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A Long and Ultimately Fruitless Road

Aug 17, 2009

Steinn Sigurðsson at the Dynamics of Cats posts a PDF (it's long, but a good read) of Rick Trebino's 123 steps, plus an addendum, to publishing a comment in a scientific journal. The first step is to "read a paper in the most prestigious journal in your field that 'proves' that your entire life's work is wrong," then to realize there are lots of errors in that paper, follow it up by deciding to write and prepare a comment. It's all downhill from there. Step 84 is:

Wait four months, during which time, respond to numerous close relatives regarding the fraudulence of your life's work and who remind you that at least you still have your health, albeit in a noticeably deteriorating state over the past few months. And perhaps you'd like to join them at the local bar for its daily Happy Hour.
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