is it called a faculty retreat? | no, there was just a typo. it should have read > faculty: retreat! | Just be thankful the organizers haven't announced that "we're calling this an advance, not a retreat, because we're moving forward!" |
Why do people spend up to 6-7 years to finish a PhD in the US, compared 4 years in the UK? | US humanities grad program: three full years of course work after BA, then a year of study for comprehensive exams, then defending dissertation proposal, then 3-4 years of research/writing before a defense...that gets to you eight years. In History-- my field --the actual average is closer to ten years. This is due in ... | Off topic, but this reminds me of a smug someone I met before that thought his 3-year bachelor's degree from the UK was better than my 4-year bachelor's degree. He ended up not getting into a master's program at Ohio State because the university didn't deem his 3-year bachelor's degree to be equivalent to a 4-year US b... |
Do you ever feel too dumb for academia? | Sometimes I don't think people should be allowed to be in academia unless they think they're too dumb for academia, at least on occasion. When I started my PhD I was lucky to follow 10% of the meetings I was in, even the ones about my own project. By the end of my PhD I still could only follow about 70 - 80% of what ... | Firstly, you're not 'dumb' at all. Some people are better at management than others, and it doesn't quite sound like you're getting the support you need to succeed here. Or you might just need more time to adjust to this environment. Keep asking questions, keep learning. Maybe ask for a sit down meeting with your sup... |
Does anyone think universities are going to divide into a North v South* type response to coronavirus in the fall? | I don't know if it's going to be remotely that straightforward. My very liberal small college in a very red northern state, that has done very well with vaccinating so far, has already announced plans to return to on-campus instruction. So far as I can tell there is no vaccination mandate, but surveys of the campus com... | Really depends on what happens this summer and if we can get to universal mask-free indoors by the end of it. I think it's too early to tell, and where I live (Boston) it's still 100% masked the second you step out of your house/car, so there's really no trend toward unmasking yet to extrapolate. |
Has anyone heard through the grapevine what the general trend is going to be for colleges requiring the COVID19 vaccine? | We were told that we couldn't require it because the authorization was currently under an emergency order, vs. whatever process is used for regular vaccines like measles. I know nothing about medical law so have no idea if this is true-- but that's what faculty were told when our reps specifically asked about fall. The... | My guess (worth less than the paper I'm typing on) is that most won't make it a hard requirement for fear of lawsuits and other complications like sorting out individuals who have legitimate reasons not to get it. Instead, it will be highly incentivized. For example, maybe students will be allowed to choose whether... |
anyone have traditions for celebrating their academic successes? | I reward myself with a nice house plant. I have a lucky bamboo from the day I started my masters, a peace lily from the day I finished it, and various other houseplants for times i feel i made significant progress through my PhD so far! | I get myself a more expensive bottle of wine ($15 instead of the normal $10), and a slice of cheesecake, run myself a bubble bath, and switch off all screens for a night. Normally will have a meal with friends/my partner too. Celebrate everything! And congratulations! |
Is a Harvard CV the standard for academia? | I would never reward someone with preference because their CV looks fancy. Hell my advisors CV is barely formatted. Looks like a to do list. | I have never heard of it as Harvard's format. Boring is best. When a student sends a colourful CV, it immediately conveys insufficient mentoring. |
I recently found out my lecturer has been using a free coursera course to teach a course, is that okay? | Yes. There are several free open source text books available. We utilize a few of them at my university for certain classes. For instance, if your professor uses TopHat, all of their textbooks are open source which is why it’s so cheap. All you are paying for is the website with the homework. Also, for most undergra... | What exactly would you like to freak out about. That the source material didn’t cost you anything to have slides? That they they didn’t come from the publisher. That your professor did not sit with a quill and hand write what are standard terms and diagrams etc for this class? What bugs you about it and why |
Academics of reddit, how do you handle ignorance on the part of your partner in romantic relationships? | I don't see how this is particular to academics. Doesn't almost everyone have a SO who isn't as familiar with your own career-subject as you are yourself? | Get your head out of your ass? I'm just as ignorant about what my wife does for a living as she is about mine. We each have our own specialties. |
What quality/thing/event made you accept that person as your PhD student? | I've never recruited a PhD student but I have supervised a lot of students and I've also recruited for a lot of positions including junior ones. It's difficult to fully articulate what makes a good candidate but the thing that makes you choose someone is they inspire confidence in you. You feel this is someone who "g... | It's nothing as small as a single quality or moment. It's the same things everyone is looking for, really, and more or less the same things someone looks for when hiring an employee: Background: * undergraduate and masters degrees (and/or work experience) are appropriate background for the project * can clearly co... |
How to apologize to my professors for chronic absenteeism? | Do your professors know you personally or won't they even recognize your face/name? If so, a very polite and sincere email would be enough in my opinion. Also, I'm sorry about your situation OP, you are very brave and I wish you the best. | I relate to this story so strongly. I, too, became homeless my second semester in college. Along with a lot of family issues, work, and school, I was way overloaded. Mentally and emotionally I crashed. It took some time, but I clearly recovered and succeeded in my goals. Don’t be ashamed of how you feel. Tackle one goa... |
How much choice do you have in where your job is as a professor? | I know one person who got to choose from a variety of offers. Everyone else (including me) went to the one place that hired them. That said, there were certain places I *didn’t apply to because I absolutely did not want to live there. I would have rather gotten no job than those jobs. So in that respect, there’s some... | Very little. |
Why are Continental European universities generally ranked lower than USA and UK ones? | Well… rankings raise an annual controversy in France, and are heavily criticized by the EU in general… I think you nailed the main issues. I am not from humanities, but some tendencies we observe in natural sciences are also valid, I think. I can give you a few arguments, based on my own experience of French "elite" u... | My PhD advisor was European, was given job offers in Europe and the US, and decided to come to the US. There were a few reasons why: -The American universities offered millions of dollars in startup funds. -Graduate student funding was guaranteed through TAing if research funds couldn't cover them. I think it also ... |
Would it be bad for a young PI if their student goes to industry rather than academia? | It is more prestigious for PIs if their students go into academia. But that should have exactly zero impact on what a student decides to do with their life. | I also have a young PI (non-tenure) and most of the students in my lab are not interested in academia. They are pursuing jobs in industry, government, scientific writing, etc. Of course PIs are biased towards academia because that’s what they do but realistically most grad students eventually find a job outside of that... |
How do I tell my supervisor I want to quit? | I have seen a couple of times this situation and the professors have always stayed super cool about the leaving. Just say it the soonest possible and be clear about how much and how long are you willing to help before quitting. For you might be the first time under this dilemma, but for a someone to reach a professorsh... | "Hey, I realized academia is not my thing and I am quitting." |
1 year post-doc with very little to show: How do I recover? | Are you sure it is your fault, and not the position being too demanding? It took me a year to get my first results as a postdoc, and I don't think it is that unusual. Unless your postdoc is in the exact same field as your PhD, it takes some time to come up to speed in your new research area, and if you have moved betwe... | If you are looking for a new position with less than 2 years of postdoc experience, the people hiring you will start off thinking that you and your PI didn't work well together. Could be personality, funding, or research difficulties. You will have to explain it on your next interview. Failing happens in science.... |
What do you wish you knew--about your field, the job market, the costs of doing a grad degree--before you began your PhD program? | There are many success stories. There are some fraud stories. There are very few stories about how common divorce is in grad school, postdoc, the professorship. There are many professors with kids who are wrecks because their parents were too career oriented. There's a lot of mental illness and burnout. Also there'... | PhDs are like MDs are like JDs - don't get one unless you specifically want the job that it trains you for. This sounds really obvious, but getting a PhD because "it sounds interesting" or "I don't know what to do with my life" or "my parents think I should have an advanced degree" are not good reasons to get a PhD. Ph... |
What career options are there if I'd like to teach at a high level and avoid doing research after my PhD? | I'm in a non-tenure but permanent teaching position at a liberal arts college. I teach a 4/4 load. My TT colleagues teach a 3/3. I am not expected to do any research although I can if I want and there is support for it. There is a lot of teaching support. My university is discussing the possibility of making our teachi... | This is field dependent, but any tenure track position at my field is going to require some research, even at community colleges. It may be pedagogical research, or a research program primarily focused on undergrads gaining experience, but it needs to be something. If you don’t want to do no research, then teaching... |
How do you cope with lecturing and teaching the same subject over and over for decades of your life even during times of personal crises? | How do you cope with boring meetings? Or anything that isn't necessarily enjoyable at work (which for most people is most of it). To an extent you switch off a bit; it's easy content. Also lecture content changes, and it's fun to add activities to classes. It's fairly basic education to vary different content types,... | > With lots of students making jokes at you or making bad comments, people yawning, being disrespectful/mocking, interruptions, disturbances etc etc. Doing that for decades I had my first student do that the other day actually! Second class of the year. I think there's a degree of thick skinned//being a bit of a coc... |
What are some words you use everyday that's only used in your field/academia? | Aliquot, aliquot, aliquot. It's such a useful word! Why it isn't more common outside of academia is a complete mystery to me. | Peer and aspirational schools. People are all about what other institutions are doing. Original ideas don't get much traction, but if another school is doing it, well that's something worth thinking about. |
What does "being a scientist" mean to you? | The other comments about the scientific method and figuring out things you don't know are totally correct, but there's a little something I wanted to throw in. It's a job. You will be in the lab (or not, if you're tenured) and have to drudge through little things that are boring or menial, and it will not inspire a ND... | Understanding and applying the scientific method |
"I agree that some serious work is needed...before this manuscript can be considered for publication" -->Meaning? | This is neither an accept nor a reject. It is a “revise and resubmit”. It sounds like some significant effort is required, but it will be worth it, because if you do a good job of it, the paper will likely be accepted. | My intereptation: if you address the majority of their comments it will be considered for publication. There are no guarantees and they may still pull the plug or ask for more after you resubmit. Yellow light imo. I would be cautiously optimistic if I were able to address all of their comments. |
Would it be inappropriate/insensitive to ask my department coordinator to notify me in case of a certain professor's death? | You can always ask to be informed if he ever leaves the university, since you'd like to attend the retirement party. If the coordinator mentions other ways of his "leaving the university" you ask be told of those as well. | Set a Google Alert for his name. When an obit eventually appears, you'll see it right away. |
How do you respond to low quality PhD proposals? | My first PhD proposal (UK social sciences) was bad. Part of the problem was that I simply had no idea of what a PhD proposal should include. Once I got initial (scathing) feedback from one programme I worked hard the following months to improve the proposal, submitted it to a different potential supervisor, and was suc... | Your instinct to be candid about why they don't qualify is right on. Being obscure on that point leaves them perplexed and without a better direction. But doing so kindly and constructively is good for everyone. I've seen the phrase "unlikely to be successful in our program" used in a way to indicate that their needs ... |
How to pursue a PhD without feeling like (being) a massive financial burden to your SO? | I married when I was 20\* and have been married through a lot of seasons of life. I don't feel qualified to give advice on a lot of things but after 14 years and watching countless divorces (military couples divorce constantly and messily), I do feel qualified to talk about this... It is easier said than done but you ... | I personally would not have pursued a PhD without a full scholarship because of this very reason. As supportive as my partner is, I would’ve felt as if I wasn’t progressing, or contributing, and as if I wasn’t able to help save for our future house and children. I didn’t want three years of financial insecurity. |
What Challenges Am I Facing If I Try To Become A Professor After 46? | If you are independently wealthy and have a revenue stream already in place for retirement, then go for it: probably you will struggle more than younger PhDs on the market afterwards, but smaller colleges, CCs, VAPs, etc., will consider you. Econ is a relatively good job market. You’ll be 15-20 years older than most o... | I entered a PhD program in applied economics and there were a few people in their 40s who entered (and finished!) the program. They had to be at least 46 when they finished. So it's definitely doable and I don't think they discriminate on age. I believe they are all going for faculty jobs at R1 schools too (it was a to... |
How common (or possible) is it to defer entry to a PhD program? | I deferred for a year after I was accepted to my PhD program. But it was in 2009 right after the economy tanked so they couldn't offer me funding when I was originally accepted. I deferred for a year, told them I couldn't go if I wasn't funded and then got funding the next time around. In general it's not ideal to defe... | Here, not an option. PhD lines are a fickle beast and profs have grants that need students NOW not later. |
How does grad school affect your romantic life? | We just gave each other false hope that # of publications is correlated to romantic success. It's risky to date someone from the same lab. Or even the same department. | I treated it as a normal job, and I found it not a problem to find anyone to date, etc. |
Chair ghosting me? | It's not unusual for a sabbatical faculty member to be aloof, but to miss deadlines for fellowships and things you need is not acceptable. You need to talk to the DGS, chair of the department, probably the only person that can give repercussions. If the DGS knows what they're doing, they will anonymize this in such a w... | Have you tried talking to your DGS or the chair of your department? |
Committee Members: What percentage of our theses and dissertations do you actually read? | I don't teach graduate students, but I sit on undergraduate honors thesis committees every year. Their projects are shorter-- 100-150 pages typically in the fields in which I work --but we read multiple drafts and provide written feedback each time. It would be extremely unprofessional for anyone to approve/disapprove... | Just the good parts. I kid - I kid. I'll read the whole thing each time I get a draft, but obviously my comprehension varies by section. I won't offer nearly as many comments and suggestions on portions of literature or methods I'm not an expert on. |
How many hours do you work on a regular workday? | Such an interesting question! For a while I used the "Forest" app as a kind of pomodoro technique and turns out the actual productive time is a lot less than one might think. I think on really good days I had about 4-5 hours of only working, although usually less (on an 8hr work day). I was reading some kind of news... | Hi there! I clock my productive hours only and tend to work between 4-6 hours Monday-Friday. Most days this occurs over an 6-8 hour period. I am a ECR lecturer in psych in the UK. |
How do grad students find funding in the humanities? | Most good philosophy PhD programs provide funding for about 5 years out of the BA (typically 2-3 years fellowship and 2-3 years TA). This should include a complete tuition waiver and a reasonable stipend. Coming from an MA, the math would be a bit different, but you shouldn't have to scrounge for cash getting a philo... | I’m funded by the government and my institution, and I do some teaching on top of that. Usually the best way to find funding is to look at where the people you want to work with get money from and see if there’s grad funding to be gotten |
Is it worth it? | Don't do a PhD unless you need one to achieve your goals. If you're not sure what your goals are, don't enter a PhD program until you do. Also, you should *never* go into debt for a PhD. A school that actually wants you in their program should offer you a full tuition waiver plus a small stipend in exchange for you wo... | I (23F) will (hopefully) be starting my PhD this coming fall. The advice I've been given is only do a PhD (or any degree additional to the one you have) if you know that doing a PhD will get you (closer to) the job you'd like to have. For me, my (current) dream job is a research scientist position with the Canadian go... |
Did you make close friendships in grad school? | I'm a non-lab person. I have one friend from grad school. We meet every so often for coffee. I interact with a few others online, but that's it. I think for non-lab people, the experience of a PhD is much more solitary. You write by yourself. You conduct research by yourself. You analyze data by yourself. You te... | Definitely. My entire cohort stays in touch and we make a point to visit when we're in the same town. We've been to (or in) each others' weddings, etc. Several are very good friends. |
Conferences canceled due to Corona virus? | I'm stranded in a country after they cancelled my next conference in Europe. Already exceeded this year's travel budget, so I get to either have a surprise vacation, or I get to pay 630$ out of my own pocket to go home. Haven't decided yet. | I'm scheduled to attend a conference on the west coast of the US during the last week of March - still waiting to hear if it will be cancelled. I've got another one in Oregon in July and I'm wondering if that one might happen as well... |
As a current Ph.D. candidate should I use my university's letterhead for a cover letter for a job application? | People seem to have very different opinions about this and opinions range between "inappropriate" and "mandatory". There was a thread about the same topic recently (but faculty-level application): https://old.reddit.com/r/AskAcademia/comments/9v2bq9/ft_faculty_would_you_apply_for_other_jobs_on_your/?st=jqfm5eal&sh=f754... | When I followed that advice and luckily got accepted on one of my first jobs after PhD, my head of department later commented on how weird it was for my letter to have a letterhead, seeing that officially I was a student and not a faculty member. Thankfully she ignored it and put it down to naivety. This was Australia,... |
How do you deal with a supervisor who changes his mind constantly? | This sounds all too familiar - really sucks that you’re having to go through this. In my experience, that best way to handle it is to prepare some contingencies ahead of time. With the examples you provided, some of the things I would do: 1) For the figure situation, I usually prepare three drafts. One of them is deli... | I had a similar experience with a supervisor and it only became worse as the rotation went on. In the end I had to file a grievance against him bc his constantly shifting expectations were holding up my ability to complete my internship (we had to have 6 reports completed and with a month left of the internship I had c... |
TT Faculty searches volume of apps during COVID? | I’m chair of a psychology search and we had fewer applicants than last year (and definitely fewer than expected). It was initially confusing to me but now I think it makes sense because most of ours were not from other academic jobs but were straight out of a postdoc/grad school. I’m guessing fewer people are willing t... | If they post something very close to the deadline, they may be doing a search where they already have the preferred candidate. Sometimes this is done because immigration procedures are a pain in the you know what. We did a search earlier this year (not in stem), we had many incredibly qualified applicants. |
What keeps someone a professional adjunct for long periods of time, in spite of all of the horror stories? | How can you not see how this happens, it is the sunk cost fallacy in its finest, people want a good job they have aspired to and could easily do but so it is always round the corner. As a person with a Masters the exact same thing has happened to me, I have been looking for a Research Assistant/Research Technician Posi... | So you complete your PhD. You're wanting to get a TT type position. You get offered an adjunct position you take it. All that while you are convinved you are improving your CV and improving your chances of a successful TT application. That contract ends, you can't find a TT post, but another adjunct comes up. You take ... |
Suit for a PhD interview? | I'll add to the others' thoughts and emphasize that whatever you do, whether suit or sweater or something else, make sure that what you wear is something you're comfortable in. Don't wear anything that makes you too warm or that's too tight or just somehow annoying. You want to be completely comfortable so that you don... | Wear the suit. You can always take off the jacket. You probably will be meeting the dean, and they might be from a more formal discipline. |
Is it true that pre-colonial Yoruba culture was genderless? | My wife is Yoruba, and is a Yoruba speaker, so I actually get to hear the language spoken on a day to day basis. As you have said the language itself does not have gendered pronouns, but it is not quite true to say that the language is genderless, as you can still describe someone as male, female, masculine, feminine,... | Dr. Oyewumi has asserted that the relative lack of gendered expressions, and the abundance of age-based expressions with respect to hierarchy and social status, is indicative of a cultural focus on age rather than gender roles. However, it's important to note that a lack of gendered nouns or expressions in a language d... |
Guns, Germs & Steel - can I trust ANY of it?? | ***"The problem isn't just in what Diamond has written, but how it is used and understood, Friedman says***. "People think that when we say these things we are either (a) calling Diamond a racist, or (b) calling them racists for liking Diamond. We are doing no such thing. We are saying that the kinds of environmental a... | I've heard a lot of similar criticism of Guns Germs and Steel on this sub and I think what the guy said in essence is Jared Diamond isn't qualified in any way as an anthropologist to write such a text. His actual background is in geography and from what I understand this seeps into the work because of the overemphasis ... |
I'm going to be leaving for fieldwork in French Polynesia at the end of this month and will be staying with a host family for a month--does anyone have any recommendations as to gift ideas for my host family? | I did fieldwork in Polynesia (Samoan islands) and cases of corned beef (usually brands from New Zealand) were popular for gifts to hosts and generally to friends or family members. I also brought things that were harder to find that my host family really appreciated, like homemade canned plum jam/preserves (from my fam... | I’ve found, on other pacific islands with perhaps less affluence than French Polynesia, that they really appreciate things they can also gift and share. For instance:in Fiji people really appreciated chapstick(I brought a multipack with spf to give to accommodation workers outside the main island), in raro they absolut... |
My toddler is obsessed with trains: What occupies young children's imaginations in pre-industrial societies? | There are very few writings from Ancient Rome about the daily life and thoughts of children and almost none focused on those under seven when they would start to socialize. But it should be safe to assume that children could be obsessed with anything you can think of. There weren't trains and airplanes, but there were ... | Not exactly answering your question but I just covered this in my modern European history class. What we consider a “normal” childhood now, with toys, games, etc wasn’t really a concept until the Enlightenment era and during that time period it was restricted to the upper class. Before that, at least in Europe, kids we... |
In Neolithic Europe (let’s say around 4,000 BCE) Do we have any indication of men/women performing outside of their roles? | Just wanted to add that not all hunter-gatherer societies adhered to the Man-the-hunter hypothesis. Women hunted too, and were also buried according to rituals that were reserved for hunters or warriors. I think in short it if fair to say that every society has its gender roles, but those roles are always (to some exte... | Be wary of now-ism. There's a fascination with contemporary notions of transgression, the most we can say is that gender roles were substantially consistent, with occasional exceptional examples. . . . to find a woman in a grave with weapons and armor doesn't necessarily imply a pattern of behavior. Consider the exampl... |
Some questions about Neanderthals So, forgive me if this is the wrong subreddit but I think this is the closest place to somewhere I can ask these questions? | Neanderthals were a bit shorter, barrel-chested, and had stockier limbs. Estimates of strength & athletic ability are going to be educated guesses. But based on the evidence from their bones, the average Neanderthal probably wouldn’t have been able to run as fast or for as long as a modern human. But they likely would ... | The other stuff in your post I am not necessarily an expert in. However, about their intelligence it is insane to think they didn't have language. If you are interested about linguistics in archaic humans I highly suggest checking out Daniel Everett on this topic. Everett and others have shown that even Homo Erectus mu... |
Have most cultures valued precious metals and gems roughly the same? | It’s dependent mostly on the socio-cultural beliefs of a given society and how those beliefs shape their values. Some hold no value in metal and gemstones, others do. It’s also dependent on what type of economic system a society uses to facilitate the exchange of goods and services. Not all societies use money obviousl... | This podcast episode makes a good focused argument for why gold is a logical choice to base value upon, although it’s not the most explicitly anthropological approach. Besides that, pretty (eg sparkly or colourful) things catch the eyes of both humans and non-humans (like birds) as being attention getting and special,... |
How come there are so many mentions of giants in ancient texts? | Dinosaur fossil bones could be interpreted as giants and monsters. Thesis of this book on the classical world: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9435.html | > There has to be an explanation for this stuff with firm grounding in scientific fact, right? Not necessarily. I'm no expert in this topic, but coincidence mixed with theoretical evolutionary psychology could explain many separate ancient cultures' similarities. But this is in no way scientific fact. |
Outlets for angry young men in traditional societies? | Is it viable to presuppose that "angry young men" is an innate disposition in males? I'm not even sure it makes sense to talk about angry young men today, but what we might identify as such could be explicable in terms of the historical development of capitalism towards fewer, less secure jobs or the pressures of (po... | This is a really broad question. The way I would approach it is by looking at rites of passage for puberty in males, many of which involve extreme violence. For example "crocodile" scarification in Papua New Guinea among the Kaningara, or both sexes in the Hamar tribe of Ethiopia. A quick search for "violence & rit... |
Why do humans have a longer lifespan than other primates (and all other land mammals, for that matter)? | It's been hypothesized that because of how social humans are, it was advantageous to have older members of the community alive to contribute knowledge and help for things like child rearing, food sources, etc. leading to increased fecundity and survival of children and grandchildren. You might find it interesting to r... | We have a low extrinsic mortality rate that allows us to have a slower more protracted life history (with higher investment in offspring): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6223763/ |
What are some good documentaries about the history of human civilization? | You need to look at lectures, because documentaries are generally dramatized. The Teaching Company has so much good content. Of course youtube has great stuff. Just search for topics + lecture. Say you're interested in the transition between the paleolithic and neolithic.There are a FEW easily digestible youtube c... | Honestly I wish I could recommend something - and perhaps it's out there - but almost everything I have seen that tries to do something like this has made me (as an archaeologist) extremely angry haha Even stuff with solid production value and large audiences (e.g. The Histocrat) has, from what I've seen anyway, relie... |
Is guns germs and steel worth reading? | I would highly recommend Walter Scheidel's *Escape from Rome: The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity* (2019). It seeks to answer a similar question of why western Europe, and not some other place, entered the rapid phase of development that allowed it to gain global dominance. His central thesis is that what ... | No. |
What text can improve my understanding of the daily lives of people that live on the streets or in extreme poverty (in a big city)? | I like Flammable and think it's good -- I suppose it depends what specific you're trying to understand. Flammable is mostly about how residents of a polluted area live with that pollution. If that sounds helpful, it's definitely a book worth reading. The first recommendation that came to mind hearing you're a doctor i... | you're lucky that you have regular access to the people you want to learn more about. are you able to sit down with them and talk? have a tea and connect with them? |
Do we have any evidence (or educated conjecture) about when or why people started changing clothes for sleep? | Practically speaking: cold climates, if you wear your day clothes to bed and then get up and go outside you're gonna freeze. Also, you need *dry* clothing, not sweaty clothing, or you're gonna freeze. Our migration to colder climates probably influenced this behavior significantly. | You might get a better answer to this question in r/AskHistorians. You would need to reframe the question in terms of which cultures or societies have a history of separate or specialized clothes for sleeping, and what do we know about that history. It's not like all humans used to do it one way then then we all swi... |
Why did we start measuring time? | First measurements of time were to make sure you knew when to plant crops. Babylonians had a base sixty system, and the fact that they initially measured the year to be 360 days is still with us culturally: There are 360 degrees in a circle. | It's worth noting that a wide variety of animals and plants measure time. This is necessary for their reproduction, and daily activities, among other things. - https://phys.org/news/2017-03-scientists-animals-year.html - https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(06)02136-1.pdf - https://www.cam.ac.uk/re... |
In cultures where names come directly from that culture's own language, do members of those culture actively recognize the meaning when they encounter the name? | When you meet a girl named Angel, do you immediately think of an angel? Or when you meet a Victor, do you think about conquest? (Even though I'm aware both Angel and Victor are Latin derived words, the words also have common English meanings.) Your brains are very adept at segmenting words into their contextual usag... | Well, English names aren't even that different in this sense either, it's just that in North America most people don't speak the language of their own paternal ancestry. I would say even recognizing "Christian names" would count as people being able to often instantly recognize the "etymology." It's not as if other cul... |
Why does it seem pedophilia is most common in males? | I not sure about anthropology sources, but what I remember for psychology is pedophilia is sexual interest in 4-12ish range. Younger is neophilia attraction to infants which is more common in women apparently, but very rare. There are three kinds of pedophilias 1) opportunist, those who prefer sex with adults but will ... | Truthfully, I don't think I'd be suprised either way, but can you show me some kind of statistic showing the premise of this question is valid in the first place? Do we actually know that female paedophilia is less common? I tried some quick searches to see if I could even find any legitimate journalism or scholarly ... |
What motivated the inuits to Stay in the "icy desert"? | That could be asked of many groups: Why do the Tuareg live predominantly in the Sahara? Why do the Saami live in the artic tundra? Why do the Diné (Navajo) live in the high deserts? Ancient cultures are complex. Their lifestyles, mores and folkways, spirituality are intimately tied to the environments they inhabit. ... | There are a couple of different ways to think about this question. The simplest way is to remember that moving to better climates would mean either having to compete with whoever lived there, or hope that the people there would allow you to join their group. But I am not sure that is the whole answer. Groups living ... |
What does cultural anthropology have to say about cults, aka, new religious movements (NRMs)? | I would love to talk more about this. I am a sociologist but trained in both Soc and Anthro. I have recently begun dipping into this literature but I have not gotten too far. I share exactly the same concern you do about the category of NRM's, and I am learning a lot from Lalich (who I am still reading). I don't ha... | What to call them is frankly still a bit of a debate but NRMs is a good term to get your started. New Religions Studies is the interdisciplinary field that connects a lot of this research. This book is about ten years old but might be a good grounding: Hammer, Olav, and Mikael Rothstein, eds. The Cambridge companion... |
How come European Anthropologists refer to African people as tribes or tribal? | I have a Masters in Anthropology. I would not use the term tribe if I have the choice. Tribe has a specific meaning which does not apply to all African groupings. To use it as a blanket term is inaccurate and the word has developed into a negative referent in the minds of many users of the term. | Each of the European examples you've given have been called tribes by anthropologists and historians in the past, it's just that they no longer fit the description. With the exception of extinct Gaul, the Irish, Scots, English and Germans have all formed nation-states based on their ethnicity. None of your African exam... |
Are there any good books on Apache culture? | Keith Basso's ethnographic work is pretty stellar, although he is not Apache himself. His book *Wisdom Sits in Places* is a classic for a reason. | I highly suggest a book called 9 Years Among the Indians by Herman Lehmann. Herman was kidnapped as a child and raised by the Apache. Later he joined with the Comanche and became an adopted son of Quanah Parker. It is a fascinating read as it's told completely from Hermans own perspective. Laconic and violent I would d... |
Why are there separate language groups and language isolates? | Let's put this question into perspective a bit. Languages are constantly evolving and borrowing and changing and dying, but the oldest reconstructed language, proto-Afro-Asiatic, the ancestor of Arabic, Hebrew, and a number of languages in northern Africa, was spoken around 12,000 years ago. Before then, no one has any... | One thing to consider is that there exist languages which are known for a fact to be true isolates and genetically unrelated to any other languages. The best-known example is Nicaraguan Sign Language. Wikipedia also lists a few other examples here |
The evolutionary reasons for different skin colours make intuitive sense, but what about different hair textures? | Not everything has a clear evolutionary benefit. Some traits just sort of arbitrarily become selected for, either through random chance (genetic drift, founder effect like /u/kkokk mentioned) or because people subjectively found them more attractive (sexual selection). | Hair texture has a lot to do with climate. Kinky, curly hair evolved in hot, humid climates to keep people cool, whereas straight hair evolved in cooler climates. Think of the natives people of sub-Saharan Africa. They have extremely curly hair. Now think of the Inuit of Alaska. They have straight hair. Climate has... |
Second Career Anthropologists I looked in the career thread and didn’t see much about it, but I’m wondering if anyone has experience as or have heard of any second career Anthropologists? | I started as an archaeological field tech in the southeast and mid-Atlantic, moved up to technical writer via independent research and work. After 5 years I am now a tribal legal advisor/analyst who works on compliance in California. It takes independence and a LOT of drive. | Idk about second career, but the research, critical thinking and social framework skills anth/soc folks have are sought after in local government, urban planning, recreational planning, private and public environmental sectors and even the army corps of engineers to help in multidisciplinary team projects. In my experi... |
How advanced could Neanderthals have been? | One of the prevail hypothesis about Neandertals is that they weren't necessarily less intelligent than homo sapiens, but that they were ill suited for the rapidly changing climate surrounding them. Neandertalis were larger and more muscular and they had massive calorie requirements. That's a disadvantage in a world wh... | So, I'm going to preface by saying I don't know historical specifics, how ever if you'd like an anthropological author to reference and get ideas from, Jean Auel wrote a series starting with Clan of the Cavebear, and it goes into FANTASTIC detail about mundane detailed of ancient peoples, especially the Neanderthals. T... |
Do you think the current religious beliefs around the world will be practiced 5000 years in the future? | First of all, classic anthropology isn't a discipline that is based on predicative models. Especially American anthropology -- which was in large part created by Franz Boas largely to "salvage" sources of indigenous knowledge, wisdom, and cultural aspects in hopes of creating a repository of data that could one day be... | Syncretism all but guarantees that they will look almost nothing like they do today. |
Why do some recipes improve with age, while others decline? | What abgreat question! Followong along to see the answers. I recently made old fashioned Dutch pepernoten and taaitaai and they also tasted a lot better after 2 or 3 days... i had the same happen with a rumcake from Ottolengi his book Sweet. Very curious why this is for some recipes, while others are better eaten whe... | Brownie (at least the recipe I've been using) gets better with age too 😍 |
How do so many dessert places (donut shops, cake shops, etc) use whipped cream decoration without refrigerating it? | Yeah, this is a great observation. It reminds me of this scene from “The Founder,” a film about the origin of McDonald’s. The concern is franchises are unable to turn large profits because their ice cream milk shakes use real ice cream. Thus, their most salient ingredient needs to be refrigerated, but the operation... | Cornstarch. |
Home cake bakers: How do you deal with customers that won’t settle on a cake design after days of back and forth? | I would narrow it down with a required form. Ex: they reach out to you, saying “I want a bday cake” You respond with a form with multiple choice. Shape 1 tier, 2 tier, etc. Size (including how many the sizes feed) Flavor Filling (optional) Frosting You can offer base pricing and say “+3.00” or “+5.00” etc for ce... | Not a cake designer, but a designer of digital things with a love for baking, and, yeah.. i feel like this is universal about “design” of anything If I can give any advice on how to handle it as soon as they _do_ figure out what on earth they’re looking for: make sure it’s agreed upon, up until the finest of details, ... |
Cheesecake Tips How do you prevent a NY cheesecake from cracking? | Wrap it aluminum foil and use a water bath. Another thing that can help is to turn off the oven a bit earlier and leave it in the oven to gradually cool on its own for an hour or so before removing it | 2 things I’ve always done: Water bath. I put the cheesecake in its typical cake pan, then I wrap the outside of the pan really well with foil (I use a springform pan so it’s not like water tight hence the foil) to prevent any water seeping in. Then I fill a very large roasting pan with water and put the cheesecake i... |
Does anyone bake with Marijuana? | If you have a sous-vide precision cooker, I’d recommend this method. You’d have to look up the exact temperature, but there are some simple articles about it. But you can do your decarb easily and smell-free as well as your cooking fats. I use a blend of butter and coconut oil, as this works in most baked goods and thc... | r/treedibles |
How do you keep your stuff organized? | I'm a professional chef & baker, I keep everything in mechanics tool chests as they're lockable, have handy drawers and are really easy to transport from gig to gig. | Are you me? I've been putting my cookie cutters, food coloring, piping bags & tips, all in separate ziplock bags and then throwing the into my big baking bin. That way the like items are somewhat together. |
What could I make with 3-4 bananas that’s NOT banana bread Last year, I made banana bread so much that I’m actually so sick of making it, but my family keeps requesting it still😭 Does anyone have any idea of what to make with it? | Bravetart has a cinnamon roll recipe that uses mashed banana in the dough. It has only a faint banana taste, but makes it very fluffy. I love it. | For Christmas, our family makes banana cookies with brown butter icing. They're so good! Let me know if you want the recipe. |
What's the best icing to frost a chocolate cake? | Boiled icing or Marshmallow buttercream. Super fluffy, doesn’t melt easily. When I made a unicorn rainbow cake for my goddaughter, I put the cake into the freezer to set, then made a 2x batch of frosting, divided it into 7 bowls, used gel coloring to make ROYGBIV frosting batches. Then I used white frosting to put a cr... | Swiss meringue butter cream is lovely also. |
Smooth apple pie filling? | I have a cookbook with a recipe for smash apple pie, which grates the apples for the filling. I imagine that would help with your texture issue! | https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/9545/mock-apple-pie/ My mom always talks about her mom making this. No apples included. |
How do you get cookies to look pillowy/glossy? | There are these evil creatures called "food stylists" who make a living by deceiving you. They're the ones who replace glasses of milk with glasses of Elmer's glue because it looks whiter on the screen. There's no guarantee what you're seeing is even real or was made following the recipe. At best, they pick the best sp... | Lots and lots of sugar |
Chinese Pastry Cookbook? | Not sure about a cookbook but this recipe is fantastic. My first time making them was a success!! Cantonese Egg Tarts https://youtu.be/El0QqbL4CW4 | I like Woks of Life and Just One Cookbook blogs for Chinese and Japanese recipes. Woks of life does quite a few pastry and bread recipes and I used their recipe for egg tarts and puff pastry. |
Any way to make pie four days before serving? | Lemon icebox pie. Freezes amazingly, or key lime pie | you could make chocolate cream pie. pick a recipe that uses baker's unsweetened chocolate added at the end and make sure to cook the custard completely so it won't weep. use a homemade cookie crust and bake it nice and crisp. the crust will get a little soft but it's still delicious that way. if you want to decorate... |
Why aren't compound butter pie crusts a thing? | Friend of mine made me a quiche with savory herb compound butter crust once. Was fucking amazing. | As some have mentioned, I can imagine how there could be problems with something like garlic or citrus zest affecting the quality of the butter. Still, I feel like even if that was the case, it likely wouldn't be noticeable enough to make it not a worthwhile thing to experiment with. I honestly think you should go for ... |
What does sour cream do for cakes? | It is used in very specific recipes, you cant add it to any cake. So different cakes use different tecnhiques and that achieves different textures. Like the Genoise sponge only has eggs, sugar and a little flour. I use those for big buttercream cakes because the sponge is very light which contrasts nicely with buttercr... | Sour cream gives cake more moisture without making the batter too thin. It also adds more fat content resulting in a creamier batter and tastier cake. Sour cream has a slight acidity that helps activate baking powder for leavening. I wouldn’t just throw it into any batter, instead find a recipe that already had sour cr... |
Can I be Baker even tho I'm not that good at baking? | > Sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something. -Jake the dog Though, seriously, I don't think knowing a skill is (or at least shouldn't be) a prerequisite for going to school to learn that skill. | Don’t just go to tasty. Go to sites that will explain why the recipe works as well as have great recipes. My go to for free recipes are serious eats and King Arthur I also have learned a ton from cooks illustrated but it’s a paid site. You can probably find their magazine or cook books at your library. As well as so ... |
Help with decorating skills I want to improve my decorating skills, do you know if is worthy to take class of that but online? | It depends on your learning needs. Videos are great if you’re a self starter snd just need practice, classes usually mean more one on one time with specified direction. Definitely invest in some dummy cakes, parchment paper, and some cheap frosting to practice with. I highly recommend starting by writing in cursive rep... | to start maybe watch erin mcdowell’s piping and cake decoration videos on youtube! |
Advice on flavor profile for a lavender cake Hey guys, My friend wants me to make her an earl grey/lavender cake with honey So I wanted to try out an earl grey lavender cake from preppy kitchen preppy Kitchen Lavender Cake I have lemon jam and I was thinking of adding lemon jam in between layers or a lemon curd? | Hahaha I have something very similar to this planned for this weekend! I'm doing: Earl Gray cake Lavender/earl gray syrup soak Lemon curd filling Vanilla SMBC Loosely following this recipe. https://livforcake.com/earl-grey-cake/ Mine is a lot less heavy on lavender and doesn't have honey, though | I would think that you have to be careful with how strong to make the lemon flavor to avoid it completely overwhelming the more subtle flavor of lavender. |
Can frosting or butter creams that contain milk/heavy cream stay out at room temp for multiple days? | It's fine! We use an American Buttercream at work (butter, powdered sugar, half and half and flavoring) and leave it out at room temp for over a week. Once, many years ago, the health inspector questioned the safety, so the owner sent it out to a lab for testing and they OKed leaving it at room temp! | It is dependent on the recipe and other ingredients. As a general rule it may be safe but factors like sour cream, lemon juice, or other acids as well as the sugar content would be important to know. The reason sugar matters is because it is hygroscopic and binds water. This binding of water prevents it from being “ava... |
How do you prepare your cookie dough? | Pro baker here. 90% of the cookies we make go in the fridge until the next day. It stops them from spreading to much and I think they taste better if they've rested. | I agree with the others about letting it rest (I do at least 30 minutes up to overnight). I also like to brown the butter (adds more flavour) and use cut chocolate chunks instead of chips. |
Ideas for a sympathy basket of baked goods? | Lovely gesture. My 2 cents would be to throw in something on the nutritious side, or at least a bit less sweet - bread, biscuits, oatmeal cookies/muffins, crackers (with cheese?). If he’s receiving lots of baked goods from loved ones, there’s a good chance he’ll have lots of sweets around and could use some variety. | I would stick to what you know he loves - your banana bread, maybe a couple loaves so he can freeze 1 (or 2). Some coffees and/or teas to accompany that and your gift card IMHO is perfect. This is so sweet of you. |
Let's talk vanilla What's is you favorite vanilla to use in most desserts? | I use Costco vanilla because it's so cheap I feel fine dumping massive quantities into food. Sorry, I'm pathetic. But I really do this. I raised two boys, lived through the teenage boy years where they would eat massive quantities of ANYthing, and never recovered from the "quantity not quality" methods of cooking. | I make my own. Vanilla beans, warm vodka, sterilized long neck bottles, a few weeks in the back of the pantry. |
Filled brownies Hi, I want to filled my brownies with Nutella or sometting like that, but I want to know if it bakes ok or it will be better to filled the brownies with cream after they are cooked ? | You can split the batter like the other commenter suggested, or you can dollop and swirl it on the top. For non-brown fillings, it gives a nice swirling pattern. | Do layers. Split the batter in half, lay down the filling, then put the other half of the batter on top. |
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