Unfortunately Not a Real Pony

We're all aware of how the distinction between processed and, IDK, "natural" foods is utter crap, right?

I just saw a definition that said that anything in a box, can, jar, bottle, or bag is processed (and therefore BAAAAAD for you or some such).

So I took a look around the kitchen, and: beans and corn in bags, fresh cherries in a bag, boxed pasta, plastic-wrapped meat, clam shell of tiny tomatoes, can of vegetable stock, peanuts in a jar... processed, all of it, processed!

Only stuff that we have at the moment that's, uh, "free range" or whatever, are some potatoes and some Granny Smith apples (which my partner eats raw, IDGI either).

When people insist that writing isn't really work, I get the urge to throw my laptop at them and tell them to write a 350K story that's at least as internally consistent, coherent, and interesting as what I've been writing for the last two years.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before: I'm a scientist. I have a BS in [mumblemumble].

Every job I've applied to so far has said "requirements: BS in [my degree and a few related ones]". But having worked those jobs before... no, a degree is not actually strictly necessary.

The theoretical knowledge about my field of study is all out there. Grab a few textbooks from your local library, listen to some recorded lectures from MIT, spend some time thinking about and maybe writing notes, and boom: you know everything I learned in three years of college classes.

And the actual practical skills? How to make this robot go, how to combine these chemicals, how to safely handle the stuff you'll see at a lab? That's stuff I learned on the job, but honestly, even if a job requires you to have these beforehand, you are frequently able to learn these things by taking a lab skills class at your local community college.

This is a very long-winded way of saying that academic elitism in science is yet another way to keep marginalized people out of the field.