Yea I would have rather kept the dark or just twilight that being utterly blinded by the sun, but that also seems to have passed finally.
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Yes, it's getting to the point where I can go outside with no coat. Don't think I'd want to be out too long yet though.
Big winter coat could be shed for something a bit lighter if this continues.
Our lounge has a temperature that starts with a 2 for the first time this year.
Our lounge has a temperature that starts with a 2 for the first time this year.
Yes, for the first time this year one can begin to contemplate shedding a winter woollen overcoat, or my (warm) outer (cashmere lined) Italian suede/leather jacket/coat.
And, also, for the first time one can contemplate discarding thermals, as well.
While I won't quite (yet) say "happy days", I will say "improving days".
Uhhm, tonight we changed to DST (daylight saving time), and then the snowing started, again 🥶
Still 19 degrees in the lounge. The bedroom will no doubt be a bit cooler. We made the bed this evening and I wasn’t quite ready to pull out the electric blanket just yet. But hopefully soon.
Ah, yes.
The bedrooms are quite a bit cooler, aren't they?
My electric blanket shall remain an essential part of my nocturnal life for a few more weeks yet, methinks.
Our lounge has the sun on two sides in afternoon and evening. It is always the warmest room in the house. The bedroom however gets little sun, so is the coldest room in the house. As we are all on one level at least we don’t get the upstairs and downstairs fluctuations that our old home had.
I'd assume this is Celsius 😀. Still cold though!
Are you teaching, or in another capacity? At a university I'd assume? Just curious.
Heh....I was one of those 'essential employees' and the post where I work has customers from all over the world, so yeah, I wasn't that lucky.
The upside is that the bugs that are now kicking everyone's butt (RSV, flu, cold, etc.) are minor to nothing where I'm concerned, so I guess that's good.
Celsius yes, I work as an academic coordinator for a study abroad program for students from American universities. They do a semester (105 days) abroad in about 80 countries including Switzerland.
I am a systems engineer. Our entire infrastructure is virtualized on 30 Xeon blades, running about a thousand virtual servers. Since I'm not on the team that takes care of the physical servers, no need for me to be there
I am a systems engineer. Our entire infrastructure is virtualized on 30 Xeon blades, running about a thousand virtual servers. Since I'm not on the team that takes care of the physical servers, no need for me to be there
Well yeah, most stuff is the same for me; but some stuff is 'secure' and can't be virtualized.
I can do all my work from home, but the boss likes me to go in a couple of days a week. Mostly to keep an eye on the staff I think. But I’m definitely more productive at home.
Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, there are times where being in the office is a bit handier, but 95% of the time, any task I do can get done quicker @ home since there's no constant interruptions, amongst other things. The 'dirtbag casual' dress helps too.
That sounds like a really cool job! I wonder if any of the universities I've applied to are affiliated with your program...
Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, there are times where being in the office is a bit handier, but 95% of the time, any task I do can get done quicker @ home since there's no constant interruptions, amongst other things. The 'dirtbag casual' dress helps too.
You wear clothes at home while working? Fancy.
Please report to HR due to inappropriate dress during yesterdays teams call.
Aftershave and a big smile is not appropriate for the workplace!
Please report to HR due to inappropriate dress during yesterdays teams call.
Aftershave and a big smile is not appropriate for the workplace!
I always thought the aftershave was optional...
@Scepticalscribe @VulchR I had a teacher today make a point that "most people now don't know how to read nonfiction." What do you think of this? I know you both are, or at least used to be, academic researchers, so have you had this experience with students?
Please report to HR due to inappropriate dress during yesterdays teams call.
Aftershave and a big smile is not appropriate for the workplace!
Video is optional
I don't know about students, but I have found that some recent non-fiction books have been just terribly hard to read. The authors can't stick to the point, spend up to two thirds of the book discussing background or distantly related points and rarely actually writing about the topic the book is supposed to be about.
Some excellent non-fiction books -
- Animals without Backbones - Ralph Buchsbaum (the original two-volume skinny paperback, before it got re-written into a massive tome)
- The Sea Around Us - Rachel Carson
- The Dinosaur Heresies - Robert Bakker (the guy with the fancy hat in Jurassic Park)
- Anything I have read recently about medieval (light/dark ages) science and mathematics.
* I do love that word...
Hm.
I wonder whether the teacher meant "people" or "students" when he or she made that remark.
In any case, I would argue that most 'people' (okay, people in general, and students, in particular) don't know how to read non-fiction. In fact, in my opinion, this problem is not confined to non-fiction. I would argue that it applies equally well to fiction.
This is because - firstly - most people don't read that much nowadays. And, if you don't read that much, it is difficult to learn - or master - how to read material properly.
This is the old "practice makes perfect"; just knowing how to read is not enough. Instead, this refers to reading proficiently, being comfortable with the written word. Reading anything - devouring all kinds of books (and comics) as a kid, that is, reading a lot, means that you learn how to read, how to comprehend what is on the page, what those words are trying to tell you, and how to extract meaning and understanding from what you read, a skill that can be transferred to anything you read.
The second reason - I would argue - why "people" don't know how to read non-fiction (and much of fiction, too, for that matter) is that much reading nowadays is done online, and - at least, from what I can see - one "reads" material online differently to how one reads material in a printed page of a book; rather than reading slowly, and thoughtfully, one skims swiftly, and - certainly, in my own experience - one retains a lot less information than is (was) the case on a printed page of a book; it is a different kind of reading, taking the form of a rapid devouring of data, wolfing words, rather than the sort of cogitation and thought (and comprehension) that used to attend reading the printed page of a book, or (hard copy) periodical.
Some of my friends who still teach tell me that they are increasingly encouraging students to write their classnotes, and lecture notes by hand, rather than have the kids use a tablet or laptop. They tell me that it aids memory and understanding better. I suspect that something similar takes place with reading material online, and that there is a difference in how we process information from the printed word, depending on whether it is online, or physically in front of you, in the form of a book, or paper, or periodical.
I think there has been a shift. IMO, part of the issue, at least for life sciences, is that many people rely on science blogs and news reports rather than reading the original research reports. Sometimes these secondary sources don't even reference the original, and sometimes original source hasn't even been formally published or reviewed. The quality of scientific reporting is so crap now that generally I don't trust it until I confirm the original source.
I think as well people are less practiced at sustaining focused concentration than they used to be. We listen to sound bites and read blogs, but not fully developed news stories or research reports. We look at little snippets of information from social media, including some platforms that literally the number of words one can write. This doesn't bode well for the future of our ability to process information about complex issues.
Finally, we seem to be in the middle of a historical swing in how much people focus on rationality to be relative to emotionality. A group of researchers tracked the use of printed words related to rationality and emotionality since 1850 (Scheffer et al. (2021) https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2107848118). The use of words related to rationality peaked in the 1970's and has been declining ever since the 1980's (see their figure 1 graph D). In contrast, the use of words related to sentiment and emotion has been increasing since the 1980's (their figure 1, graphs B and C). Hopefully this is just a historical pendulum swinging back and forth between emotionality and rationality, but it could be the unravelling of the Enlightenment. If so, the future might be bleak indeed.