Starting PhD student pro tips:

- Keep a backlog of “small ideas” that you don’t find the time to work on. Soon enough you will be asked to supervise undergrad students in some capacity, and these ideas will be exactly what they need to get started.

- In the first two years worry about learning and getting settled in your research field. In year 3+ you can worry about churning out papers (but that’s much easier of you have a good understanding of the field and its methods).

- Believe your advisor on strategy matters, believe in yourself when it comes to details and results (we have good intuition about what’s interesting and important, but only you know what you have actually done and what it means).

- Talk to other students as often as you can. No, they likely won’t know how to solve the specific issue you are currently having, but over time you will learn more from your colleagues than from your advisor.

- Relatedly, other people (your advisor, other profs, other students, reviewers) are neither idiots nor almighty gods of knowledge. They will have insights, but some of the things they tell you will turn out to be garbage.

Much of upper middle class urban India has forgotten its agrarian roots
=====================
As a little kid, growing up among elderly who have seen only food shortages, the need to save every morsel was an instinctive reaction. I was conditioned to wipe clean every bit of

rice on the plate before depositing it in the sink. That training continues even today. Even in a Star hotel buffet, where we pay exorbitantly, I don't leave an empty plate. I make it a point to force everyone to eat what's ordered or pack the leftovers.

But I realise, our kids don't learn this frugality as well as my generation did. For them, food is like money that can be on tap in an ATM. You pay to buy a burger and French fries at McDonalds. And YouTube is full of automated farms. And so they have little sense of hardship

an Indian farmer faces. At least my generation grew up with visuals of Krishi Darshan compulsorily forced down our throat. We didn't have 800 channels to choose from. Even the TV came alive only for 6 hours in evening 😀
As a kid, with an extended family with roots into

hinterlands, I have waded in knee deep rice fields and I have walked through sugarcane fields on bare foot. Innumerable times, I have gotten hurt by the thorny shrubbery. Since our knickers invariably were precariously held together by safety pins (for the frequency with

This open letter created a false dichotomy in the schools debate, pitting MH against safety. Thread..

https://t.co/iKGVXcI76Y

@theAliceRoberts @MaryBoustedNEU @ReicherStephen @SusanMichie @alansteinoxford

We are saddened that the signatories of the letter do not appear to have channelled their energy into encouraging innovation in distance learning and support which could serve to bolster children's mental health in order to limit some of harms caused by isolation.

That the potential for the Internet to be used as a "fantastic communications tool" and provide "a creative and visual style of learning" affording "a positive and interactive experience" as identified by @ProfTanya in the Byron Review has not been celebrated is a travesty.

The report identified the internet to be a platform for children and young people to "express themselves and keep in touch" and is "a fantastic place to meet people and find support, friendship and

When we consider that internet based interventions such as iCBT are now well established psychological practice, it is a great sadness that the expertise of professionals in this field has not been channelled toward helping craft a recovery curriculum children desperately need

Recently, I shared a list of some courses that were useful in my transition to machine learning.

While I took most of the courses in person, there are some alternative online courses you can check out.

Here is a thread of a few interesting online courses based on the list:

⭐️ Linear Algebra ⭐️

A classical online course by Professor Gilbert Strang based on his popular textbook "Introduction to Linear Algebra". Learn about matrix theory and systems of

⭐️ Introduction to Complex Analysis ⭐️

Learn about the geometry of complex

⭐️ Differential Calculus ⭐️

Pay close attention to the chain rule as it's heavily referenced in machine learning, specifically when discussing optimization. This course is part of a specialization called MathTrackX. I recommend checking that as

⭐️ Information Theory ⭐️

When you are working with machine learning algorithms applied to data you are dealing with information processing which in essence relies on ideas from information theory such as entropy. This course should provide the

The way the club has got into this mess is of course mismanagement going back years, but we are where we are.

Dont expect to much vs Chelsea, but BHA and WB they need results, or frankly he's gone, and then what.

As much as i want to blame the owners, they have overseen an overhaul that has given much if not all of the shaping of the club over to Edu. So yes, its on them, but its also on him, and frankly he has been inept.

First one that needs to be shown the door, and if you sack MA then Edu needs to be gone at the same time. Someone on the board, who is based in this country needs to be appointed to oversee with checks and balances on whats going on.

Edu allowed the shaping of the squad in the summer, trying to ostracise players so that they leave and then of course they dont, has allowed for a situation that off field, players have taken sides. This has seeped through the squad and the club is broken because of it.

THREAD: Are Schools SAFE during Covid? A Collection of Research, Science, and Data on Schools: Risks to children, teachers, and comparisons within the community.

Sources: Academic, institutional or governmental. I will summarize conclusion and cite link.

Let's begin..

1/

European CDC:

"Investigations of cases identified in school settings suggest that child to child transmission in schools is uncommon and not the primary cause of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children

whose onset of infection coincides with the period during which they are attending school."

3/

"Educational staff and adults within the school setting are generally not seen to be at a higher risk of infection than other occupations, although educational roles that put one in contact with older children and/or many adults may be associated with a higher risk."

4/

Public Health Netherlands:

"The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is mainly spread between adults and from adult family members to children. The spread of COVID-19 among children or from children to adults is less

More study aids and generous grade boundaries for 2021's exams will be welcomed by many teachers and students. But doesn't address a fundamental problem of the next exam season: equity. Because there's great variation in how different schools have been affected by self-isolation.

Let's take the most recent attendance stats which I still don't think have really registered.

Most recent data- attendance rate across England of 83%

In secondary schools it's 78% (!)

So more than 1 in 5 secondary pupils are off school, largely for Covid related reasons.

But that’s just an average. Some schools’ attendance are at levels where they can’t really function, or certainly provide the quality of education they normally do.

Teachers’ are split between trying to run online lessons and those in schools.

Whole year groups are off.

Some students are in isolation, return to school and within days are in isolation again.

As I’ve reported before, IT provision is still patchy. Lots of reports of kids not doing work at home either because they get of the swing of it or they don’t have the IT resources.

And that’s before we get on to staff isolation, which is also proving a nightmare in many places.

In other words, you have to have everything go right for your education not to be impacted by Covid right now. And that’s affecting some places more than others.

As a grad student, I heard stories about Jewish candidates facing antisemitism on the job market. 

This was ancient history I thought, a sign of how far things had come.

Then I was a finalist for an ancient Judaism job at a Christian denominational university.

Strap in.

🧵

I was picked up at the airport by a professor I knew who was a visiting scholar at the university.

As he drove me to campus, he explained that he had volunteered to pick me up so as to warn me that there was no way I was getting the job... because I am Jewish. 

2

He explained that the "old guard" on campus would oppose my hire no matter what I did.

I was picked up by a new member of the faculty, who gave me a tour of the campus.

As we set off, she asked me: "so...did the professor who picked you up tell you anything about the job...?"
3

I said cryptically: "he warned me that I might face a hostile audience here for reasons outside of my control..."

She responded with visible relief and sadness: "Phew. I wasn't sure how to warn you. It's terrible, I'm really sorry."

4

I called my beloved advisor that evening to commiserate. She gave me typically wise advice:

1st, this was a small taste of what women & BIPOC face on the market all the time.

2nd, I would not get the position, so I should view the campus visit as an opportunity to practice.

5

🧵1) I don't know if my view is appreciated or puzzling to the professor and students in my seminar course on the conquest narratives. It's been enlightening in some ways because it has started to prove my theory that there is a hermeneutic for those who are #ActuallyAutistic

🧵2) I have been quite appreciative of the voices I have connected with, especially here on Twitter (@robertjmonson, @JoLuehmann, etc) that have expanded the space of interpretation I take into consideration when approaching the biblical text.

🧵3) While one cannot be wholly objective about a text (Hermeneutics 101), it has helped me develop a stronger empathy for "interpretations from the edge," minority and philosophical interpretations. Admittedly, this also stems from my own baggage with Evangelicalism.

🧵4) What I learned from the flavor of Evangelicalism I was exposed to in college has more or less been designed to exclude (read: ignore) other voices because of 1) its deep roots in American Imperialism and 2) its implicit ties to a passive form of white supremacy.

🧵5) If you don't believe that, you needn't look much further than the previous presidential administration. Chris Hedges, in his book "American Fascists", connects religious conservatism to fascism, which is "a kind of colonization," according to Rev. Davidson Loehr.

Mini Hungarian language lesson: house of cards

A historic house being demolished to make way for yet another hotel is an everyday occurrence in downtown Budapest.

But today's news about the demise of the house that used to host the pub called "The Wichmann" is sadder than most.

The pub itself was owned and operated by nine-times canoe world champion Tamás Wichmann. With its stripped-down interior, welcoming atmosphere and legendary schnitzel sandwiches it was a unique place we kept returning to in the noughties.

It was an anachronism, a place that shouldn't exist, it felt like we were stuck in the 1980s but in an absolutely positive sense.

Then in 2018 it was announced the pub will be sold; Wichmann was 70 at the time and said he was just tired and old. He died less than two years later

But the demolition of the house erases a lot more than just the memory of a legendary pub.

Take a look at this gate ornament for example. If your first reaction is WTF?, I'm not blaming you.

But that isn't a Star of David there and as for the swastika, it was yet to become a symbol of terror when this door was made. (The ankh is an ankh at least.)

For this house used to be the home of the Theosophical Society of Hungary in the first half of the 20th century.

Those trained as physicists strive to see the world in terms of symmetries and processes that break symmetries. It's a meta-principle that guides their questioning.

This is very different from how many are taught physics (I guess in high school). We come to know of physics as consisting of laws that describe the behavior of inanimate (or is it indifferent) objects? These laws are described as expressions of equalities (i.e. equations).

But laws like Newton's f=ma or Einstein's e=mc^2 are derived from a higher meta principal. These principles are known as conservation laws. Energy, momentum, angular momentum are all conserved.

Conservation laws however are also derived from a higher principle. A conservation law implies that something remains the same as the situation of study change. Energy conservation implies that it is that something that does not change in time. In short, a symmetry.

This idea that laws are derived from conservation principles that is derived from symmetries is at the core of the study of physics. The laws of physics are only authoritative as long as they don't violate a higher principle. Ultimately, that principle is all about symmetry.

So I woke up today to learn that the @A2SchoolsSuper has called a snow day. After a four-day weekend. And with tomorrow an "asynchronous" day (i.e., no real school again).

Which might sound reasonable after a storm, except -- there IS no in-person school in Ann Arbor.

In her email, @A2SchoolsSuper said that COVID-19 means "we have missed many of the simple joys that make our time together memorable."

Simple joys? You mean, like seeing friends? Actually learning in a classroom? Heck, like learning at all?

Or having your parents not be quivering messes because they haven't had their kids in school for nearly a year and are at the ends of their ropes? Or not waking up in the middle of the night worrying if the district is ALSO going to limit or suspend in-person school for the fall?

She writes: "Snow days are opportunities for children, young people, and adults to play in the snow, read books, take a break, and enjoy the winter season." You know what adults can't do that? Adults who work. And yes, this burden fall primarily on moms.

Also, we just had a four day weekend! My kids have played in the snow! They've read books! THEY'VE HAD A BREAK.

They don't need those things right now. They need school. We need school.

The Copywriter’s Guide to Buyer Persona

•••THREAD•••

1. Define a Background

For this thread we will be selling Mass Gainer protein shakes to college men that want to gain weight.

Go deep and make a full profile up of one of these people.

You want to include:
> age
> job
> what they do in free time
> what they’re feeling

Example:

Brad is a junior in college (21 years old). He does work during the week and parties on the weekends.

He started going to the gym with his friends but isn’t really seeing results. He’s starting to get frustrated and wants to find a cure to his problems.

2. Define Their Goals and Challenges

When you define these things, you can use them in your copy.

Painting your ideal customer’s pain points throughout your copy is important.

You need to show them that they have a problem, and you can solve.

Example:

Brad is fairly skinny and wants to gain weight fast.

He’s tried eating more but can’t eat enough, or maybe he eats the wrong things.

Whatever it might be, it’s not working and he’s getting frustrated.

A thread: Dear virtual teachers, I am also a virtual teacher, teaching Gr12 from home while also supporting my child in his Gr2 distance learning class. I have some things to share, from the perspective of an overwhelmed parent. 1/14

We believe in public education and do not want to join the Minister of Education in undermining our public education system. But honestly, and I hear this from a lot of parents, we could easily homeschool our kid for 2 hrs each day and actually be able to do our own jobs. 2/14

So you need to make it as easy as possible for us to hang in there. Or we won’t. And parents will pull their kids from school and your system will be devastated. Here are some requests based on our current experience. 3/14

1. Connection is more important than curriculum right now. Please do whatever you can to provide our kids with connection to other kids. If they don’t get to interact with others, they’d might as well just do homeschooling. Connection is the #1 thing you have to offer us. 4/14

2. Please smile. Be kind. Let go a little bit. If kids ask for show and tell, leader of the day, theme days etc, please go along with it. They are desperate for these fun things. We aren’t seeing them in our class, even when kids ask. 5/14

with all good intentions, the result is not very useful: "Predatory journals and publishers are entities that prioritize self-interest at the expense of scholarship and .. 1/

... are characterized by false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and publication practices, a lack of transparency, and/or the use of aggressive and indiscriminate solicitation practices.” 2/

one of mistakes I think the consensus model made is that it has too much circular bootstrapping. Something is predatory because what we do not find predatory is not. E.g. the point about transparency. Just check how "transparent" some major publishers are in @RetractionWatch. 3/

the "best editorial and publication practices" turns out to focus on same basic agreements, mostly among publishers, and not really about doing quality science. It's an administrative rule. 4/

"Aggressive, indiscriminate solicitation" is also a rule really hard to apply. Elsevier repeatedly breaks this rule, and other more traditional publishers do too, tho at a lower frequency. Do the authors want to claim Elsevier is a predatory publisher? 5/

So, I know it's the weekend but if I don't say all this I may burst.

A thread for those who think school days should be extended and holidays shortened to make up for 'lost learning'.

The narrative of 'lost learning' is based on the myth that in-school learning is the be-all-and-end-all for all pupils at all times. It isn't. Not all pupils engage all day in school. Not all pupils complete every task set every day, in school or as part of home learning

Part of a teacher's job, and one that we do hourly, is to assess where pupils are along a progression of learning. When they reach a milestone we challenge and extend, where we think revision and consolidation of previous learning is needed we plan and deliver that.

What we don't do when there is revision and consolidation required is declare that any child's life chances are lost. We seek support in school, at home and when necessary from our colleagues in education and third-sector partners.

When a child misses schooling through illness, family circumstance, war, refugee status, any non-attendance, we don't write off their life chances, we don't make them work longer hours and shorten holidays. We take a holistic approach to the support needed and work to meet that.