Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
I’d just like to share some Daily Show classics:
Ed Helms interviews a new Castro resident, only to find out that the Castro District is extremely gay. I’m a fan of the airport joke, personally.
This video is probably the most popular of Daily Show videos, from back when Stephen Colbert was a reporter.
As a side note, this is one of my favorite Colbert Report videos.
Monday, August 4th, 2008
As the film ended, I sat in shock. While the film was rolling, I sat in shock.
I happened upon a movie called Perfume: The Story of a Murderer while looking for a good Alan Rickman movie to entertain me. Sadly, Alan wasn’t as entertaining in his role as he usually is, but the film itself was amazing. I was confused, shocked, disgusted, and delighted all at the same time. Mostly confused, though. It’s hard to know what to feel about the main character, a boy born with unparalleled olfactory talents (a phrase I’m sure I’ll never have to use again) and an insensitivity to murder.
While merely detailing the summary might lead to smirks and raised eyebrows, the film is pretty self-explanatory. I enjoyed the fact that the film was both artistic and accessible, a combination that is not common. What was particularly unique about this film is that a lot of it was narrated, therefore reducing dialogue (perhaps a good thing because the dialogue was the only aspect of the film that didn’t thrill me).
The film switched between realistic scenes and fantastical leaps with a fluidity that never left me frustrated with the turns in plot.
And I love a good story. This was one of the best visual stories I’ve come across.
Sunday, July 20th, 2008
Change is about effort. As a college student, I know that effort is evil. And, no, you won’t be able to change my mind about that.
But change is not evil, is it?
The general consensus is that change is good, or at least when change is progressive, rather than regressive.
Thus the following:
1. Change = good (ideally)
2. Change = effort = evil (practically)
As a society and as individuals, we want to change, but a lot of the time it takes too much effort. So we put it off until it becomes absolutely necessary or the amount of effort needed is decreased.
The sad part is when people are left behind or choose to stay behind even after a necessary change has been made. Charles Bukowski, the “Poet Laureate of Skid Row”, talks about this in his poem Be Kind. He was frustrated with those who “refused to see,” becoming out of touch with the present day and age.
Then there are those who refuse to see the changes in others. Steve Pavlina, my favorite blogger, talks about this in his article about social drag:
“Every significant shift I’ve experienced has had a corresponding level of social drag. Whenever a person makes a significant change in their lives, it can take the rest of the world a few years to catch up. This is especially true with family and friends that you don’t see often. Their mental model of who you are is likely to drift behind the real you.
Whenever I experience a major personal shift, it always takes my extended family and friends a while to “get it.” After college when I started Dexterity Software, my parents still behaved as if I was looking for a job (like many college students would be expected to do after graduation). They mailed me job applications and sent me employment leads, but I just junked ‘em. It took a couple years for them to internalize the idea that I was running my own business, even though I’d already made that commitment from day one and had no interest in working for someone else. I think it was around the time I received a check for $50,000 from a publisher that they finally got it.”
Pavlina was committed to change from day one, but the change had not registered with his parents. It was easier to wait a couple years until acceptance was made easier by the $50,000 check.
Is the refusal to accept a change in mentality or new direction what has so commonly been referred to as…
“Nobody believed I could do it…”
“My friends and family never supported me…”
…and other people-were-trying-to-bring-me-down phrases?
And how does refusal to change affect our learning processes? I’ll admit that I’ve denied learning about the environment because I would get frustrated by the amount of lifestyle choices I’d have to tweak. It was hard enough to tweak attitudes and behaviors according to beliefs I already held and was passionate about, like feminism.
This causes me to ask the obvious question: How much do we really want to learn?
Sunday, July 13th, 2008
For those interested in warehouse conversions, here are some pretty photos and the layout of a water tower conversion in the Netherlands.
That is all.
Thursday, July 10th, 2008
It’s good to know about the different types of students you might come across in your academic career. Some are easier to tolerate than others. Some are rare, and can only be seen in their natural environments: math class.
I am speaking of a rare breed called the quick draw.
I have never come across such a creature in a non-math-related course, hence my fascination.
Quick draws are a subcategory of the genus called Genius (so named not because of the actual intelligence of the breed, but the desired perception of the genus’ subjects).
Geniuses can be found in all areas of academic life, noted for their efforts to impress peers and teachers with their intelligence.
There is no typical behavior that can be noted to the quick draw, for some put on an act of boredom and some revel in their enthusiasm for math. However, one common characteristic is that they all answer questions posed by the teacher in record time as if there is a competition.
First off, don’t be afraid if you encounter a quick draw! Remain calm and don’t make any quick movements, for it may be perceived as a challenge.
If a quick draw is competing unopposed, you have three options:
1. You can ignore the subject.
2. You can challenge the subject, causing possible confusion or distress to them (unless you are slow and the quick draw’s talents are validated).
3. You can keep score to amuse yourself (Quick draw: 11, Imaginary Competition: 0).
Be aware that quick draws are not common, but you should be prepared in case one infiltrates your math class. Knowing more about them increases our ability to communicate with them and learn from our differences.
Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
I’m very excited to announce that there is going to be a zine festival at Golden Gate Park soon. If you’re a fan of Do-It-Yourself comics and publications, I’d recommend looking up this free event. There are going to be interesting workshops and activities–like bookbinding, a nature walk, DIY screenprinting, a film screening, and a kickball game–if you don’t want to spend the whole day browsing tables. More details are listed below or can be found here.
Saturday, July 19th from 11am to 8pm AND Sunday, July 20th from 11am to 7pm
The San Francisco County Fair Building (formerly the Hall of Flowers), which is located at 9th Avenue and Lincoln Way in Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco, California.
Free!
Monday, July 7th, 2008
Recently, I came across a video on Youtube that explained what linguistic discrimination was and how it comes about in every day life. I had heard of it before, but I had never heard it explained so concisely and with visual and auditory examples.
The video was made by Azrienoch in response to another Youtuber. Here it is:
I’ve come across linguistic discrimination before. For example, during my first semester as a math major, I was looking through my textbook online (written by two staff members) and was surprised by a very subtle form of linguistic discrimination. I believe the text was explaining what statements, propositions, lemmas, and theorems were. There was a list of sentences and after each sentence, the author pointed out if it was a statement or not. The last of which was something like: “I totally like went up to him and said like he should stop.” Okay, that’s not what the sentence actually was, but you get the idea. I was immediately reminded how few women are math majors.
Sunday, July 6th, 2008
In my academic career I’ve been to three colleges for a year or more: Long Beach City College, San Francisco State University, and UC Santa Barbara. So if anyone knows about public universities in California, it’s me.
So far, I feel like my entire college career has been spent jumping through hoops for each new college. To be fair, my experience has been intensified by the fact that I’ve transferred so many times. However, there are a few major problems that I’ve seen in all universities that can and should be remedied and they are as follows:
1. General Education (GE) requirements are too restrictive. If there’s anything I’m a fan of, it’s getting an education that covers all kinds of topics, even ones that don’t relate to my major. The GE system, in its attempt to force students to take a variety of classes limits students to only a few options, even within a broad subject area. For example, my university requires 3 history/government classes. How have I met these requirements? Let’s see: I have units from AP US History and AP US Government from high school, I took a more specific US history class (from colonial times to Reconstruction), and I took a History of California class. Call me crazy but all those classes sound pretty darn similar to me. A lot of the material was repeated and a complete waste of my time. I would have preferred taking two of those four classes, then be left to my own devices when choosing my last class. So if I have my eye on something unique like a History of Witchcraft (what can I say, magic is interesting) course, I should be able to take it for credit to my GEs.
If colleges want students to explore a variety of subjects, they would be better served putting fewer restrictions on what classes count for GEs and which ones don’t. If a course is really that important, feel free to make it a requirement, but most aren’t, so they should be freely chosen. A new system of GEs should look like this: Students must take 9 units of lower division History classes, one of which must be US History. Students must also take 6 units of lower division Humanities classes, which includes Anthropology, Sociology, Women’s Studies, Black Studies, etc.
There is a reason for this madness. The more students enjoy their classes, the more likely they are to want to stay. I have not been able to take the classes that have interested me because I’ve been so busy meeting GEs and major requirements.
2. There are too many pre-tests and prerequisites. I get that universities don’t want their students to fail, but sometimes it can get in the way of bright students who just want to get through school without so many roadblocks. I’ve passed by a lot of classes because I hadn’t taken the prerequisites (even though I knew I could pass the class) and didn’t want to have to spend my time side-stepping the rules. Perhaps I should have, but if there’s anything I know, getting a university to make an exception can take a lot of time because even trying to find out who to talk to can take forever. I’m guessing that’s the reason pre-tests exist. When I see these listed under the category of prerequisites I involuntarily roll my eyes. Wouldn’t it be easier just to accept people into the class and if they fail, they fail? Put up a warning. I don’t care. While I get that prerequisites make sense and pre-tests are meant to help, I also understand how frustrating it can feel to a smart student who is sick of hoops. So no, I don’t want to take another standardized test or take a class that isn’t the least bit challenging to me just to fill the university’s needs.
Some classes really should have prerequisites. I don’t expect freshmen to be able to walk in and be taking senior-level classes, although it is entirely possible. However, I do think that there are way too many prerequisites hanging around for no reason. Perhaps, they should be recommended instead of required in most cases.
3. Transferable classes are limited to university equivalents. Let me explain. Freshman year, I took this lovely art history class called “Architecture and Environment.” Honestly, it has been the only class I’ve taken that I’ve felt was structured for adults, not meek little kids. I liked the class, for the most part, because it was an art class I was actually interested in, which is not common. Then I transferred. Apparently, since none of my other colleges had a course about architecture’s relationship to the environment, I’ve never gotten credit for this class, and I’ve had to take other art requirements for my GEs instead. It’s not like I’m trying to transfer this class from an unaccredited college in Nebraska. The colleges are all public universities in California and I’m not trying to get out of my GEs. I just think it’s illogical to limit transferable units only to classes that exist at both colleges.
Once again, if GEs weren’t so restrictive, I’m guessing that transferable classes would not be so limited.
4. The teachers are too sympathetic, causing massive grade inflation and acceptance of cheating. Ninety-nine percent of the courses I’ve taken weren’t the least bit challenging. I have turned in terrible papers and gotten A’s on them. Now, I’d love to think that my mastery of the English language has allowed me to slack off in effort, but I know that’s not true. I have had so many classes that don’t require much effort to get A’s in that I’m slacking off and I forget what it’s like to try hard. Don’t get me wrong. I like my GPA. But I know that there are tons of other students out there with the same GPA. And since I suck at standardized tests, that means if I apply to grad school, nothing will set me apart and my test scores may screw me over. I can earn A’s, but I haven’t had the opportunity to show that. Teachers are afraid to fail their students, but that’s a necessary part of school. If there’s no fear of failure, then the students won’t try. Students dropped like flies out of my Calculus course because they could tell the teacher was a no-nonsense type of guy and they weren’t used to someone their sympathies couldn’t bend. Then there’s the cheating. It’s everywhere (god knows why, since the classes are becoming less challenging). I’m not a fan of cheaters, especially in college because students choose to be there. In my experience, even if a university has a zero tolerance policy, not much happens to curb cheating because the teachers give out warnings, or at most a zero on the test or paper. So teachers want to stop cheating, but they won’t report it to the university for fear of being cold-hearted, or maybe the offense did not seem that terrible. Once again, therefore, there’s not much to fear for students caught cheating, so why stop?
Policies do nothing if the teachers are pushovers.
5. Students can’t trust their advisors. If there’s any advice I have for new college students it’s to never listen to your college counselors and advisors after your initial orientation day. They are guaranteed to give you bad advice intended for the most stupid of stupid students at your university. If you’re given a “don’t worry about it” or a “you’ll be fine,” be afraid. Sometimes it’s absolutely necessary to see an advisor. You’ve researched for endless hours on the internet and through your course catalogue but there’s no answer to your question. Go, but know that your advisor can’t actually help you and will probably point you in the wrong direction. When they tell you not to worry about it, you’ll be fine, force them to tell you how you can get this assurance signed and in writing. That is the only way. You want physical proof for everything. You are a lawyer and when you want to graduate, you should be able to present your case with physical evidence if they try to stop you. I know this sounds paranoid, but I’ve never come across an advisor that was actually helpful. One staff member yes, but that was after I was sent on a wild goose chase by two bad pieces of advice.
This problem is much harder to fix. I’m sure advisors study up on all the university policies, but there’s no real way for them to find out if their advise worked or not. They don’t seem to know a lot about how the different departments fix problems, so there’s little to no communication about what students should do if the advisors themselves can’t help, but the departments can. I don’t have a solution for this because I’ve never worked in an advising department and don’t know how they work. I do know, however, that every time I go in for advise they assume I know absolutely nothing, even if I make a point to show them how much I know and how much I’ve researched the issue.
Most major problems are linked to the fact tha,t for some reason, universities are under the impression that they have to hold their undergrads’ hands and set restrictions for their own safety instead of forcing college students to grow up and fight for their grades/degree.
During my high school career, I recall my teachers telling us how harsh college could be, but I’ve seen no proof. The teachers still go back a slide when the students groan that they didn’t finish copying it down. Students still cheat. Teachers still curve grades. In fact, I would argue that college has become a lot like high school.
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
I do a lot of Internet research. It’s disgusting, I know.
Recently, I’ve been researching my Myers-Briggs Personality Type to see how well the descriptions fit me. My type is referred to as an INFJ (or an Introverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, and Judging). And after reading buttloads of information on INFJs, I’m kind of freaked out by how accurate the descriptions were.
Some of the quizzes, I’ve found can be imperfect though, because sometimes I result as an INTJ (which is close to an INFJ but the descriptions aren’t nearly as true to my experience). The Harry Potter quiz is especially fun for the nerds out there and I’m happy to have been scored as the intimidating, yet utterly fascinating Severus Snape.
As much as I love reading about me and my lovely personality, I also found the experience informative about why I take on so many projects and interests. In a description on Murray State University’s website, it says
“The home and living style of the INFJ seem relatively neat to outsiders, but just below the surface lie a million, articles, and projects to be addressed at a later date…. The home is a reference library for a wide variety of interests and pursuits…. The fantasy is that some day, the INFJ will wander through the Pandora’s box of goodies and attend to each of the many projects contained within.”
Then comes the kicker:
“Usually that remains only a fantasy for the INFJ.”
So maybe dabbling is just in my blood.
Maybe it’s in your blood too.
Monday, June 2nd, 2008
Yesterday, I began reading a programming book called Dreaming in Code by Scott Rosenberg. Basically, the book follows a group of programmers who are attempting to create a new, innovative personal information manager to rival Microsoft Outlook.
The book starts out by mentioning that the programmers are way behind schedule. The problem is not writing code, but debugging the code afterwards. Trying to explain why they are behind, one of the programmers speaks up, “There’s a bunch of reasons. In order to build something, you have to have a blueprint. And we don’t always have one. Then you hit unexpected problems. It’s hard to know how long something’s going to take until you know for sure you can build it.” (Rosenberg 12)
That is the difference between an easily fixable bug and what is termed as a “black hole,” a bug where the amount of time required to fix is unknown.
Similarities can be found in all areas of life. No matter how planned out a project is, sometimes there are problems or specific areas that aren’t as straightforward.
As a math major, I look through my homework assignments ahead of time and try to evaluate which problems I expect to accomplish with ease, which will require me to look back at my notes, and which ones look like “black holes.” I leave the black holes for last, if permitted.
But sometimes the black holes need to be fixed in order to move on with the project or homework assignment.
The best way to finish your projects is to write out specific steps that need to be accomplished. Soon, you will find areas where you can list only generalized actions. Those are your potential black holes. If you do a little research or enlist the help of a consultant, you may be able to turn that generalized action into a list of easy-to-follow steps. If research does not help, then you’ve found your potential time consumer. You have found your unknown.
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