Producing, dealing with, and surviving a manuscript; a message to authors beginning to scale a mountain.
I want to post this as I am in the final stages of proof reading my manuscript. The publishers have sent it back to me for checking as they prepare to send it to press.
I think for even the most aloof student there is always that lingering knowledge that when you do a PhD, you are basically writing a book. The truth is that you are writing something ‘book length’, you are proving your skill at managing a cogent argument over upwards of 80,000 words. The truth of the matter is that turning a PhD thesis into a book is a miraculous feat.
I never really entertained the idea that my doctoral research would become the basis for a book. However, when the examiners both stressed that the material was worthy of publication, I took it to heart. I realised that if I was going to transform my thesis into a book it would be a mammoth task. I felt knowing the scale of the task would enable me to endure the rough terrain with greater resolve. In part I was right, I did however underestimate the conceptual shift of the task.
I made massive efforts to redraft the text so it was more accessible, less defensive, and more characteristic of a book than a thesis. after the best part of 18 months I had mostly achieved this. But about a third of the text was too academic and needed to be refreshed and made accessible. This is when I embraced on supplementary research and injected some fresh perspective into the text.
In truth the process of reproducing a manuscript from a PhD is pretty much like doing another PhD. It is hard work and you do not have the same structure of support or guarantee of a final award.
William Germano’s book about how to get ‘serious books’ published was a huge aid. I recommend this whole heartedly to anyone considering a similar endeavour. I also encourage you to carefully consider some of his polemic wording. In the melodrama, there is much experience and good advice. I also got some excellent feedback from other academics, people who had actually published books. Their insights were invaluable.
I shall also make a post soon that gives a basic walkthrough of what the process encompassed so people learn a bit of the mystery of how a bunch of ideas become a book you actually hold.
![fuckyeahmolecularbiology:
6 Things I’ll Bet You Didn’t Know Are In Your DNA
In biology, DNA is presented as a neat, orderly double helix comprised of nucleotides, which determine our genotype and - along with environmental factors - our phenotype. Unfortunately, the DNA replicating in our cells right now isn’t comprised of the perfect right-handed spirals that we picture as the “building blocks of life” - in the words of Cracked.com, “[it] is more like an old scrapbook that someone has torn up, pasted back together, filled with old newspaper clippings about murder and then taken into the bathroom with them.”
So let’s take a look at the creepiest of what scientists think 98% of our DNA - as in, not the approximately 2% that codes for useful proteins - is made up of.
Ancient Viruses. I’ve blogged about this before, but it’s so cool I’ll mention it again. While a “normal” virus works by invading a host cell and using cellular machinery to reproduce, retroviruses actually mix their own genetic material into the cell they’re invading. Scientists believe that endogenous retroviruses picked up by our distant ancestors found their way into the sex organs, and the new virus-hybrid DNA was passed onto offspring - which ultimately evolved into us, racking up virus-laden DNA over thousands of years. As a result, scientists estimate we now have 100,000 of these microscopic gate-crashers cluttering up our DNA - making up a whopping 40% of our entire genome. (Edit: As jtotheizzoe pointed out, viral DNA itself only accounts for about 8-10% of the genome, although that’s probably underestimated since a lot of it is hopelessly degraded. The 40% number comes from retrotransposons, like LINE elements, which are not viruses - although they may be ancestors of retroviruses.) Even more eerily, new research suggests there could be a correlation between unexpectedly high levels of a particular endogenous retrovirus and schizophrenia.
“Dead” genes. Our DNA is also full of evolutionary relics that have not yet been completely edited out - so called “junk DNA”, or “dead genes.” There’s just one problem with that name, however - the genes aren’t actually dead. A common form of muscular dystrophy, FSHD, is caused by a “dead” gene present in all humans. But it’s only “dead” because it’s missing one specific sequence that allows it to be successfully transcribed; all it takes is one tiny mutation, and the gene is fully expressed. If you thought that was just a fluke, think again: A gene thought to put people at risk for Crohn’s disease was resurrected after 25 million years, and by what? Another retrovirus, of course!
Neanderthal DNA. How on earth is 1-4% of our modern genome the same as that of a Neanderthal? The obvious answer is, “Oh, it hasn’t been edited out by natural selection yet”…except for, awkwardly enough, that same 1-4% is only found in people with European and Asian descent, and not those descending from Sub-Saharan Africa. Scientists’ hypothesis? Some of our early ancestors got it on in the Middle East 600,000 years ago after leaving Africa. Neanderthals weren’t our only inter-species coital experience, either - in 2010, researchers discovered another species, the Denisovans, and we apparently got funky with them, too.
Your family tree. And, unfortunately, not always in a good way. A study in Sweden revealed a strange pattern in a rural community that had gone through periods of both famine and abundance in the 19th century. The study found that the grandsons of men who’d had childhoods coinciding with abundant years had a life expectancy of 32 years less than the grandsons of those who had experienced famine, with the grandsons’ earlier deaths caused mainly by diabetes and heart disease.
Insect-spread parasites. The assassin bug of South America is well known for sucking the blood of sleeping victims while pooping on their faces at the same time. While this is gross, it doesn’t have any affect on our DNA - until we scratch the bite. That causes the bug faeces to enter our system, carrying the parasite T. cruzi - the cause of Chagas’ disease. Being a discerning and ever-questioning scientist, you’re probably thinking: Hey, wait, that’s not right! That’s not genetic! The scary part is it might be. Researchers who deliberately infected chicken eggs with T. cruzi and then tested the offspring of the infected chickens that emerged found that not only did those chickens have the parasite DNA, but so did their offspring, and so on.
Your Long-Lost Twin. In very rare cases, one of two twins in the womb will end up effectively killing the other in order to obtain more resources and nutrients for itself. In even rarer cases, the surviving twin can end up absorbing its dead twin’s DNA - a condition known formally as “chimerism.” In 2002, a woman named Lydia Fairchild submitted DNA tests for her three children as part of a welfare claim, only to have the results prove that genetically, she wasn’t the mother. Since DNA is considered the gold standard of medical evidence, she was accused of somehow stealing the children, even after the poor woman gave birth to another “nonrelated” child right in front of a social worker. Finally, more extensive testing unlocked the mystery: Her ovaries had a different set of DNA than her bloodstream. In other words, she’d given birth to her dead sister’s children. Hers wasn’t an isolated case, either: a woman getting typed for a kidney transplant found out that two of her sons belonged to a dead sibling, while a teenage boy being treated for an undescended testicle was found to possess an ovary from his dead sister.
Image: Computer simulation of DNA unwinding.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3gaasGaqG1rt8lhlo1_1280.jpg)
6 Things I’ll Bet You Didn’t Know Are In Your DNA
In biology, DNA is presented as a neat, orderly double helix comprised of nucleotides, which determine our genotype and - along with environmental factors - our phenotype. Unfortunately, the DNA replicating in our cells right now isn’t comprised of the perfect right-handed spirals that we picture as the “building blocks of life” - in the words of Cracked.com, “[it] is more like an old scrapbook that someone has torn up, pasted back together, filled with old newspaper clippings about murder and then taken into the bathroom with them.”
So let’s take a look at the creepiest of what scientists think 98% of our DNA - as in, not the approximately 2% that codes for useful proteins - is made up of.
- Ancient Viruses. I’ve blogged about this before, but it’s so cool I’ll mention it again. While a “normal” virus works by invading a host cell and using cellular machinery to reproduce, retroviruses actually mix their own genetic material into the cell they’re invading. Scientists believe that endogenous retroviruses picked up by our distant ancestors found their way into the sex organs, and the new virus-hybrid DNA was passed onto offspring - which ultimately evolved into us, racking up virus-laden DNA over thousands of years. As a result, scientists estimate we now have 100,000 of these microscopic gate-crashers cluttering up our DNA - making up a whopping 40% of our entire genome. (Edit: As jtotheizzoe pointed out, viral DNA itself only accounts for about 8-10% of the genome, although that’s probably underestimated since a lot of it is hopelessly degraded. The 40% number comes from retrotransposons, like LINE elements, which are not viruses - although they may be ancestors of retroviruses.) Even more eerily, new research suggests there could be a correlation between unexpectedly high levels of a particular endogenous retrovirus and schizophrenia.
- “Dead” genes. Our DNA is also full of evolutionary relics that have not yet been completely edited out - so called “junk DNA”, or “dead genes.” There’s just one problem with that name, however - the genes aren’t actually dead. A common form of muscular dystrophy, FSHD, is caused by a “dead” gene present in all humans. But it’s only “dead” because it’s missing one specific sequence that allows it to be successfully transcribed; all it takes is one tiny mutation, and the gene is fully expressed. If you thought that was just a fluke, think again: A gene thought to put people at risk for Crohn’s disease was resurrected after 25 million years, and by what? Another retrovirus, of course!
- Neanderthal DNA. How on earth is 1-4% of our modern genome the same as that of a Neanderthal? The obvious answer is, “Oh, it hasn’t been edited out by natural selection yet”…except for, awkwardly enough, that same 1-4% is only found in people with European and Asian descent, and not those descending from Sub-Saharan Africa. Scientists’ hypothesis? Some of our early ancestors got it on in the Middle East 600,000 years ago after leaving Africa. Neanderthals weren’t our only inter-species coital experience, either - in 2010, researchers discovered another species, the Denisovans, and we apparently got funky with them, too.
- Your family tree. And, unfortunately, not always in a good way. A study in Sweden revealed a strange pattern in a rural community that had gone through periods of both famine and abundance in the 19th century. The study found that the grandsons of men who’d had childhoods coinciding with abundant years had a life expectancy of 32 years less than the grandsons of those who had experienced famine, with the grandsons’ earlier deaths caused mainly by diabetes and heart disease.
Image: Computer simulation of DNA unwinding.
Lawyers take to the streets with students for Montreal’s 35th consecutive night of protest
As negotiations between student leaders and the provincial Liberals resumed in Quebec City Monday evening after a supper break, more protests took place in different parts of Quebec including Montreal, which hosted its 35th consecutive night of demonstrations.
Lawyers dressed in their courtroom gowns paraded in silence from the city’s main courthouse through the streets of Old Montreal to join the nightly march.
“It is one of the first times I’ve seen lawyers protest in public like this…and I’ve been practising for almost 30 years,” Bruno Grenier said outside the building surrounded by about 250 people, some carrying copies of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The lawyer said his colleagues wanted to show the public that they oppose a law they “find unjust and which is probably unconstitutional.” (Photos: Canadian Press/Reuters)
![oinonio:
(via An amendment to the Golden Rule. - Imgur)
[Image description: A photograph of Linus Pauling, holding two molecular models and standing in front of a blackboard. This is overlaid with the quote: “Do unto others 20% better than you would expect them to do unto you, to correct for subjective error.” - Linus Pauling]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3xj46crNf1qagxppo1_500.jpg)
[Image description: A photograph of Linus Pauling, holding two molecular models and standing in front of a blackboard. This is overlaid with the quote: “Do unto others 20% better than you would expect them to do unto you, to correct for subjective error.” - Linus Pauling]
Triangular-shaped face. Psychologists have found that a downward pointing triangle can be perceived to carry a threat. (Credit: © Viktor Kuryan / Fotolia)
New research from the University of Warwick could explain why the evil eyebrows and pointy chin of a cartoon villain make our ‘threat’ instinct kick in.
Psychologists have found that a downward pointing triangle can be perceived to carry threat just like a negative face in a crowd.
In a paper published in Emotion, a journal of the American Psychological Association, Dr Derrick Watson and Dr Elisabeth Blagrove have carried out a series of experiments with volunteers to find out if simple geometric shapes can convey positive or negative emotions.
Previous research by these scientists showed that people could pick out a negative face in a crowd more quickly than a positive or neutral face and also that it was difficult to ignore faces in general. The researchers carried out a series of experiments asking volunteers to respond to computer-generated images. They were shown positive, negative and neutral faces, and triangles facing upwards, downwards, inward and outward. This latest study shows that downward triangles are detected just as quickly as a negative face.
Dr Watson said: “We know from previous studies that simple geometric shapes are effective at capturing or guiding attention, particularly if these shapes carry the features present within negative or positive faces.”
“Our study shows that downward pointing triangles in particular convey negative emotions and we can pick up on them quickly and perceive them as a threat.”
Dr Blagrove added: “If we look at cartoon characters, the classic baddie will often be drawn with the evil eyebrows that come to a downward point in the middle. This could go some way to explain why we associate the downward pointing triangle with negative faces. These shapes correspond with our own facial features and we are unconsciously making that link.”
When people don’t like my politics, I am happy to have a political discussion with them. But when they don’t like my politics and call me fat and say I should die, what’s left to say?
reagan-was-a-horrible-president:
Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) has ordered the state to purge all “non-citizens” from the voting rolls prior to November’s election. But that list compiled by the Scott administration is so riddled with errors that, in Miami-Dade County alone, hundreds of U.S. citizens are being told they are ineligible to vote, ThinkProgress has learned exlusively.
According to data from the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections obtained by ThinkProgress:
- 1638 people in Miami-Dade County were flagged by the state as “non-citizens” and sent letters informing them that they were ineligible to vote.
- Of that group, 359 people have subsquently provided the county with proof of citizenship.
- Another 26 people were identified as U.S. citizens directly by the county.
- The bulk of the remaining 1200 people have simply not responded yet to a letter sent to them by the Supervisor of Elections.
You can see a similar letter sent to alleged “non-citizens” by the Broward County Supervisor of Elections HERE. (“The Supervisor of Elections… has received information that you are not a citizen of the United States.”) If recipients of the letter do not respond within 30 days — a deadline that is mere days away — they will be summarily removed from the voting rolls. The voters purged from the list, election officials tell ThinkProgress, will inevitably include fully eligible Florida voters.
In short, an excess of 20 percent of the voters flagged as “non-citizens” in Miami-Dade are, in fact, citizens. And the actual number may be much higher.
An analysis of the state-wide list by the Miami Herald found that “Hispanic, Democratic and independent-minded voters are the most likely to be targeted” as ineligible by the list. Conversely, “whites and Republicans are disproportionately the least-likely to face the threat of removal.”
Late last year, Scott ordered his Secretary of State, Kurt Browning, to “to identify and remove non-U.S. citizens from the voter rolls.” Browning could not access to reliable citizenship data. So election officials attempted to identify non-U.S. citizens by comparing data from the state motor vehicle administration with the voting file. That process produced a massive list of 182,000 names, which Browning considered unreliable and refused to release. Browning resigned in February and Scott pressed forward with the purge.
The Fair Elections Legal Network, which is challenging the purge, noted that database matching is “notoriously unreliable” and “data entry errors, similar-sounding names, and changing information can all produce false matches.” Further, some voters may have naturalized since their license information was collected.
For example, Juan Artabe, a resident of Miami-Dade, was flagged as a “non-citizen” based on motor vehicle records from 2006. He became a citizen in 2008 but no one notified the state. He was able to retain his ability to vote only by sending his citizenship papers to the Supervisor of Elections.
The situation in Miami-Dade is also apparent in elsewhere in Florida. According to a local reports in smaller Polk County of the 21 voters flagged by the state “nine appear to be citizens, leaving 12 as questionable.”
The purge of fully eligible voters from the voting rolls by Scott could be enough to tip the balance in Florida and, perhaps, the presidential election. In 2000, the final (disputed) margin was just 537 votes.
Election-theft worked for the Republicans in 2000…looks like they’re going to try it again in 2012.
And in the same fucking state nonetheless
Regardless where you stand on immigration issues, a border fence, amnesty, etc., or on same-sex marriage and equal rights for LGBT citizens, how can you be in favor of making it easier to commit violence against LGBT or immigrant women? I cannot believe our national debate has come to this point – where we are singling out parts of the population and making them more vulnerable to violence.
Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) criticized the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act saying the bill passed on Wednesday puts women’s lives in jeopardy because it excludes access to services for immigrant, LGBT and Native American women. (via nbclatino)
I mean, “singling out parts of the population and making them more vulnerable to violence” is what institutional oppression is - it’s just not always as visible as this.
But yes, this whole thing is fucking ridiculous.
(via viviopsis)
- If you don’t physically hold someone down, you can’t be an oppressor.
- Racism is physically hating and acting on that hate based on a person’s race.
- White Privilege means you are rich and/or have an easy life.
- Pointing out racism is a racist act.
- Not knowing
- better is a perfectly justifiable reason to have hurt someone.
- There is a specific way to be (insert race here)
- White and whiteness are the same thing.
- Anger is childish.
- Using angry phrasing or curse words makes your point invalid.
- It is my job to teach you but not your job to search for knowledge on your own.