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Feb. 9th, 2011 03:44 pmYesterday evening was a delight. The UofA is doing a series of free, public lectures over the course of the next few weeks, mostly centering around cosmology and science. Last night I met up with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
the_verb, her hub', and her f-in-law for dinner directly after work and then we meandered across the street and into line for this lecture. And damn, was it a line. When I first heard about it, I thought it'd be like the usual free things where maybe twenty people show up. But no. They easily filled the large auditorium and were turning people away shortly after we scrabbled for seats.
The lecture itself was tentatively about the big bang, although really it was a primer on the basics of cosmology, i.e. understanding the universe, its origin, what it's made of, et cetera. It was interesting and there were a few things that were new - things that when I last read about the subject were still incredibly tentative and only alluded at. I'm really looking forward to next week's, because it will go into some of that in more depth, specifically the subject of dark matter/energy, about which I know next to nothing. Possibly because there's not all that much to know, but again, this stuff was only hinted at when I went through my cosmology- and astrophysics-loving phase. Not that I don't still love it. It's just off the table for me in terms of careers at this point.
ANYWAY
So I've gone a bit aways from last year's N Steps Towards Self-Betterment and (Eventual) World Domination, in part because those steps weren't exactly very well defined, and also in part because things got in the way. When we last left off, I was exercising and writing and trying to eat better and photo more often. All very vague and goal-less. Now I think I will put more effort into the spirit of Self-Betterment and (Eventual) World Domination - that is, things that I can take a step at a time to round myself out along with my resume for world-dictatorship.
This year I'm starting simple. A sort of return to study, if you will. Each month I intend to dedicate to the pursuit of knowledge in one particular field. For February, it's philosophy. In general, my rules are such: cover the basics and one or two specifics in depth over the course of three to five weeks. Like mini ISPs, for those of you who've done one. For those of you who haven't, ISP was a period where you chose a topic of study and ran with it for a month, culminating either in a finished project or a paper. Some people researched and built a trebuchet. My own favorite ISP was spent learning all about linguistics.
It'll be interesting to see where this goes and for how long I keep it up. There are a variety of things I've been wanting to learn more about, but I've never given myself the excuse to pursue them. Literary criticism is also on my list, along with eighteenth century world history. I'm trying not to decide on too many things in advance, because I'd also like the freedom to stumble upon things at leisure, but I do want to touch on science and some sort of practical skill, like crocheting, as I go.
For the philosophy venture, I sent out a plea on FB for suggestions as to what I should read as an introduction and what are considered the core canon texts. I got a lot of people saying I should read the Republic, so that's definitely on my list. But what else? I found a basic prime of the canonical philosophers themselves in the library, and a friend will be lending me some sort of thick textbook as well. So I suppose what I'm really asking for is where I should look for the most modern takes on philosophy, and where the study is going today. Or really anything helpful.
On a completely different note, fancy dinner night tonight!
Day 19 - Disrespecting your parents
Um. What about it? Is this an implication that someone is disrespecting them? My thoughts on the general idea? Or when I've ever done it?
Since my parents and I have pretty much gotten along swimmingly throughout my upbringing, I'll go with the general idea. That is: I don't have much of an opinion on it, just because there is such a broad range of parents. Some certainly deserve to be disrespected and disregarded. Some certainly don't. Most fall in between. But most of the ones I've known personally are at least trying to do right by their kids - even though those efforts are sometimes misguided - and deserve some modicum of respect.
Yeah, I'm not much of a definitive answer type gal. :D
the_verb, her hub', and her f-in-law for dinner directly after work and then we meandered across the street and into line for this lecture. And damn, was it a line. When I first heard about it, I thought it'd be like the usual free things where maybe twenty people show up. But no. They easily filled the large auditorium and were turning people away shortly after we scrabbled for seats.The lecture itself was tentatively about the big bang, although really it was a primer on the basics of cosmology, i.e. understanding the universe, its origin, what it's made of, et cetera. It was interesting and there were a few things that were new - things that when I last read about the subject were still incredibly tentative and only alluded at. I'm really looking forward to next week's, because it will go into some of that in more depth, specifically the subject of dark matter/energy, about which I know next to nothing. Possibly because there's not all that much to know, but again, this stuff was only hinted at when I went through my cosmology- and astrophysics-loving phase. Not that I don't still love it. It's just off the table for me in terms of careers at this point.
ANYWAY
So I've gone a bit aways from last year's N Steps Towards Self-Betterment and (Eventual) World Domination, in part because those steps weren't exactly very well defined, and also in part because things got in the way. When we last left off, I was exercising and writing and trying to eat better and photo more often. All very vague and goal-less. Now I think I will put more effort into the spirit of Self-Betterment and (Eventual) World Domination - that is, things that I can take a step at a time to round myself out along with my resume for world-dictatorship.
This year I'm starting simple. A sort of return to study, if you will. Each month I intend to dedicate to the pursuit of knowledge in one particular field. For February, it's philosophy. In general, my rules are such: cover the basics and one or two specifics in depth over the course of three to five weeks. Like mini ISPs, for those of you who've done one. For those of you who haven't, ISP was a period where you chose a topic of study and ran with it for a month, culminating either in a finished project or a paper. Some people researched and built a trebuchet. My own favorite ISP was spent learning all about linguistics.
It'll be interesting to see where this goes and for how long I keep it up. There are a variety of things I've been wanting to learn more about, but I've never given myself the excuse to pursue them. Literary criticism is also on my list, along with eighteenth century world history. I'm trying not to decide on too many things in advance, because I'd also like the freedom to stumble upon things at leisure, but I do want to touch on science and some sort of practical skill, like crocheting, as I go.
For the philosophy venture, I sent out a plea on FB for suggestions as to what I should read as an introduction and what are considered the core canon texts. I got a lot of people saying I should read the Republic, so that's definitely on my list. But what else? I found a basic prime of the canonical philosophers themselves in the library, and a friend will be lending me some sort of thick textbook as well. So I suppose what I'm really asking for is where I should look for the most modern takes on philosophy, and where the study is going today. Or really anything helpful.
On a completely different note, fancy dinner night tonight!
Day 19 - Disrespecting your parents
Um. What about it? Is this an implication that someone is disrespecting them? My thoughts on the general idea? Or when I've ever done it?
Since my parents and I have pretty much gotten along swimmingly throughout my upbringing, I'll go with the general idea. That is: I don't have much of an opinion on it, just because there is such a broad range of parents. Some certainly deserve to be disrespected and disregarded. Some certainly don't. Most fall in between. But most of the ones I've known personally are at least trying to do right by their kids - even though those efforts are sometimes misguided - and deserve some modicum of respect.
Yeah, I'm not much of a definitive answer type gal. :D
