And one day done.

[silveradept]

One day back, and I was already trying to fall asleep in class. I swear, I need something to keep my alert - maybe I should start bringing caffeine or something to distract me - or maybe I need to just take a nap before class or something. This is getting annoying. I want to stay awake in class, but there’s something about three-hour classes, even with hour breaks that frags my ability to stay awake. Maybe it’s this particular professor, maybe it’s the lecture format... if actively engaged, I do better in terms of trying to stay awake. But for some reason, in the standard lecture format, I’m just nodding off occasionally. Is there something I can do to fix this? (It really started to set in the later years of my undergraduate. I swear I get enough sleep at night, really.)

This picture’s worth a thousand laughs: Maritza wins the cinema meme, and with it the internets.

Just for you, uncle_pervy, I give you, another cuntentacle monster, given to lordmork. If you ask nicely, maybe I can persuade the person who made it to make another for you. Maybe. It was a one-shot, most likely, though. Still, thought you would enjoy.

Also, the Edge Annual Question for the year - What’s your dangerous idea? See what’s already there - definitely lots of food for thought from many different people and perspectives. So what’s your dangerous idea? Mine appears to be the idea that the sum is stranger than the whole of its parts.

One last bit - if the laws of the universe turn out to be radically different than our current understanding, then hyperdrive may be in our future. But it’s still only a hypothesis at this stage, which is dependent on the underlying hypotheses being provable or at least workably true.

More stuff tomorrow.

Comments

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

I feel all famous now...

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

N) Note: first link broken (double-quotes where there shouldn't be double-quotes?).

[obligatory] Curious. *follows intriguing links* [/obligatory]

[silveradept]

Formatting problem, I guess. Fixed now, hopefully.

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

N) Indeed. *smiles*

Hmm. Is rimspace aware of the hyperspace concept?

[silveradept]

As far as I am aware, he reads this journal, so if he is not, he probably will be. Whether or not it si of sufficient interest for him to make comment on it, I don't know.

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

N) Ahh. *nods slightly*

[thalass.livejournal.com]

female tentacle monster... bwahaha! That's awesome.

That hyperdrive thingy sounds a bit dodgy to me. But then I'm not an astrophysicsist. It would be groovy, though. :D

[silveradept]

It's an idea, certainly. After all, in the enlightened times, there would have to be female monsters at some point, right?

[aoanla.livejournal.com]

The hyperdrive thingy is all a bit odd. It's based on the theories of Burkhard Heim, an obscure, reclusive physicist who seems to have only been published in German. Now, Heim's candidate for a "Grand Unified Theory" predicts the masses of all known particles with good accuracy, without the need for some of the additions modern physics makes, but it needs three additional, "imaginary" dimensions. Obviously, this is something of a stumbling block.
On the other hand, the prediction of an effective weight reduction in bodies suspended over a spinning magnet is suspiciously similar to those results claimed a few years back for, yes, weight-loss near spinning superconductors...

At the moment, though, the jury is out - Heim's work seems very abtruse to me (and I don't read German, either), and it seems it is similarly inaccessible to most theoreticians who could comment usefully on it. We really need an (extremely expensive) experiment to test it...

Loves the Cuntentacle Figure

[uncle-pervy.livejournal.com]

I showed the image to Uncle P and he loves it...reminds him of one of his earlier conquests a few centuries ago. Nice creature, helped him get through his "Training Courses" at Cthultu U.

If you sent him the pic of Pervy and the description of him that I believe I gave to you some time ago, I don't think he would mind trying to work on him or making another Cuntentacle Monster figure "for Old Times' Sake."

Thanks for bringing it up.

Re: Loves the Cuntentacle Figure

[uncle-pervy.livejournal.com]

*rereads post*

*Drops to knees*

Oh Big Unit, please inquire upon this Master Artist if he could begrudge this simple Tentacle Monster and make another one. You can even consider it a Birthday Present.

Re: Loves the Cuntentacle Figure

[silveradept]

This Mistress of Art, I will ask. Although the post handled things a little roughly the last time and some adhesive was needed to ensure the full glory of the monster.

You may just have to give over a little money to make it happen.

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, my college attendance rate: 40%
My awakeness rate: 70-80% (Would have been much lower if I'd been to more of my classes.)

I find that if it's not something I really want to learn, I'm not going to stay awake for it. (Or if it's something I could easily learn someway else -- like by reading the book or downloading the lecture notes.) I'm most likely to stay awake in classes which really interest me, which never rehash last weeks material (or the reading assignment) for 30 minutes before presenting new material (ARG, I hate it when they do that), which have a specific goal for each lecture and are well organized, which force me to take notes and which *do not dim the lights* (Good grief, we can see a powerpoint just fine with the lights on.) If the prof actively engages the class, I'll still fall asleep or stop going unless they're interesting/provocative questions. "What's x when 2x=5?" isn't going to cut it. As for tricks to stay awake: Get 8-9 hours of sleep a night, decide if you really want to go (pick classes that you enjoy the lectures (funny or interesting) and ditch the rest), and read the *assignment* for the next week/old tests beforehand so you know what you need to get out of the particular lecture. Most of the learning happens through doing homework anyhow. Bad tricks (that work, but are a bad idea) to stay awake: stay cold/hungry, stick your tongue between your teeth and (gently) rest your head on your hand, do homework for other classes (you might as well stay home), or take dictation (mindlessly write every word that you can).
Hope those help, but really, ditch those classes.

[silveradept]

Right. Well, that class may be more interesting, as it's going to be a seminar-type format, so I'll have more to keep me engaged than the professor.

I'll know soon enough whether or not the rest of the classes are going to be of the sort of snooze or of interest. So far, one of them looks really engaging.

And most of those classes are required/semi-required classes. Getting out of them is tough.