The Contradictory Feelings Thread

[alice]

¹ /scɔnz/, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong

I typically pronounce it as /skɔnz/, but I love the use of /c/

That certainly brings a whole other dimension to the old how do you pronounce ‘scone’ question.

The definitive answer is /skɒn/, certainly not anything like /skoun/. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.
Unless you're talking about the town in Perthshire, which as all right-thinking people know is /skun/.

[Travis B.]

I have never heard an American say anything like /skɑn/ myself.

[/nɒtɛndəduːd/]

Unless you're talking about the town in Perthshire, which as all right-thinking people know is /skun/.

personally, I am a left-thinking person

[Lērisama]

I typically pronounce it as /skɔnz/, but I love the use of /c/

That certainly brings a whole other dimension to the old how do you pronounce ‘scone’ question.

The definitive answer is /skɒn/, certainly not anything like /skoun/. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.
Unless you're talking about the town in Perthshire, which as all right-thinking people know is /skun/.

Thank you for your right-thinkingness. My only difference would be my English IPA¹

¹ /skɔn/ and /skɵwn/, respectively

[Travis B.]

Pro: From a software perspective getting an SPI ST7789V display working was trivial (of course it was based off my parallel ST7789V driver).
Con: Soldering header pins onto the display was one major PITA - the solder wasn't going on right and wouldn't hold the pins in place, and did a poor job of forming electrical connections.

[bradrn]

I got a PhD offer! It’s in my current field of physics, i.e. the field I researched in for my Masters, which means I already have plenty of relevant experience and find the project interesting. The prospective supervisor is not just a good researcher, but by all reports an all-round decent human being. And on his side he’s pushed the university hard for me, specifically, to get this offer.

So why this thread? Simply because the university in question is Strathclyde University in Glasgow, UK. Moving to the other side of the world for 3.5 years would be a really big commitment. This is especially so when the city in question is small-ish with a cold climate. (Living in Sydney is not good preparation for a cold, dark, damp Scottish winter.) There’s also more personal concerns relating to my own health issues and specific requirements for accommodation, which I won’t detail here but are fairly significant.

Decisions, decisions… I mean, I think it unlikely that I wouldn’t take this offer, but I first want to be as sure as possible that it will all work out well.

[Raphael]

Good luck, any way.

[Lērisama]

Decisions, decisions… I mean, I think it unlikely that I wouldn’t take this offer, but I first want to be as sure as possible that it will all work out well.

Congratulations on the offer, and good luck, whatever you choose.

[Travis B.]

Congrats, and good luck.

[alice]

Yay! Congratulations, bradrn. You'll be within fifty miles of me!

[bradrn]

Thanks all!

You'll be within fifty miles of me!

I’m aware, actually… on which note, do you have any comments to make on Glasgow as a city, as someone who lives outside but close to it? I just don’t know what it’s like there at all, and that’s a big cause of my anxiety.

[Ares Land]

Congratulations! And I hope you can figure this out soon.

[bradrn]

Congratulations! And I hope you can figure this out soon.

Thanks!

After some more research I think there is accommodation close to the university which would meet my requirements. That would be nice if so, though I need to make further enquiries.

[alice]

Thanks all!

You'll be within fifty miles of me!

I’m aware, actually… on which note, do you have any comments to make on Glasgow as a city, as someone who lives outside but close to it? I just don’t know what it’s like there at all, and that’s a big cause of my anxiety.

I think you've less to worry about it than you might think, although you can't just head off to the beach for a barbie at Christmas. But you get deep-fried pizza and Irn-Bru to make up for it, and there's some pretty amazing scenery nearby.

Contact me by PM if you want to know anything specific; I'll be happy to answer anything I can.

[bradrn]

you get deep-fried pizza and Irn-Bru to make up for it

Hmm, I’m not sure those are necessarily incentives to go…

(Though I have heard good things about the scenery, yes!)

[doctor shark]

you get deep-fried pizza and Irn-Bru to make up for it

Hmm, I’m not sure those are necessarily incentives to go…

(Though I have heard good things about the scenery, yes!)

Irn-Bru'd be an incentive for me. :P

And congrats on the offer! I can understand your apprehension, but (a) if you do want to move for studies/research, now's a perfect-ish time; (b) you're also not far from other cool travel opportunities, so it's not like you're stuck on the island for 3.5+ years; and (c) you're giving me an impression that this supervisor will definitely be good to work with, and this isn't an easy thing to find. That said, my main advice would be to talk to also current PhD candidates, both with the supervisor and in the department, to try to get a fuller impression.

[bradrn]

(c) you're giving me an impression that this supervisor will definitely be good to work with, and this isn't an easy thing to find.

Indeed, this is probably the biggest factor for me. There is one opportunity I’ve found in Australia but the supervisor doesn’t seem nearly as good to work with.

(I have talked to a former student of his already; she had nothing but positive things to say about him.)

(a) if you do want to move for studies/research, now's a perfect-ish time

Hmm, why?

(b) you're also not far from other cool travel opportunities, so it's not like you're stuck on the island for 3.5+ years

True, though then again it is right on the edge of Europe. Apparently it’s 6 hours by train to London, which would make it… >8 hours to Paris, I suppose, and longer to anywhere else in Europe. Still better than Australia!

[malloc]

Despite my spirited defense of humans in the AI thread, the relentless tide of reactionary victories over the years has definitely tarnished my impression of humans. There are times when I fear that humans are inherently inclined to tribalism and irrationality, making progressive politics ultimately unworkable. Conversely it often seems like AI would have the moral high ground over humanity assuming it lacks our brutish primate instincts. Defending a bunch of violent superstitious apes over crystalline beings of pure reason feels like unjustified nepotism.

[Travis B.]

The good: I got zeptoforth 1.12.0 released, with plenty of improvements and bugfixes.

The mixed: I had held off on making this release because I had been waiting for the person who runs pid.codes to approve a USB PID for the zeptoforth USB CDC console. Eventually I gave up on waiting and opted to stick with using the Raspberry Pi pico-sdk USB VID:PID for the time being.

[doctor shark]

(c) you're giving me an impression that this supervisor will definitely be good to work with, and this isn't an easy thing to find.

Indeed, this is probably the biggest factor for me. There is one opportunity I’ve found in Australia but the supervisor doesn’t seem nearly as good to work with.

(I have talked to a former student of his already; she had nothing but positive things to say about him.)

Great sign! Probably the clearest of all. Though you may also want to ask what life is like in Glasgow.

(a) if you do want to move for studies/research, now's a perfect-ish time

Hmm, why?

Mobility as an earlier stage researcher is always much easier than at later career stages. Less of a need to move a family is a big thing, plus also you have a lot more flexibility in terms of going into new topics and fields.

(b) you're also not far from other cool travel opportunities, so it's not like you're stuck on the island for 3.5+ years

True, though then again it is right on the edge of Europe. Apparently it’s 6 hours by train to London, which would make it… >8 hours to Paris, I suppose, and longer to anywhere else in Europe. Still better than Australia!

Glasgow–London is as little as 5-ish hours, so that makes Paris about 7, and same for Brussels. Though, loath as I am to recommend flying, it's also not horribly long to fly from Glasgow to other places in Europe: Amsterdam–Glasgow, for example, isn't very long (90 minute flight!), and you have similar other short flights (<2.5 hr flight time) to other European hubs (Paris, Dublin, Frankfurt...) and cheap airline options (e.g., EasyJet). And, indeed, it's also better than a lot of the US: flying to visit my father and #3 in Tex-ass from where my mother lives is easily 5 hours, and driving is 21-22!

Another small thing to be aware of is that the visa for study in the UK is very expensive: £490, plus a healthcare fee of £776/year. That shouldn't be the deciding factor, but just bear that in mind (and see if/how the university can support you if the need arises). Though if you have a claim to British/Irish nationality, on the other hand...