It was a flippant throw away Friday tweet. And then it wasn't. I started thinking about how I am really blessed to think that everything is can be right with the world with just a cup of chai and a ginger biscuit. The feeling only lasted til the end of the ginger biscuit.

There are so many 'things' not right in the world: poverty, right in my home town; war and unrest, seemingly far from home but it's here and even more scary for me if it's underground; and the changing face of our planet ... well all these things make my heart sore. Making a difference where I can change that to soar.

In my perception of the world, as I saw it on Friday last week for a brief moment, it was all right in that world. Until I realised my world is part of the collective whole.

Kinda serious for a Terri-fic Tuesday. Reminds me to count my blessings everyday.

No more conversions!

Who knew first principles of conversion could desert you! I used to rag the 2nd year engineering students I helped tutor at UJ about forgetting about converting between units and orders of magnitude. Now it's my turn to blush. I had to convert a concentration of base cations (mg/l) into a mass-based concentration (cmol/kg). This was not a trivial exercise. About 100 Google searches on concentrations and conversions and numerous Aardvark queries later, I finally got the solution put together. The results look realistic compared with another years set of results and they are an interesting contrast to the base cation concentrations of soils determined by another method. This is a good thing!

On with presenting this data in a meaningful way. Oh first the stats...

I *gasp* can't *gasp* stop

I've been working through another book by Cecile Badenhorst in order to get to my publications for my PhD write up (describing the process of writing an article for publication). One of the golden rules in her book is: Writing begets writing. I had a very real experience of this yesterday. I'm retyping here what I wrote in my writing journal[1].

19 May, 09:30
" All the thoughts running through my head now want their own 15 mins of fame and be idolised on paper. They need to get out! Release is what they crave! How do I sort? Filter? Settle my mind to focus on ideas that right now mean progress towards a goal? Can we get to channelling creative thoughts soon please, Cecile?

I love this state! I need to use fine sandpaper or something to refine it into avenues that are a little more distinct.

There's an underlying caution that I'll write down stuff buried so far beneath the layers of sedimentary knowledge and emotions and feelings and thoughts. We could have a volcanic-like eruption of words that could have serious repercussions. Is this an early warning system to save the inhabitants? Does it matter? Bury the emotions or live with them and work with them. Colonise the lava fields. Rich volcanic rock makes for fertile ground for further life, words, emotions and thoughts.

Carry on writing."

On the next page in the book: "How and what you write is a choice" (Badenhorst, 2007:9). I chose to write this one in more than just my note book. More insight to follow. Really loving writing and looking forward to directing it in more purposeful ways.

[1] Yes she advocates writing, not typing, for many reasons and advises that all writing should be on coloured paper, in felt-tip coloured pen and only ever in the landscape position - no lines allowed!

Boys, bikini's & global warming

(from BC Comic of the Day today)

You like me! You really really like me!

I don't suck! I'd like to thank the Academy for the award and thank you to all my adoring fans. You are the most awesome 3 people I know.

For the late bloomers this is kind of a blog-tag game. I was nominated for an awesome award. I find 7 reasons why I think I'm awesome and then I tag 7 more awesome people. So let's get down to the serious business.

The Chambers online dictionary defines awesome as: adj 1 causing awe; dreaded. 2 colloq completely and utterly wonderful. Let's continue with the second definition for now. In my humble opinion, "awesome" is an adjective that lives outside of me: scenery, works of art etc. I heard something lately about an increasingly "me" centred culture. So I'm doing this as a self-esteem building exercise as opposed to a 'centre of the universe' program. This seems a good place to start this list:

1. I believe I'm humble. This may stem from my dislike from being in the spot-light and how these types of commentaries make me feel like I'm writing my own obituary. The great news is that someone else will write my eulogy and they will get to say why they thought I was special. Today this task is mine. No Max (name changed to protect identity) this is not about self-esteem - it is part of my value system to be humble.

2. I know a heck of a lot of stuff, usually inane factoids. What I'm chuffed about is that I'm starting to make the links, sometimes obscure but links nonetheless, between some of these things I've learnt. I think this comes from my recent news junkie leaning (especially science news) and from tv doccies and from other life experiences. I love acquiring new knowledge. Sometimes I like applying it too.

(paused to ponder)

3. I like helping other people learn and get passionate about learning. Glancing over to the light switch there's a magnet that says: "To teach is to touch a life forever".

4. I expect good, no great, things from everyone. This includes students I teach, friends I make and all my family members. Sometimes because not everyone can achieve my exalted expectations, I'm left a little disappointed. My stuff not theirs. I still expect them to do their best and make their lives better.

5. I'm generally calm and collected. And I'm always on the look out for the positive. Positive intent or motivation, positive outcome, positive terminal (a little shock therapy never hurt anyone!).

6. I have a quick, if odd (see point 5), wit. Well, I make my sister laugh. She reckons I should have a comic strip.

7. I want to save the world. No small task. And entirely selfish. I'm not ready for a world predicted to have no Cape Town, no fynbos, wars over fresh water, searing heat and Armageddon-like storms. I believe each one of us can make a difference - even if we start the paradigm shift.

I'm proud of being dredging these seven traits that make me awesome for me. Even though I'm still feeling a bit camera shy about sharing them with the blogosphere. I've tagged 7 folks via email and will post links to their awesome acceptance speeches when I receive evidence.

What relief!

The whole idea of this blog was to provide experience for writing up my PhD results. I had a crisis of intellectual property faith early on and realised that this may not be a useful or ethical purpose. My intention for this exercise then became one of keeping the 3 readers out there up to date with my progress and as a way of practising my writing skills hoping that this would spill over into writing up my PhD.

Officially, today is the first day of my write up. It's very early days yet. This week's focus means that I'll spending time thinking about my major findings so far, how they can be moulded into publishable papers and how to represent the data so that they tell the story appropriately. And then I get on to actually writing the stories.

I can 'see' two papers so far. There's still some work to be done and data to be untangled and models to buid and test. In spite of this, I feel good that I'm getting somewhere now. Really proud of myself today. Yay! I'm sure this feeling will pass soon enough but it's worth remembering now and for when frustration and confusion bear down their weight.

This is like my Comrades marathon. Right now I've been on the road about 7 hours and only 4 to go.

Reader or writer, intent and response

Extended families can be rich in the dramatic. Especially if the lines of communicating are not equal in all directions, which is probably never likely. A recent family drama turned out to be a storm in a tea-cup. These are my words describing my perception. Some other family members are probably still licking their wounds. All about a status message on a popular social networking site.

This again got me pondering the accuracy of social networking statuses. In the past this pondering has been confined to my head - is it brave to post this here considering the repercussions? Can they, SN statuses, in all honesty, be an accurate reflection of a writer's mental state? I presuppose that the meaning of my communication is in the response I elicit, from those I communicate with. Getting an overwhelmingly concerned response from friends and family in response to a status update warrants questioning of the writer's intent. If attention is what you seek, then you'll get that, possibly different to what you intended.

So when dramatic and concerning statuses find their way into social networking reality and the response is equally dramatic (Newton's law: for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction) - does the reader's response match the writer's intent? And how seriously should we take any future social networking statuses?

With concern and apologies to the family for hanging our laundry out in the open.

Ditching the lab-coat for the common good

This week I ditched the lab coat and dexter glasses to attend the NSTF plennary meeting. Our school had 2 finalists in the 2009 awards list. We were led to believe that in order to be considered in the process further the finalists or a representative (me) needed to be at the meeting to collect their certificates. Turns out this was not the case.

Someone wise I know once mentioned that even at seemingly unimportant meetings its a useful strategy to find a take home message. I learnt 3 things at the meeting:
- Afrikaans is still alive! I am mostly exposed to English and to hear Afrikaans in this setting seemed unusual. Of course it's still alive, first language Afrikaans speakers are passionate about their language.
- Academics are friends of technology. I felt out of place being one of the few audience members who wasn't concurrently working on my laptop and attending the meeting.
- The seating arrangements reminded me of students filling a lecture hall, where they fill seats from the back and on towards the front. Do we match our students behaviour or are they matching ours? A similar pattern is also evident in church on Sunday mornings.

The heart of a savanna ecologist

I have a physiological response to nearing the Kruger Park. It starts by the decent off the escarpment, seeing the rolling grasslands become mountains covered in aloes where the roadsides lined are with umbrella-topped thorn trees and pockets of indigenous forest, where the air hangs with humidity and the smell of wood fires. The road twists and turns its way through the gulleys and passages heading east like the rivers and streams that also snake their way to the ocean. With each passing landmark my physiology changes: muscles relax and breathing deepens. My heart rate slows and races ambivalently. Slowing in response to the drugged air of relaxation and racing due to the hidden excitement in store, hoping for excellent sightings and sincere rest and relaxation.



The Lowveld and Kruger featured often on the holiday calendars of my childhood and the 'magic' resonates with me still. While "The Wombles" may have been my earliest exposure to environmental awareness, the Kruger was the nursery of my passion for savanna ecology.

This past weekend the only difference to the normal pattern was that I drove to Kruger on my own. Plenty of time for self-reflection and mandatory sing-along with appropriate travelling tunez on my iPod, Blossom. After nearly 6 hours of private karaoke my voice was hoarse. But in the Park there's plenty of time to recoup.

This short trip was planned to visit with a friend who is an academic staff member on the fall semester OTS course. Finding out more about the course and the people who run it and the students who attend it, was enriching. The students were open and welcoming and the staff friendly, hospitable and generous. I am envious that I didn't get the opportunity to go on such a course in my early postgrad days. So much to learn so little time.



While game viewing was limited there were plenty of opportunities for relaxing. The most exciting sighting was a full-on savanna fire. I now have a folder full of photos for the fire lectures I give to the undergrads. The memorable moment of the trip had to be the mini-bus full of people stopping between us and the flames, less than 5m away, to ask in a high pitched voice: "What do you guys see?". Our initial response after gasping in horror was a timid: "The fire?". Like duh, isn't it obvious we're ecologists and we're watching an ecological process happen in real time only the other side of the road.



In the quiet times of sun-up and sun-down Lake Panic provided a photogenic spot where the clicking of camera shutters and animal calls were all that disturbed the settling air.



At the heart of it all I love Kruger and all I have learnt from this special place.

Web album of selected photos here.

P.S. Thanks Jen and OTS for a special weekend.

Have I passed the Sustainable assessment test?

While working on my assignment for a certificate as Higher Education Assessor and Moderator, I've been pondering how to measure, I mean, assess my own efficacy. So I came up with an equation: insight gained + output product = f(time on task). Yes how nerdy of me - who else would consider describing their experiences by means of a mathematical relationship.

My pondering came from the fact that I've been working on this assignment and my insight gained has showed substantial increase and resulted in some implementation success. However the output product lags behind. So I'm now rethinking my equation - I think that there's an exponent or variable missing.

Maybe that variable is procrastination. It's been my honest opinion that procrastination as a life-skill is an emergent learning outcome of post-graduate study. Meaning that it's not planned on and sometimes has no intrinsic value - it serves only to delay submission. This blog serves as case in point: instead of working on the assignment I'm contemplating the impact of the insight gained on life outside of teaching. Does that mean I've learnt the art of sustainable assessment for life-long learning? Did I pass the test? Have I met the learning outcomes?

Make no mistake, this post will be in my assignment. Then it's not procrastination. Back to the chalk-board for equation derivation...

Earth Hour

For the last few weeks I've had Global change, including the media favourite, climate change, taking up substantial amounts of processing power. No I haven't developed the next GCM - but I have been facilitating the Global Change Honours course. The course hosts 4 of South Africa's top global change scientists, including 2 of the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize winners. Grant it, that was a sizable group of recipients.

One guest speaker suggested that for South Africa to reach the reduced emission targets, 50% will be about changes in technology and power generation and the rest would be up to the ethical choices you and I make. In our class discussion yesterday, we got on to the campaign trail and Earth Hour became a point of discussion.



Earth Hour asks everyone to switch off the lights and appliances in their homes and places of work for one hour on Saturday 28th March. Not a lot to ask to make a real statement about living more sustainably and making ethical choices. Have you signed up yet?

How are corporate branding and the weather related?

Corporate branding and the weather are related by location. After a hike across the width of campus and back again in the pouring rain with only a mildly effective rain coat I was shivering and soaked to the bone. Thank goodness Wits has a 'gift shop' on campus displaying an array of items all branded with our logo and mascot and in varying shades of varsity colours. While the range extends from pens to crystal glasses, I was most interested in the dry clothing on sale today. Two-hundred rand, a quick change later and I'm fully branded a Witsie now. Hey at least I'm dry and warm again and there's no prospect of campus perambulations this afternoon, even though the weather is unlikely to clear until the weekend.

As an aside I had a momentary thought about the power of corporate branding, while using a free branded pen that was less than completely useful. Surely most corporates would spend a little more money and get Bic-like efficiency from branded merchandise intended for freebie give-aways. The longer it lasts the more impactful your brand. Well I bet the marketers would make that intellectual leap.

Partial eclipse of the sun

If you live in SA remember to look out for partial eclipse of the sun on Monday morning (26th January) between 7:10 and 9:30am. Western Cape viewers can expect an almost 60% eclipse. Get yourself a pair eclipse viewers, to block out heat, light and UV rays, and support the JHB Planetarium in the International Year of Astronomy.

Get your viewers here:
* in street sales only (while stocks last) (with eclipse / International Year of Astronomy poster) of the following newspapers:
- The Star and the Pretoria News - 20th, 23rd, 24th Jan
- Cape Argus - 23rd Jan
- Daily News (KZN) - 20th Jan
- Diamond Fields Advertiser (Bloemfontein / Kimberley) - 20th Jan
Thanks to DST & Independent Newspapers for the above!!

* at BP filling stations around the country (while stocks last) (one per customer)
Huge thanks to BP, who bought 150,000 viewers for this!

* from a couple of retailers:
- Experilab, Canal Walk Shopping Centre, Cape Town
- National Museum, Bloemfontein
- Digital Experience, Fourways Crossing, Jhb
- Park Meadow Optometrists, Park Meadow Centre, Kensington Jhb
- Jhb Planetarium, Yale Rd off Empire, Wits University Campus
Contact details for the above are at www.planetarium.co.za

Excel carpal-tunnel

Nothing like early on-set carpal-tunnel syndrome as a result of number crunching in Excel. Today's been a data day and I've realised part of the reason I am so easily distracted on data-days: because with all the "shift+ctrl" +"ctrl+V" combinations my wrists take a beating. So much for speeding things up using keystrokes instead of the mouse. *clicky clicky* The distractions are often wrist breaks and they do help break the monotony of almost 2000 of the same keystrokes for just one page in a spreadsheet.

Just blogging this I'm intentionally dancing my fingers around the keyboard and flexing different muscles. I've seen people after carpel tunnel ops and it ain't pretty. *stretch, yawn, flex*

The positive spin on this is that I'm actually crunching numbers all to draw graphs so that I can formally unpack my results. There's a pearlescent lining here somewhere.

Non-events in real time

I love watching the Webcams on the SANParks website. It takes much strength of will not to spend the whole day obsessing about what has been seen on the cams. but checking the night-time sightings recorded on the forums is part of my morning ritual when I get to my desk.

The other night, a few weeks ago (thanks Bessie for the most useful expression), there was a fabulous sighting of the rarely seen caracal. The excitement of a sighting recorded (for about a year on this particular forum) is palpable even 12 hours after it was "seen" by the nightwatch, as though I had seen it in real life.

This got me thinking, even though these cams are very popular and most forumites will openly admit their addiction, what if no-one records a sighting? Is that a non-event does it even matter that no-one witnessed it? On a similar vein, if a tree burns in the savanna and no-one is there to douse it with water, does it burn as hot? If a cam goes un-watched do the animals stop visiting the waterhole? I know the answer is no but if someone doesn't witness their visit, does it really happen :P

Exam blues ... well purple

There is a saying around Wits that if you haven't started studying for exams by the time the Jacaranda's bloom then there is a good chance you may not pass the exams. Given the tendency to weight exams heavily in the overall mark, this concerns most students.



The Jacarandas on campus are old and huge and beautiful. Their purple flowers are like the shedding of a drab winter coat, coming into flower around mid-October. When exams start in the second week of November (on the normal time-table) then the warning in the myth above is enough to spur-on even some of the most recalcitrant students. However, this saying has never been more true than this year.

Exams started nearly a month early this year, making space in the timetable for the 2010 enforced shut-down in the middle of the year. So this year the start of exams coincided with the start of the purple flush. If you hadn't made an effort to study, well, uhmn, then maybe there was no hope. Exams ending, in the first week of November, will probably the coincide with the falling of the purple blooms. And then if definitely would have been too late.

Reading writing and arithmetic

I'm working on a knowledge review for the bigger project of which my research forms part of and it's due ... oh heck at the end of September. The reading part took a few months, in between my teaching responsibilities. I had done well and was ready to get writing late September. Like I said I was ready, but I was not necessarily willing. Procrastination crept in for about 2 days and I called it 'not knowing where to start'.

In popped an old visitor that I actually enjoy entertaining - arithmetic. With heaps of data to analyse at this stage of my research and a meeting with my supervisor - Mary - looming, some number crunching was far more enticing than writing.

I'd been scrabbling around with the writing for a few days and had some thoughts on paper, when Mary handed me a great little book to look over: The Scribes Journey by Cecile Badenhorst. Just reading the introduction and doing the playing with the first exercise got me excited about reformulating the bits I had done and adding the rest of the knowledge review. I also had about 8 blog ideas rush into my head at once. Mary also gave me another book by Cecile about writing a dissertation and it's already in my shopping basket at my favourite online store.

The first full draft knowledge review is now on Mary's desk for review and so should be distributed before the next project meeting early in November.

So this is what I learned through this exercise. Reading writing and arithmetic sometimes appear out of order and that's just fine. I also know that I'm OK with reading, it takes me a while to do, partly because I get distracted easily and partly because there's so much out there to read. I'm getting better at arithmetic because it's a practise game and I know I'm smart enough to get to grips with numbers and sometimes even statistics! And there's no pretending anymore, with good works like "The Scribe's Journey", writing can also be fun, freeing and painless. I also know that the first draft may be a list of ideas scribbled on some paper, it's seldom a master piece right off the bat. Just writing something gets me to what I want to say. Here's to balancing the threesome of reading, writing and arithmetic into a relatively pain-free thesis, and many more regular blog posts.

If you've got something to say, even if there's no one to say it to, write it any way. That which seems trivial to you now maybe profound only 5 minutes from now.

Doing things differently and learning new "stuff"

Ever noticed how going to a new place with new people can be great fun and filled with learning? I spent last week down on the KZN north coast with a fun filled group of colleagues, 3rd year students and Amy (a colleague's 4 year old daughter). A diverse mosaic of personalities and experience, almost as diverse as the landscape patches we were exploring: dune forests, grassland patches, sandy beaches and rocky shores. Even the weather was diverse: from a rainy beginning to hazy mornings and sunshiny afternoons. The almost gale force winds were the only constant, with only one calm day in the whole week.

What did I do differently? Well apart from engaging with a group of colleagues outside of my normal sphere of influence, I co-supervised a project on the rocky shores. I thought I knew very little about them to start with and I did compared with Jenny's astounding knowledge of marine species. But I learnt I'm a quick learner and by the end was more comfortable helping the students identify organisms. That's some of the new 'stuff' I learnt. Like that Ascidians are chordates because their larvae have notochords - pretty cool stuff to know. Thanks Jen.



You know it's a good days work when you can birding and hear / see at least 5 new species you've never identified before, have breakfast and get 'work' done on the rocky shore by 14:00 on a Friday. I'm really disappointed that I didn't get out with the small critter collector people too. Darn slippery rocks and unsteady feet. Next time Mark for sure!

Teaching a small group of enthusiastic students - in spite of having to have a late lunch and working in a howling gale - in such a novel manner is something that I did differently and got to learn a bunch of stuff about. Graham mentioned that as staff we open our personal lives to scrutiny by students on these types of field trips. Graham: thanks for being the model of professionalism while still engaging on a human level with the students.




Quick itinerary summary:

Day 1: Depart Wits Sunday 6:30. Breakfast at Wimpy in Ermelo 9:30 (yes I lead everyone on the windy-windy route - sorry!). Quick comfort and snack stop in Pongola. Interesting bumpy journey - how did you sleep through that Steve? - to Sodwana. Arrive and settle in at Sodwana Bay around 16:00.

Day 2: Breakfast and recce exploration of landscape patches. Never done about 3km hike in 45 mins! Rewarding lunch followed by project design sessions dinner and a lecture. Expedition to the rocky shores at night - fun times!

Day 3: Earlish start, breakfast and get the gear together. Start project just before low tide. Back in time for lunch and an afternoon on an adventure with Amy followed by convivial dinner.

Day 4: Game of 'keep the ball in the air' after breakfast, and head to the beach. Only calm day so project data collection was fun. So was the sand fight with Rob and slipping on the rocks and landing face first on a wet rock! Afternoon spent consoling my ego and playing with Amy, coaching her towards the "most awesome-ist sandcastle builder in the world" award. Oh and Paddle-Pops ROCK!

Day 5: As the tide got later and later so did our beach departure time, but breakfast remained at 7am. The Cheese and Wine group were concerned about missing lunch and so were motivated to do a proper job in good time to get back for lunch. Dinner was followed by drinks at the guys cottage and some entertaining commentary on rhythmic gymnastics from Beijing. The early mornings got the better of most of the staff and we all could barely keep ourselves awake enough to see SA's Odette Richards.

Day 6: Last day of data collection, latest day to hit the beach. Probably the windiest day too. More sand castle building after lunch, good dinner and a short lecture on what was expected on the last day in the field.

Day 7: Be there when Amy woke up - by personal request - with an extended story time. Breakfast and gear pack up. Got our group working with their data, watched some rugby, panic station assistance for group before their presentation. Presentations and good dinner, bit of socialising, followed by packing and fading.

Day 8: Depart Sodwana 6:50 - 10 mins early! Good cheerful drive back including some name trashing disco moves. Back at Wits just after 15:30.

Splendid trip. Cheers! to doing things different and learning new stuff.

Environmental awareness

How environmentally aware are you? Do you have a memory of who it was that first enlightened you about how humans affect their environments and not always in a sustainable way?

I am of course talking here from the perspective of our physical environments. Those which are the providers of our physical nourishment. In the shadow of the Live Earth concerts,I've been considering how I grew in awareness of human exploitation of natural resources. At a great girls out dinner in Chinatown recently, two friends were discussing their anticipation and expectations of the Live Earth concert the following evening. Ever the eco-bunny I considered going along for the 'cause' but declined on the grounds that I'm not all that into crowds and concerts.

It was at this evening that I recalled the theme tune to The Wombles - "...making good use of the things that we find, things that the everyday folks leave behind". We laughed about the fact that I actually have this theme song on my iPod and it crops up quite regularly in the song shuffle.

Seriously though, even though I only remembered one of the characters names from childhood memories of the show, I now believe that these guys are an icon of environmental awareness for me. Should I be surprised? I am a child of the 70s after all.

Thanks to The Wombles, I'll carry on recycling my household waste as I have done for many years, "even bottles and tins". It feels like I'm doing something small to "answer the call" as Live Earth are imploring us to do. Also thanks to The Wombles, one day, when I own a golden spaniel, I already have his name worked out - Orinoco!

Missed me? I was on holiday for 4 weeks. I was convinced I had blogged my leave of absence before I departed. I noticed now that I hadn't. Our holiday was only slightly too long, which has made the return of focus to my PhD a little challenging. It's only Day 2 back at the desk, so I'm treading lightly. It's not all that amusing how a short holiday can make my Action-list bulge at the seams.

In these 2 days some progress has been made - mainly financial. Considering it's June and I had not yet been paid for being here since November last year, it's high time. I'm hoping you're nodding with me.

I'm also back in the field next week. Not for my project yet, sadly, however it will be a good exercise nonetheless because it's for the bigger project that mine forms part. I'm sure this expedition will go along way to me adjusting my state of mind with respect to how far I am. Can you believe I've been doing this for a year already? Some days I wonder how I've spent all that time.

Yesterday I also heard that I have been short-listed for an associate lecture post here. This is very exciting since I applied nearly 2 months ago and was beginning to think that the lack of communication was because I was not successful this time around. The interview is tomorrow. The lecturing will actually be for those courses that my supervisor can no longer present due to her other commitments. There are 3 undergraduate courses and a Master's level course. The courses are all right up my alley of scientific knowledge and experience and should slot into my career building aspirations quite nicely, thank you. *dreamily considering my own office in these hallowed halls*

Watch out soon for some more paper-based writings of mine. I'm working on 2 for industry-related periodicals while I blog. If you can imagine the world-wide collection of scientific periodicals as a continuum, you'd see the one I'm submitting to on the layman-side for the non-technical reader. The other is sort of in the middle, scientific enough for local (South African) industry specific readers. Here's hoping that they are both accepted on submission and need no revisions. To finish the mental picture, the other end of the continuum are Science and Nature. The 'one-day' list for every aspiring scientist.

Back to building the "Published Papers" part of my resume!