Ben Hardisty, PhD

i had an idea for a new optical genetic tool in 2013. seven years later, two people in my lab did some work, and today, we got our first images that suggest this tool might actually have worked. it might be the long game, but days like today are pretty fun.

I'd have to check but with LaTeX a \left| and \right| would probably produce larger pipes in nested expressions with absolute values. Also took me some time to see the ambiguity here.

I told my kid (who’d asked about absolute value signs) “They’re just like parentheses so there’s never any ambiguity,” but then I realized that things are more complicated; for instance |-1|-2|-3| could be 5 or -5. Has anyone encountered ambiguities like this in the wild?

This math equation is dividing the internet, and no one can agree on an answer: |-1|-2|-3|=???https://twitter.com/jimpropp/status/1224177172362989571 …

I am apparently learning useful things in therapy, because now I'm the one my family asks for advice during stressful times. Unfortunately my advice is often "is there anything you can set on fire?"

I did the same thing for all EEB student lunches with speakers, per Lacey's suggestion that it "helps you prepare faculty interview down the line". I can attest it did ten years later.

As a first year graduate student, I signed up for breakfast with every single MSU EEBB seminar speaker. I now realize 1) that was weird, and 2) probably the people organizing schedules loved it.

Extremely stressful faculty activity: choosing a limited number of research students from a seemingly unlimited pool of interesting and enthusiastic people.

'Knowing what is big and what is small is more important than being able to solve partial differential equations.' -- Stan Ulam

Also they should just sign Shakira and JLo to do all halftime shows from now on. With an occasional Bruno Mars appearance. And extra security to keep Coldplay out. (Don’t @ me I love Coldplay but not at the Super Bowl)

I gave a talk while visibly pregnant and was introduced as “this is the postdoc who came to the US to have two anchor babies”https://twitter.com/e_j_barnes/status/1223961624480010240 …

What in the actual hell

It actually did do me a lot of good, because it fired up the Spite Engine and activated the giant chip on my shoulder to make me want to prove them wrong. Spite is a force that gives life meaning

"Spite Engine" may I adopt this?

In response to question about writing sample in interview. Me: 'Good question. In this part of the paper I argue...' Guy: (Interrupting) 'I didn't read that far.' That was the start of the second half of the paper. Everyone just looks at him. Silence follows.

Almost worth doing on purpose

Friend of mine, when early career and paralyzed by public speaking, found the room jammed packed for his conference panel. He shakily slid the thick rubber band off his roll of papers and it shot into the audience, hitting one of the most eminent people in his field in the face

Ah, perhaps more maliciously cringeworthy, after leaving a certain institution I found out that a senior prof had learned of my comments on his treatment of women and moved to have me booted from the program (thankfully other profs defended me)