An existential crisis is an important part of growing up.

Private school, Mississippi.

I was a YEC before going to university. I studied geology. After two years, I accepted that evolution happened. After four years, I was an atheist. I went on to get a doctorate, and I have published quite a few papers about rocks that are >2 billion years old.

As a kid, there were literally 0 authority figures in my life that accepted that evolution happened. It was taken as a given that it was ridiculous. My biology teacher skipped the chapter on evolution, saying, “this is controversial.”

Patience, love, and making critical information available gives kids like I was a chance.

Well… On Earth…

The Water of Life features in lots of fairy tales. Is that what is being referred to? Is Water of Death another name for an alcohol?

I just think it’s funny that it goes from “terrible heads,” “fierce looking,” “beast head,” “dog teeth,” “two dog-like teeth,” to… “With breasts.” Really a dramatically different category.

Footprints.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a10933/tyrannosaurus-trackways-reveal-a-dinosaurs-walk-17016027/

Treason against who? A South African in America who has a company turned off access to Ukraine because Russia wanted it. Hard to say where that would fall in court.

Feels > reals.

Depends strongly on the community. Every sub discipline has its own standards of respectability. Publishing outside of those constraints can cause articles to be ignored.

I wasn’t sure if this was true or a weird misunderstanding or conspiracy type thing. Seems to be true. Here is an accessible writeup: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20231127-brazils-mysterious-tunnels-made-by-giant-sloths

Yes. In the heirarchy of science, it ranks just below literature.

I did some work on the geology of Pilanesburg a few years back. To walk around outside the vehicles, we had two armed rangers accompanying us, both to keep us and the animals safe. It is unimaginable to think of approaching a herd of elephants on foot.

I really liked it. Definitely could have been tighter, and the ending was not well thought out, but absolutely a fun movie. I like Ms Marvel as a character.

In South Africa they call it a “circle.” Bonus if it is near a red light - “Go to the circle after the robot.”

My wife made this joke during a presentation that was part of a job interview. Nobody laughed. Clear sign of a toxic environment.

I didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition.

Depends on the program you are in. The view from being a doctoral student to being a postdoc to being research/lecturing staff is very different. Not all advisors expose their students to the realities of higher levels of academia. And when a woman or minority is being mentored by a white man, they may not be aware of biases that can affect the student’s later career.

The troopers in scene 1 of a New Hope were pretty scary.