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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • I have a work truck that I beat the hell out of. Go off road and hit 4 wheel drive 3-4 times per week. I haul 1000-1,500 lbs of gear everywhere for around 4 months of the year. I tow daily for 2-3 months of the year and up 1-2 times per month the rest of the time. My cab is full of gear (it’s basically my mobile office).

    Guess what I hop into and drive every chance I get? The small SUV I own. It is much easier to drive, park, go shopping in etc. It takes a lot more more effort to drive the larger vehicles.

    If I could swing it I would turn my 1/2 ton work truck in for one of those new small trucks. Unfortunately the weight that I am moving is too much for them. So I am stuck with the large truck.







  • Academia is usually about minutiae, not concepts. Sometimes they get so hyperfocus in small areas that they are completely unable to give a general summary of what they are doing in the bigger picture. To do so would require them to understand things outside of their very narrow field of study.


  • One thing I learned over the years is that there is zero training in being a good manager. Promotions to management are based upon two things: technical expertise or relationships (brown-nosing/nepotism etc.) Having managerial skills is completely unnecessary for the job.

    Very few “managers” take the time to observe, study, and gain the skill set needed when they are in the job. Most end up regurgitating the most recent MBA bullshit fad.


  • Been watching this one for many years.

    They are barking up the wrong tree with insisting on staying with diploids.

    The higher yields of tetraploid varieties are because of them being in the tetraploid state. Tetraploidy commonly causes the enlargement of plant organs (thicker stems, larger flowers, and bigger tubers). It’s also relatively straightforward to breed diploids then convert them to tetraploid state. It’s completely routine in other species.

    The downside tetraploids is true seed production is decreased by as much as 90%. It also takes 4-5 generations to stabilize them after they are created. Producing hybrid true seed becomes very expensive and much slower. I understand why they don’t want to do it, but they are wrong.

    The current commercial production of potatoes is very expensive and environmentally damaging. There is a ton of space to capture value by going to true seed. For example tuber storage, cutting, tuber treatment, and specialized planters. Double fumigation (biofumigation followed by chemicall) is common in some areas. In season chemistry applications in fungicide etc…are very high.

    Improved genetic resistance to numerous different pathogens would lead to rapid adoption if the math works out.