One my oldest Korea-friends left today for a year in Saudi Arabia. This is the only song for me right now:
Monday, August 27, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
101 in 1001 Update
Another update to keep me on task! Though I should have posted this a few days ago (and I missed a Music Monday). As Cathy would say, "ACK!" Things are busy at work now, though they should die down at the end of this week.
Since last time, I've finished a novel off the TIME Top 100 List (Tom Robbins' Villa Incognito). (3 - 3)
I've also posted my update (1 -3) and added a few more items to the list (daily calisthenics!). I've also been diligent about posting comments. (7 - 4)
I watched two more foreign movies: Der Untergang (German) and The Killer (Hong Kong). They're well worth watching. I know I'm late to the party on these, but better late than never! I would recommend adding them to your queue if you haven't already seen them. Der Untergang also is on the IMDB Top 100 list, so that's two birds with one stone.
I also watched another Star Trek episode (5 - 12) and a few MST3K episodes (5 - 6). I also finished the first Daleks story arc in the first season of Dr. Who. (5 - 13)
I also played a lot of FreeRice. (12 - 6) You should join me there!
Since last time, I've finished a novel off the TIME Top 100 List (Tom Robbins' Villa Incognito). (3 - 3)
I've also posted my update (1 -3) and added a few more items to the list (daily calisthenics!). I've also been diligent about posting comments. (7 - 4)
I watched two more foreign movies: Der Untergang (German) and The Killer (Hong Kong). They're well worth watching. I know I'm late to the party on these, but better late than never! I would recommend adding them to your queue if you haven't already seen them. Der Untergang also is on the IMDB Top 100 list, so that's two birds with one stone.
I also watched another Star Trek episode (5 - 12) and a few MST3K episodes (5 - 6). I also finished the first Daleks story arc in the first season of Dr. Who. (5 - 13)
I also played a lot of FreeRice. (12 - 6) You should join me there!
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Scientists as Writers
Great guest blog at SciAm about scientists as writers.
Again, echoing my earlier rant about the importance of philosophy to everyone (including scientists), this is another reason why we need to debunk the myth of "specialization = necessary," like, yesterday.
Here's a secret: I didn't start out my life as a math and science nerd. I mean, to some extent it was more or less inevitable, given my surroundings, but it took a while. I spent my school years dreading calculus and physics and taking as many classes with my favorite English teacher as I could (three, as it turned out). I chose my college (Hamilton) based on the fact that there were no core requirements: I wouldn't have to take any math classes at all to graduate! On the flip side of that coin, a calculus pre-requisite dissuaded me from pursuing higher-level computer science courses.
What I mean to say is: I came back to science (and math) "from the other side," so to speak. Working at a cave reminded me how much I loved rocks and chemistry and things from inside the earth; symbolic logic as part of my philosophy degree reintroduced me to the clean lines and satisfaction of solving math-like problems. Engaging science writing from people like Matt Ridley, Stephen Jay Gould, and Sam Keane reintroduced me to topics I hadn't studied since high school.
I appreciate that sometimes science is difficult. If you haven't spent years and years studying something, it's going to be hard to grasp no matter how good the writing is. But dressing up science articles in roundabout grammatical constructions and zombie nouns goes a long way to being more, and not less, difficult to understand. And when science writers can't even recognize the passive voice and "translate" it to an active sentence? How can they expect to communicate those ideas in a way that's readily accessible?
Science, of course, isn't the only field guilty of dressing up its interior communications in an impossible veil of needlessly academic language. Philosophy is just as bad. For an exercise in stark contrasts, read Kant's What is Enlightenment? and then read The Critique of Pure Reason.
Likewise, not everyone will be a great writer. It would be unreasonable to expect every scientist in the laboratory to be the next Carl Sagan. But I think it's equally unreasonable to continue to impose these byzantine language standards on official science writing in the name of "objectivity" or "clarity." They accomplish neither of these things; they only serve to keep the most interesting work of science in the domain of the elites instead of the public.
Again, echoing my earlier rant about the importance of philosophy to everyone (including scientists), this is another reason why we need to debunk the myth of "specialization = necessary," like, yesterday.
Here's a secret: I didn't start out my life as a math and science nerd. I mean, to some extent it was more or less inevitable, given my surroundings, but it took a while. I spent my school years dreading calculus and physics and taking as many classes with my favorite English teacher as I could (three, as it turned out). I chose my college (Hamilton) based on the fact that there were no core requirements: I wouldn't have to take any math classes at all to graduate! On the flip side of that coin, a calculus pre-requisite dissuaded me from pursuing higher-level computer science courses.
What I mean to say is: I came back to science (and math) "from the other side," so to speak. Working at a cave reminded me how much I loved rocks and chemistry and things from inside the earth; symbolic logic as part of my philosophy degree reintroduced me to the clean lines and satisfaction of solving math-like problems. Engaging science writing from people like Matt Ridley, Stephen Jay Gould, and Sam Keane reintroduced me to topics I hadn't studied since high school.
I appreciate that sometimes science is difficult. If you haven't spent years and years studying something, it's going to be hard to grasp no matter how good the writing is. But dressing up science articles in roundabout grammatical constructions and zombie nouns goes a long way to being more, and not less, difficult to understand. And when science writers can't even recognize the passive voice and "translate" it to an active sentence? How can they expect to communicate those ideas in a way that's readily accessible?
Science, of course, isn't the only field guilty of dressing up its interior communications in an impossible veil of needlessly academic language. Philosophy is just as bad. For an exercise in stark contrasts, read Kant's What is Enlightenment? and then read The Critique of Pure Reason.
Likewise, not everyone will be a great writer. It would be unreasonable to expect every scientist in the laboratory to be the next Carl Sagan. But I think it's equally unreasonable to continue to impose these byzantine language standards on official science writing in the name of "objectivity" or "clarity." They accomplish neither of these things; they only serve to keep the most interesting work of science in the domain of the elites instead of the public.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Bless You, Slashdot
It seems the vast majority of comments on this story get it:
Is sexual harassment part of hacker culture?
Is sexual harassment part of hacker culture?
>...Third, I definitely agree that everyone at such an event should feel safe and it's heartening that you bring this up. However you kind of fall flat on your face in the next sentence. You think people should feel safe so that the 'most attractive females' will keep showing up? Excuse me? I thought Defcon was about hacking and computer skills, not so that you can eye hot girls. There is a whole internet full of naked, hot girls you can ogle to your heart's content and plenty of hot girls in Vegas you can go out and hit on and lots of hot prostitutes in the greater state of Nevada you can pay to sleep with if that's what you are interested in. Also note how your rationale is conspicuously missing any reference to making female computer hackers feel welcome or any indication that women can be something other than 'attractive young fangirl/cheerleaders'...*slowclap*
Music Monday: PSY
This song is making the rounds in the ROK and elsewhere. In case you haven't seen it already, allow me to rectify that situation for you:
Sunday, August 12, 2012
101 in 1001 Update
You already saw my Le Petit Prince necklace. Here's another one I whipped up: the speed of light, in coral, mother-of-pearl, and either turquoise or dyed howlite. I'm leaning towards dyed howlite because there's weird color irregularities that look like dye which didn't take well. Regardless, it's bright and fun and summer-y and I think this may be something I keep for myself. (2-3)
I also just finished Language Myths, a quick and interesting read if you're at all a language nerd. (9-2)
The rest of my list is behind the jump. And here's more information on the 101 in 1001 project.
Speed of light in a vacuum: 299,792,458 m/s-1
I also just finished Language Myths, a quick and interesting read if you're at all a language nerd. (9-2)
The rest of my list is behind the jump. And here's more information on the 101 in 1001 project.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Foodie Friday: Dubu Sam Gyeop Kimchi
Since I'm still working on my tofu vegan burritos at home (I made a LOT), here's what I had for dinner last night. This is technically an anju, I guess: a drinking snack as opposed to a real meal. It was really filling, though:
It's tofu, kimchi, and pork belly. And what I had was totally different than what's pictured here. Mine was a giant block of tofu, seasoned with sesame seeds and some chives, sitting on top of a mixture of diced pork belly and kimchi. Two hungry people (myself and my friend Jong-min) were hard-pressed to finish it.
It's tofu, kimchi, and pork belly. And what I had was totally different than what's pictured here. Mine was a giant block of tofu, seasoned with sesame seeds and some chives, sitting on top of a mixture of diced pork belly and kimchi. Two hungry people (myself and my friend Jong-min) were hard-pressed to finish it.
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