5 favorite posts of the week 3.5.10

I love it when people send me links to Generation X content on the Web!

I received two this week. The first, Fleeting Youth, Fading Creativity, is a somewhat disturbing read about the lack of funding younger (as in Generation X) scientists have received compared to scientists from older generations. The good news in all this is that the Grand Challenges Explorations Program is trying to reverse this trend. This article is from the Wall Street Journal. Thanks, LM!

The second link (from the Gen X blogger The Shape of X) I received was to a new study, The Experience of Generation X Faculty. This is a 23-page report that rings many bells we've heard before: Generation X wants work-life balance and we lack community. What I found most interesting was the intra-generational differences between younger Xers and older Xers (pages 4-5). Also, unlike most Gen Xers, who incessantly job hop, the research indicates Gen X faculty members have no plans to leave their current institutions. In summary, the report says Generation X is good for academia.

I got a real kick out of two different blog posts this week about Gen X super stars. Sherri writes about Neil Patrick Harris playing a Smurf! and Andi writes about five things she's learned from Johnny Depp.

Well, that's only four. I've been really slammed the past two weeks and unable to visit many of my favorite blogs. I'll catch up with everyone soon!