[Weekly Discussion Thread] Scientists, what are the biggest misconceptions in your field?

fastparticles · 2012-05-25T05:56:54.713246+00:00

Along with this goes the misconception that even though all the human forecasters get the forecast wrong a majority of the time, computer models are accurate enough that they will eventually replace all human forecasters.

SnoLeopard · 1 day

I've got some Xbox games (some original recipe, some 360) that I was going to eBay, but I'd be happy to donate them to a good home. Send me a PM with what genres you're interested in and I'll let you know what I've got.

thisisntnamman · 1 day

That's also not taking into account the savings you'll see by not having the ticket show up on your car insurance.

wx_dan · 5 days

Our leader has been taking groups out to chase for about 20 years. The first school-sanctioned chase was in 2009, but he's been taking VT students out for much longer. Kevin Myatt from the Roanoke Times is on his 9th year with us.

wx_dan · 5 days

Sadly, this was a short trip for us. We only had two viable chase days, but both were relatively successful. We'll be back Monday afternoon. The second crew leaves Wednesday.

deedubya · 12 days

ENT 2004 - Insects and Human Society

Oragif · 12 days

That's odd; my VT Gmail account caught them.

Regardless, don't open them or click on any of the links.

archie_f · 13 days

Thanks for this. It sounds like the additional revenue from the bigger conference would offset even 6 flights in the Toledo-Georgia range.

archie_f · 14 days

That makes sense. I'm not sure how charter flights are priced, either. I'm sure people with much more experience than I have already evaluated these things for the team.

archie_f · 14 days

But how much of that is later eaten in travel expenses?

throwaway232211 · 14 days

Hey, I was pretty jazzed to hear The Who show up as music for Local on the 8s.

notanemu · 15 days

It's not always about size alone. Virginia is mostly unique in this regard, but the constitution here regards cities as independent entities from any counties to which they are adjacent.

There is a size limitation - the Virginia Constitution says that cities established after July 1, 1971 (the last time the document was rewritten) cannot have a population smaller than 5,000. Cities that already existed at that time were all grandfathered. Eight of Virginia's 39 independent cities have populations of less than 10,000 people; one, Norton, has a population less than 5,000.

In contrast, the town I live in has a population of more than 20,000. The biggest difference between the two (cities and towns) in our case is what services are provided by whom. Counties usually manage school systems, for example, and towns participate in that system. Cities, essentially, function as their own counties and provide their own services.

rocky8u · 16 days

I'm not sure how that makes it better?

library_sheep · 16 days

Tropical Atlantic has a KMZ with all sorts of overlays for Google Earth

It includes - among other things - current satellite imagery, model plots including individual ensemble members, historical hurricane track data, and near-real-time recon flight data. Loved using this last hurricane season.

magicbash · 16 days

They are, and it works quite well. If you don't already have a Google/Gmail account, you'll have one through VT this fall. I don't think it's that off topic since Gmail integrates pretty well with smartphones.

kickedoutbad · 16 days

I've been there - had a 0.75 GPA when I got the boot. Here's the short version:

If you know why you got booted, and can honestly say to yourself that things will be different in another semester and you have rectified whatever problems led to your grade problems, then go back.

Otherwise, take a break. You're certainly not alone, and there are jobs out there. You're not going to make a million bucks, but you can pay the bills (depending on where you are) and have a little left in the bank.

It doesn't have to be permanent, and it doesn't meant that you're never going to go back to school. Maybe do a community college class or two if you can? Something to keep making progress towards a degree without the full college experience.

foreveraloneeveryday · 17 days

Space Camp? I think it was the idea of just going for a leisurely trip in a training aircraft and have everything go horribly "OMG WE'RE GONNA DIE" wrong. At 6, I guess the thought that I might actually be put in that situation one day wasn't something I could comprehend. (More importantly, I couldn't comprehend that the situations depicted in the film didn't happen at real space camp.)

foreveraloneeveryday · 17 days

I was 5 or 6, and was super interested in space. Space exploration, astronomy, the other planets, etc. I wanted to go to Space Camp when I got older. So, my mother got a copy of Space Camp on VHS for me to watch.

I don't think I had ever been more scared by a movie in my life after watching that movie. In a shocking turn of events, I never went to Space Camp.

Around that same time, I was also spooked by the Wizard of Oz. I'm now a year away from becoming a degreed meteorologist.

owlssupahfan · 17 days

100 $3 cups of coffee.

hello_electro · 18 days

Yeah, I'm 30 and still struggle with real-world demands. (Doesn't help that I've gone back to college, too. Or maybe it did, since that's what prompted my diagnosis.)

RTM has been good for that from a digital aspect, because I can set recurring events for things I need to do on a regular basis. I tried a daily paper list but found myself doing a lot of tedious writing and re-writing. Being able to take 30 seconds and slap something on to my list in my phone has been helpful for me. I know the biggest thing is finding a system and sticking to it. Google Calendar has been very helpful from that aspect, too, for the same reason.

hello_electro · 18 days

I like having a digital schedule with me rather than something more traditional. Started using Remember the Milk last summer to help keep with reminders of things to do. It's been helpful, but I've found I still fall back to old ways sometimes. Having the digital reminders helps - especially when I can get them on my laptop as well as my phone, depending on where I am.

hello_electro · 18 days

I'm not the OP, but I'd like to hear more about your calendar. I tend to lean on my memory too much and need to find a good way to better structure my time. Just diagnosed with ADD last year.

RanByMyGun · 20 days

Saw that earlier. Kept him on my bench when he went on the DL, hoping he would be back in a week or so. Picked up Joe Blanton instead tonight after reading about this on Yahoo.

wx_dan

TROPHY CASE

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