Category Archives: General stuff

Looking forward…and backward

Posted on by
Reply

Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.  – Pablo Picasso

Now that 2013 is underway, did you took some time to look at your achievements in 2012? Your most important realization? Your biggest miss (objective / goal / opportunity)? What fraction of things you wanted to put in motion for 2012 did you get to start or complete? For those who did not took off, what was the main reason and should you keep this on your plate for 2013?

Setting specific, well-define goals or objectives, defining the road to get there and be able to look back and question yourself (as above) once in a while is, in my opinion, a critical habit to be developed as early as possible in your research career. This is not to be confused with the general practice of new year resolutions, which tends to be vaporous, unquantifiable or unrealistic wishes. However, the start of the new year might very well be the best time to do this kind of exercise after a few days of slowing down or even plain vacation 😉

A resolution for 2013

Posted on by
Reply

According to wikipedia, a motto is:

“a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used in the Western world. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments. In informal ways, it can be a rule or slogan someone follows, or lives their life by”.

When I was a grad student, I came by a quote (don’t remember from whom), which I adopted as my personnel motto: Think big, work hard, smile always and good things will happen.

Good times and (especially) during the bad times – like getting a paper or grant proposal rejected –  it is there as a reminder of what must be done.

What is yours?

If you have none, why not adopting one this year?

The One Day Initiative

Posted on by
Reply

As expected, December 21st 2012 has passed. Earth and humans are still there, no end of the world in sight, no apocalyptic scenario (though we had a nice winter storm 😉 )

It is quite impressive that almost 1 Canadian out of 10 believe in these dooms day announcements. See this link: One in Seven (14%) Global Citizens Believe End of the World is Coming in Their Lifetime | Ipsos.

Even sadder, is when a society that thrived on science and technological advances (which is impossible  if the fundamental discoveries were not performed), a society that has split the atom and uses its power for energy, medicine… and yes military applications, believes at a level of almost 50% of the population, that Earth age is orders of magnitude younger than science tell us and that the bible provides an accurate account of the creation (In U.S., 46% Hold Creationist View of Human Origins.).

When this happen, we as scientists have failed to communicate efficiently with the public. We, scientists, need to get involved and educate on a larger scale.

Last year, I spent one day meeting over 500 students from a high school talking about radiation, radioactivity and its use in medicine. I intend to repeat the experience this year. If  I alone, during that single day, was able to reach hundreds of peoples, together we can reach out to millions, covering hundreds of topics.

Wouldn’t it be nice if one day per year would be dedicated officially to science and technology education conferences by experts for the general crowd, coming back every year at a similar date? Every school would have to get this day planned in their calendar year. In return, every University would make their advance graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, researchers and professors available on that day (no classes!)… Wouldn’t it be an exceptional day!

In the mean time, for 2013, I challenge you to give one day: let’s call it the one day initiative (it needs a good name!) to meet, talk with and educate your fellow citizens about science and technology. This can be meeting elementary or high school students, make a public conference, participate in a scientific debate, …

If you like this concept, please do disseminate the link to this blog post and use the name one day initiative as often as you can. Maybe by the sheer numbers we can create something new.

November, this time of the year again

Posted on by
1

Prostate cancer will touch 1 men in 7 during his lifetime. November is this time of the year where a special activity called Movember is going on. Making the difference one by one.

 

Have a look at Movember.com or alternatively http://mobro.co/lucbeaulieu.

 

TEDx : Stop Stealing Dream

Posted on by
Reply

A few months ago, I was sharing with you a link to a document entitled “stop stealing dream”  discussing the birth of the public school system as we know it in the USA and Canada. The format, the disposition of the desks, the schedule and some of the rules have not changed since then. Yet, this system was built primarily to produce obedient workers for the factories.

Below, you will find a link to a TEDx talk by the author Seth Godin. I hope you will take the time to watch it: STOP STEALING DREAMS: Seth Godin at TEDxYouth@BFS – YouTube…and maybe read the (free) document afterward.