Political Science - Fall 2011 Cycle

[wtncffts]

Comparative, nothing.

I'm sure we'll hear from Berkeley soon.

Rose, you should get one of those dipping bird toys to click refresh for you. No need to uncross fingers or get boogers on the mousepad.

That's probably not a good idea. The nuclear plant is gonna blow.

[firefly28]

I also applied Comparative and have no news. I'm refreshing email like a madman while keeping my fingers crossed (it's quite a feat, I tell you).

That's why I'm thankful I have an automatic gmail checker for firefox--this way the second an acceptance (or that other type) comes in, I'll receive notification. Well, ok, it checks every few minutes, so there may be a slight lag. But I'll find out fast, which is nice. I received one acceprrance notice by phone and one by email.

Does anyone have any interviews for fellowships scheduled? I have one; I think I'll go ahead and wear a dress shirt and tie (church attire, anyway). I'll also shave with a razor for the first time in close to a year.

[EliAle]

Comparative, nothing.

I'm sure we'll hear from Berkeley soon.

Rose, you should get one of those dipping bird toys to click refresh for you. No need to uncross fingers or get boogers on the mousepad.

IR, also nothing.

[GopherGrad]

That's probably not a good idea. The nuclear plant is gonna blow.

What?!

And here I thought I'd tripled my productivity.

Firefly,

Make it the second time in a year. Razor shaves after a long time without often induce mad razor burn. Best to do at least one run through to re-acclimate the skin.

Edit: Also, Google the shelby-pratt knot for that tie. It's the hottest in neckwear right now.

Edited February 8, 2011 by GopherGrad

[firefly28]

What?!

And here I thought I'd tripled my productivity.

Firefly,

Make it the second time in a year. Razor shaves after a long time without often induce mad razor burn. Best to do at least one run through to re-acclimate the skin.

Edit: Also, Google the shelby-pratt knot for that tie. It's the hottest in neckwear right now.

Ah, thanks for the tip (sensitive skin razors here I come). I am regrettably awful at tying ties. Luckily, I'm in a church (LDS) in which every male who grew up in the church learned very early how to tie ties. Sometime I'll figure it out

Edited February 8, 2011 by firefly28

[Rose]

Comparative, nothing.

I'm sure we'll hear from Berkeley soon.

Rose, you should get one of those dipping bird toys to click refresh for you. No need to uncross fingers or get boogers on the mousepad.

Well on the upside at least you gave me a 10 minute distraction looking at dipping bird toys?

I think I've either brilliantly, if inadvertently, found a way to keep refreshing email interesting (alternatively, to make myself go insane as quickly as possible): all my apps are connected to my school email address, which I then have forwarded through gmail (only because the school email program has no formatting options and no sorting capabilities). So now I have two tabs open with my email, refreshing both just for fun... Not that it's making news come any faster.

[yinumzhou`]

My way is sitting in front of the computer for the whole day.

Well on the upside at least you gave me a 10 minute distraction looking at dipping bird toys?

I think I've either brilliantly, if inadvertently, found a way to keep refreshing email interesting (alternatively, to make myself go insane as quickly as possible): all my apps are connected to my school email address, which I then have forwarded through gmail (only because the school email program has no formatting options and no sorting capabilities). So now I have two tabs open with my email, refreshing both just for fun... Not that it's making news come any faster.

[GopherGrad]

In the meantime, you guys can help me with a problem.

When I bake Italian bread, the crust always comes out right, but the interior is whiter and denser than a normal loaf. I really want that chewy texture and uneven look. Why is my bread lacking in tooth? Am I degassing too much when I form the batards? Is the dough not getting warm enough during the kneading stage?

It's driving me batshit.

[Rose]

In the meantime, you guys can help me with a problem.

When I bake Italian bread, the crust always comes out right, but the interior is whiter and denser than a normal loaf. I really want that chewy texture and uneven look. Why is my bread lacking in tooth? Am I degassing too much when I form the batards? Is the dough not getting warm enough during the kneading stage?

It's driving me batshit.

Clearly exercising all of my political-scientific capacities to address this, and I typically avoid this problem entirely (breadmaker ftw!) but typically dense bread = not kneaded enough (or the flour you're using is too dense...as in, whole wheat instead of all purpose).

It's funny that you mention this, because I was just contemplating whether baking cookies would tear me away from my email (with the additional bonus of providing delicious baked goods)...

[tomsmonticello]

In the meantime, you guys can help me with a problem.

When I bake Italian bread, the crust always comes out right, but the interior is whiter and denser than a normal loaf. I really want that chewy texture and uneven look. Why is my bread lacking in tooth? Am I degassing too much when I form the batards? Is the dough not getting warm enough during the kneading stage?

It's driving me batshit.

You may not be kneading it enough (or letting it set in a warm spot long enough--the longer it sits, the less you have to knead) or perhaps too little yeast--the yeast, of course, is what creates the inner texture and bubbles. You may also consider lowering the temperature and baking it a little longer to let the inside bake along with the outside.

[camcgee97]

Just checked Texas's (Austin) application status website and I was rejected. Have not received any communication from them, but I'm assuming the letter's in the mail.

Have to say I really did not expect this one, as I thought Texas was somewhat of a safety school for me. It also seemed their theory faculty matched my interests well, but I suppose I was mistaken.

[GopherGrad]

Sorry about that, cam. Maybe they rejected you because you are too likely to get snapped up somewhere better?

Thanks for the bread advice. Baking is new to me and I'm lost if I can't cook by smell. I'll let this loaf sit somewhere warm for a bit longer and hope that partially rescues it.

[Subsonic Bass]

I also just got a rejection from UT Austin when I checked their online system. I guess the academic Gods' knew I wouldn't do well in Texas.

Thats two acceptances (UCLA and Boulder), and one rejection.

[camcgee97]

I also just got a rejection from UT Austin when I checked their online system. I guess the academic Gods' knew I wouldn't do well in Texas.

Thats two acceptances (UCLA and Boulder), and one rejection.

To be fair, Austin is hardly Texas.

[Rodao]

Oh boy. Rejections from Austin are going up? Austin I consider my safety school, so if I haven't gotten in there, I may be doomed.

Too anxious to check.

Has anyone gotten an acceptance from Austin for political science?

[Gradhorn]

I still show that I'm under review at Texas. For the first time in this process no news might be good news?

[Croasyjr]

I still show that I'm under review at Texas. For the first time in this process no news might be good news?

I think that mine is still under review -- I'm scouring the status check and not seeing anything different, but of course I'm paranoid that I'm missing something...

[firefly28]

Sorry about that, cam. Maybe they rejected you because you are too likely to get snapped up somewhere better?

Thanks for the bread advice. Baking is new to me and I'm lost if I can't cook by smell. I'll let this loaf sit somewhere warm for a bit longer and hope that partially rescues it.

The thing to keep in mind is that A LOT of people apply there. I strongly considered applying there, since it's a good school with faculty that match my interest and, going off the admissions data that I could find, I'd be very competitive. But given the number of applications they get, I think it's somewhat easy to just get lost in the crowd, even if your application really does stand out. With so many apps, the committee might look for something very narrow, or have some other heuristic to reduce the amount of time spent going through the apps.

[Aunuwyn]

To be fair, Austin is hardly Texas.

That's not true at all.

[Rodao]

Phew, still under review.

[ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ]

Clearly exercising all of my political-scientific capacities to address this, and I typically avoid this problem entirely (breadmaker ftw!) but typically dense bread = not kneaded enough (or the flour you're using is too dense...as in, whole wheat instead of all purpose).

There's no reason to throw away perfectly good political science skills just because the topic is bread.

Rational choice theory: this is, in fact, the best loaf of Italian bread you are willing to bake, given the marginal costs of producing a better one. If you valued the product of another baking method more, you would have used that.

Classical realism: get used to fucking up your breadbaking, man; it's just part of human nature.

Constructivist realism: insufficiently chewy bread is inevitable given the anarchy of the kitchen. Perhaps you should improve its feng shui?

Idealism: first, make sure you and the other breadbakers are organized democratically. Then invade the bread and reorganize the yeast along the lines of a parliamentary republic. If you and the bread can't cooperate after that, one of you wasn't really democratic.

Critical race theory: what else would you expect? Just like the bread, the reigning ideology adopts a mix of whites and browns on the outside, while remaining just as white - and as dense - as ever in substance.

Instrumentalist Marxism: how nice of you to complain about insufficient chewiness when the real purpose of the bread is to poison your neighbor!

Structuralist Marxism: wait, stop! I'm sure you don't know this, but the bread is poison!

World-Systems theory: asking questions about "the bread" is meaningless. After all, the bread was produced from other things in the kitchen with other things in the kitchen for other things in the kitchen. The proper unit of analysis is the kitchen-system.

Positivism: can we really say that your baking the bread in the way you did lead to insufficient chewiness? Keep baking bread just the way you did until we can get the p-value down to to at least .1.

Joe Sixpackism: Unenchewment up again??? I say we throw the bâtards out!!

Edited February 9, 2011 by ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ

[camcgee97]

That's not true at all.

Just going by what everyone in Texas has told me. My Aunt lives in Dallas and says that Austin is the Texas city where she'd be willing to live.

[Rodao]

Just going by what everyone in Texas has told me. My Aunt lives in Dallas and says that Austin is the Texas city where she'd be willing to live.

I keep hearing about how great Austin is. Why is that?

[ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ]

I keep hearing about how great Austin is. Why is that?

Liberal. Best live music scene in the country. Just the right mix of northern California weird and Texas weird. Bats.

[beatlesfan]

Does anyone by any chance know what's going on with Rochester? It seems that this time last year, they'd notified people, but I haven't heard anything... Thanks!