crazietalk.net

YmoBeThere wrote:Mazda

I knew it too. But repeating it would be extra posting!

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:

YmoBeThere wrote:Mazda

I knew it too. But repeating it would be extra posting!

I saw two Teslas the other day on Rt. 220. I had to look up the badge online.

Love the photos !

Ima Facultiwyfe wrote:

bjornolf wrote:Katie petting both of the new little guys:

Same big,beautiful eyes but LOTS more hair!!!! Really cute!
Love,Ima

More teeth, too.

Okay:

Ima Facultiwyfe wrote:

bjornolf wrote:Katie petting both of the new little guys:

Same big,beautiful eyes but LOTS more hair!!!! Really cute!
Love,Ima

Precious!!

bjornolf wrote:Okay:

Love all the pictures.

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:

YmoBeThere wrote:Mazda

I knew it too. But repeating it would be extra posting!

PWing.....

Awwwwwww!

Dental abscesses, I don't recommend them.

YmoBeThere wrote:Dental abscesses, I don't recommend them.

Oh no. I hope the antibiotics kick in soon. Speedy healing, Ymo.

At our departmental faculty meeting last Friday, The Boss announced that he is NOT leaving for Chicago. The rumors of his imminent departure made it back to him. He also told us of some drastic budget cuts being made by The Provost (aka Tilly's former boss) and his crew. They've mandated 17% budget cuts across the board for every department. The problem? They're including extramural funding as a part of the departmental budget. If you're department has lots of NIH funding, you're hosed. The Boss is expected to cut our departmental budget by MORE THAN HE GETS FROM THE INSTITUTION. If the bean counters have their way, our department will not be able to buy toner and paper for the printers. We will not be able to buy liquid helium for the magnet on our NMR - which means no NMR. Lots of people around campus rely on it to help in characterizing compunds they've made. Instrument service contracts are also gone, despite the fact that a single instrument repair can cost more than the entire service contract. The Boss is hoping wiser heads will prevail. The administrative bean counters do not seem to realize that they cannot take federal research dollars and use them for something other than research - unless they want an audit by the feds.

The other bit of fun has to do with WEC and the instrument grant that will not die. I had lunch with my friend from the grants office, who is responsible for putting WEC's grant into a presentable form before it goes out the door. In order to get one of these, you have to be purchasing it for a core facility, and you have to provide a list of major and minor users - complete with research projects and CVs. Both of us know that WEC is committing fraud in the application, and The Boss is supporting him. He's claiming it's a core facility instrument, but he intends to use it for his own research. The Boss forced me to give WEC my CV so WEC can claim I will be managing the instrument. He wrote research plans for the major users, and one of them is so bad that I have to rewrite it. The others have required heavy editing. My friend discovered that there weren't CVs for the 30 or so minor users, so she started asking for them from the people on the list. Quelle surprise, WEC fabricated his entire list of minor users. He went to the NIH website and copied abstracts from funded proposals to put into his document. He then added spin to make it fit with his grant. A few problems: he didn't get anyone's permission to do this (none of the minor users knew they were being included), and the research plans he wrote were complete gibberish.

This puts both my friend and me in a terrible position. The faculty from my department who were included don't feel as though they can say no and risk angering The Boss, so they (or I) am forced to fix the research description. Both of us feel as though we are knowingly participating in fraud, and neither of us like it. I can't say a word, because WEC is The Boss' pet, and he has already forced me to give WEC my CV. My friend was supposed to talk with her boss about this situation yesterday afternoon in order to find out what we should do. Best case scenario is that the grant gets nixed at the administrative level due to all the budget cuts. Even better IMO would be for the little weasel to get called up on academic fraud charges at the institutional level. No one in our department can do this for fear of bringing down the wrath of The Boss, but there's a very real possibility that one of the minor users (a VERY powerful faculty member from another department who was NOT happy about being added without permission) will do so.

I am taking a mental health day today.

That the faculty member from outside your dept raises holy hell!

ArkieDukie wrote:At our departmental faculty meeting last Friday, The Boss announced that he is NOT leaving for Chicago. The rumors of his imminent departure made it back to him. He also told us of some drastic budget cuts being made by The Provost (aka Tilly's former boss) and his crew. They've mandated 17% budget cuts across the board for every department. The problem? They're including extramural funding as a part of the departmental budget. If you're department has lots of NIH funding, you're hosed. The Boss is expected to cut our departmental budget by MORE THAN HE GETS FROM THE INSTITUTION. If the bean counters have their way, our department will not be able to buy toner and paper for the printers. We will not be able to buy liquid helium for the magnet on our NMR - which means no NMR. Lots of people around campus rely on it to help in characterizing compunds they've made. Instrument service contracts are also gone, despite the fact that a single instrument repair can cost more than the entire service contract. The Boss is hoping wiser heads will prevail. The administrative bean counters do not seem to realize that they cannot take federal research dollars and use them for something other than research - unless they want an audit by the feds.

The other bit of fun has to do with WEC and the instrument grant that will not die. I had lunch with my friend from the grants office, who is responsible for putting WEC's grant into a presentable form before it goes out the door. In order to get one of these, you have to be purchasing it for a core facility, and you have to provide a list of major and minor users - complete with research projects and CVs. Both of us know that WEC is committing fraud in the application, and The Boss is supporting him. He's claiming it's a core facility instrument, but he intends to use it for his own research. The Boss forced me to give WEC my CV so WEC can claim I will be managing the instrument. He wrote research plans for the major users, and one of them is so bad that I have to rewrite it. The others have required heavy editing. My friend discovered that there weren't CVs for the 30 or so minor users, so she started asking for them from the people on the list. Quelle surprise, WEC fabricated his entire list of minor users. He went to the NIH website and copied abstracts from funded proposals to put into his document. He then added spin to make it fit with his grant. A few problems: he didn't get anyone's permission to do this (none of the minor users knew they were being included), and the research plans he wrote were complete gibberish.

This puts both my friend and me in a terrible position. The faculty from my department who were included don't feel as though they can say no and risk angering The Boss, so they (or I) am forced to fix the research description. Both of us feel as though we are knowingly participating in fraud, and neither of us like it. I can't say a word, because WEC is The Boss' pet, and he has already forced me to give WEC my CV. My friend was supposed to talk with her boss about this situation yesterday afternoon in order to find out what we should do. Best case scenario is that the grant gets nixed at the administrative level due to all the budget cuts. Even better IMO would be for the little weasel to get called up on academic fraud charges at the institutional level. No one in our department can do this for fear of bringing down the wrath of The Boss, but there's a very real possibility that one of the minor users (a VERY powerful faculty member from another department who was NOT happy about being added without permission) will do so.

I am taking a mental health day today.

I hope you've spent some time updating and tweaking your own CV and have thought about people you know and places you would rather work.

ArkieDukie wrote:At our departmental faculty meeting last Friday, The Boss announced that he is NOT leaving for Chicago. The rumors of his imminent departure made it back to him. He also told us of some drastic budget cuts being made by The Provost (aka Tilly's former boss) and his crew. They've mandated 17% budget cuts across the board for every department. The problem? They're including extramural funding as a part of the departmental budget. If you're department has lots of NIH funding, you're hosed. The Boss is expected to cut our departmental budget by MORE THAN HE GETS FROM THE INSTITUTION. If the bean counters have their way, our department will not be able to buy toner and paper for the printers. We will not be able to buy liquid helium for the magnet on our NMR - which means no NMR. Lots of people around campus rely on it to help in characterizing compunds they've made. Instrument service contracts are also gone, despite the fact that a single instrument repair can cost more than the entire service contract. The Boss is hoping wiser heads will prevail. The administrative bean counters do not seem to realize that they cannot take federal research dollars and use them for something other than research - unless they want an audit by the feds.

The other bit of fun has to do with WEC and the instrument grant that will not die. I had lunch with my friend from the grants office, who is responsible for putting WEC's grant into a presentable form before it goes out the door. In order to get one of these, you have to be purchasing it for a core facility, and you have to provide a list of major and minor users - complete with research projects and CVs. Both of us know that WEC is committing fraud in the application, and The Boss is supporting him. He's claiming it's a core facility instrument, but he intends to use it for his own research. The Boss forced me to give WEC my CV so WEC can claim I will be managing the instrument. He wrote research plans for the major users, and one of them is so bad that I have to rewrite it. The others have required heavy editing. My friend discovered that there weren't CVs for the 30 or so minor users, so she started asking for them from the people on the list. Quelle surprise, WEC fabricated his entire list of minor users. He went to the NIH website and copied abstracts from funded proposals to put into his document. He then added spin to make it fit with his grant. A few problems: he didn't get anyone's permission to do this (none of the minor users knew they were being included), and the research plans he wrote were complete gibberish.

This puts both my friend and me in a terrible position. The faculty from my department who were included don't feel as though they can say no and risk angering The Boss, so they (or I) am forced to fix the research description. Both of us feel as though we are knowingly participating in fraud, and neither of us like it. I can't say a word, because WEC is The Boss' pet, and he has already forced me to give WEC my CV. My friend was supposed to talk with her boss about this situation yesterday afternoon in order to find out what we should do. Best case scenario is that the grant gets nixed at the administrative level due to all the budget cuts. Even better IMO would be for the little weasel to get called up on academic fraud charges at the institutional level. No one in our department can do this for fear of bringing down the wrath of The Boss, but there's a very real possibility that one of the minor users (a VERY powerful faculty member from another department who was NOT happy about being added without permission) will do so.

I am taking a mental health day today.

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but is there any way to be a whistle blower especially since WEC is using your name in his fraudulent actions?

A bit like interesting dilemma redux, right? This is actually worse. WEC is setting out to commit fraud against the NIH, and he sees nothing wrong with it.

I need to talk to my friend and find out what her boss said. The person in charge of grants is not going to let something blatantly fraudulent go out the door. At least, I don't think he will. According to her, the grant reflects poorly on The Boss as well. The question is, which is more important to him, knowingly supporting fraud or keeping WEC happy?

My friend was talking about going to Academic Integrity herself. I need to let her know I've got her back. WEC told me that he was buying the instrument for his own research, and I have the subsequent email trail in which I voiced my concerns to The Boss and he instructed me to give my CV to WEC for inclusion in his grant.

DukePA wrote:

YmoBeThere wrote:Dental abscesses, I don't recommend them.

Oh no. I hope the antibiotics kick in soon. Speedy healing, Ymo.

Off to ER...dentist said nothing tooth related. And it continues to spread.

YmoBeThere wrote:

DukePA wrote:

YmoBeThere wrote:Dental abscesses, I don't recommend them.

Oh no. I hope the antibiotics kick in soon. Speedy healing, Ymo.

Off to ER...dentist said nothing tooth related. And it continues to spread.

Heading over to my mother's in a few minutes. We will be taking her cat for the last ride. She has had kidney issues and is in full blown renal failure.


Fantine is almost 19. Her long time companion Cosette passed a few years ago. The girls will be together again.