Why today is a good day

Ladies, gentlemen, today I'm having an especially nice day and I thought I should tell you about it. Nothing really special happened, but there were a couple of nice moments that just put me in a great mood (and I don't have those days often lately).
I slept like hell last night because I had a terrible headache that kept waking me up, so I'm a bit surprised myself that this day actually turned out nice (usually I'm in a bad mood the whole day when I sleep badly).

Today is a good day because...

~ it's warm and sunny and I was walking around only in T-Shirt (and pants).

~ everybody seems to be super friendly today, all the salespeople in the shops are nice and wish me a good day and I'm happy and wish them a good day back.

~ I helped a woman who didn't remember the german word for tissue (it's Serviette) and the sales girl didn't know what tissue means.

~ I ate frozen yoghurt with mango flavor in the new Frozen Yoghurt shop that recently opened here. It was very yummy.

~ I got a yellow rose as a bribe gift because we are electing a new major on Sunday.

~ I managed to test the headphones I want to buy, which is a longer story: I want new headphones (on-ear, big ones), but I don't want to buy them without trying, because then they are surely uncomfortable or have bad sound quality or something else. I already narrowed the choice to two headphones on Amazon (Amazon <3) and went to Saturn (an electronics shop) to see if they have those. They had them both, but packed. So I asked if I can try them, but apparently they are "hygienic articles" that can't be opened bla bla bla. But the music guy there said he has one of them in the room in the back because AKG (the brand) sent it to him or whatever, so he brought them for me so I could test them (which was a good decision, because they were even uncomfortable after a minute of testing). The other ones they didn't have, so I thought I could drive to the other electronics shop, Media Markt, to see if they have them. They actually did, AND unpacked, AND they were reorganizing the shop so they were not plugged and I was able to plug them to my iPhone to test them (when they are normally plugged, you can't use your own device and the sample songs they have there are really crappy quality, so you can't really say much about the headphones).
What's even better is that they cost 59,99€ in the shops and 30€ in Poland, so my boyfriend will order them for me and I can save a lot of money. Gotta love the cheap countries in eastern Europe!

~ I got an email that the meeting for a neurotraumatology course I thought I missed last week was move to today.

~ I got the result for the emergency medicine course + test we had last week and I have a 1 (best mark).

~ I had an awesome forensic medicine class today, where they showed us 3D reconstructions they can do from CT images. It's like in CSI or Bones, just... realistic. SO. AWESOME.

~ a drugstore here gives you 3% of the money you spend back and I found a voucher for 0,66€ in the trash in front of it. Might not sound much, but bought me the text marker I needed. Free textmarker!

~ the book I ordered arrived.

~ my cat didn't bring a mouse in two days.

~ I'm invited for dinner at my aunt's place.

~ my parents are in Spain and I enjoy being alone in the house very much.

~ the weekend is a long weekend (5 days) because May 1st is a national holiday.

Yup, that's it. How was your day, did anything good happen to you lately? :)

DFTBA,
Sarah

ANZAC day

Good morning everyone. It's Wednesday, the 25th of April.

I'm writing this at 9am, which is far earlier than I have any right to be awake, especially given that today is a public holiday. Except that the public holiday is the reason that I was up so early, because today is ANZAC day.

ANZAC stands for  Australia & New Zealand Army Corps, and ANZAC day is a day off we have every year on April 25th to commemorate the landing of soldiers at Gallipoli in Turkey in 1915. Over the course of the campaign, thousands of Australians and New Zealanders were killed (along with many more British, and opposing Turkish soldiers). Tactically it was... let's say 'limited in success'. It did end with one of the best-executed retreats in military history, though. I guess there's that. The day has sort of expanded to be a bit like remembrance day,

Despite not being our official national holiday (that'd be Australia Day, January 26th), ANZAC day is really important. Almost to the point of being sacred. Australia day has fireworks and parties, but only ANZAC day can drag thousands of people out into the cold for a dawn memorial service. I find it really fascinating, and I'm not sure why. I think part of it is the solemnity, that you can get so many people to be serious about something at once. Part of it is how big it is - like, everyone has some idea of what it's about, and it's treated with absolute respect. Part of it is the fact that we remember a very specific military failure instead of a great victory, which is significant in ways that I can't begin to express in this sleep deprived state. Part of it is that it's still so close in the past - only just passing out of living memory.

And part of it - which is why I'm posting this here - is how insular it is. I'd wager you probably haven't heard of ANZAC day. It wouldn't even rate a mention on any kind of international news. But here, it makes the front page, and closes down cities, and is one of the few public holidays for which my uni will actually cancel classes (Easter? Nope. Labour day? Nope. Foundation day? Nope. Queen's Birthday? Nope.). Which is a really interesting example of how, despite how much people like to rant about 'global villages' and 'monocultures', something like today manages to still have significance for one group of people and not others.

So I'm going to go ahead and drop some questions for you guys to answer in the comments. Have you ever heard of ANZAC day before this, even vaguely? And do you have any significant days where you come from, which you think I might not have heard of, and which have a particular 'feel' to them?

Thanks for reading.

Sharks are cute

When I was a little Sarah, maybe two or three years old, I wanted to become one of two things: a garbage (wo)man or a crane driver. At least those are the things I still remember.
I wanted to be a garbage woman because it looked like so much fun to stand on the back of the garbage truck and just drive around! At some point I noticed that garbage is pretty smelly though, and that I don't like that at all and thus that dream was over.
The crane driver ambition is easy to explain: those people we SOOOO high up in the air, how can that be not awesome? But my parents were not very supportive in that career choice and didn't send me to a crane driver school, so I had to find myself another occupation.

The next thing I remember that I wanted to become is a vet. Duh, original. It seemed pretty nice to play with kittens and puppies and bunnies all day long, but my mother, supportive as she is, told me that they bite and that you don't only treat small pets, but also horses and cows and that didn't seem so cool anymore. I was pretty scared of big animals back then (okay, let's be honest, I still have respect of them).

And then my big dream: marine biologist. I think that lasted the longest. More specifically, I wanted to become a shark scientist. I still have a huge fascination for sharks and I always want to watch shark shows on Animal Planet or Discovery Channel at my boyfriend's house (I only have cable and don't get those channels) and go to see shark at the aquarium in the city he lives in (though they are in the basement for a couple of years already because they build a new aquarium for them, so I never got to see them so far).
Anyway, I thought it would be pretty cool to travel to all those exotic places, swim with shark, study them, seems like an awesome life!
I don't really know what changed my life then eventually. I probably found out that you don't only dive in pretty places with pretty fish, but you also have to know about algae and microorganisms and stuff like that and that was something I really didn't want to. I also have a childhood TV show trauma where they were on an oil rig and were diving to the bottom of the ocean and there was a monster. I'm still panicking when I'm swimming and some plants are touching me, or, my biggest nightmare, the chains buoys are fixed with. I find that so disgusting and I always need somebody to check it out for me, if it is safe. Disgusting things wise. In retrospective, I probably would have made a very lousy marine biologist :D

I think other short dreams I had included: zoo keeper (ALL the animals!), captain of a ship and doctor (I wrote that in one of those friendship books that were so popular in the early 00's, but I'm not sure if I didn't just want to be cool).

I have to go, my cat is rioting in front of her cat door because I locked her out. She had a mouse. I don't want a mouse. I already spend an hour this morning catching a mouse that she brought and that hid behind my parents' bed. Damn you, Mischa!
Oh, the cat is inside. She broke in!? I have raised a monster cat.

DFTBA,
Sarah

When I Was Young I Liked Dead Things

Hello!

Today I shall tell you all about how, when I was younger, about 5 years old, I really liked dead animals and mud.

I wanted to be a paleontologist. Yes, I was that much of a nerd as a kid. I used to watch all of the dinosaur documentaries that were on TV, we had dinosaur movies, I had an army of dinosaur models that I played with, I even had an audio cassette tape (man I feel old saying that...) of a really awesome story about kids going to a dinosaur park. I knew pretty much everything I could about dinosaurs and could even pronounce all of their names.

Of course I have since forgotten most of what my 5 year old self knew about dinosaurs, but every once and a while it comes back to me. I still love dinosaurs, and when BBC came out with their Walking with Dinosaurs and spin-off series I was giddy with excitement.

Honestly, sometimes I wonder why I never made anything out of my love of dinosaurs. I will have to think of something. Maybe a dinosaur story or something. I did have that dinosaur dig diorama in grade school, but that's it really.

Oh, I almost forgot the mud. We had a dirt pit in the backyard that we would fill with water and I would pretend to dig for dinosaurs (which were actually rocks and sticks).

Until next time, DFTBA!

Matt

Warning: Contains cuteness!

Yo!
So a quick note, for anybody who doesn't check their pants :P There is a new facebook group for us, so we can stay in contact and stuff like that. If you could be so kind to take a quick ganders at our yourpants group to find details of it, that would be splendid :)

When I grow up
Can I refer you to this song to begin with:

Just to clear this up for you, I didn't/don't want to be any of the things in this song. Cos I aint superficial or shizz like that :D

So what did I really want to be when I was younger?
Good question!
This is something which I've had to really think about, and ask my parents for help with, as nothing was in my immediate memory. This is probably down to the fact that I've wanted to be pretty much the same thing since I was 11. A teacher.
So what did I want to be when I was little?

Yes I was freaking adorable.

A Ballerina. This never was destined for success. I didn't ever have the right figure. Short and podgy. When I had dance recitals when I was younger, the rest of my class would go left, and I would go right. The day my mum phoned up my teacher to say I didn't want lessons anymore, my dance teacher told her she was relieved, as she was just about to phone up my mum to say she didn't think dancing was suited to me.

A Vet. I have always loved animals. They're so cute. I was never allowed pets other than goldfish, but none the less I still wanted to be a vet. This was all until I watched some programme about the RSPCA, and the vets that work for them. They operated on a stray cat, which had worms everywhere inside them. I decided this was far to gross, and there was no way I could ever cope with it.

The only other thing I ever wanted to be was a minister. I was going to convert the masses! Then I realized I has nothing good to say, and that I was far to lazy to study my bible enough to ever achieve my goal of being a minister.



So yeah. That's about it really :)

On a side note, it appears that everyone, is either at the end of, middle of, beginning of or about to start exams, so good luck everyone and I hope it goes well :D

Salut!

Dolphin Trainers, Marine Biology and Other Pass Times

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I'm BAAAAAAAAAAACK!

<Insert Jack Nicholson here's Johnny jokes here>

I am happy to announce to everyone that I finished my 3rd Year of University and am ready to not do any serious thinking for the next few weeks. As fellow University students you all know EXACTLY how I feel right?

I have a few blog posts to catch up on, but as for right now I'll just do the most recent topic: What I wanted to be when I grew up.

When I was really little I had one passion: Sea life. The second best day of my childhood-life was when I went to Sea World (the first best day of my childhood-life was Disney World for one specific reason but that's a completely different story). At Sea World there were dolphin shows, whale shows, Shamu, Shark Tunnels to walk through, fake helicopters to ride and ALL THE FISH YOU COULD EVER DREAM OF. It was my own personal heaven. My Mother bought me a stuffed animal penguin and the Sea World Factbook (which I still have to this day) and I spent the rest of my Florida vacation curled up with my penguin looking at the pictures of the dolphins dreaming of the day when I could go swimming with them. In my little mind, the most perfect career that could ever exist was to be a dolphin trainer. I wanted to spend the rest of my life teaching dolphins tricks and swimming with them. It was like a fairy tale.

Now my parents weren't to keen to have their Eldest Child go into Show Business, so one day as I sat there staring dreamily at the photographs and talking endlessly about the tricks I would teach my pet dolphins my parents tried to sway me. As you can guess, this didn't go over that well. Until my Dad said in exasperation. "Why don't you just be a marine biologist?"

"What's a marine biologist?"

"You're a scientist who studies ocean life."

In other words my little mind imploded with possibilities.

Now these were the days before the internet was super big (kinda hard to remember that). So I had to go to the library. My career as a Marine Biologist was off to a strong start. I knew everything about everything. I begged my parents to take me to the Zoo to see the fish. My parents had to tape every single episode on the ocean that ever aired on the Discovery Channel. I was obsessed.

So what happened?

Well it was the Discovery Channel that did me in in the end. I learned the hard way (and a super graphic one at that) that there was a darker side to Marine Biology. I wasn't all driving in boats, swimming with the dolphins and writing a few notes down on a note pad. No, the Discovery Channel taught me.... I'd be cutting dolphins open. As a sensitive little girl, that was way too much for me to comprehend. The marine biology dreams died instantaneously.

I took to something a little bit safer... history. From grades 5-10 I was convinced I was going to be a Historian. That was until I made the mistake of taking a film course and picking up my first camera.

When I look back at all the jobs I wanted as a kid I was pretty all over the map. At one point I was convinced my calling was to be a Pretzel Salesgirl at Carnivals and Fairs, I also wanted to be a Power Ranger and Batman (who doesn't want to be Batman).

It's kind of funny looking back and seeing how much I've changed. But you know. There has been one thing that has stayed constant....

I still love fish.

Quick post : Cowboys Vs Farmers

Soooooooo I didn't manage to make a post last week but I think I only had one question to answer which went a little like this:

What careers can you gain from Countryside Management?

Basically many many different jobs can be got through this degree. The one I am looking to get is a job in Forestry. You can do all sorts though, you can become a park warden or a ranger, you can go into conservation or you can go into different recreation businesses in the countryside. Basically it gives you a good foothold for any job related to the countryside. But i am more interested in the woodland aspect so am hoping to go into the Forestry Commission. most of the jobs are outdoors and hands-on jobs which I love so it is all good for me ^^

Now swiftly onto this fortnights theme of what we wanted to be when we were little. I wanted to be a cowgirl. I was a little in love with John Wayne films when I was little and still am now. I really wanted to become a cowgirl and live in the Wild West. Sadly though I don't think that was ever likely to happen. Otherwise I wanted to become a farmer like my grandad was. I am in love with farms. Specifically livestock farms. I would have loved to grow up on a farm but sadly was not meant to be.

But ahh well. I would have made a great farmer. I talk like one in real life and go to an Agricultural university so I am half way there.

Short post is short but I need to go and sort out things to take back to university when I return there next week. Have had Easter Break and am really wanting to return right now. I miss uni so so much right now ><

When I Was A Young One

I can barely remember my ambitions when I was little, but I think I never wanted to be a doctor , a vet, or a cop like many of my friends did (I even remember distinctly not wanting to be a vet because I liked animals). The first thing I remember really wanting to become is a paleontologist. Yes, I even knew that word. I had watched the Jurassic Park movies and I was very much into dinosaurs for a large portion of my elementary school life. I drew them and enjoyed almost anything related to them. So, wanting to become a paleontologist was only natural by that point.

The next ambition I had, or perhaps I had that to varying degrees at the same time, I can’t really remember, anyways, the next ambition I had was becoming a horse whisperer. In addition to loving dinosaurs I was also into horses and horse riding. I loved being around them and being able to handle them, I also read a lot of horse-related literature. One of my favorite book series at the time was the Heartland book series, which was about a girl who lives on a farm and loses her mother, taking her mantle as a horse handler/trainer for difficult cases - I can’t remember if the term horse whisperer was used but it was essentially the same thing, handling the horse on the horse’s terms more or less. Then there was the movie The Horse Whisperer, I think that one was the one that introduced me to the term horse whisperer. But yes, I wanted to work with horses. Even in middle school I was still considering getting training as a horse trainer (nb. not a horse whisperer anymore). Then I moved onto wanting to become a zoologist. But that was a road that seemed to require me to take paths I didn't want to take and I scrapped it.

After paleontology and horse-related occupational dreams and such, I started to become interested in a career as a lawyer or a psychologist. The lawyer option had been there for a longer time, even in the sidelines when I had dreams of being something else, and it’s still somewhat close to my heart for some reason. I even applied to law school, but I was burned out from Matriculation Examination and other exams, so I didn't go to the entrance exam for that one. I still have the books for it on my shelf.

You know, a lot of my occupational ambition choices could be directly connected to the media I was exposed to. Shows I loved, movies I loved. Sometimes it is a bit disorienting: Do I want something just because I like this and that book/show/movie? Or did they just introduce me to the subject and I happened to like it because of what I'm like as a person? But I digress. Those were at least most of the things I wanted to be when I was a kid.

P.S. Hey guys, While I have your attention here, on the NICoA group on YP, I suggested trying have a skype conference with all of us online. You should comment on that thread.

Millie is late and early.

Evidently, I am late for last week's theme. It's been rather crazy in university cause we're near the end of the semester so all the due dates have been within the last two weeks. And then when it was finally over I had a few make-up-for-lost-time hangouts that I haven't been able to sit down and blog. So I reckon I will do a quick double combo of last week + this week!

Questions!

What's the thing you find most interesting in psychology?

I think in general I just really enjoy figuring out why people do the things they do, think the things they think and so on. Unfortunately I haven't quite found a sub-field that I find the most interesting as of yet. I love them all equally. Except personality. It's way too vague and abstract for me to wrap my head around. Social Psychology is really fascinating though!

Do you think it will be challenging for your to work with people and their serious problems as a clinical psychiatrist?
I begin with clarifying that psychologists are not psychiatrists. It's a common misconception, and I think every Psych major always ends up having to explain this concept to others. Psychiatrists have medical degrees and are allowed to dispense medication. Psychologists are not. Psychiatrists tend to focus on the more serious psychological disorders (schizo etc), whereas psychologists will look at everything.

Aside from that, If I do end up going towards clinical psychology, I think it will be intensely challenging. Especially when you realize just how difficult life can be for those who have disorders, and how stigmatized they are due to it. Some disorders can be pretty frightening as well.

Do you have any practical experience yet?

Not as of yet! In general, you don't get clinical practice within the undergraduate degree modules, unless you yourself go find a clinic that will let you do an internship or something. Practical experience is only incorporated into the Masters in Clinical Psychology program.
We undergrads mostly spend a lot of time doing research and sometimes experiments. In fact, I just ran my first ever experiment this semester which was pretty cool.

When I was a kid....

Like all Malaysian (and possibly all other) children, my childhood ambitions were to be: Teacher, Doctor, Scientist. Basically parent approved ambitions. But I ventured out to include Policewoman into that list as well. Wasn't entirely creative when it came to future ambitions.

Corresponding to the doctor ambition, I decided that I would be a gynaecologist when I was about 8 years old. Except I didn't know the term gynaecologist, so I just told my teacher I wanted to be the "doctor who gave birth to babies" (Translated directly from Malay). She then proceeded to tell me all women could do that without having to be a doctor. She does have a point....

Til next time, DFTBA!

Frequently asked questions

I'll be honest, I was not surprised to see any of these. I get them a lot. Not that that's a bad thing, they're all legit questions, and it's about time I sat down and wrote out well reasoned answers to all of them.

What do you study, precisely? What do you like most about what you learn?
What I'm studying, precisely, is a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Communication Studies and Linguistics - that's two seperate fields. Neither field is especially big at my uni - Comms is smaller and less established here than at some of the other universities here, and linguistics is just obscure full stop.
Communication studies is kind of a mixed bag. It's media theory wrapped up in a handful of practical units - I think last time I checked there was film production, journalism, and game design. Linguistics is basically the study of language, but from a more scientific viewpoint than something like literature. The first one actually led to the second - one of the required units for first year Comms was a Linguistics unit, and since I enjoyed it I picked it as a second major.
What I like about this arrangement is that it covers both sides of the mostly imaginary logic-creativity spectrum. Comms lets me create stuff, and Linguistics lets me pick it apart. And I find both of those processes very satisfying, y'know, inside my brain.

So if anyone feels like asking questions about media, or grammar, or etymology, or why Americans can't tell the difference between cot and caught, fire away in the comments.

What do you hope to get a job in?
Honestly, I'm not sure. I do know that of the options I considered (the others being classics/ancient history and astronomy) this one probably has the highest prospects of getting a job. That said, there is a fairly persistent idea that 'arts students get jobs flipping burgers', even in the faculty, which is a bit scary.
What I would like to do is write science fiction stories, but failing that, journalism, or working in the film/TV industry would be pretty cool.

What is the story behind your name? We need to know! (I know it’s nothing to do with your degree, but I don’t care :P)
That is a secret, guarded by a sect of monks high in the Himalayas. In order to earn it, you must pass the six ancient rites, unite the amulet of destiny, and win the heart of a fair maiden. Only then will you be deemed worthy to enter the Temple of the Name, and do battle with the High Master on a single pillar of glass suspended over the vent of an active volcano. He will whisper in your ear the the secret only on his deathbed, and from that day forth you and you alone may bear the burden of The Name as the new High Master, until someone slays you and tosses you into the lava in your turn.

Still want to know?

You’re a squirrel, a boxer or a lab creature with a golden speedo? (No, there are no other possible answers)
Squirrel. Or lab creature. Possibly both. Not the boxer, never actually seen the movie. I know, I know, it's like being called Oliver and hating olives. I actually know someone called Oliver. He hates olives. Go figure.

Also, I made a thing. Enjoy.

EDIT TO ADD: Sorry to hijack what I'm sure will be an otherwise totally on-topic thread, but do any of you have Steam (the gaming platform)? If so we should totally look at doing a NICoA multiplayer game of something sometime. Just a thought.

The Resident Mathematician answers all!

Lots of questions! I feel popular :P
So lets get to it!

In keeping with the misconceptions trend on youtube at the moment: As a professional mathketeer (that’s the term, right?) what common math misconception (right?) annoys you the most (math?)?

There are far too many to choose from, so I'm going to pick my top 3 misconception:

1. Math.  I'm sorry but I may be about to go terribly British on you, but math annoys me. The word you are looking for is maths. Maths (the shortened version of mathematics) is a broad name for a group of subjects, hence the s. You cover a very wide range of subjects, from algebra, to calculus, operational research to statistics ( my personal favourite). So are we clear mathS.
2. Dividing by zero.
   This is not okay. Not by any measure. Just to clear this up once and for all, dividing by zero does not give you 1, the original number, zero, or infinity (usually). It is just wrong. It makes my skin crawl. My moto is, every time you divide by zero, God kills a kitten. Do you want that on your conscience? No, I thought not.
3. Every infinity is the same. To anybody who "thinks maths", this will seem obviously wrong. There are many different types of infinity. The infinite counting numbers (1,2,3,4,5,6....), infinite rational numbers (1, 1/2, 1/3, ... 2, 2 1/2...) the infinite irrational numbers ( such as Pi and square root 2) to name but a few.

What are the differences between math in school and math in university? What did you learn in university, that you didn't already cover in school?

I'm going to have to give you the British version of this, as I'm certain school maths varies from country to country. Okay so the major difference of school maths and University maths is that it becomes more abstract and also more applied at the same time. We have several modules at Uni that are entirely abstract, in the sense that you can't apply them to every day life. I struggle with these as I don't like being able to use them practically, but at the same time, they provide the foundation of everything we need to get anywhere. For the applied things, we have several things that are similar to physics, and also we cover statistics and operational research, the latter being very interesting. Do you ever wonder how sat-navs know the shortest route? It's all down to operational research.

What do you think of Vi Hart?

Good question. I've only recently started following her on youtube, so I don't really feel qualified to say much, but I'll give it my best shot. As someone who wants to go on to teach mathematics, I think it's really great that she gets people that aren't normally passionate about maths interested and thinking about the subject. That being said, as someone who works with and reads about maths daily, I have yet to find something she explains that I've not heard yet. So she's good, but I'm looking forward to the day when she explains something I've not yet come across.

I love you Ali <3 xxxxxxxxxxxxx (+1)

Just to clear this up for everybody, this isn't a secret love confession by a stranger. Or a question about maths. My boyfriend James follows the blog and decided to contribute. Thank you James, I love you too.

However, the (+1) has confused me slightly. This was added on afterwards. So the question is, is this meant to mean that it was my "+1" who wrote this, or has someone else confessed their love for me too?

Are you a mathmagician? You study maths and you're british.... DON'T LIE TO US!!

Yes. Yes I am. I don't have a cape of a magic wand, but I do have a bad sense of fashion and a scientific calculator, and I'M NOT AFRAID TO USE IT!!!

On another note, whoever asked this, I love you forever!

So that's the end of this very long list of questions. I hope I have answered them satisfactorily :) Feel free to ask me more questions in the comments if you so wish.

Peace out

We're in Dialectic!

Hey guys! It’s time for me to answer the questions you guys wanted me to answer, and by the way, all of them are excellent questions and I’ve had to think a lot about how I am going to answer them (the philosophical mind at work). Just as a warning, this is going to be a long post. So of these question are very complicated and need thorough answers, so bare that in mind. Not to mention I’m long winded a lot. So I apologize in advance for that. Anyway, on to your questions:

1. I’d imagine Philosophy gets some pretty weird exam questions. What’s the most nuts one you’ve ever had? Ever been asked to explain the meaning of life in 3 hours plus reading time?

Philosophy is definitely notorious as being the subject that has the strangest, and in my opinion best, exam questions of any subject. I have gotten several strange questions. The most strange exam question I’ve ever had to answer is to explain and support George Berkeley’s argument against the theory of materialism (the one that theorizes that matter exists, that there is a physical world). It was odd to say the least.

I’m really sorry, but I have to disappoint you on the last question. I have never been asked in an exam to explain the meaning of life in three hours. I have been asked to explain the meaning of life in a serious conversation, but not in a class exam. I wish had. I think that would be an amazing experience to have to answer that question. For me, there’s nothing like having to answer a difficult philosophical question. Maybe I’ll try to answer that in a blog post some time!

2. Could you explain Nietzsche?

Nietzsche is a very complicated philosopher, one who I haven’t studied all that much, but I will do my best to explain some of his major philosophical views. Ironically I just started a class on Nietzsche.

Friedrich Nietzsche, for those who don’t know, was a 19^th century German philosopher who near the end of his life suffered a major mental break down and went mad could no longer speak or write. Many suspect that this was a late symptom of syphilis. Nietzsche died when he was just 56 of pneumonia in combination with a stroke.

Nietzsche went through some transformations philosophically over his writing career. However, in general, Nietzsche was a cultural reformer in his philosophy. He thought that German culture had become corrupted and diseased and sought ways to revive German culture. He spent a great deal of time being critical of traditional views on morals and truth, Christianity, contemporary culture, philosophy and science. He displayed a fondness for metaphor, irony and aphorism. His has influenced philosophy in the areas of nihilism, existentialism, and postmodernism.

He also was the inspiration for Pizza Mustache John.

See, they're practically twins.

In The Birth of Tragedy, his first work, he tried to appeal to art to do his work by praising the Ancient Greek society and their use of art, at least before Socrates who Nietzsche hated. Nietzsche thought that reason and philosophical discussion used to find answers (called dialetic) which had become the model for society in model culture was the problem with society. Society no longer recognized the value of instinct and madness, from which the best art came. He thought that art was a necessary part of human existence and without good art, society had become diseased.

The Gay Science is where Nietzsche gives us the famous line, “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.” The full quote is this, “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”

This is not to say that God was alive and is now physically dead. It’s not literal. What Nietzsche means is that he thought Christians have broken so far from the original values of Christ’s message that they no longer follow God and have turned their back on Him. Essentially he is saying that in his view God is no longer a viable source of morality in modern culture. Nietzsche himself was an atheist, and not a big fan of religion, Christianity in particular. In case you couldn’t tell. He even wrote an essay called The Antichrist.

Nietzsche also believed in the concept of eternal recurrence, which is the belief that the universe and all of history has happened over and over again infinite times before and will continue to repeat infinitely in the future.

Perhaps the most famous concept Nietzsche put forward in his writings, along with the death of God, is the Übermensch from Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The Übermensch, or Supermen, were the ideal humans and a goal for us to reach. According to the Standard Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the Übermensch were people who embodied the spiritual development of a solitary, reflective, exceedingly strong-willed, sage-like, laughing and dancing voice of heroic self-mastery who, accompanied by a proud, sharp-eyed eagle and a wise snake, envisions a mode of psychologically healthier being beyond the common human condition. They would be the basis for morality in contrast to Christianity, in Nietzsche’s view, because they would be focused on this morality of life in this world for the sake of this world and not the next.

This idea, very unfortunately, was taken by Nietzsche’s sister after Nietzsche died and spread to her connections with the leaders of the Nazi Party, and they used it as the basis for heinous crimes against humanity, all in the name of the Aryan race that they thought was the same as the Übermensch. That’s why Nietzsche is often misinterpreted as an anti-Semite and a Nazi supporter. He wasn’t. They twisted his philosophy to their own evil purposes many years after Nietzsche died in 1900.

Other than that, Nietzsche was very critical of views of what morality is in modern society. Nietzsche’s final works dealt with his views on morality in great detail. Unfortunately, he died before he could finish them. His sister did eventually publish his notes, which became The Antichrist. One of his last complete works was Twilight of the Idols, in which Nietzsche reiterates and elaborates some of the criticisms of Socrates, Plato, Kant and Christianity found in earlier works, criticizes the then-contemporary German culture as being unsophisticated and too-full of beer, and shoots some disapproving arrows at key French, British, and Italian cultural figures such as Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, Darwin, and Dante. In contrast to all these alleged representatives of cultural decadence, Nietzsche applauds Caesar, Napoleon, Goethe, Dostoevsky, Thucydides and the Sophists as healthier and stronger types. The phrase “to philosophize with a hammer” primarily signifies a way to test idols by tapping on them lightly; one “sounds them out” to determine whether they are hollow, or intact, etc., as physician would use a percussion hammer upon the abdomen as a diagnostic instrument (taken from the Standard Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

There’s a fairly detailed look at Niezsche’s philosophy. If you have any questions ask me in the comments and I will try my best to answer them. Nietzsche is definitely an interesting philosopher, and he is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

3. What kind of jobs do you expect to pursue with your degree? Are you optimistic about the job prospects?

I honestly don’t know. The nice thing about a philosophy degree is that philosophy is involved in so many different subjects that I could feasible go for whatever career I wanted. I have thought about teaching, but I don’t know if I am going to do that. First I would have to get a teaching degree and I’m not doing that right now. One of the things I love most is writing. I love created stories, worlds and characters. My dream job is to become at least a part time writer, if not a full time writer.

Optimistic? I want to be become a writer, does that answer your question? Haha

But seriously, I am really worried about getting a job, but I’m going to try my best. I think a lot of people are worried about getting a job and keeping it these days so I’m in good company. Anyone getting a liberal arts degree has an iffy amount of job prospects. I’ve decided to screw the rules and do what I love, instead of what might be more profitable on face value.

4. I’m fond of solipsism - just really thinking about it is a wonderful method of opening one’s mind to philosophical pondering, do you have such favorite philosophical ideas?

I don’t really know if I have a favorite philosophical idea in that sense. It would be too difficult to choose just one for me because I find that I like aspects of so many. I often like a philosopher’s ideas based on how interesting they are to think about rather than if I agree with them. There are also philosophers that I used to think were off their rocker, but I have warmed up to over the course of my study of them. For example, Plato. I used to not like his philosophy very much, but then I studied it more and it become so much more meaningful to me and interesting. Now he’s one of my favorite philosophers. Plus, he’s Plato. You just can’t beat him. He’s pretty much the creator of modern society (but that’s a topic for another day). Of course whether I agree with a certain philosopher’s position does factor into whether I like them, but I try to keep that bias to a minimum.

One other factor that is a major one in what philosophies I like is whether they have a point or application in the real world. For example, Descartes is a philosopher who I dislike (sorry to any Descartes fans). I don’t like Descartes because I think his process is a little pointless. In his Meditations, he starts by doubting everything exists, which in fact he doesn’t actually do, and then tries to find a basis for all truth in reality. He eventually concludes that the material must exist, which would be fine if his process didn’t lead him to the exact same conclusion that he had believed was true before the book began. Circular reasoning bugs me. It feels like a waste of time. I understand that the process is about affirming reality and truth, but it still bothers me.

Anyway, I will give you a list of some philosophers that I particularly enjoy: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Xeno, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, John Locke, Nietzsche, Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky (trying that five times fast haha), Bertrand Russell, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and while I don’t agree with him on a lot I do enjoy reading Søren Kierkegaard. That’s most of the philosophers I’ve studied by the way. haha

Looking at my list there are a wide range of philosophies represented, but most of them are empiricists if that helps answer the original question, but I also really like Platonism for the same reason you said you like solipsism, I love to think about it because I think it’s so interesting.

5. Heraclitus or Parmenides?

Heraclitus definitely, though sometimes it feels like Parmenides was on to something. A mixture of the two would probably be the best, but I think of the two Heraclitus was the more correct philosophically.

For those of you who don’t know who Heraclitus and Parmenides were, they were Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophers. We are not very sure of anything about them and their works did not completely survive the years, but luckily others do gives us snippets of their philosophy.

Funnily enough, only one work from each survived at all, both only survived in fragments, and both works were called On Nature (translation of the Greek is up to debate of course).

Heraclitus was famous for his short words of wisdom. You remember that line in the song in Pocahontas “Just Around the Riverbend”, “You can't step in the same river twice.” That comes from Heraclitus. His philosophy was based on the idea that the world is constantly and eternally changing and in flux. Disney actually took that phrase straight from Heraclitus. So far he has been kind enough not to press charges for plagiarism.

Parmenides was the exactly the opposite philosophically. He thought that nothing in the universe ever changes and was static for eternity. His basic belief is that only one thing exists that is static and unchanging. Our world does not really exists. It’s a bit complicated and confusing.

If you want I can explain both Heraclitus and Parmenides further, but I think I have gone on for enough now. I hope you learned something from my answers. I know there was a lot in this post, so feel free to ask all the clarifying questions you want. I will answer them to the best of my ability.

DFTBA, everyone!

Matt

Quick Note

Hey guys! I'm still around.

It's my crunch time at school right now, so I won't be able to post till this weekend.

Just wanted to say I haven't abandoned you


DFTBA
- Alexandra

Trust Me, I'm A Doctor

Soo, I don't even have a reason why I disappeared in the last weeks, time just... passed by so quickly and suddenly it's already a new week with a new theme. Crazy. I have two weeks of Easter vacation now, so I'm flying to Poland on Wednesday, last time before the study mania begins! It snowed there yesterday while I was running around outside without jacket here; I'm not too psyched about that, I already have enough of winter.

Let's see what questions you had for me:

How much do you need mathematics in practice in your field, and is there a large quantity of mathematics in your studies?

As a doctor you will need mathematics, no matter what field you work in. The most important thing you need mathematics for is calculating doses of drugs. Sometimes you have to give 1mg/hour/kg body weight, and it doesn't just say on the package how much you need. If you give narcotics and you miscalculate and give 1mg instead of 1µg, the patient dies. So in theory, knowing mathematics would be really important. I'm saying would be, because we don't have any mathematics in our studies. Of course it's all basic mathematics, nothing really difficult, but I think it would still be important that we get at least some training, for example to calculate in your head, without calculator. That comes from a person who puts 2+2 in the calculator (I seriously checked everything in school so that I don't make any mistake, because I'm so sucky at calculating in my head).

What were some of the most difficult parts of your studies?

Of my studies: the exams. We have one big exam after one year (two semesters). It consists of 160 questions from all subjects and you need 60% questions correct in total and 50% in each block (there were six blocks in the first exam, like anatomy+histology, or physics+physiology). If you fail a block by one question, you have to repeat the whole exam. That's basically the story of my life and the reason, why I'm one year behind.

It's a lot of pressure to study and we are sitting for months, trying to learn as much as possible and if you are a procrastinator like me, you are in a lot of stress when the exam comes closer.

Of medicine in general: probably dealing with sick people, especially terminally ill people. There is really nothing easy about dying people and you somehow have to learn to cope with it. What I find difficult is to keep an emotional distance and be nice and supportive at the same time. It's especially hard to see young people struggling with diseases when you know that they don't really have a good prognosis. It's a bit like The Fault in our Stars, just in real life.

How much hands on experience do you currently get?

During the semester - not so much. In theory we have practical courses where we are supposed to learn things, but that only the theory. Can you imagine that my stethoscope never touched a patient so far? We had a course about auscultation (listening to the heart beat), but they didn't even let us try. That's sometime that really annoys me about our study plan, because I think those are important things to learn and I don't think it's really our responsibility as students to find a nice and patient doctor who would explain it to us later.

That's one side, the other is that we have to intern for 12 weeks before we finish university, and in those weeks (usually 2-4 weeks at a time, in your holidays) you get the full hands on experience. When I was interning in the hospital in Vienna last summer, I had to draw blood, put in i.v. lines, hang infusions... depending on the hospital or station you are working in, you also have to suture simple wounds and assist in the OR. That's really a good thing and I really love those weeks in the hospital. I also did learn much more then when I sit in a lecture, especially because I'm a person who remembers much more if somebody explains it to me and if I can see what they are talking about.

Those were all the questions in the doc, if you want to know more, just ask me in the comments! :)

DFTBA,

Sarah