Delicious LiveJournal Links for 6-24-2010

[andrewducker]

• Exploring the software behind Facebook, the world’s largest site
  (tags: facebook architecture performance scalability software opensource)
• The effects on children's preconceptions of meeting real scientists
  (tags: science drawing feminism gender education)
• How HFT Quote Stuffing Caused The Market Crash Of May 6, And Threatens To Destroy The Entire Market At Any Moment
  (tags: finance shares)
• No link to child cancer from phone masts.
  (tags: health mobile radiation science technology telecoms)
• One very good reason not to go into Science - at least, not at CalTech
  (tags: science employment usa)
• Nokia N8 to be final Symbian N Series device, all further devices will be MeeGo (Linux) based
  (tags: nokia mobile symbian)
• C# Closures Explained
  (tags: c# code tutorial closures .net)
• The small print in the budget about housing benefit
  (tags: uk politics economics)
• iPhone 3G Performance with iOS 4.0 is terrible
  (tags: iphone apple)
• "Vincent and the Doctor" and mental illness
  Pretty much every depressed person on my flist seemed to love this episode. (I loved it too)
  (tags: psychology brain depression DrWho)
• Is the World Ready for the Waterless Urinal?
  (tags: toilets technology)
• Meme of the day: Playing chess on a rollercoaster.
  (tags: chess xkcd funny photos geek)
• Gay men's bilateral brains better at remembering faces than straight men. About as good as straight women.
  (tags: gay brain psychology)
• Natural hot reservoirs harnessed by scientists to service Pennine eco-village
  (tags: ecology energy)
• New government housing policy: make people homeless
  (tags: government uk housing)
• An open letter to the UK media about coalition governments
  (tags: uk politics media)

Comments

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

Unless things have changed dramatically since I did my PhD (8 years ago), there is a massive difference between the expectations in academia in Europe and the USA.

I did a Chemistry PhD and most students worked 9-5 Mon-Fri. Yes, most of us worked the odd weekend or late night, but it was not the norm (except during the thesis writing phase). Postdoc staff worked 9-5, Mon-Fri the same as any other employee of the university.

Contrast that with a couple of friends I have in the US who are doing postdoc work. They seem to work 10 or 12 hour days as standard and work at least one day every weekend. As far as I can gather, this is not just expected, but required in US universities. One person I know was sacked from for a postdoc position for refusing to work both days each weekend following the birth of his first child.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I'm in the UK. I can't speak for any chemistry departments, but the overwork, presentee thing is omnipresent in my field, which is history.