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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 12 to 36 of 47. Go back in thread:
Posted by alexandra_k on December 22, 2013, at 1:45:50
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore » alexandra_k, posted by sleepygirl2 on December 21, 2013, at 21:32:03
> I keep finding that I feel really badly about myself when I spend time in Facebook.
yeah. i see how much time some people spend there and, well, well... i guess, to be fair, that's what happens when you get a post-doc someplace... uh... well... coming to terms with 'living the dream'.
i'm just not terribly social.
or... i am differently social with different people. i don't understand this idea of broadcasting the same thing to everyone.
like the idea of a single (objective?) life narrative.
facebook keeps trying to make me...
what high school did i go to?
when did i finish there?
then what did i study?
did i graduate?
then what did i do?f*ck*ng nosy bastard. what's it to you??? who are you that you want to know this deeply personal information about my life???
wtf??????
!
Posted by alexandra_k on December 22, 2013, at 1:51:42
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore » sigismund, posted by ed_uk2010 on December 22, 2013, at 0:49:36
i guess i look at the specs of the high end ones then work my way backwards... to however much i feel like paying. which is not much, honestly.
what do i want to do???
check email. send from free wireless connection around campus.
check these boards. from free wireless connection around campus.
send a couple text messages occasionally.i have a cable for internet access at home. does that mean i need to pay to check email / boards with the smartphone from home? I guess it won't plug in to the ethernet cable. i'll just get prepay so i pay for everything unless i use free wireless around campus...
i guess that is how these things work?
i have a macbook pro already... uh... i don't quite understand the use...
looks like i can get one for aroun $200. which is around as much as my i-pod cost. sigh... can i be bothered. really? for reals?
Posted by Phillipa on December 22, 2013, at 9:25:26
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore » alexandra_k, posted by sleepygirl2 on December 21, 2013, at 21:32:03
Can I ask why? I've reconnected with people from High School, old home town, and joined some book clubs, found some really great authors, and at times talk with my kids on there. Lately it has been rather dead like here but then it's that time of years. Facebook to me is more real than babble. Phillipa
Posted by Ronnjee on December 22, 2013, at 11:13:10
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore, posted by alexandra_k on December 22, 2013, at 1:51:42
> what do i want to do???
>
> check email. send from free wireless connection around campus.
> check these boards. from free wireless connection around campus.
> send a couple text messages occasionally.
>
> i have a cable for internet access at home. does that mean i need to pay to check email / boards with the smartphone from home? I guess it won't plug in to the ethernet cable. i'll just get prepay so i pay for everything unless i use free wireless around campus...
>
> i guess that is how these things work?
>
> i have a macbook pro already... uh... i don't quite understand the use...
>
> looks like i can get one for aroun $200. which is around as much as my i-pod cost. sigh... can i be bothered. really? for reals?
>
A WiFi capable smartphone can use the local connection, so you can get by with minimal data usage on the cell providor's plan. Shop carefully for a phone, because there are bargains out there. Used is also a good way to go - I got high-end touchscreen dumbphones on eBay for 30 bucks each.Smartphones are like many things that can be "abused"; it's the user that matters. To me, technology is mostly a tool; lastly a pastime.
Posted by sigismund on December 22, 2013, at 14:09:03
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore » sigismund, posted by ed_uk2010 on December 22, 2013, at 0:49:36
>Now I've got one, I'm hooked.
That's what I figured.
I am too cognitively impaired, stubborn and lazy for that.
An advanced act of colonisation.
Posted by sigismund on December 22, 2013, at 14:14:04
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore » ed_uk2010, posted by sigismund on December 22, 2013, at 14:09:03
A Dexedrine prescription might change my way of thinking.
Posted by sigismund on December 22, 2013, at 14:16:11
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore » sleepygirl2, posted by Phillipa on December 22, 2013, at 9:25:26
>Facebook to me is more real than babble.
It must be a lot bigger.
Posted by alexandra_k on December 22, 2013, at 14:36:09
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore » sleepygirl2, posted by Phillipa on December 22, 2013, at 9:25:26
> I've reconnected with people from High School, old home town, and joined some book clubs, found some really great authors, and at times talk with my kids on there. Lately it has been rather dead like here but then it's that time of years. Facebook to me is more real than babble.
There's your answer right there.
I don't have any desire to reconnect with people from High School or my old home town.
Facebook is more real...
That is kind of the problem.
It is a social networking thing. Which means there is pressure to manage your image. Or at least... There is for someone like me... Who... Needs to take effort to present a somewhat coherent face to the world.
It is interesting to keep up with people having kids... Getting married... Moving countries / universities...
Stuff that gives them a coherent and linear timeline. Probably like what my last t was trying to get out of me.
I guess mostly people just post little odds and ends about things they find interesting. Some of them are. Get to read about the housing market in San Fran and about various conferences around the world.
Maybe it is just that in the past I got side-tracked by the stupid little games. Then I didn't want my colleagues to know I was playing them (and I certainly didn't want a lot of notifications about them in their newsfeeds)... Ugh.
Posted by vbs on December 22, 2013, at 16:35:23
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore, posted by alexandra_k on December 21, 2013, at 20:11:52
Virgin Mobile Awe is a great smartphone that's affordable. I've had mine for about three weeks now & I love it. It has Facebook, Twitter, YouTube & Instagram.
Posted by alexandra_k on December 22, 2013, at 18:27:51
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore » alexandra_k, posted by vbs on December 22, 2013, at 16:35:23
thanks people.
i'm alright.
i won't let the salient few get to me. i have more properly realized that MOST of my facebook friends aren't particularly active on facebook... I do see the use in inviting people en masse etc etc.
i drank a few too many beers (seemed like a good idea at the time). i think i need to ease up on that. mostly because... it gets me feeling down, rather.
i went to the gym this morning and feeling much better about everything.
i will see about a smart phone. it has been on my one day list for a while now... i'll see... university has apps for various things... guess i worry i'm missing out on things... getting old ahaha. out of date. like those old people who won't use the ATM and want to do everything via the teller.
jan 3... when things reopen. that's my deadline for getting my supervisor this next chunk of work.
i... don't know what to say... i don't know that it is realistic to think that i'll be ready to submit come March. i... am afraid. my being a student there is very central for my identity. i can't face the thought of being booted / leaving the program. i want to do a summer school course in calculus. there is one... i think i'll need it... have looked at past years exams for chemistry and physics... the physics is meant to be an easy pass for people who have done it before but it won't be for me. chemistry looks like a foreign language. all the work i've done in it already only takes me through the first few questions (as in i see how to answer them - not even i actually can answer them without looking things up right now and even then i'm not entirely sure i got the answers right). anatomy and physiology is... synthetic / figure it out questions. wow.
macro-economics clashed. surprisingly there is a pharmacy course on the open schedule that it looks like i can take. maybe because it has a 2,000 word essay requirement which makes it not an easy pass for some science people. drugs and society. seems to have overlap with the open lectures i was listening to last year... how people find new molecules etc etc etc.
gym is only closed on the actual stat days... so... gym and writing... i'll ease off the beer...
i'm going to be okay.
Posted by baseball55 on December 22, 2013, at 19:38:20
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore, posted by alexandra_k on December 21, 2013, at 20:11:52
I have never gone on twitter. I got a face book page. I don't know why. I never look at it. I get emails from people wanting to "friend" me and I delete them. I hate text messages. When people text me, I call them up and try to talk. I use email only for work. I hate it when friends email. I call them to respond. I want to have real, physical, human connections. This virtual stuff makes me unhappy.
Posted by baseball55 on December 22, 2013, at 19:53:41
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore » alexandra_k, posted by baseball55 on December 22, 2013, at 19:38:20
Do you need calculus? if you need physics, then you need calculus, but do you need physics for a pre-med program? I guess physicians do stuff with radiology that are physics-based. I never thought about medicine and physics.
Chemistry is really a breeze. Seems intimidating, and there is a lot of memorization, but there's a logic to chemistry -- not an easy logic, but a logic -- whereas biology and physiology have no logic at all. Just rote memorization
Posted by alexandra_k on December 22, 2013, at 20:36:47
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore » baseball55, posted by baseball55 on December 22, 2013, at 19:53:41
> Do you need calculus? if you need physics, then you need calculus, but do you need physics for a pre-med program? I guess physicians do stuff with radiology that are physics-based. I never thought about medicine and physics.
just the one: 'physics for life sciences'. mechanics, thermal physics, wave motion, electricity and instrumentation. it is meant to be about last year high school level - but instrumentation stuff is new for everyone.
this is meant to be one of the 4 easier papers to help lighten the load. but since my background is in things like english literature, education, philosophy, social psychology, and cognitive neuroscience... uh... the 'easier' papers are mostly novel content for me.
> Chemistry is really a breeze. Seems intimidating, and there is a lot of memorization, but there's a logic to chemistry -- not an easy logic, but a logic
it seems nice and lego-landish. tractatus-like. or something... i've just started learning the functional groups but i don't know any synthesis reactions as yet. i'm a bit worried about balancing equations. sometimes they give us products and we are supposed to say how much of whatever we get out of it. i think we do stuff about rates of synthesis, too.
i think mostly what the summer school calculus will do is give me a better idea of how much trouble i am likely to have with numbers... and i can see about getting extra help supports in place before the start of the year if i need extra help. it might just be that i benefit from the extra practice. i know i get better at working with numbers when i am working with numbers... even silly things like grading... data entry... i'm not particularly number literate... and so... i wasn't really given the opportunity to develop higher level conceptual apparatus... i might be a bit of a slow learner...
> -- whereas biology and physiology have no logic at all.
physiology has logic! i did anatomy / physiology at tech (exercise science) and really freaking loved it! it is fairly synthetic... what i liked most about the anatomy / physiology exam was that there wasn't any labelling of bony landmarks or whatever... but there were puzzle type questions that you needed to figure out... like house ahahaha. what i like about physiology is understanding the components of the system and how they work together... then when you get a certain output trying to figure the different ways in which things can break down... figure how probing different things will help tease things apart / pinpoint the problem. like electrical circuits or something i guess ahaha. like... trying to come up with a theory of mind on the basis of behavior and stroke etc...
it is messier than legoland, though, i take your point about that. i suspect it has something to do with non-linearity (and feedback loops) but i don't even really know what that means ahahaha.
it is funny how different people seem to take to the different papers. i mean... some people say they really loved the epidemiology paper (seems a lot like a more precise version of critical thinking to me, i think i will enjoy it a lot) whereas other people say they really loved the chemistry (or that they found it easy / enjoyable)...
i don't know what i'll take to... i had trouble with basic arithmetic... so i sort of gave up on math real early. then that prevented me learning the hard sciences... then discovering all anybody seems to want is mathematical modellers. sigh.
bio-medical engineering.
sigh.
Posted by alexandra_k on December 22, 2013, at 22:39:26
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore, posted by alexandra_k on December 22, 2013, at 20:36:47
ah... i see now...
this is the thing to do. it will be how i'll get to meet the highly motivated returning older people who don't have a background in math / physics / chemistry. the social people / those with experience in the field... aka: the ones who might help haul my *ss through the interview if i can help them haul their *ss*s through the academic part... quid pro quo clarisse...there is a calculus paper... a physics paper (which is full but i bet if i show up they won't turn me away)... then the chemistry runs a week long course later, once the summer school is finished.
i'll need to ask if i can suspend my enrollment for my thesis or something... until next summer... if i want this to work (and i want this to work really a whole f*ck*ng heap) then i'm going to need to put in some preparatory work...
also... i'm so tired of being left to flouder by myself. so tired...
get supervisor work for the 3rd... then tell him my cunning plan...
i think (fingers crossed) that the enrollment people don't mind...
?
good for them too?
yes?
Posted by Dr. Bob on December 22, 2013, at 23:21:09
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore, posted by alexandra_k on December 22, 2013, at 1:45:50
> i don't understand this idea of broadcasting the same thing to everyone.
I have to say, that gave me a chuckle. Then I saw:
> i am differently social with different people.
and then I got what you were saying. Just use the Internet differently than other people?
Bob
Posted by sigismund on December 23, 2013, at 1:31:54
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore » baseball55, posted by baseball55 on December 22, 2013, at 19:53:41
>Chemistry is really a breeze. Seems intimidating, and there is a lot of memorization, but there's a logic to chemistry -- not an easy logic, but a logic -- whereas biology and physiology have no logic at all. Just rote memorization
I would have liked biology; lots and lots of classification. Never liked experimental sciences.
Posted by alexandra_k on December 23, 2013, at 2:28:34
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore, posted by sigismund on December 23, 2013, at 1:31:54
> I would have liked biology; lots and lots of classification. Never liked experimental sciences.you would have liked psychiatry, then :)
Posted by sleepygirl2 on December 23, 2013, at 9:56:55
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore, posted by sigismund on December 23, 2013, at 1:31:54
I took a lot of chem, and I've got to say, I'm still not sure what all that was about. It's another language that I only learned the most basic phrases in. Biology, however, I love that stuff.
I loved microbiology and parasitology. It was a short hobby of mine. I liked anatomy and physiology, most of it. I liked looking at the brain.
Off on a tangent I go...
Posted by Phillipa on December 23, 2013, at 10:01:49
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore » sigismund, posted by sleepygirl2 on December 23, 2013, at 9:56:55
I loved Nursing all of it. How I wish could do again. So much to learn and so many to help. Phillipa
Posted by baseball55 on December 23, 2013, at 21:42:19
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore, posted by alexandra_k on December 22, 2013, at 20:36:47
If you're going to take calculus, have you taken pre-calculus (what used to be called analytical geometry)? Calculus is impossible without pre-calc.
Posted by alexandra_k on December 23, 2013, at 22:22:36
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore, posted by baseball55 on December 23, 2013, at 21:42:19
> If you're going to take calculus, have you taken pre-calculus (what used to be called analytical geometry)? Calculus is impossible without pre-calc.
it is meant to be calculus for people who have no calculus.
i hear everything is impossible if you... never learned your three times tables. whatever... i guess one just has to pick a place to start and then run with it.
Posted by alexandra_k on December 23, 2013, at 22:23:18
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore, posted by alexandra_k on December 23, 2013, at 22:22:36
oh. i hear our math is different from your math. which is what makes the GRE particularly hard for us. even the mathematically inclined among us.
Posted by alexandra_k on December 23, 2013, at 22:24:34
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore, posted by alexandra_k on December 23, 2013, at 22:22:36
> it is meant to be calculus for people who have no calculus.actually... better than that. it is calculus for people who have no calculus who want to go on to study physics / math for engineering / science. so i guess they will tell us what we need to know for those courses hopefully in a way that we can understand. it they are any good, that is.
Posted by alexandra_k on December 25, 2013, at 16:26:03
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore, posted by Dr. Bob on December 22, 2013, at 23:21:09
> > i don't understand this idea of broadcasting the same thing to everyone.
> I have to say, that gave me a chuckle. Then I saw:
> > i am differently social with different people.
> and then I got what you were saying. Just use the Internet differently than other people?i don't understand how you got a chuckle out of it. is it because the main reason why most people seem to like facebook is precisely because they get to broadcast the same thing to everyone - in the sense they can just post it once instead of needing to notify everyone individually?
i guess i will just use it differently. i mean, there is little else to be done.
i am just sad that the masses discovered it at all. that now i need to figure out better search strategies to avoid all the crappy copy-pasted articles 'written' by 10 year olds that google seems to be increasingly throwing up on the first few pages of my search...
maybe i need a better search engine / better search strategy. i want broader than library database but narrower than standard google... google scholar is even a mixed bag these days... sigh.
is that sort of the idea of twitter / blogs... word of mouth... however many degrees of separation... social networking...
never mind reading something and assessing it on its merits. there is too much sh*t out there... need some way to do an initial cull at the very least. so... who said it / who are they endorsed by.
i see.
that was what was good about the internet. i thought. it wasn't like that.
Posted by Dr. Bob on December 27, 2013, at 2:32:52
In reply to Re: i don't like the internet anymore » Dr. Bob, posted by alexandra_k on December 25, 2013, at 16:26:03
> > > i don't understand this idea of broadcasting the same thing to everyone.
>
> > I have to say, that gave me a chuckle. Then I saw:
>
> > > i am differently social with different people.
>
> > and then I got what you were saying.
>
> i don't understand how you got a chuckle out of it.Because you broadcast a lot here. :-)
Bob
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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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