I don't know if I'm unable to read in general, if I'm unable to understand what you write in specific, if you are unable to read (either in general or what I write in specific), or if it's something else all together. But there is a great incongruity between what I think I said I what I think you think I said.
My god, you are an unbelievable ☺☺☺☺☺☺☺. Don't you see...I took the most basic problem you face and made it your only problem. Every other problem you face after that one is inconsequential. Why over complicate things with vaguery when the simplest answer is almost always the best.
I don't see my credibility in debates to be my most basic problem. In the context of this whole conversation, I'd define the most basic problem of mine to be one of choosing a course of action that I will be at peace with. The closest you came to advice in that regard is, "Even though you rationalize it with, 'They would be so-and-so even if I weren't there.' you are still taking part in something you strongly disagree with." Maybe that was your main advice, in which case my earlier analysis of your advice is wrong, but it read to me as more of an aside than anything.
Here's an idea...if you seem to have an issue with something that you clearly already have an answer to, don't come in here for advice, you arrogant ☺☺☺☺! I offer you, what I believed was, sound advice and you take it and wipe your crack with it.
I did not have an answer to my quandary when I posed it to the thread, and I have no idea where you got that idea. I thought about it, read the posts, and then made a decision. What more did you want from me?
In a horrible coincidence, or maybe an expected result, I had an interesting dream last night. In the dream, I had, for some reason that the dream may not have stated, and if it had that I then have since forgotten, set aside my veganism for a day. I found myself eating first a salad covered in cheese. Then some soup that had in it four shrimp. I had a few spoonfuls of the soup, and then I ate of the shrimp. Halfway through chewing the shrimp, I spit it out and set the soup down. And then the dream ended as I was awoken by my cat having knocked over the garbage can in the bathroom. What it all means, or if it means anything, I know not. But I thought it was interesting nonetheless.
I have to say, I was hoping for some responses with a little more subtlety in them. In particular, I find JJ's point to be a little absurd. To imply that the only downside to me attempting to get the job would be that I might be seen as a hypocrite when I try to argue in the defense of animal rights is, in my opinion, such an oversimplification as to be humourous.
Ultimately, I've made my decision this morning and I'm not going to interview for the position. I still haven't defined the line of if doing the work would be right or wrong, as it's a very complex issue that is not easily settled. But I have decided that regardless, I would be uncomfortable with the work, and that would not make me as effective as worker as I should be, and would not be fair to the employer. Did I make the right decision? I don't know that question could ever be answered definitively, but I am feeling confident that I made the right decision for myself.
And with that I return you all to your regularly scheduled morality-neutral banter.
If you have concerns about working with animals (rabbits in the case) then this is not the job for you. The goal of this position is to create albumin stents for testing in rabbits. While it is possible that you would not need to attend the actual surgeries themselves, everything that you would be doing would be supporting such activities.
On the one hand, I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable doing that. I know I wouldn't be able to actually directly work with the animals.. On the other hand, I need a job, and this would pay five times what I'm piecing together now. And there is a certain logic that this work is going to be done regardless of if I'm there or not. So yeah, I'm still not sure what to do here. Anyone have any thoughts?
It's probably a scam trying to get you to respond w/ personal info.
That's what I thought at first too, but I'm pretty confident I did apply for it. And being a research position at a university, well, that's generally not the type of thing they'd scam.
I've sent an email asking for a little more information, namely if the research is past the working on animals stage and on to human subjects or not. We'll see what happens shortly I imagine, as the original email wanted an interview on the 11th-13th.
In the meantime, I just in this past hour got another tutoring job. Two hours scheduled for this Tuesday, and probably (not counting unhatched chickens and all) another 1-2 hours every week for the next few months. Let's hear it for slowly working up to financial solvency!
Anyone else find it odd that the clan thread has had more activity today than the last 2 two weeks combined?
Well, things are starting to look less desperate. Enough so that ethics need not be wantonly sacrificed. I'm on track to make almost $500 from tutoring this month, plus at least $300 for this website once I get it done. That's almost enough for a month's worth of living expenses! Sure a full time job that would earn me 2,400 a month and comes with benefits would be nice, but I'm not in as much risk of living out of my car if I don't get it.
I suppose I misunderstood your comment though. And this is after reading it twice. Either you were being more subtle than you thought, or I'm not just not thinking well today.
Also, you called me by three different names in the last post. Indecisive much?
I just got an email asking me to come in for an interview. Just two problems. The first is that I have no recollection of applying for this job. I don't doubt that some point I did, but there's still something disconcerting about having sent out so many applications that you can't even recognize a job if an interview is offered to you.
The second (and more difficult) problem is that I might find the work ethically wrong. I'll have to read more about it and do some thinking, but it's not a great position to be in.
EDIT: I'm starting to question if I even applied for this thing. I can't find an email of me sending them my resume, and their website seems wholly unfamiliar to me.
DOUBLE EDIT: More digging shows that I have indeed been to the website before (it has a log in system for job applications, and it seems I did have an account on it). Now I'm worried about why I can't remember any of this.
Huh, I must have missed that part. In my defense, I do recall being distracted by other things going on during the last 20 minutes or so. But the movie had a plot that was at least average, attempted and generally succeeded at characterization, stayed well within the rules it defined at the outset, and the camera work was excellent. I never claimed it was a masterpiece, though I found it thoroughly enjoyable (the ice thing excepted).
Wait, when did I say you had to be a physicist to criticize things? Never, that's when. I just commented that it seems like the makers of that movie had an active goal of trying to annoy us is all.
I normally don't care enough to bother pimping my webcomic, beyond the incredibly crappy banner in my signature, but I thought I'd share my latest as it's relevant to the topic at hand. So here it is, three panels on my opinion of Avatar.
And though I didn't like Avatar and abhorred Transformers 2, I thoroughly enjoyed GI Joe, so no claiming I just can't enjoy movies of this genre.
Chris, the themes were used in Day After Tomorrow? I wasn't aware that film even had themes other than "lets see how much we go to annoy any physicists who may be watching."
The film has depth. In the same way an inflatable kiddy pool does. Sure, that makes it better than the result of someone hosing down the sidewalk, but some of us wanted an Olympic diving pool.
Ok, that metaphor done, I found it to be pretty, but that's about it. Beyond that, I found it infuriating. It could have been good, but then it wasn't. As I watched it, I kept seeing opportunities for it to have done something good, and then I saw it not do that thing. This lasted all the way through the film to the final, predictable an hour earlier, and too rushed to have any meaning, scene.
Needless to say, I wasn't impressed. Thankfully both Moon and (500) Days of Summer came out on Blu-ray recently. Not that I can afford them, but it means that I've been able to "acquire" some good versions to rewatch while Hollywood leaves me without anything else.
Happy New Years everybody!!!! Can you believe it? Been five years when we signed in to salvation in our exodous from News. I recall the journey as quite harrowing as I had been slightly less active for the tumultuous political storm that drove us away. How time flies in our virtual lives...
My family held strong to our traditions this year. Tried watching the countdown performances on the TV but complained incessently about how all the shows are nothing but commentary and commercials...then 20 minutes before midnight we finally decided to watch the fireworks on the strip and in a mad rush/panic we gathered everything and drove to a park that oversees the strip at a distance and caught glimpses of the firework storm going on. Ah traditions, where would we be without them.
Progressing as a culture?
Has it really only been 5 years? I could have sworn it was six. That somehow makes my life feel less like a failure.
I have one which I also love, even though I haven't plugged it in in years. It really makes for the perfect way to drain tofu though. Stick a 5 pound weight up in the bun warmer, and it'll apply even pressure along the entire block, letting the water run out and into the sink.
It's interesting that I've become so jaded so quickly, but I can't read these posts about what people got for presents and think "nice" or "you made out well" anymore like I used to be able to do years ago. It's weird to think about it, but I think I'm over the whole idea of commercialized Christmas. Not sure when that happened.
In completely unrelated news, I spent over 33% of my food stamp money this month on tea. I'm starting to think that this is not what they were meant for. Thankfully I have enough actual food, in part thanks to a 7 pound spaghetti squash I got at Trader Joe's for $1.79.
I don't see my credibility in debates to be my most basic problem. In the context of this whole conversation, I'd define the most basic problem of mine to be one of choosing a course of action that I will be at peace with. The closest you came to advice in that regard is, "Even though you rationalize it with, 'They would be so-and-so even if I weren't there.' you are still taking part in something you strongly disagree with." Maybe that was your main advice, in which case my earlier analysis of your advice is wrong, but it read to me as more of an aside than anything.
I did not have an answer to my quandary when I posed it to the thread, and I have no idea where you got that idea. I thought about it, read the posts, and then made a decision. What more did you want from me?
Thankfully, I'm not a Kantian, so I have no moral reservations against that. I don't think I'll be taking that advice though.
I have to say, I was hoping for some responses with a little more subtlety in them. In particular, I find JJ's point to be a little absurd. To imply that the only downside to me attempting to get the job would be that I might be seen as a hypocrite when I try to argue in the defense of animal rights is, in my opinion, such an oversimplification as to be humourous.
Ultimately, I've made my decision this morning and I'm not going to interview for the position. I still haven't defined the line of if doing the work would be right or wrong, as it's a very complex issue that is not easily settled. But I have decided that regardless, I would be uncomfortable with the work, and that would not make me as effective as worker as I should be, and would not be fair to the employer. Did I make the right decision? I don't know that question could ever be answered definitively, but I am feeling confident that I made the right decision for myself.
And with that I return you all to your regularly scheduled morality-neutral banter.
On the one hand, I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable doing that. I know I wouldn't be able to actually directly work with the animals.. On the other hand, I need a job, and this would pay five times what I'm piecing together now. And there is a certain logic that this work is going to be done regardless of if I'm there or not. So yeah, I'm still not sure what to do here. Anyone have any thoughts?
I seem to recall a lot of posting around Christmas. It was AFTER the holiday that posting dropped off. Explain that smart guy!
And they aren't paying me yet. It's just an interview offer right now. We'll see what, if anything, comes of it.
That's what I thought at first too, but I'm pretty confident I did apply for it. And being a research position at a university, well, that's generally not the type of thing they'd scam.
I've sent an email asking for a little more information, namely if the research is past the working on animals stage and on to human subjects or not. We'll see what happens shortly I imagine, as the original email wanted an interview on the 11th-13th.
In the meantime, I just in this past hour got another tutoring job. Two hours scheduled for this Tuesday, and probably (not counting unhatched chickens and all) another 1-2 hours every week for the next few months. Let's hear it for slowly working up to financial solvency!
Anyone else find it odd that the clan thread has had more activity today than the last 2 two weeks combined?
I suppose I misunderstood your comment though. And this is after reading it twice. Either you were being more subtle than you thought, or I'm not just not thinking well today.
Also, you called me by three different names in the last post. Indecisive much?
The second (and more difficult) problem is that I might find the work ethically wrong. I'll have to read more about it and do some thinking, but it's not a great position to be in.
EDIT: I'm starting to question if I even applied for this thing. I can't find an email of me sending them my resume, and their website seems wholly unfamiliar to me.
DOUBLE EDIT: More digging shows that I have indeed been to the website before (it has a log in system for job applications, and it seems I did have an account on it). Now I'm worried about why I can't remember any of this.
Blue Balls
And though I didn't like Avatar and abhorred Transformers 2, I thoroughly enjoyed GI Joe, so no claiming I just can't enjoy movies of this genre.
Chris, the themes were used in Day After Tomorrow? I wasn't aware that film even had themes other than "lets see how much we go to annoy any physicists who may be watching."
You're allowed to say that, but that's only because no one in this country knows what a "tosser" is.
Ok, that metaphor done, I found it to be pretty, but that's about it. Beyond that, I found it infuriating. It could have been good, but then it wasn't. As I watched it, I kept seeing opportunities for it to have done something good, and then I saw it not do that thing. This lasted all the way through the film to the final, predictable an hour earlier, and too rushed to have any meaning, scene.
Needless to say, I wasn't impressed. Thankfully both Moon and (500) Days of Summer came out on Blu-ray recently. Not that I can afford them, but it means that I've been able to "acquire" some good versions to rewatch while Hollywood leaves me without anything else.
Ah. You're kind of like the republican party in America. The actual thing, and satire, are impossible to tell apart.
Progressing as a culture?
Has it really only been 5 years? I could have sworn it was six. That somehow makes my life feel less like a failure.
Brian and JJ really need to lay off the hooch.
I have one which I also love, even though I haven't plugged it in in years. It really makes for the perfect way to drain tofu though. Stick a 5 pound weight up in the bun warmer, and it'll apply even pressure along the entire block, letting the water run out and into the sink.
It's interesting that I've become so jaded so quickly, but I can't read these posts about what people got for presents and think "nice" or "you made out well" anymore like I used to be able to do years ago. It's weird to think about it, but I think I'm over the whole idea of commercialized Christmas. Not sure when that happened.
In completely unrelated news, I spent over 33% of my food stamp money this month on tea. I'm starting to think that this is not what they were meant for. Thankfully I have enough actual food, in part thanks to a 7 pound spaghetti squash I got at Trader Joe's for $1.79.