A short note on the “turtle harvest” e-mail

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Conservation, Science

An e-mail has been making the rounds over the last few weeks purports to show evidence of an illegal turtle egg harvest in Costa Rica. It contains several pictures like this: While the pictures are real, the e-mail is misleading. They show a sustainable, legal turtle harvest that actually helps the Olive Ridley turtle population. … Read More “A short note on the “turtle harvest” e-mail” »

Frito Lay abandons eco-friendly SunChip bags

Posted on By David Shiffman 10 Comments on Frito Lay abandons eco-friendly SunChip bags
Uncategorized

Last year, Frito Lay unveiled a 100% compostable bag for SunChips. Since packaging waste from single-serving junk food is a sizable chunk of our society’s trash, this move was a big deal and was cheered by environmentalists. They even had a sappy commercial showing how this could make the world more environmentally friendly. Remember the commercial?

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Finding Melville’s Whale: Chapter 18 – His Mark

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Uncategorized

Chapter 18 of Herman Melville’s classic – Moby Dick. Read along with us and discuss this chapter or the book as a whole in the comments. His Mark And so Ishmael and Queequeg board their ship and meet their three-fold captain, but one third of their holy host is missing, the ghost. The captains demand … Read More “Finding Melville’s Whale: Chapter 18 – His Mark” »

Re: Application for Job in Sahrk Biology

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 14 Comments on Re: Application for Job in Sahrk Biology
Science

Dear Dr. Schiffman, I am a recent graduate in biology. After several attempts to work in a population genetics molecular biology lab, I realized that there was way too much maths and other difficult concepts and that I would be much better off studying orgasmal biology such as sharks or skates or rays. As you … Read More “Re: Application for Job in Sahrk Biology” »

How not to apply for a job working with sharks

Posted on By David Shiffman 11 Comments on How not to apply for a job working with sharks
Science

This week marked an important e-mail milestone for me: I received my 100th request for a job. I do not mean job offers (i.e. people saying “David, we’d like to hire you”), or requests for job advice (i.e. people saying “David, can you point me in the right direction?”). I’d be thrilled to answer any of those e-mails (particularly the job offers). I mean job requests (i.e. people saying “David, please hire me”).

I get all kinds of e-mails from readers, and I’m always happy to answer them. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that applying for a job in this way is incredibly ineffective. I thought I’d take some examples from some of my favorite job request e-mails to explain to you all how not to apply for a job working with sharks.

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