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Thursday, July 2, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
I Am Writing To Inform You That I Am About To Disagree With You
I was catching up on the gazillion blog posts piled up in my Google Reader this afternoon and came across something interesting in the comment thread to a post*. My understanding of the opinion expressed in the thread is that if Blogger A disagrees with something Blogger B wrote in a post, Blogger A must first express his/her disagreement in a comment on Blogger B's original post before Blogger A may write his/her own post on the issue.
Really? Is this a rule of blogging etiquette with which I'm completely unfamiliar? Cuz I'm about to disagree with another blogger and, you know, I wouldn't want to do it the wrong way!
The way I see it is that everything written on a public blog is fair game for other bloggers to link to and post about as they choose. I write all my posts with the realization that anyone who reads them may comment on them or write his/her own posts in response. These comments or posts may agree with me, disagree with me, extend the discussion further or in a different direction, or any combination of the above.
I don't expect other bloggers who write posts in response to mine to first ask for my permission or even to give me notice of what they are about to do. As long as they link to my post so I can go over and thank them for the link or defend myself, as the case may be, I'm cool with it.
This is not to say that I think bloggers should get in the habit of essentially flaming each other on their respective blogs. But if another blogger writes something that I disagree with, I may either say so in a comment or write a "rebuttal" post, depending on the nature of the disagreement, my relationship with that particular blogger, and the length of what I have to say.
So what do the rest of you think? If I'm thinking of writing a post disagreeing with something another blogger wrote, am I obligated to first leave a comment detailing the nature of my disagreement? If that blogger responds positively to my comment, am I no longer allowed to write my post? If my rebuttal is likely to be very long, is it sufficient to leave a comment giving notice of my intent to write a new post on the matter? Or can we just accept that we are sometimes going to disagree with each other and dispense with having to inform people with whom we disagree that we are about to disagree?
*I am not disclosing the blog post or the bloggers who wrote the specific comments so as not to be calling out specific bloggers. You'll just have to take my word for it that I'm not making this up!
Really? Is this a rule of blogging etiquette with which I'm completely unfamiliar? Cuz I'm about to disagree with another blogger and, you know, I wouldn't want to do it the wrong way!
The way I see it is that everything written on a public blog is fair game for other bloggers to link to and post about as they choose. I write all my posts with the realization that anyone who reads them may comment on them or write his/her own posts in response. These comments or posts may agree with me, disagree with me, extend the discussion further or in a different direction, or any combination of the above.
I don't expect other bloggers who write posts in response to mine to first ask for my permission or even to give me notice of what they are about to do. As long as they link to my post so I can go over and thank them for the link or defend myself, as the case may be, I'm cool with it.
This is not to say that I think bloggers should get in the habit of essentially flaming each other on their respective blogs. But if another blogger writes something that I disagree with, I may either say so in a comment or write a "rebuttal" post, depending on the nature of the disagreement, my relationship with that particular blogger, and the length of what I have to say.
So what do the rest of you think? If I'm thinking of writing a post disagreeing with something another blogger wrote, am I obligated to first leave a comment detailing the nature of my disagreement? If that blogger responds positively to my comment, am I no longer allowed to write my post? If my rebuttal is likely to be very long, is it sufficient to leave a comment giving notice of my intent to write a new post on the matter? Or can we just accept that we are sometimes going to disagree with each other and dispense with having to inform people with whom we disagree that we are about to disagree?
*I am not disclosing the blog post or the bloggers who wrote the specific comments so as not to be calling out specific bloggers. You'll just have to take my word for it that I'm not making this up!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Introducing The Gryphon
I haven't been around the blogosphere much lately. This is partly because I've been busy putting out fires at work (oh, the drama) and partly because my non-work time has been completely monopolized by a furry, four-legged beast!
Yes, March Hare and I have adopted another dog from the Humane Society. Everyone, meet Gryphon, our 5-month-old golden retriever mix:
The first few days we had her, she was quiet and docile and did not have any accidents in the house. And we thought, "Wow, we got a mellow dog and she's already fully housetrained!"
Then, she started getting used to being with us...and suffice it to say that she is neither mellow nor completely housetrained. She's been terrorizing the birds in our backyard--I don't think she realizes yet that she can't climb trees--and has completely destroyed one of the cables for our game console. But she's settling in nicely and is a really sweet and affectionate dog.
We are lucky to have gotten two wonderful doggy companions--Dormouse and Gryphon--from animal shelters. There are many more shelter dogs looking for a good home, so if anyone is thinking about getting a dog, please consider adopting one!
Yes, March Hare and I have adopted another dog from the Humane Society. Everyone, meet Gryphon, our 5-month-old golden retriever mix:
The first few days we had her, she was quiet and docile and did not have any accidents in the house. And we thought, "Wow, we got a mellow dog and she's already fully housetrained!"
Then, she started getting used to being with us...and suffice it to say that she is neither mellow nor completely housetrained. She's been terrorizing the birds in our backyard--I don't think she realizes yet that she can't climb trees--and has completely destroyed one of the cables for our game console. But she's settling in nicely and is a really sweet and affectionate dog.
We are lucky to have gotten two wonderful doggy companions--Dormouse and Gryphon--from animal shelters. There are many more shelter dogs looking for a good home, so if anyone is thinking about getting a dog, please consider adopting one!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
A Reprieve And A Taste Of Home
I've just spent the last few weeks frantically trying to complete reviewer-requested experiments in time for the resubmission deadline for this manuscript. Overall, the reviews were quite positive and we got kudos for "highly significant" research and an "innovative approach".
Problem is, the reviewers want a whole bunch of additional data and analysis. And of course, as soon as we had an actual deadline for finishing the work, everything went to hell in a handbasket. An assay that was working fine before is now stubbornly refusing to work. The server cluster we use to analyze our data went down. Both of the senior authors on the paper have been too busy to even read the reviews, much less provide feedback on my ideas for which requested experiments to do and which ones to push back on.
Yesterday, after another failed attempt to get the damn assay to work, it became apparent that we simply weren't going to make the deadline. So we contacted the editor today to request an extension, which was mercifully granted. Now I finally have time to take a breath!
In celebration, I made my favorite meal for dinner. It's a noodle dish from a country where I used to live. This is a slightly bastardized version since I was too lazy to go out and get all the traditional ingredients.
Food from this country is ridiculously difficult to find in the US because there simply aren't that many people from that country here. The best restaurant for this kind of food that I know of is in Boston. The closest one to me is five hours away, so it's pretty much make-it-myself or nothing. Thank god I can cook!
Problem is, the reviewers want a whole bunch of additional data and analysis. And of course, as soon as we had an actual deadline for finishing the work, everything went to hell in a handbasket. An assay that was working fine before is now stubbornly refusing to work. The server cluster we use to analyze our data went down. Both of the senior authors on the paper have been too busy to even read the reviews, much less provide feedback on my ideas for which requested experiments to do and which ones to push back on.
Yesterday, after another failed attempt to get the damn assay to work, it became apparent that we simply weren't going to make the deadline. So we contacted the editor today to request an extension, which was mercifully granted. Now I finally have time to take a breath!
In celebration, I made my favorite meal for dinner. It's a noodle dish from a country where I used to live. This is a slightly bastardized version since I was too lazy to go out and get all the traditional ingredients.
Food from this country is ridiculously difficult to find in the US because there simply aren't that many people from that country here. The best restaurant for this kind of food that I know of is in Boston. The closest one to me is five hours away, so it's pretty much make-it-myself or nothing. Thank god I can cook!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sharing Information Or Selling Out Your Lab?
In an ideal world, when a postdoc leaves to start her own lab, she gets to take her postdoctoral project with her and her advisor agrees not to further pursue that avenue of research. But in the real world, these negotiations don't always work out this way. Sometimes, for one reason or another, the postdoc ends up competing with her former advisor once she becomes a junior PI.
This can create an awkward situation for members of the postdoc lab. On one hand, Junior PI is a former labmate and often still a good friend, but on the other hand, Junior PI is now a competitor. If members of the postdoc lab continue to discuss unpublished lab data from that project with Junior PI, is that fair or foul?
In theory, science should be a communal enterprise in which all information is freely shared within the community. But in some competitive fields, it is common practice to keep unpublished data quiet out of fear of being scooped. And while members of the postdoc lab who are friends with Junior PI may feel it is only natural to continue discussing all aspects of the lab's research with her, newer members of the lab who have picked up Junior PI's postdoc project would understandably be concerned about their unpublished data being transmitted to a competitor.
So is there, or should there be, such a thing as lab loyalty when it comes to the sharing of information in science? Should we cut off data-sharing communications with former labmates if they turn into competitors?
This can create an awkward situation for members of the postdoc lab. On one hand, Junior PI is a former labmate and often still a good friend, but on the other hand, Junior PI is now a competitor. If members of the postdoc lab continue to discuss unpublished lab data from that project with Junior PI, is that fair or foul?
In theory, science should be a communal enterprise in which all information is freely shared within the community. But in some competitive fields, it is common practice to keep unpublished data quiet out of fear of being scooped. And while members of the postdoc lab who are friends with Junior PI may feel it is only natural to continue discussing all aspects of the lab's research with her, newer members of the lab who have picked up Junior PI's postdoc project would understandably be concerned about their unpublished data being transmitted to a competitor.
So is there, or should there be, such a thing as lab loyalty when it comes to the sharing of information in science? Should we cut off data-sharing communications with former labmates if they turn into competitors?
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