The Official Help Dunk With His Homework Thread [Drink cactus juice! It'll quench ya!]

[LordOfWolves 514]

Rather, screw the studying and watch a documentary on the subject. THEN you study!

Well, look that this changes with people. There are people that do what you say, other that do what I said and other that do what other say. We can't totally help dunk, because he is the person that must choose which of the listed methods is the best.

[dunkleosteus 2,425]

So I was up quite late doing the assignment and got up early to catch a train. It's about a 1 h 10 m trip to school from my house so I planned to get on the 8:10 train for my 10 am class. The train got cancelled. They told me to go on the 8:25 train. Cutting it close, but I figured I could take the subway downtown instead of walking. More expensive but shaves 20 m off trip. The train is delayed by 20 minutes though. 25 minutes. 30. At 9:05 they said it was cancelled and we had to find another station on another line into town. I managed to make the 9:36 train out of a station 30 minutes from my house. I got to class at 10:30 for my 10-11 class. Ugh.

[LordOfWolves 514]

So I was up quite late doing the assignment and got up early to catch a train. It's about a 1 h 10 m trip to school from my house so I planned to get on the 8:10 train for my 10 am class. The train got cancelled. They told me to go on the 8:25 train. Cutting it close, but I figured I could take the subway downtown instead of walking. More expensive but shaves 20 m off trip. The train is delayed by 20 minutes though. 25 minutes. 30. At 9:05 they said it was cancelled and we had to find another station on another line into town. I managed to make the 9:36 train out of a station 30 minutes from my house. I got to class at 10:30 for my 10-11 class. Ugh.

How is it gone?

[GreenLeaf 198]

I suppose it has something to do with that storm you yankees are having right now.

[Leosallespoli 338]

I suppose it has something to do with that storm you yankees are having right now.

Dunk is Canadian... And that 'storm' is a freakin hurricane!

[GreenLeaf 198]

oh right, toronto, canada.

[LordOfWolves 514]

Where is it now? Some hours ago it was in New York, and now?

[Ditto8353 202]

Where is it now? Some hours ago it was in New York, and now?

Looks like Pennsylvania. I always use weather.com

[achartran 465]

Yeah, Sandy was pretty intense, my mom's house still has no power, luckily my dad got power back really quickly (because we live on the same grid as the nearby hospital). But yeah, it was still going last night here, not nearly as strong as sunday night, but it was a nasty heavy rain/thunderstorm. I imagine Dunk would have felt the hurricane too, I think Toronto was in the path on the last map I checked.

Just for reference, I was on the Northern tip of the area they predicted would be severely impacted. Not anything like what happened in NY and NJ, but we had scarily high winds here, lots of downed trees and power lines.

[Kimbblesrath 503]

Yeah, Sandy was pretty intense, my mom's house still has no power, luckily my dad got power back really quickly (because we live on the same grid as the nearby hospital). But yeah, it was still going last night here, not nearly as strong as sunday night, but it was a nasty heavy rain/thunderstorm. I imagine Dunk would have felt the hurricane too, I think Toronto was in the path on the last map I checked.

Just for reference, I was on the Northern tip of the area they predicted would be severely impacted. Not anything like what happened in NY and NJ, but we had scarily high winds here, lots of downed trees and power lines.

In Toronto, we had much more brutal winds on Monday, around 70 ish km/h. On Tuesday, it was less, but we will have rain for the whole week. Not too strong, I hope, but we will have rain.

Also, @ GreenLeaf, there are 3 cities called Toronto in the USA. I think there is one in South Dakota... IDK, but yeah.

[GreenLeaf 198]

@ GreenLeaf, there are 3 cities called Toronto in the USA. I think there is one in South Dakota... IDK, but yeah.

Why would you even do that?

[Kimbblesrath 503]

Why would you even do that?

Do what? LOL. Tell you that there are cities named Toronto in the uSA? I don't get it...

[puxapuak 232]

... The train got cancelled. ...

Whenever I'm in T.o I have so much fun riding the subway. "It's so efficient!" I say, along with my fellow travellers. Posts like this remind me that it is not always as glorious as it may seem. (Stuff to bear in mind when I (hopefully) move thattaway in a year or so.)

[dunkleosteus 2,425]

Whenever I'm in T.o I have so much fun riding the subway. "It's so efficient!" I say, along with my fellow travellers. Posts like this remind me that it is not always as glorious as it may seem. (Stuff to bear in mind when I (hopefully) move thattaway in a year or so.)

you can join kimbble and I

[puxapuak 232]

Yep! But it's not assured yet. I hope to do my PhD there, but of course that's sort of up to them. I have some 'in's though.

[Leosallespoli 338]

Yep! But it's not assured yet. I hope to do my PhD there, but of course that's sort of up to them. I have some 'in's though.

PhD in what? A little curious by you profile pic

[puxapuak 232]

PhD in what? A little curious by you profile pic

Ummm... depends on who you ask. I am a physicist by my original training and I still consider myself to be doing physics. I'm currently doing a MA in Sociology and will be pursuing a PhD in likely the same (though it may vary depending on the university that accepts my project - I give the U of T Soc dep't high odds though). This statement usually prompts the follow-up... 'Well what are you doing?' -or something similar. And to this I try to summarise it with the following:

I am investigating the potential application of information/systems theory in the social sciences. This is not unique - many in the physical sciences have pointed out the applications thereof to the social sciences. Their case is not often heard because they publish in their own journals or in public by book, not realising the degree to which many social sciences have already hived themselves off into spheres that do not hear information from outside themselves. (Not their fault - there's a lot more to physically read in social science.) This is unfortunate.

I am taking the tack that we need to present such ideas through the pre-built language and context of the social sciences, by addressing concerns that are well-documented and frequently debated within that range of disciplines. Namely, structure vs. agency.

What we've learned about information systems in the past few decades is that they are pretty much everywhere. More importantly, there are certain patterns that exhibit themselves again and again in information systems regardless of the circumstance or domain (read: scale of complexity). One of these patterns is the tendency towards ecological-adaptive behaviour. We discovered this first in biology, but we now understand its prevalence in other domains as well, and are only just hypothesizing and understanding the potential importance of its role in still further distant domains (even atomic physics).

It's my contention that it is not rational to continue to ignore such advances when, in the social sciences, we already know that society can (and... probably should) be expressed as an information system itself.***

The avenue I'm taking on this initially is through theories of individuality, the nature of interpersonal communication, and definitions of culture and consciousness. It is my contention in my MA that individuality - as we presently conceive it - is largely an artefact of the present state of our communications architecture - that is, our personal conception of our individuality results from a cycle whose driver is a mechanism deriving itself from the fidelity and bandwidth of our global (and decreasingly local) communication network. The individual we presently claim to be is not actually compatible with the notion of individuality present some 60-100 years ago. This results in an array of generational disagreements among other things. Further, the post-modern era is a hyper-state of proposed individuality, but our experience of it is actually a severe lack thereof.

That is, the more we propose to ourself and those around us that we are an individual - the more we attempt to assert our uniqueness; the less individual we actually are. (The more a person tries to make themselves unique and individual, the less unique they actually are - they just end up subscribing to some other popularised sub-culture.) Paradoxically, those that seek our current brand of individualism are the most at risk to simply repeat the existence of those around us, and thus forgo our actual individualism and agency.

***

Stars? Yes. This point needs clarification because as unfortunate (imo) as it is, there are many in the social sciences that, beknownst or unbeknownst to them, subscribe to a

. If a person subscribes to dualism, they can't actually be doing rational science. The two philosophies are ultimately incompatible. Materialism/monism is a pre-requisite to understanding society as an information system.

[GreenLeaf 198]

Do what? LOL. Tell you that there are cities named Toronto in the uSA? I don't get it...

build three cities and call each of them Toronto!

[Kimbblesrath 503]

build three cities and call each of them Toronto!

Well the only city called Toronto is the one in Canada. The others are small, tiny even, towns.

[dunkleosteus 2,425]

ok, big essay coming up. Tips on essay structure?

[LordOfWolves 514]

ok, big essay coming up. Tips on essay structure?

Did they say what is this essay about?

[Ditto8353 202]

ok, big essay coming up. Tips on essay structure?

Min/Max length?

Format?

Subject?

Formality?

[puxapuak 232]

I have a lot to say about essays... But really, it's hard to go too far astray if you follow the simple stuff. Two rules of thumb:

- Make a roadmap. Know where you're going and every turn on the way before you ever start writing. The first half of writing a good essay involves no writing at all, only thinking.

- Writing is fractal-like (or OOP-like, if you prefer); Every essay should have one purpose and one purpose only. If you can't say the idea behind it in one sentence, then you're not ready to write. It uses elements that work together to support that purpose - paragraphs. Every paragraph is just like a mini essay - it should have one purpose and one only. It is supported by elements that work together to achieve that purpose - sentences. Sentences are like mini-mini-essays; they should each have one purpose and one purpose only... etc.

I mark a LOT of essays. Bad essays are usually bad because they violated one of those two.

[Ditto8353 202]

I have a lot to say about essays...

The only thing I can add to this is that I find it extremely helpful to first determine your thesis and write your opening paragraph, which is pretty standard, and then write your conclusion. It is then easier to determine if your individual paragraphs are moving toward the conclusion you are hoping to reach.

[puxapuak 232]

The only thing I can add to this is that I find it extremely helpful to first determine your thesis and write your opening paragraph, which is pretty standard, and then write your conclusion. It is then easier to determine if your individual paragraphs are moving toward the conclusion you are hoping to reach.

Ahh yes. That's a good one too. I usually advise my students do that too if they are having difficulty making a good roadmap. The two processes can play off each other to produce something solid.