u/TotalCleanFBC

I received a message a few days ago from someone in my field who requested that a paper I recently uploaded to arXiv include two citations to his papers. Now, I am all for giving proper credit when it is due. However, in this case, the guy wanted me to cite him for using a mathematical technique that has been around for 50+ years. And, I will note that I cited the original source for this technique. What's more, the problems he and I solved are only vaguely related.

The guy is actually well-known in my community as a citation monger. Nearly all of my colleagues have experienced outlandish citation requests from the same person.

I'm tempted to respond to this person and let him know exactly why his request is ridiculous. But, the more level-headed person in me is telling me to just hit the delete button.

How do you deal with citation mongers?

I've spent the last few summers living outside the USA. It isn't vacation per se, in the sense that I still work. But, it's just nice to have a change of scenery, live in a different culture, speak a different language, etc.. It's easy enough to rent an AirBnB for a few months. But, I'm actually starting to think about buying an apartment outside the USA that I can return to regularly and rent out during the months when I am working in the USA.

So, I'm curious to know

1. Do any of you have a home away from the place at which you work?

2. If so, do you like owning a home in this place? Or, do you think it would have been better to just rent an AirBnB?

When I applied to grad school, I definitely let all of my letter writers know which grad schools I was admitted to and where I ended up going. It seemed like something I should obviously do, given how much work it is to write a letter and how many schools I applied to.

It occurred to me today that not a single student for whom I wrote a letter this year bothered to let me know how their applications turned out. So, I'm curious to know what percentage of students for whom you have written letters bother to keep you up to date on their graduate school applications.

EDIT: Wow. I'm genuinely surprised at the responses. I only started writing LORs for undergraduates a few years ago (as, prior to then, I was teaching grad-level courses exclusively). So, when I started writing LORs for undergrads, and none of them ever bothered to update me on their plans, I thought my experience was unusual. Based on the responses, I guess it's not only common, but the norm, for undergrads to ask for LORs and then never follow up with their letter writers.

When I was in school, we had access to solutions manuals for many of the standard textbooks used in undergraduate STEM courses. And, if solutions manuals weren't available, there were also many ways to find solutions to HW problems online.

But, my friends and I didn't just look up answers to homework problems. We tried to solve them on our own. Only if we were truly stuck, did we seek answers in a solutions manual or in online resources. We understood that we were in school to learn and just looking up answers and presenting them as our own wasn't going to help us achieve that goal.

Today, it seems like students have zero self-control or discipline. The majority of them go straight to AI before even attempting to solve HW problems on their own. And, of course, this is reflected in their exam scores, which are noticeably worse than the exam scores of students from just a few years ago.

So, I guess my question is: what changed? Why did students in the past have the discipline to at least try to do HW on their own while students today just to straight to AI?

Voy a visitar GTO en agosto. ?Alguien me puede recomendar un gimnasio en que puedo entrenar? Para mi, lo unico importante es que el gimnasio tenga una juala para hacer sentadillas.

What's the point of even having a train if it goes slower than the surrounding traffic and has to stop for stoplights?

What's the point of even having a train if it goes slower than the surrounding traffic and has to stop for stoplights?

In my role as AE, I can clearly see that papers are being written by AI, as are referee reports.

As one that recently handled a junior colleague's promotion case, letter writers are using AI.

NSF proposals are written by AI.

Grad school applicants are using AI to write personal statements. I don't review undergraduate applications, but I have zero doubts high school students are using AI in the college applications.

And, of course, we all know students are using AI to do homework.

There's literally no aspect of academia that hasn't been ruined by AI. Every aspect of academic life is one giant charade now.

I have a colleague that is overly enthusiastic and positive about everything. For example
-- when reviewing a tenure case: "This is the most amazing CV I have every seen!"
-- when considering a new department initiative: "This is an unbelievable opportunity! We should definitely pursue it!"
-- when you have any conversation with him (and totally independent of what you say): "Wow! That's amazing! Great! Fantastic!"
-- when discussing a student's dissertation defense: "This is just incredible work."
-- when deciding whom to make an offer to in a job search: "What an unbelievable group of candidates; I wish we could hire all of them."

It doesn't help matters that he never backs up his enthusiasm with actions (e.g., he will never volunteer to be on a committee and constantly has excuses for getting out of service).

As his comments have no nuance and zero value, I find that I am getting more and more annoyed at his mere presence. Talking with him is a total waste of time.

For the most part, I just try to avoid interacting with him. But, I'm curious to know if any of you have colleagues like this? If so, are you also annoyed? How do you deal with him or her?

Let's say I own 100 shares of a stock called ABC and I have held those shares for over a year. I don't want to sell my shares, but I want to protect my downside. So, I buy 100 at-the-money put options on ABC with a maturity of 6 months.

Zoom forward now to the maturity date of the options. How exactly are the options treated taxwise? Is it just considered short-term capital gain or loss (depending on whether the payoff of the put is greater or less than the put premium I paid? Does the fact that I owned the stock before purchasing the put have any effect on the tax treatment?