Nerdery

[liv]

Work is a bit politically frustrating at the moment, so have some silly links:

joannas found the personality quiz I've been waiting for all my life: What kind of protein are you? I am a transcription factor, which considering how much of my work has in fact been on TFs, is a particularly pleasing result. It means that I implement decisions by switching genes on and off, thereby delegating other proteins to go off and do useful things. Which sounds about right for someone who spends her non-research time teaching baby doctors and switching them on to go and cure people.

ETA 1: If you're getting a result like "analyst" or "nurturer" you need to scroll up to the top of the picture to see what kind protein you actually are. Yes, it's very bad UI design, I hadn't realized that it was making the descriptions more prominent than the actual result. Sorry about that!

There was an XKCD with biochemistry; there's no point linking to XKCD really cos just about everybody follows XKCD. And that strip isn't closely related to my work, but it's the chemistry a couple of levels under what I do, so it made me feel loved.

All the academics on my Twitter feed are linking to this silly Guardian article about why academics have a bad dress-sense: because we're not alienated from our labour, apparently. It's a charming thought, and there is a serious point buried in the article, which is that many female academics work just as hard on coming across exactly the right degree of nonchalant about appearance as they would on being impeccably presented if they worked in a sector that expected that. Me, I dress badly because I can't be bothered to spend time or money on clothes, and because I'm fat enough that there's no low-effort way to look good. But it's nice to pretend that it has something to do with Marx or feminism or something.

ETA 2: redbird absolutely nails the analysis that's missing from the article: "Even without choosing to dress that way for Marxist or feminist reasons, you can make those choices without a lot of stress in part because of your specific work and class situation." Yes, that. That's the conclusion the article should've come to, thank you redbird for fixing it so succinctly.

Comments

[ewt]

I am an analyst, apparently.

I am not really an academic but my clothing choices often boil down to "will it look sortof OK rumpled?". I seem to be congenitally scruffy, I can spend as much or as little time as I like getting dressed but 5 minutes later I will look like I've been through a hedge backward.

Trousers almost never fit but neither do tights, and leggings with socks always look a bit less smart.

I always dream of a capsule wardrobe of things that Just Fit and Go Together but the reality is I wear clothes out fast and also like a lot of different colours/styles so usually have more clothing than I can usefully wear and what I actually want is in the wash. I kind of miss being sortof goth and only wearing black, which simplified things somewhat on a day-to-day basis but made shopping for things that fit me more difficult.

[liv]

Analyst = transcription factor, I think, cos that's the result I got. I didn't realize until people started commenting with personality types instead of protein types that the quiz is really unclear, it displays the actual result as the title of the picture where it's easy to skim over, especially if you don't know that names of proteins is what you're looking for.

Much sympathy on the clothes issue. I think your figure is even further outside what useless clothes retailers consider "typical" than mine. And yes, congenitally scruffy is a problem for me too, it's not only that I'm too lazy, it's that I'm too uncoordinated to make my clothes look smart.

I like the capsule wardrobe idea! But yes, it's very difficult to achieve because capitalism thrives on cheap clothes that wear out fast and need replacing.

[ewt]

If I'm ordained, I can totally see myself having a few good black skirts made -- I'll have to have the clerical shirts made, anyway, because they do not come off-the-shelf in anything near a size that would fit me -- and clothing choices suddenly getting much, much simpler (along the lines of "black cardigan or black jacket?") if I don't just opt for wearing a cassock all day every day, which I haven't decided about yet. Cassocks are great. Mine looks very good on me, as smart as anything I've ever owned, and cost less than one of Nile's suits, and it has both voluminous pockets AND slits to get at pockets in my clothes underneath. Might be a bit warm in summer, though having a lightweight one made for then wouldn't be too bad. Bit tricksy for cycling if it's very wet out but step-through frame bicycles with skirt guards were actually designed for clergy who needed to cycle about in cassocks so at least in mild weather it shouldn't be an issue.

Then my hair would still be a mess but people would probably think "eccentric" rather than "scruffy".

It's a pretty big if, though, and if I start wearing all black all the time before the discernment process is out, people might think I'm being pretentious. (And it is ridiculous that I even have to think of this, but there it is.)

I don't think you are lazy. I think you have other priorities.

[liv]

This seems like a really excellent plan, yes. Yay cassocks! But I do see what you mean about being pretentious if you start dressing like clergy too early on.

[davidgillon]

I always dream of a capsule wardrobe of things that Just Fit and Go Together .... I kind of miss being sortof goth and only wearing black

I'm reminded of Cayce, the protagonist in William Gibson's 'Pattern Recognition', who deals with her physical allergy to name-brands in part by using something she calls Skirt-Thing, a knit tube of black wool, which depending on how much she unrolls it, tugs it up, whatever, can pass as anything from a skirt to a Little Black Dress

[ewt]

I like the idea, but in practice garments that fit quite so closely tend to make me feel uncomfortable, and don't suit me all that well.

On 23 October 2014 17:19, davidgillon - DW Comment dw_null@dreamwidth.org wrote:

[azurelunatic]

Exactly so, about the black thing! That is how I manage, that and the occasional non-black item that's struck my fancy. I know exactly the sort of figure I want to cut, it's just not trivial to lay my hands on the pieces. I require a wardrobe that does not require ironing, and sadly black fades quickly on those very sturdy cotton jersey pieces.