Stuff you LOVE, baby

[Lord J Esq]

From The Symphony of Science comes my favorite piece in the album: "We Are All Connected"

Billions and Billions!

We're never going to overcome our worser failings, let alone inbuilt flaws like sexism, without coming to appreciate our place in the universe. Religious people, and even spiritualists, often wonder sincerely how humanists like me see any beauty, find any meaning, or derive any ethics without invoking the supernatural. To paraphrase Carl Sagan, I want to shake them and say

                        "ALL OF THIS  isn't enough for you?!!"

[tushantin]

"ALL OF THIS  isn't enough for you?!!"

NOT IN A MILLION YEARS! *stuffs a sandwich in his mouth*

Coming from both a religious and scientific background, I find reality to be a visual poetry, a magnificent art in itself. The greatest creation. I want to be able to view the universe in all its glory and colors. I want to be able to see further than the blackest veil and the brightest light of stars.

Perhaps I understand the "one with everything" phrase attributed to a stereotypical monk. I feel one with the Universe! I can feel the endless expanse of the void that our galaxy is falling across at an unimaginable speed, even though many do not because of inertia. I can feel the slipping of the stream of Time itself.

If you ever stop in the middle of the night, look up at the stars and listen: they sing! And dance!

[Thought]

I would love to answer this, but right now the two of us are facing extreme difficulties (not within our relationship, but with something else entirely), and so we have been trying to deal with that.  Your question will be put on the back burner for some time, I'm afraid.  I will get back to you once we sort out all of this out and our lives are a bit more...safe.  :/

Blarg, I can only imagine what that might be like, and yet I fear my imagination would pale in comparison to reality. I do hope things get resolved quickly, efficiently, and safely.

[tushantin]

I would love to answer this, but right now the two of us are facing extreme difficulties (not within our relationship, but with something else entirely), and so we have been trying to deal with that.  Your question will be put on the back burner for some time, I'm afraid.  I will get back to you once we sort out all of this out and our lives are a bit more...safe.  :/

Blarg, I can only imagine what that might be like, and yet I fear my imagination would pale in comparison to reality. I do hope things get resolved quickly, efficiently, and safely.

Here's hoping the same, Saj. *thumbs up*

[tushantin]

I received 60% on my eProject. Not bad for a half-assed work!

[Sajainta]

I received 60% on my eProject. Not bad for a half-assed work!

Isn't that a near-failing grade...?

[tushantin]

I received 60% on my eProject. Not bad for a half-assed work!

Isn't that a near-failing grade...?

...It is? Hmm, what's the passing grade there?

Over here, though, it's a "just passed" grade; the near-failing would be 45 or 50. I could've gotten myself a 90+, but had no intention to spend my energy on something trivial. I just want to get my certificate from this institute so I can be free.  

Can't take the stress anymore.

EDIT: OI! How's you and Dee? 

[Sajainta]

A passing grade is for the most part 60% (which is a D-), although in some classes I took it was 64%.  Although a D is a passing grade, it can sometimes mean having to repeat the class.  Even if you didn't necessarily fail, getting a D might require you to retake the class.

[tushantin]

A passing grade is for the most part 60% (which is a D-), although in some classes I took it was 64%.  Although a D is a passing grade, it can sometimes mean having to repeat the class.  Even if you didn't necessarily fail, getting a D might require you to retake the class.

Hmm, a complex system. Which means if I studied anywhere near there I'd probably wouldn't get away with half-assing my work.  Ah, well...

[Sajainta]

Hmm, a complex system. Which means if I studied anywhere near there I'd probably wouldn't get away with half-assing my work.  Ah, well...

Hahaha not at all.  Not. At. All.  It is beyond easy to half-ass and bullshit schoolwork, no matter what country you're in or what grading system there is.  Maybe you couldn't do it all the time at, say, Oxford or something, but almost everyone here in the US has bullshitted their way through a paper or a project at least once.

I studied literature; all we do is write bullshit and try to pass it off as intelligent.  ;]

[tushantin]

I studied literature; all we do is write bullshit and try to pass it off as intelligent.  ;]

Ahahhaha! That's what a friend said to me once when she played a prank on her teacher: "You can babble with intense vocabulary, gobbledygook and consistency, and still pass as intelligent and manage to confuse people, including superiors." <------- Something tells me that the Doctor uses that all the time to amuse his companions.

That said, I'd like to go to college and study literature. Hopefully I get the right opportunities at Australia.

[Lord J Esq]

I studied literature; all we do is write bullshit and try to pass it off as intelligent.  ;]

Some of the instructors like to bullshit, too. The only class I ever dropped in college because I couldn't stand the instructor was in the case of a literature class taught by this grad student who specialized in filling the classroom with bullshit.

I have to admit, one of the reasons I prefer the hard sciences is that there's a lot more meat on the bone. Liberal arts and the humanities--and, strangely enough, mathematics--tend to be highly variable!

[Sajainta]

Some of the instructors like to bullshit, too.

Oh god.  Yes.  Literature classes can be absolutely infuriating.  Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, professor.  Sometimes it is just a cigar.

I'm just glad I never had to study literary criticism in depth.  I think I would have vomited my lungs out through my nose if I had taken a lit crit course.  Those classes are full of massive amounts of absolute fuckery.

[Lord J Esq]

Yeah, that's what it was in my case. A literary criticism class. "Close reads," and all that. Oh, golly...

Thankfully, the UW is an awesome school and that is the only class I ever disliked.

Heh. Not that some didn't try!

[Syna]

Aww, I loved lit criticism! Adorno! Benjamin! Matthew Arnold! Baudrillard! Judith Butler! All shining stars of humanity! So much of what they wrote was downright prophetic. Reading Baudrillard, I always think, "how the hell did he know what was going to happen and have such insight on it?"

I took it from a dead brilliant and down-to-earth professor, though (she also conducted a sci-fi class). I suppose that's more evidence of how variable the humanities can be.