.
Screw "Real Life Applications". Put this in the front of
every textbook.
You can ignore this book if you want.
Go ahead. Coast through class.
But remember one thing:
Someday, someone will clone a dinosaur.
And that someone will be an expert in a million
things you think are boring right now.
And if you don't study, and work, and think
One day you'll watch that person saddle up,
put on a cowboy hat, and ride a T. Rex.
From your monitor.
At least until your boss asks why you're wasting company time.
.
Edit:
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
When I was 7, our science teacher asked everyone to propose a futuristic idea. Everyone proposed things like flying cars and underwater cities. The teacher congratulated everyone.
I proposed attaching turbines to tectonic plates in order to both avoid earthquakes and to make people from one country be able to visit people from other countries if they wanted. "You just move the continents around!"
The teacher quite literally told me "That's stupid". I got no congratulation. I was the only one without congratulation.
Then I told him in a totally serious delusional-angry tone that only a 7-year old can muster "Well, you're stupid, because one day I'll build turbines for tectonic plates and I will have a flying mountain and I'll call you stupid and go visit other countries and you won't, because you won't have a flying tectonic plate!".
Got scolded for calling him stupid (or perhaps he was envious of my would-be flying mountain), but maybe one day I'll be able to fulfil my villainous threat.
For some reason, it still makes me angry.
... For some reason, it still makes me angry.
It's a fact of human nature, if your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.
.
When I was 7, our science teacher asked everyone to propose a futuristic idea. Everyone proposed things like flying cars and underwater cities. The teacher congratulated everyone.
I proposed attaching turbines to tectonic plates in order to both avoid earthquakes and to make people from one country be able to visit people from other countries if they wanted. "You just move the continents around!"
The teacher quite literally told me "That's stupid". I got no congratulation. I was the only one without congratulation.
Then I told him in a totally serious delusional-angry tone that only a 7-year old can muster "Well, you're stupid, because one day I'll build turbines for tectonic plates and I will have a flying mountain and I'll call you stupid and go visit other countries and you won't, because you won't have a flying tectonic plate!".
Got scolded for calling him stupid (or perhaps he was envious of my would-be flying mountain), but maybe one day I'll be able to fulfil my villainous threat.
For some reason, it still makes me angry.
That guy's a total effing tool.
When I was 7, our science teacher asked everyone to propose a futuristic idea. Everyone proposed things like flying cars and underwater cities. The teacher congratulated everyone.
I proposed attaching turbines to tectonic plates in order to both avoid earthquakes and to make people from one country be able to visit people from other countries if they wanted. "You just move the continents around!"
The teacher quite literally told me "That's stupid". I got no congratulation. I was the only one without congratulation.
Then I told him in a totally serious delusional-angry tone that only a 7-year old can muster "Well, you're stupid, because one day I'll build turbines for tectonic plates and I will have a flying mountain and I'll call you stupid and go visit other countries and you won't, because you won't have a flying tectonic plate!".
Got scolded for calling him stupid (or perhaps he was envious of my would-be flying mountain), but maybe one day I'll be able to fulfil my villainous threat.
For some reason, it still makes me angry.
If we could overcome the intense heat and pressure involved, we could draw a huge amount of energy from the forces of tectonic movement. If technology were capable of accomplishing it, that would be an amazing idea. I may use this idea in a game world sometime.
I agree that the teacher was a jerk.
No. Geothermal energy is just drilling holes into the planet and letting the planet's natural heat serve as an energy source. While it has been traditionally limited to where tectonic plates interact, some modern advancements allow it to be expanded much farther.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Klaus, it WAS an amazing idea. And one day you may well stand there on a flying continent. He will look up at the never-ending shadow of your vehicle over his house, he will realize what it means, that you were right all along... and pray for the sake of himself and his countrymen that you choose not to remind him of it in a very simple and final manner.
| 12 people marked this as a favorite. |
A *barely*-related note, but I thought I'd share.
I used to be the most dreaded creature on the planet: A math professor.
And on the first day of class, I would *NEVER* tell my students, "Oh, you're going to use this!"
Instead, I said, "You're probably never going to use this, but let's take a look..."
...and I would find the biggest, buffest person in class and ask, "Do you work out?"
"Yes."
"So how much time do you spend lifting weights?"
"Oh, an hour or two a day."
"And do you use that strength for your job?"
"No."
"And do you use it every day do to things?"
"No."
So I turned to the class and said, "And that's it. Math is not something you're going to use every day of your life. Math is something that trains your brain to work in a certain way. You're not here because you're going to be walking down the street and have someone say, 'Psst! Buddy! If 3x+18 = 36 what's x?' You're here because you're doing weightlifting for your brain. You're training it to think logically, and to work through problems from beginning to end in a logical manner. THAT'S why everyone has to take math. We have computers and calculators that'll crunch numbers. But we have nothing as powerful as the human brain, and it's my job to train that brain.
So PLEASE don't ask me, 'Where am I going to use this?', because most of the time, I'm going to be honest and answer, 'You're not.'
But if you ask, 'What good is this?', I'm going to tell you it's the best thing you're ever going to do for your brain."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
A *barely*-related note, but I thought I'd share.
I used to be the most dreaded creature on the planet: A math professor.
And on the first day of class, I would *NEVER* tell my students, "Oh, you're going to use this!"
Instead, I said, "You're probably never going to use this, but let's take a look..."
...and I would find the biggest, buffest person in class and ask, "Do you work out?"
"Yes."
"So how much time do you spend lifting weights?"
"Oh, an hour or two a day."
"And do you use that strength for your job?"
"No."
"And do you use it every day do to things?"
"No."So I turned to the class and said, "And that's it. Math is not something you're going to use every day of your life. Math is something that trains your brain to work in a certain way. You're not here because you're going to be walking down the street and have someone say, 'Psst! Buddy! If 3x+18 = 36 what's x?' You're here because you're doing weightlifting for your brain. You're training it to think logically, and to work through problems from beginning to end in a logical manner. THAT'S why everyone has to take math. We have computers and calculators that'll crunch numbers. But we have nothing as powerful as the human brain, and it's my job to train that brain.
So PLEASE don't ask me, 'Where am I going to use this?', because most of the time, I'm going to be honest and answer, 'You're not.'
Truly, all this does is fuel the fires of my hatred for math. Thanks, Nobody, I was almost over it.
But if you ask, 'What good is this?', I'm going to tell you it's the best thing you're ever going to do for your brain."
Thank god I wasn't in your class, I would have fought you tooth and nail on that. I got good grades in literally EVERYTHING else other than math, and my academic life was made hell as a result.
Nah. Math has its points. It is just sad that many find it scary, or troublesome... or evil. It can be beautiful.
Nah. Math has its points. It is just sad that many find it scary, or troublesome... or evil. It can be beautiful.
Evil is often beautiful. Doesn't make it any less evil.
Don't confuse unfamiliarity with evil.
LOL, Freehold DM, I think we would have gotten along just fine.
I always got assigned to teach the "remedial" classes because I managed to make students who'd hated math their entire lives find a way to work with it. My schedule would be: Math E (basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division), a couple sections of basic algebra, and then something like advanced differential equations because I was one of a handful of Ph.D.s in the department that could teach it. And I loved the basic stuff because I got to take people who hated/feared math and show them that there were ways to learn it.
I always said, "I've never met someone who can't do math. I've only met people who have had bad math teachers."
And in response, I'd always get a name...
EDIT: As a teacher, it's just way too easy to project your discomfort/fears in a subject onto your students. And to be blunt, having taught "Math for Elementary School Teachers" courses, most people who plan on being elementary school teachers do it because of their love of kids, and the majority I taught thought of math as a "vile evil" they had to learn to get their credential. It's all too easy to let this attitude spill onto the kids, and you end up with an eternal cycle of math phobia. I'm not trying to be down on elementary school teachers: They do a fantastic job I couldn't do at a pay scale I couldn't survive on. But many of the ones I've worked with are self-avowed "math haters", and it's really hard to avoid having that rub off on the kids.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
When I was 7, our science teacher asked everyone to propose a futuristic idea.
On another tangent, in my elementary days in the late 70s, a teacher asked my class to think how life would be like in the future year 2000 "Even though all of us would be dead by then". I was a bit ahead of the curve on math and became worried since I should be in my 30s by 2000. Still being a youngster, I just figured the teacher knew something I didn't rather than tell her I planned to live beyond 30+.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
When I was 7, our science teacher asked everyone to propose a futuristic idea.On another tangent, in my elementary days in the late 70s, a teacher asked my class to think how life would be like in the future year 2000 "Even though all of us would be dead by then". I was a bit ahead of the curve on math and became worried since I should be in my 30s by 2000. Still being a youngster, I just figured the teacher knew something I didn't rather than tell her I planned to live beyond 30+.
She was a big fan of Logan's Run and expected that situation.
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When I was 7, our science teacher asked everyone to propose a futuristic idea. Everyone proposed things like flying cars and underwater cities. The teacher congratulated everyone.
I proposed attaching turbines to tectonic plates in order to both avoid earthquakes and to make people from one country be able to visit people from other countries if they wanted. "You just move the continents around!"
The teacher quite literally told me "That's stupid". I got no congratulation. I was the only one without congratulation.
Then I told him in a totally serious delusional-angry tone that only a 7-year old can muster "Well, you're stupid, because one day I'll build turbines for tectonic plates and I will have a flying mountain and I'll call you stupid and go visit other countries and you won't, because you won't have a flying tectonic plate!".
Got scolded for calling him stupid (or perhaps he was envious of my would-be flying mountain), but maybe one day I'll be able to fulfil my villainous threat.
For some reason, it still makes me angry.
Hug: you are awesome.
I kind of must admit that seeing people in their 40's getting shifted over job placements and such.... I'm kind of feeling the Logan's run vibe right now... (-_-)
40? They made it 10 more years than in Logan's Run World.
Wait... why are they getting shifted over? Are they fat?.
A *barely*-related note, but I thought I'd share.
I used to be the most dreaded creature on the planet: A math professor.
Be honest. You're just a teacher and do not have a Ph.D.
.
A *barely*-related note, but I thought I'd share.
I used to be the most dreaded creature on the planet: A math professor.
Be honest. You're just a teacher and do not have a Ph.D.
.
LOL. No; I got recruited by the tech industry in the late 1990's. As I said at the time, "A 50% raise for a 33% drop in my annual hours worked? What's not to like?"
So my real live University of California Ph.D. diploma and formal robes sit in my garage gathering dust while I do something totally unrelated to my field of study. (And Paizo all the time.)
EDIT: Depressing true story: When my company got acquired by a multi-billion dollar behemoth a few years ago I decided it was time to go back to teaching... until I learned that the top salary I could earn in the Bay Area was barely over half of what I was making in private industry. Value teachers much? Apparently not!
And that Rutgers itself because of our location and research areas would rate as it's own target.
No.
.
Why is programming computers considered a science? What it is really is engineering.
Why is programming computers considered a science? What it is really is engineering.
Actually it's communicating.
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A *barely*-related note, but I thought I'd share.
I used to be the most dreaded creature on the planet: A math professor.
And on the first day of class, I would *NEVER* tell my students, "Oh, you're going to use this!"
Instead, I said, "You're probably never going to use this, but let's take a look..."
...and I would find the biggest, buffest person in class and ask, "Do you work out?"
"Yes."
"So how much time do you spend lifting weights?"
"Oh, an hour or two a day."
"And do you use that strength for your job?"
"No."
"And do you use it every day do to things?"
"No."So I turned to the class and said, "And that's it. Math is not something you're going to use every day of your life. Math is something that trains your brain to work in a certain way. You're not here because you're going to be walking down the street and have someone say, 'Psst! Buddy! If 3x+18 = 36 what's x?' You're here because you're doing weightlifting for your brain. You're training it to think logically, and to work through problems from beginning to end in a logical manner. THAT'S why everyone has to take math. We have computers and calculators that'll crunch numbers. But we have nothing as powerful as the human brain, and it's my job to train that brain.
So PLEASE don't ask me, 'Where am I going to use this?', because most of the time, I'm going to be honest and answer, 'You're not.'
But if you ask, 'What good is this?', I'm going to tell you it's the best thing you're ever going to do for your brain."
Awesome speech. Never got that one. Got the one where they said just do it how it says in the book.
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A *barely*-related note, but I thought I'd share.
I used to be the most dreaded creature on the planet: A math professor.
Be honest. You're just a teacher and do not have a Ph.D.
.
LOL. No; I got recruited by the tech industry in the late 1990's. As I said at the time, "A 50% raise for a 33% drop in my annual hours worked? What's not to like?"
So my real live University of California Ph.D. diploma and formal robes sit in my garage gathering dust while I do something totally unrelated to my field of study. (And Paizo all the time.)
EDIT: Depressing true story: When my company got acquired by a multi-billion dollar behemoth a few years ago I decided it was time to go back to teaching... until I learned that the top salary I could earn in the Bay Area was barely over half of what I was making in private industry. Value teachers much? Apparently not!
start your own private school. four students in a garage at ten dollars a half day per student equals two hundred per week times fifty weeks a year. Ten thousand dollars a year. Whats that? Minimum wage?