ThursdayNext : www.jasperfforde.com
A discussion of all things Thursday !
Re: linux
Posted by: poetscientistdrinker (---.rdg.ac.uk)
Date: January 24, 2003 02:56PM
<HTML>Hurrah! I've found another way of killing large portions of time with very little productivity - I'm trying to change the colours on these here maps to make them easier to interpret (ie all the woods are now green). This is in itself quite useful, except I'm a fussy sod and want the colours just right...</HTML>
Killing Time
Posted by: fuzz (---.cableinet.co.uk)
Date: January 24, 2003 03:31PM
<HTML>You mean posting here (and then counting posts) doesn't kill enough time? Damn, I'm not looking forward to this 'full time job' malarky. So much time, so little inclination to work.</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: poetscientistdrinker (---.rdg.ac.uk)
Date: January 24, 2003 03:40PM
<HTML>Full time job? Like I'd be stupid enough to get one of those...</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: fuzz (---.cableinet.co.uk)
Date: January 24, 2003 04:25PM
<HTML>Well, so far my day has consisted of, wake up at midday, read stuff on the internet. make breakfast (crumpets with chease, we have no cereal), read replies to posts.
I mean, why give me a reading week? I'm a physist, we have no books to read. Whats that? I've got exams next week? Which technically are my finals? And maybe I should be revising? Damn stupid mystry voice, what do you think the weekend is for?</HTML>
I mean, why give me a reading week? I'm a physist, we have no books to read. Whats that? I've got exams next week? Which technically are my finals? And maybe I should be revising? Damn stupid mystry voice, what do you think the weekend is for?</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: dave (---.addleshaw-booth.co.uk)
Date: January 24, 2003 04:28PM
<HTML>no, no, no. The weekend is for a lie-in until midday, spot of lunch, some tea, beers then recover on sunday.
Now the night before, that's when you should be revising. Heck, it never did me any harm.
I did end up with a third, however.</HTML>
Now the night before, that's when you should be revising. Heck, it never did me any harm.
I did end up with a third, however.</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: Sarah (---.vip.uk.com)
Date: January 24, 2003 09:15PM
<HTML>I'm doing a maths degree with the OU. I chose maths because it seemed to me like the subject I could get a First in with minimal effort. Everything is going according to plan so far... ;-)
This, of course, gives me plenty of time to get on with writing, which is the way I <i>really</i> want to make a living, but it's always sensible to have a First in mathematics in case that falls through. And besides, it gives Wilfred lots of pretty equations to admire, bless him.
Minsky, meanwhile, apologises for not having been around much just recently, but he's been taking advantage of the recent fine weather to patrol (and, I strongly suspect, enlarge) his territory. This morning his small psychopathic ginger nephew chased a medium-sized dog out of the back garden; alerted by the terrified yelping, I was just in time to see it running for its life pursued by a ginger blur.
Nothing whatsoever against dogs. But cats are fun.</HTML>
This, of course, gives me plenty of time to get on with writing, which is the way I <i>really</i> want to make a living, but it's always sensible to have a First in mathematics in case that falls through. And besides, it gives Wilfred lots of pretty equations to admire, bless him.
Minsky, meanwhile, apologises for not having been around much just recently, but he's been taking advantage of the recent fine weather to patrol (and, I strongly suspect, enlarge) his territory. This morning his small psychopathic ginger nephew chased a medium-sized dog out of the back garden; alerted by the terrified yelping, I was just in time to see it running for its life pursued by a ginger blur.
Nothing whatsoever against dogs. But cats are fun.</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: Jon (---.proxy.aol.com)
Date: January 24, 2003 11:23PM
<HTML>>I chose maths because it seemed to me like the subject I could get a First in with minimal effort
Boggle. Double boggle with extra chips. Don't you have to know the answers in maths? I was only ever any good at subjects where you didn't have to know the answers, but could waffle entertainingly for 500 words. I fell behind in maths quite early .... about half-two on my first day in school, I think it was .... and have never really advanced from there.
Still, when I think back on all the crap I learnt in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all.</HTML>
Boggle. Double boggle with extra chips. Don't you have to know the answers in maths? I was only ever any good at subjects where you didn't have to know the answers, but could waffle entertainingly for 500 words. I fell behind in maths quite early .... about half-two on my first day in school, I think it was .... and have never really advanced from there.
Still, when I think back on all the crap I learnt in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all.</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: poetscientistdrinker (---.cache.pol.co.uk)
Date: January 24, 2003 11:32PM
<HTML>Knowing the answers is 'rithmetic. Maths is when they stop using numbers and use letters instead, and frankly it's far too difficult to understand. Those French guys who wrote a load of balloney and got PhDs for it? Blame the maths...</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: fuzz (---.cableinet.co.uk)
Date: January 24, 2003 11:37PM
<HTML>I have to go with jon here, I mean, as a physisis(isisis)t I'm supposed to be able to do maths but, well, no chance really. I got an E in it at A level (although i blame doing it at an evening class for this). Choosing to do a degree in maths (without the added beifits of student life) is, in a word , crazy imho. Still, someone has to workout the nasty maths behind our nice physics theorys i suppose ;)</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: Ooktavia (---.in-addr.btopenworld.com)
Date: January 24, 2003 11:57PM
<HTML>Maths. *shudder*
I am no good at maths. My father is, his first degree was in maths (mind you his second was theology, it only goes to show) and consequently he is a *very* bad at teaching other people maths (ie, me) because he does not understand I don't get it. Pre maths GCSE he tried to coach me, it always ended in tears, swearing etc etc because he would think I was being stubborn (can't think why) or deliberately stupid (no deliberate about it). Geh.
Maths is a beautiful thing, and like many beautiful things, it is also a creation of the Devil, and all ye who understand it are cursed with devillish intelligence (mind you, same goes for sciencey things like physisisisisisists and computer whizzes etc.)</HTML>
I am no good at maths. My father is, his first degree was in maths (mind you his second was theology, it only goes to show) and consequently he is a *very* bad at teaching other people maths (ie, me) because he does not understand I don't get it. Pre maths GCSE he tried to coach me, it always ended in tears, swearing etc etc because he would think I was being stubborn (can't think why) or deliberately stupid (no deliberate about it). Geh.
Maths is a beautiful thing, and like many beautiful things, it is also a creation of the Devil, and all ye who understand it are cursed with devillish intelligence (mind you, same goes for sciencey things like physisisisisisists and computer whizzes etc.)</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: poetscientistdrinker (---.cache.pol.co.uk)
Date: January 25, 2003 12:03AM
<HTML>Actually maths is just about learning a new language. And so is the stuff I do on computers, although most of the language I'm practising turns out to be Anglo Saxon</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: Magda (---.med.umich.edu)
Date: January 25, 2003 12:28AM
<HTML>Minsky's enjoying fine weather? It hasn't been above freezing here in more than a fortnight. They say it might reach the freezing point by sometime next Tuesday, if we're lucky.
As to maths, I made it through 2 semesters of Calculus and decided that was sufficient. I'd got to the point where I could get the right answers, but no longer intuitively understood why it worked. As a biochemist, I deal mainly with algebra in any case.
I did realize during my senior year that after 2 years of mainly science classes, in which I wrote lab reports as consisely as possible, my waffling skills had gotten rusty. When I took a gothic literature class, I had to work to fill enough pages to meet the minimum.
(And yes, Jon, I recognize the line from Kodachrome).</HTML>
As to maths, I made it through 2 semesters of Calculus and decided that was sufficient. I'd got to the point where I could get the right answers, but no longer intuitively understood why it worked. As a biochemist, I deal mainly with algebra in any case.
I did realize during my senior year that after 2 years of mainly science classes, in which I wrote lab reports as consisely as possible, my waffling skills had gotten rusty. When I took a gothic literature class, I had to work to fill enough pages to meet the minimum.
(And yes, Jon, I recognize the line from Kodachrome).</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: Sarah B (---.cableinet.co.uk)
Date: January 25, 2003 01:22PM
<HTML>Ah, good 'ol Paul Simons.
plink, plink
That would be my guitar strings.
Everything looks worse in black and white.</HTML>
plink, plink
That would be my guitar strings.
Everything looks worse in black and white.</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: Sarah (---.vip.uk.com)
Date: January 25, 2003 03:11PM
<HTML>H'mm... I think everyone's brain is wired up differently. The way I see maths, it works pretty much like needlework. In other words: you learn a technique for dealing with X (whether X is setting in a sleeve or extracting the eigenvalues from a matrix), and when you are presented with X, you simply grind through the technique until you've finished. As long as you do it reasonably carefully, you shouldn't have any problems.
However, I deeply sympathise with anyone who has been scared off maths by having it taught to them badly (something which I suspect goes for over 90% of the population, since it is, in my opinion, the most difficult subject in the world to teach to a class of children, even if they are all fairly similar in ability). Anyone wishing to get over this entirely understandable terror should consider trying the OU; their teaching is the best I've ever encountered.
Wilfred likes maths. He thinks integral signs are particularly pretty.</HTML>
However, I deeply sympathise with anyone who has been scared off maths by having it taught to them badly (something which I suspect goes for over 90% of the population, since it is, in my opinion, the most difficult subject in the world to teach to a class of children, even if they are all fairly similar in ability). Anyone wishing to get over this entirely understandable terror should consider trying the OU; their teaching is the best I've ever encountered.
Wilfred likes maths. He thinks integral signs are particularly pretty.</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: Ooktavia (---.in-addr.btopenworld.com)
Date: January 25, 2003 10:38PM
<HTML>What's an integral sig look like? Is it in the Rules of the Road?
I'm learning to drive, you know...........</HTML>
I'm learning to drive, you know...........</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: poetscientistdrinker (---.cache.pol.co.uk)
Date: January 26, 2003 12:15AM
<HTML>You'd need one hell of a lot of lube for one of those triangular ones, is all I'm saying...</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: Jon (---.proxy.aol.com)
Date: January 26, 2003 03:40PM
<HTML>Do you know, I can't do needlework either. Can I just say that Octavia's first post (re learning 'rithmetic) is exactly my experience? I did wonder whether I have calculalia (same as dyslexia but with numbers), but when I considered all the evidence, it didn't add up.
I blame teachers, myself. In my infant school we had huge classes (about 40) and the teachers were more or less forced to concentrate on the slower kids. Us clever ones got pretty much left alone, and by the time anyone realised I had a problem it was too late. That and people assumed that I was not working at maths because I was lazy, not because I couldn't do it. Why they jumped to this conclusion, just because I was bone idle, I do not know.
Jon, still lazy after all these years.
(Btw, when Paul Simon got older he changed the lyric to run 'everything looks better in black and white'; evidence of middle-aged nostalgia or just cos it scans better?)</HTML>
I blame teachers, myself. In my infant school we had huge classes (about 40) and the teachers were more or less forced to concentrate on the slower kids. Us clever ones got pretty much left alone, and by the time anyone realised I had a problem it was too late. That and people assumed that I was not working at maths because I was lazy, not because I couldn't do it. Why they jumped to this conclusion, just because I was bone idle, I do not know.
Jon, still lazy after all these years.
(Btw, when Paul Simon got older he changed the lyric to run 'everything looks better in black and white'; evidence of middle-aged nostalgia or just cos it scans better?)</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: All-American-Cutie (---.dalect01.va.comcast.net)
Date: January 26, 2003 06:48PM
<HTML>I was actually quite advanced at math as a child. I do seem to have issues with subtraction and division, even though addition and multiplication are fairly easy. Maybe I am somewhat disposed to calculalia. I have a really hard time remembering numbers, as well. (Except my credit card number...I don't even have to look at it anymore to make online purchases!)
But I was only good at math until 7th grade. I got put into 8th grade math the same week my mother died. I did okay in that class, but it was tough. Then the following year, I took algebra from a 1st year teacher who had no clue as to how to teach in general and all but about 3 of us in that class had problems with math from then on.
I nearly flunked geometry my freshman year. I tried so hard, did all my homework, but I just didn't get it. (Although I do think I understand it more now as an adult.) Then I ended up taking Algebra 2 for two years in a row. I got a "D" in it my sophomore year and then took it again to prove to myself I could do it. Junior year, I got a "C" but I understood it, just blew off the homework and aced the tests.
I wasn't required to take anything further, so I didn't do any for my senior year. (But I did try to take Physics and after the first quarter was over, my teacher recommended I change classes so I wouldn't ruin my grade point average before college)
But then, when I hit college, it was required, so I took that same Algebra 2 class (same text book even!) and totally FLUNKED it! Of course, I only showed up for tests since homework was not required. Boy was I floored!
So I muddle by with general useage stuff. I can calculate the square footage of a room for putting in carpet. I can do fractions well enough for baking and anything else tougher, I can always ask the hubby. He's a math whiz!</HTML>
But I was only good at math until 7th grade. I got put into 8th grade math the same week my mother died. I did okay in that class, but it was tough. Then the following year, I took algebra from a 1st year teacher who had no clue as to how to teach in general and all but about 3 of us in that class had problems with math from then on.
I nearly flunked geometry my freshman year. I tried so hard, did all my homework, but I just didn't get it. (Although I do think I understand it more now as an adult.) Then I ended up taking Algebra 2 for two years in a row. I got a "D" in it my sophomore year and then took it again to prove to myself I could do it. Junior year, I got a "C" but I understood it, just blew off the homework and aced the tests.
I wasn't required to take anything further, so I didn't do any for my senior year. (But I did try to take Physics and after the first quarter was over, my teacher recommended I change classes so I wouldn't ruin my grade point average before college)
But then, when I hit college, it was required, so I took that same Algebra 2 class (same text book even!) and totally FLUNKED it! Of course, I only showed up for tests since homework was not required. Boy was I floored!
So I muddle by with general useage stuff. I can calculate the square footage of a room for putting in carpet. I can do fractions well enough for baking and anything else tougher, I can always ask the hubby. He's a math whiz!</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: Jon (---.proxy.aol.com)
Date: January 26, 2003 08:56PM
<HTML>My maths is so bad I can't even work out when 7th grade is ....</HTML>
Re: Killing Time
Posted by: poetscientistdrinker (---.cache.pol.co.uk)
Date: January 26, 2003 09:55PM
<HTML>In my last year at primary school I was tod I would never be able to understand maths.
I keep on meaning to take my A-Level certificate in while a couple of the teachers are still there...</HTML>
I keep on meaning to take my A-Level certificate in while a couple of the teachers are still there...</HTML>
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