To Spec

“It’s not like they actually think any of this is going to be used in our day-to-day lives, right?”

Inspired by the recent headlines for room-temperature superconductivity.

Quality Calculations

The only thing lower than the quality of the calculations is the quality of the diagrams.

Rabbit Holes

“Well, time to find a different research partner.”

Playback Speed

You really owe it to yourself to watch a lecture at a quicker speed. Those who are super slow and difficult to listen to suddenly become full of energy!

General Case

“You’re never going to teach him how to drive without my supervision.”

Naming

This doesn’t just apply to group names. I see crazy acronyms on the arXiv all the time.

Perhaps the best instance of this though is in the comments section of this article, by “NJBiologist”:

Much like how Src is activated by Srcasm? (No, I am not making that up: see Seykora et al, J Biol Chem. 2002 Jan25;277(4):2812-22.)

You can find a paper on srcasm here.

Middle Steps

It’s a time-honoured tradition of professors in mathematics and physics.

(This comic was inspired by Sidney Harris and his wonderful comics. In particular, the top-right one on this page.)

Squiggle

Seriously, the number of physics professors that default to using ξ or ζ as their symbol of choice makes me think that there’s some collective brainwashing going on.

Project Progress

Corollary: Your folder of started projects is overflowing.

Fast Start

The inability for us to estimate how much content is too little for people viewing our work for the first time is probably one of the key reasons I don’t like most presentations.