Monday, 21 January 2013

Week the First! (and Second...and a bit of Third)

This....is harder than expected (no, not the course - we'll get to that later. Just this blog business.) It's not even that I don't like writing - for example, every November I somehow manage to delude myself into believing that it's a perfectly fine idea to write a novel in a month (yeah Nanowrimo!!). Needless to say, 3 days in I'm still staring at a blank word doc, 7 days in I've resigned myself to the fact that English is not my best friend, and by day 29 I'm thinking "What novel? Did I say I was gonna do that? No way..." (It does make one wonder why I don't succeed, considering the lengthy digressions I always make.) The point? I'm not a blogger, so sorry in advance.

 So, we've finished 2 weeks of CSC165: Mathematical Expression and Reasoning for Computer Science, and started the 3rd today (we broke the rules of math! It was mind-boggling fun, especially at 11am.) I honestly don't know what to say about the course so far, so perhaps I'll just stick with a few insights that the prof, Danny Heap, so aptly stated himself:

 - In week 1: Know that feeling you get when you've finally done something meaningful? That exhilarating head-rush of endorphins? (probably not.) Well you will soon! Apparently, solving problems is not only fun, but also the easiest way to get "a cheap, legal high"! Who knew math could be so exciting, and serve as a compelling substitute for drugs?! Well, now you know. Just make sure to write Danny in as a footnote on your road to success (especially if you ever solve that 'Streetcar Drama' puzzle.)

 -In teaching about universal claims: "All females earn less than 55,000. To prove this claim false, you need to find just one counterexample. If we look at the table we'll see there's only one employee earning above 55,000. However, Al (60,000), is not a counterexample... because of chromosomes."

 -In talking about equivalence: " If M 'belongs to' R, and R 'belongs to' M, that implies that R = M. Ok? Good, now let's avoid cheap jokes like 'same-set marriage' and move on with the lecture."

 I doubt I'll ever be in a position to allot footnotes to people, but I'll keep that in mind, Danny.
Till next time, cheers.


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1 comment:

  1. Danny Heap7 April 2013 at 09:38

    Thanks for reminding me of the same-sets remark. It sounds like exactly the sort of thing I'd say, but I'd forgotten saying it. Often during lecture I'm processing so intently --- blabbing, trying to read peoples' expressions, jumping forwards to what I'll say next and then backwards to what I said before --- that I operate in a sort of trance. At the end of the hour I surface and wonder what sort of irrevocable cognitive damage I might have inflicted on vulnerable minds.

    So I'll be happy to quote you quoting me, during a good point in the trance...

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