attn: overly educated nerds

[Joel]

I have a sneaking suspicion there are academics lurking on this site.  Who are you and what do you do!  Can we like get together and nerd out please?

Also, if anyone has questions about biology/botany/ecology/agriculture/statistics/booze related matters I would be happy (!!) to help.  I love puzzles.

[RubySlippers]

I never went formally to school but does reading serious books from the library ,about 60 a year, counts? Religion, philosophy, science, politics, economics and so forth?

[Joel]

pshhhh this isn't an interview.  it's not a tree house club with a sign saying "jocks not allowed!".

what interests you?  what are you reading?

[RubySlippers]

Right now am bedridden so had to use my own modest library so am reading The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle, I own all his works got in fact an entire working library of the Western canon the library here sold them out for a dime each so said I would take ALL the books. All the great well ,male, minds of the West. I added other writers of course my collection is eclectic.

[Caehlim]

Hi. I'm a geek of all trades, I'm studying at the moment working on getting both an arts and a science degree because I simply can't make my mind up. I want to study everything. My majors are in Geology and Creative Writing, though I keep going a bit wild with my electives and honestly my study plans are a complete disaster because I can't focus my attention on any one field. I worry whether I'm going to be able to piece together a degree out of this all eventually.

The subjects that I geek out most completely over are (in no particular order) Astronomy, History, Religions/Mythology, Geology (of course) and Psychology. I like to know where we've come from, both from a cultural and a physical perspective. Why things are the way they are and why people do the things they do just fascinate me endlessly.

Though I've never really found a subject I couldn't geek out about. Learning is awesome.

[RubySlippers]

Public libraries are awesome, and internet library archives to.

[Oniya]

I am a compulsive reader and StoreHouse Of Useless Trivia.  Hi.

I also plan to teach myself how to mod Minecraft over the summer.  (When I don't have to watch the little Oni's homework habits like a hawk.)

[Kythia]

I'm studying for a PhD in Theology/Religious Studies, although I don't think I'm overly educated or a nerd.

[Lilias]

Hi! *waves* I'm the resident compulsive linguist. I'm at least confident in five (5) of them languages, have dabbled in eight (8) more, and am practically incapable of turning down a chance to study more.

Reading. I can quit any day... just don't want to. ;D

[Inkidu]

Hi, I'm an avid world creator, my attention to detail and world generation being considered, "Intimidating..." and, "Downright scary." I'm am also quite the logophile and bibliophile. While I have an English degree, my storehouse of knowledge is whatever I need it to be, whether it's looking up steam engines, Medieval architecture, or conceptual physics, if it'll help me write something fun to read I'll research it on some level.

[Joel]

WELCOMEEEEEEEE!!!!

Here's a game we can play.  Why not share things you find interesting here?  And we can play a bit of nerdy 'Hot or Not' (impactful or non impactful). 

Rules
Share something with a group that is either a short article or excerpt from literature or a piece of art or whatever.  If it's long-form please write a summary (abstract) to keep everyone on the same page about what it is about.  Participants have a free for all.  You are welcome to say Hot or Impactful, visa versa, or nothing at all. 



Seeing as we are mostly a bunch of words smiths, or philosophy buffs, psychology nerds and rhetoricians... let me throw this into the fray for your reading pleasure.

"How 'You Do You' Perfectly Captures Our Narcissistic Culture"

It's an opinion piece about our self made excuses to culpability.  If anything it's fun to read.



@Caehlim - omgzille.  I also did science and art.  It sucks as you know.  I did a major in plant biology a minor in forestry and a major in fine arts too.  I still can't decide what I enjoy more... I wonder if geology informs how you engage in the soft sciences/writing e.g. psychology.  I know that I apply my analytical brain into how I make art and write.  Though biology is a very multi-variate science so the crossover in thinking isn't particularly difficult.

[Caehlim]

@Caehlim - omgzille.  I also did science and art.  It sucks as you know.  I did a major in plant biology a minor in forestry and a major in fine arts too.  I still can't decide what I enjoy more... I wonder if geology informs how you engage in the soft sciences/writing e.g. psychology.  I know that I apply my analytical brain into how I make art and write.  Though biology is a very multi-variate science so the crossover in thinking isn't particularly difficult.

Before they retired my father was a lecturer in psychology and my mother was a lab-assistant in microbiology so I've had a fair degree of exposure to a variety of the sciences at one point or another.

Honestly I use my creative faculties to understand the sciences just as much as I use my analytical faculties to create art. When we were studying the formation of the solar system in Astronomy, I drew a comic showing the process and I think by imagining it visually it helped me to understand what was going on just as much as the numbers or harder data. Imagination is a powerful tool in science. As much as our education system doesn't encourage simultaneous art/science studies, I personally think it's a very powerful combination.

Seeing as we are mostly a bunch of words smiths, or philosophy buffs, psychology nerds and rhetoricians... let me throw this into the fray for your reading pleasure.

"How 'You Do You' Perfectly Captures Our Narcissistic Culture"

It's an opinion piece about our self made excuses to culpability.  If anything it's fun to read.

Oooh, thankyou for sharing. I really intensely dislike it which is strangely more exciting than sharing something that I enjoy. It's the kind of pointless writing which says nothing but implies some vague animosity towards the younger generation  that the mostly older readers of the New York Times can relate to. It acknowledges the instantly obvious objection of "That's just what a new version of 'just be yourself'", then despite having destroyed its entire argument continues on for several pages.

During its length it makes mockery of the 'insouciance of millenials', paraphrasing the classic sentiments that have existed since the dawn of time that the next generation doesn't respect its elders like we did. He's not the first to say this, personally I think one of the best opinion pieces of this kind was written on the brothel walls in pompeii around two thousand years ago by an unknown author. “Our youth now love luxury, They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannise their teachers.”

[Oniya]

He's not the first to say this, personally I think one of the best opinion pieces of this kind was written on the brothel walls in pompeii around two thousand years ago by an unknown author. “Our youth now love luxury, They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannise their teachers.”

Actually, the farthest they've been able to reliably trace that is to a former mayor of Amsterdam, Gijsbert van Hall, who 'said he'd seen the lines by Socrates in a Dutch book whose title he could not recall.'

[Caehlim]

Actually, the farthest they've been able to reliably trace that is to a former mayor of Amsterdam, Gijsbert van Hall, who 'said he'd seen the lines by Socrates in a Dutch book whose title he could not recall.'

My apologies, I misidentified the source. (Edit: Well supposedly...) It's a somewhat inaccurate paraphrasing of lines satirically attributed to Socrates, in the play "Clouds" by Aristophanes. original source.

I got a bit confused after seeing it in this article mostly talking about graffiti in Pompeii.

Edit: I'm not overly convinced by this explanation after further review.

[Oniya]

Edit: I'm not overly convinced by this explanation after further review.

That's why I threw in the word 'reliably'  ;)

Although it is somewhat amusing that there is actually graffiti in the pyramids, dating back to the construction. ( http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/who-built-the-pyramids.html )

[Inkidu]

Speaking of graffito, there's some evidence to support that Vikings left a few pieces of graffiti on the Hagia Sophia. Those anti-intellectual so and sos.

(My source was a Who Wants to be a Millionaire question, so don't ask me for some link)

[gaggedLouise]

Speaking of misattributed (bogus?) quotes by ancient men, this one is steadily getting linked to Petronius Arbiter, master of palace pleasures at the court of the emperor Nero. Petronius was a perceptive man and did leave behind some intriguing writings, especially the novel Satyricon - if you want to know what the people who lived in Pompeii were really like, how they thought, dined, partied and talked, that one is likely the best tip - but the following quote is no part of his work:

"We trained hard - but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we were reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing, and what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while actually producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.”

"We trained hard" sounds like a kinda un-Roman turn of phrase. There are a couple of different theories of where that quote originated, one of them being that it came from some Brit engineers or project managers sent to Germany after WW2 to help out with the rebuilding of the country.  ;)

/Louise, cunning linguist (speaks/writes/reads half a dozen languages with more or less fluency, wants to learn Russian and Latin, and has dabbled a bit in studies of general language theory, comparative syntax etc) - also with some studies of ancient history in her handbag

Speaking of graffito, there's some evidence to support that Vikings left a few pieces of graffiti on the Hagia Sophia. Those anti-intellectual so and sos.

(My source was a Who Wants to be a Millionaire question, so don't ask me for some link)

Been there, done that, seen it. Yep, I saw a few of those scrawls by my "homies" in the Hagia Sophia. There are also authentic runic inscriptions from Greenland, and at least one found in Russia. Many of the early local princes and dukes in Russia were of Viking stock - Swedes, mostly.

[Lilias]

The Varangian Guard was a big thing in the Eastern Roman Empire, once upon a time. :-)

For anyone interested in fiction portraying Vikings accurately (as much as that is possible), Tim Severin's eponymous trilogy is highly recommended.

[Hemingway]

I'm doing a Master of Science in climate change.

It's awful. On the one hand, millions of people don't believe the thing I'm studying is real. On the other, most of what we know about climate change can be summed up as "we don't know enough". I'm doing notes for an upcoming exam right now, and most of the papers I'm writing down the conclusions of include some variation on "a better understanding is necessary". It turns out climate change is really, really, really complicated.

[Joel]

I'm doing a Master of Science in climate change.

It's awful. On the one hand, millions of people don't believe the thing I'm studying is real. On the other, most of what we know about climate change can be summed up as "we don't know enough". I'm doing notes for an upcoming exam right now, and most of the papers I'm writing down the conclusions of include some variation on "a better understanding is necessary". It turns out climate change is really, really, really complicated.

-- from what I gather, the temperature models are pretty good, but the precipitation models just aren't working yet?

[Hemingway]

-- from what I gather, the temperature models are pretty good, but the precipitation models just aren't working yet?

There's so much climate models fail to capture accurately, unfortunately. We don't even know how temperatures will change. The IPCC talk about 2.5 degrees celsius for a doubling of CO2 ( with feedbacks ), but there's a lot of uncertainty there, even. We don't even know if the net feedback of changes in cloud cover will be positive or negative ( low, thick clouds tend to enhance warming; high, thin ones tend to dampen it ).

And it only gets more complex from there, when you have to include changes in atmospheric and ocean circulation, changes in vegetation, and so on.

I like my field, don't get me wrong. It's just discouraging knowing how little we know - and how important it is that we learn more. Climate scientists are often accused of being alarmist, but a lot of IPCC estimates are on the conservative side if anything.

[Inkidu]

I'm doing a Master of Science in climate change.

It's awful. On the one hand, millions of people don't believe the thing I'm studying is real. On the other, most of what we know about climate change can be summed up as "we don't know enough". I'm doing notes for an upcoming exam right now, and most of the papers I'm writing down the conclusions of include some variation on "a better understanding is necessary". It turns out climate change is really, really, really complicated.

Welcome to the feeling of  having a degree in English. :P

I'm apparently the moron (though moron is the polite word I chose) of the world of academia. :(

[gaggedLouise]

"My efforts to become clear about what is meant by numbers have resulted in failure. We are only too easily misled by language and in this particular case the way we are misled is little short of disastrous."

-diary note by the logician and mathematician Gottlob Frege, at the age of seventy-five, in 1924. The thinking Sisyphus.

[Wajin]

Studying Law at the moment and I have a degree in musical sciences. On top of that I read a lot of physics related stuff, a lot of research journals and physics textbooks from our university bookshop.

[Joel]

"My efforts to become clear about what is meant by numbers have resulted in failure. We are only too easily misled by language and in this particular case the way we are misled is little short of disastrous."

-diary note by the logician and mathematician Gottlob Frege, at the age of seventy-five, in 1924. The thinking Sisyphus.

sometimes I do wonder (as a freaking scientist)...

"Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he." -- Ecclesiastes 6:10

[The Dark Raven]

Anatomic pathology

Medieval British history

[Oniya]

I have to share this, and I think this thread would appreciate it.

The little Oni and I read almost every night.  It started with the typical children's books, and has moved up to Rick Riordan, Andre Norton, and Isaac Asimov.  The last was as the result of her asking me about black holes, and so I broke out my copy of 'The Collapsing Universe.'  She's shown a remarkable amount of retention on that one - a couple years back, she startled a presenter at an anime con by knowing the names of the four forces (gravitational, electromagnetic, and the strong and weak nuclear).  To be fair, the man was not a physicist, so I really gave him a pass.

This week, her gifted group took a trip to a local college to see lectures about science careers.  In one of them, the presenter got to the point of saying that 'Light travels in a straight line'.  Little Oni's hand went up.  'Actually, light is affected by gravity.'  (This should have been a cue to amend the claim, in my opinion, maybe mention space-time curvature and accept that the audience doesn't need as much 'help' as previously thought.)  Instead, the presenter plowed ahead with the 'straight line' insistence, saying that light was not affected by gravity. 

'But - that's how black holes work.  Light ends up going in circles around them because the gravity is so strong.'

Yeah... physics.  Always complicating things with the facts.

[Inkidu]

Of course, in a kind of recursive way it starts out straight and leaves a black hole straight. :)

Sure it bends around the gravity well, but it leaves in a galaxy-destroying display of deathray-dom. Did you get to quasars with her? :)

I think she'd get a kick out of quasars.

[Oniya]

I don't remember if that book covered quasars, although I think there may have been some information about them in Rudy Rucker's 'The Fourth Dimension'.

[Wajin]

No offence Oniya but for a second there, I was imagining your daughter as a little red ogre with wild black hair and horns :P

My daughter is currently working her way through Tolkien on her own, which I find admirable considering she's not even 6 yet <.<. It is in danish though, and she's been able to read danish a while now. Still, it's nice when she comes over and asks for the meaning of words, or the pronunciation of stuff. I've been reading her Harry Potter in japanese at night when she goes to bed so we can both get a little better at reading Kanji :P

[Inkidu]

This thread is too smart for me, this thread has children that are too smart for me...

[Wajin]

This thread is too smart for me, this thread has children that are too smart for me...

As comedian Jim Jeffries would say, my oldest is "Aspergers as fuck" as a result, she's not really doing so well with the other kids, she can't really relate to them

[Inkidu]

As comedian Jim Jeffries would say, my oldest is "Aspergers as fuck" as a result, she's not really doing so well with the other kids, she can't really relate to them

And now I feel bad. V__V

[Wajin]

And now I feel bad. V__V

Don't, I should have prefaced by saying that she's not quite normal :P Hell, I feel stupid next to her <.< but I am glad that she can shine. That we have given her the chance to show how fantastic she can be, how she can be as clever as she wants to be. I myself suffer from aspergers, or some autism spectrum disorder like she does, yet I was not encouraged to study and was challenged when I was young. Also, growing up in a multicultural home, with a lot of languages being thrown around all the time has naturally made her want to learn.

[Oniya]

No offence Oniya but for a second there, I was imagining your daughter as a little red ogre with wild black hair and horns :P

None taken :-)  I'm well aware of the implications of my nickname for her.  (The hair is actually brown, not sure if there are horns under there, and in her words, she 'is the purple Link.')

And Inki - we're all smart in different ways.  That bit you posted in the 'What are you reading' thread has really had me thinking this morning.

[Inkidu]

And Inki - we're all smart in different ways.  That bit you posted in the 'What are you reading' thread has really had me thinking this morning.

Thanks, but I'm not sure I said anything thought-worthy.

[Oniya]

My brain has been nibbling at the intersection of Orwell and Lovecraft.  It's kind of like salted caramel - you don't initially think the two things go together, until you actually put them together.

[Inkidu]

My brain has been nibbling at the intersection of Orwell and Lovecraft.  It's kind of like salted caramel - you don't initially think the two things go together, until you actually put them together.

Lovecraft might be the optimist by comparison. At least the Elder Gods will leave you alone unless you catch their interest.

[Pumpkin Seeds]

Doubt I qualify for the academia circuit but wanted to say I'm impressed with the two little ones mentioned.  Nice knowledge base being fostered there.

[Kuroneko]

*raises hand* I'm Kuroneko and I'm an academic. I'm an associate professor of costume design and makeup and just published my first textbook (I'm currently serving as the technical editor for another). I've spoken at conferences around the world on my personal research interest, which is traditional Japanese tattooing and other theatre related topics. I speak enough Japanese to get by. Though I still freelance professionally as a designer and makeup artist, before I was in academia my high paying day job was as a licensed massage therapist. I'm also a medical herbalist and have certification in Traditional Chinese Medicine. What can I say, I get bored easily.

I can easily geek out on fabric on all kinds, especially ancient Japanese textiles, weaving and dyeing methods, among other things, like literature, history, fashion and home and car repair >.> ...

[Cassandra LeMay]

I am not really an academic, even in a broad sense of the word, as I only have a BA in Business Administration and studied Social Work for a few semester without ever finishing that. Aside from that I do read a good bit, but usually only introductory-level books without delving very deep into any single topic. Where I'd say I have a pretty good amateur knowledge are contract law and international commercial arbitration.

Oh, and since hardly anyone plays such an old game anymore it's not exactly useful knowledge, but when it comes to modding Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, I'm your man.  ;D

[Wajin]

*raises hand* I'm Kuroneko and I'm an academic. I'm an associate professor of costume design and makeup and just published my first textbook (I'm currently serving as the technical editor for another). I've spoken at conferences around the world on my personal research interest, which is traditional Japanese tattooing and other theatre related topics. I speak enough Japanese to get by. Though I still freelance professionally as a designer and makeup artist, before I was in academia my high paying day job was as a licensed massage therapist. I'm also a medical herbalist and have certification in Traditional Chinese Medicine. What can I say, I get bored easily.

I can easily geek out on fabric on all kinds, especially ancient Japanese textiles, weaving and dyeing methods, among other things, like literature, history, fashion and home and car repair >.> ...

You should meet my grandma :P

[Sir Percival the Gallant]

I have an MA in mediaeval studies, and wrote my thesis on chivalric culture and male identity in late mediaeval Europe as transmitted through romance (i.e. the literary genre). I’d like to return for a PhD in it someday, although whilst completing my degree, I became somewhat disillusioned with academia, specifically the use of critical theory in the liberal arts (I’m an old-school historicist). I’m thinking of becoming a librarian at this point, as I don’t think I could stomach being a professor.

Although I love mediaeval history above all, I enjoy a lot of topics across the liberal arts and social sciences. I have a pretty decent knowledge of the classics and a strong background in historical linguistics. I’m not especially good at philosophy, political science and economics, but interested in them (in moderation). I speak English and French fluently, and am in the process of learning German, and I have a reading knowledge of Latin, Old English, Old French and some Classical Greek, though I'd love to learn other languages modern (Welsh, Icelandic) and ancient (Old Norse, Sanskrit) and many more.

I also enjoy many topics in science. I originally wanted to be an astronomer as a kid, although that dream came to an end towards the end of my teenage years when I couldn’t handle the maths (calculus). However, I always enjoy looking at things in sky with a telescope and reading about new developments. Naturally, I’m looking forwards to New Horizons finally reaching Pluto this July. Planetary (and exoplanetary) geography is probably the topic that fascinates me most. Other science topics that interest me are metallurgy, and some topics in evolutionary biology.

Right now am bedridden so had to use my own modest library so am reading The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle, I own all his works got in fact an entire working library of the Western canon the library here sold them out for a dime each so said I would take ALL the books. All the great well ,male, minds of the West. I added other writers of course my collection is eclectic.

Okay, now I really envy you. At one point I wanted to compile a commonplace book of sorts of ideas and quotes from the classics and turn it into an app. I’d just love the ability to refer to great works and ideas in a moment like the way men of centuries past could.

[WildCat]

...because Plato frequently utilized his iPhone apps.

[Caehlim]

...because Plato frequently utilized his iPhone apps.

Plato had to leave the cave to get better reception, he didn't have enough bars in there to download apps off of the apple store.

[WildCat]

And if that man returned to the world of the iPhones, would not the iPeople think him insane?

[VioletPanda]

    Not sure if I count as a nerd, but let's see... Semi-fluent in French, 2 years of Japanese, working towards a BA history major with a concentration in Eastern Civ, which I will probably go back and do a Masters if time allows. I love fantasy stories and have tried teaching myself Elven/Elvish but then got distracted by Dwarven runes and LARPING (HECK YEAH) where I play an elven barbarian at a petite 4' 9-10. I go charging in with a foam sword that goes up to my armpit including the hilt.

  I'm trying to teach myself Italian and German, but I'm a bit distracted with work and going to school full time. :/

[Oniya]

Making a trip to DC this weekend to check out MathFest 2015. 

[Mikem]

Well,

I'm a Highschool graduate with a 1.7 Grade Point Average. (That's a D- average)
I have no College Education.
I only have a total of eleven and a half months of being in the workforce.

However my passions during school was History and English. I loved learning the History of Humanity and the world, and I loved to read and write. I was even in an Honors World History class once.

[Chaosfox]

I can Nerd.Geek out over certain things. I don't have a  Bachelors (ye) I made the mistake of getting sucked into ITT tech and finished an associates there would have done a bachelors program but the  campus I was  at  Had there heads up there ass. I tend to remember useless trivia though and other bits and pieces   of things...... I have way to many things I am interested in which is why I have tried to finish a full on bachelors since I left ITT.

[Mathim]

I'm a chem major. I geek out about it whenever someone brings up something I can apply it to.

[RavenBlackmoon]

Going to be graduating with a BA in English literature and a minor in Anthropology in about a month (I am decidedly ignoring thinking about the exact date of graduation).

I'm interested in culture, people, history, society, relationships, the sex positive movement, theatre, and enjoy books, tv, movies, and various crafts for fun.

[Torterrable]

Rising Junior studying the pre-med track. I like Chemistry and Biology, and have some experience with practical lab work.

My true expertise, however, lies in competitive Pokemon :P

[Kellykonnoisseur]

I am very excited about going to an Ivy League school next Spring and considering how I'm a self-ascribed Libertarian I read a lot that applies to the subject matter. I am far from an academic but I am very excited to be on the right path because I'd like nothing more than to teach someday. :-)

[Parker]

Aloha, nerds.

I am a principal user experience architect with schooling in cogpsych, criminal justice, human computer interaction, and sociocultural anthropology. I'm not an academic but have worked for diff tech think tanks in various capacities, mostly to help businesses and orgs understand this whole Internet thing, and how to get by in a world where more and more people are connected more and more.

As a bit of nerd-ness to submit, I give you Google's Material Design specification - a very well thought out and approachable paradigm of developing interfaces and interactions for a variety of touchpoints including monitor, mobile, tablet, overlay, gesture, and "other."

( "Huh huh. He said "touchpoints.' huh huh..." )

;D

[Tuxedocat]

Hey folks.

I'm a philosophy and English geek primarily, but I do have some knowledge in different fields relative to mythology (I would say religion but that makes people think monotheism too much, in my experience) that I have picked up over the years as I have considered deeper study in anthropology, religious studies, psychology, medieval studies, and what I believe is called philology, though that term isn't really in vogue any more (at least from what I've seen). I also have some interdisciplinary knowledge related to "disability studies," but that's primarily done through the lens of literary criticism since those were the sources I mostly encountered. If I ever return to academia proper, I hope to do work on the representation of disabled people in the media.

[Jazra]

I did two and a half years of graduate school after college and have an advanced degree, but I work for a gaming (think gambling, not video games) company now and my ability to compare and contrast poetry in several languages rarely comes up. So no longer an academic, but educated.

[Oniya]

what I believe is called philology, though that term isn't really in vogue any more (at least from what I've seen).

Historical linguistics?

[Vandren]

I don't consider myself overly educated, not all that bright, but:

Academic Literary Criticism book published (2013)
13 years of teaching college composition and, twice, literature courses (inc. guest lecturing a Children's Lit course session on The Hobbit)

PhD in English Language and Literature
- Official Specialties: Medieval, Early Modern, and Speculative Fiction
- Dissertation included Jungian theory, YA literature, folklore, a touch of theology, a touch of legal history
- Fluent in 3-4 dialects of Middle English, reading knowledge of Old English/Anglo-Saxon

MA in English Language and Literature

BA in English with a minor (almost double major) in History
- Considered a second minor in Comparative Religion, couldn't make it work logistically.

[Oniya]

The fact that you can read Old English more than qualifies you as 'bright' in my book.

[Vandren]

Eh, it's no worse than German.  :)

I tend to consider myself more stubborn that intellectual.

[Bibliophilia]

-squeals at finding another English nerd.-  Hi!

I'm 19 credits shy of my BA in English, though I have taken pretty much every English course known to man.  I recently discovered a love of Philosophy and I'm planning to go on to my Master of Library Science after I've finished my B.A.  I wanted to be a professor until about a year ago, when I began to lose my faith in academia and worked in a library for a while.  Loved the work, and decided I'd rather do that for the rest of my life, than deal with the bullshit in academia.

-sighs.-  When I started University, it was so much different than it is now.  Now it just feels like a degree mill, and I lament the price I pay every semester to be uninspired by my professors.  The other students all seem to just be Education majors, and not really care about the subjects we study.  There are no more amazing discussions in class, or in the student lounge.  The papers they write they brag about 'bullshitting' them, and they have no talent for, or desire to learn, the art of deeply exploring literature and poetry.

Sorry. this became a very depressing introduction.  -hands out cookies.-  Anyhow, hi there!

[SoldadoM]

So yeah. I'm a tech nerd by trade, but I spend a large portion of my time researching history, psychology, philosophy, religion, and linguistics.

I'm absolutely fascinated by the way that technology has affected society through the millenia. And for some reason working with, not as, a copy editor has made me something of a grammar tyrant.

Does anyone else find it interesting, and scary that between 2004 and 2011 subscribers collectively spent nearly 6 million years playing World of Warcraft?

[Vandren]

Howdy.  :)

I recently discovered a love of Philosophy and I'm planning to go on to my Master of Library Science after I've finished my B.A.

Good choice.  Though starting out in MLIS can be/is rather rough, it's still better than trying to start out in academia (I'm giving up as soon as my family situation changes, e.g. kid's in school full time).  The corporatization of higher ed is . . . well, I could go on about that for years.  I'd favor a more European-style set up, but that's "elitist" and "undemocratic" to some (sure, it's elitist, but I've seen *way* too many people who don't belong in college doing the college thing, racking up massive debt and resentment issues in the process).

[Bibliophilia]

I recently read a blog post on Gin and Tacos about that very thing, Van.  The reason so many people now attend college and rack up that debt, even if they shouldn't be there, is because so many employers are now requiring, or showing a marked preference for, people with degrees.  Doesn't matter what the degree is in, just as long as you have a degree from a 4 year college.  Never mind that the position is easily done by someone straight out of high school, or that not specifying what sort of degree you require makes it blatantly obvious that a degree really isn't necessary to do the work, employers still add that caveat to their job postings.

So, yeah, you end up with people getting a degree in something they don't give a shit about, just to have one.  And since they don't care, and they can get away with just 'bullshitting' their way to a degree, they'll do it.  Colleges don't give a shit, because they're getting their money either way.  It just...  -takes a breath.-

Okay, really done now.

[Vandren]

Something I could hold forth on for a very long time.

Meanwhile, faculty are increasingly becoming adjunct (part-time), my own campus is 80% part-time faculty, who can barely make ends meet (if they're lucky).  IIRC, the part-time pay rate at my institution is roughly $1900 per class.  If you're lucky enough to get 10 courses over the 9 months we're in session, that'll net an annual income of $19,000 before taxes, no benefits, requires at least a Master's degree (I made twice that with a B.A. as a "Inventory Control Specialist" before grad school).

On the other hand, more and more upper administrators (deans, VPs, etc.) keep popping up with salaries in excess of $700,000 (national average).

But, it's the cost of faculty salaries that's increasing college tuition . . .

Anyhew . . .  </rant>

Back to my second job and novel editing.  :)

[DahliaBlossom]

I'm currently in school for Psychology behavioural analysis, art (photography, painting, drawing, illstration), and language (German, French, Japanese..well there's a giant list, I'm doing linguistics). I also have dabbled in biochemistry, 3D Modelling for video games, human sexuality, creative writing, and some other stuff.

[AmberStarfire]

I have a Masters in Editing and Publishing, and studied Journalism, English Literature and some classes in Public Relations before that. I have a Grad Cert in Applied Communications (which is probably the most useless subject ever). :D After finishing that, I studied two classes in web development (learning XHTML, CSS, PHP and MySQL). I'm an Oracle-certified MySQL developer (and I have the shiny silver card), but I haven't used it much in the last few years (just bits and pieces on my own sites and occasional unsolicited web advice).

I'm part of the over-educated, under-employed group I suppose. I'm self-employed, but I've been job hunting without much luck. I think my background is too diverse and not focused enough, and people seem reluctant to hire you for a job unrelated to your major area of study in case you're not satisfied there. I'm too qualified for about the only jobs I could get, but wrongly-qualified for the higher level jobs (and without enough experience). I'd like to be and stay self-employed, but I need to have enough success with it.

[clonkertink]

I'm in the final year of my PhD in Pure Math. On the one hand, I like the project I'm working on, and it'll be satisfying to finally finish it. On the other hand, I've finally grown tired of the Ivory Tower, and it'll be nice to get out into the wider world.

I sort of miss my undergrad days. I had a pretty diverse program, and I knew a lot of people dabbling in everything from literature, to chemistry, to psychology, to film studies. When you've got that many people who are all really smart in really different ways, it makes for some very interesting conversations. Especially at 2 AM when you're all sick of staring at whatever paper is due the next day.

[EdwardThatch]

I'm in the ministry.  I have BA's in English Lit and Philosophy of Religion as well as a Masters and five doctorates in Theology.  I love science, especially quantum mechanics and astrophysics.

Over my life my personal library has held over a 1000 texts.  In addition to English I have a working knowledge of three other languages and a passing diddling in several others.

Does that qualify me as a nerd?

Quote:  St Julian of Norwich, "All will be well, all will be well and all manner of things will be well."

[FigTree]

Hooray, academic friends!

I'm in my first year of a PhD in Theatre Studies and will also be completing a graduate certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. I geek out about musical theatre, queer and feminist theatre, and performances of the intersectionality of sexuality and faith.

I have an MA, but my undergrad degree (aside from the BA in Psychology I don't use) is actually a BFA, and most of my professional work has been as a performer or director or teaching performance - so, I'm more of an artist-scholar than a conventional academic.

[Oniya]

I'm in the ministry.  I have BA's in English Lit and Philosophy of Religion as well as a Masters and five doctorates in Theology.  I love science, especially quantum mechanics and astrophysics.

Not sure if you know about this, but Stanford University has uploaded numerous lectures by Dr. Leonard Susskind to YouTube.  I occasionally put these on in place of TV, which we gave up about 5 years ago.

[HannibalBarca]

I'm not a college or university educator, but--gasp--an elementary school teacher.  It's far from what I studied for, but it was my choice of career.  I graduated with a BA in History, minor in English, and before that received AAs in Computer Graphics, Desktop Publishing, and Photography.  I'd intended to teach in high school, and possible at the junior college level eventually.  However, outside of schooling, I've been reading since I was 4 years old--my parents started me early.  I had a 9th grade reading level in 3rd grade--or at least, that's what the test said.  My mornings as a child consisted of eating cereal while reading whatever volume I was currently on in one of our two encyclopedia sets.  My father was Air Force, and often questioned me on what I was reading while at the breakfast table.  Seeing as I had six other family members who served in the military, I was morbidly fascinated with military history.  My grandfathers, both WW2 veterans, were also history buffs, and practically drowned me in history books for Christmas and my birthday.

Fortunately, I've always had broad interests, and avidly pursue knowledge and the latest information on the sciences (particularly physics and astronomy), psychology (having helped my ex earn a bachelor's in child psychology), literature, religious studies, economics, and politics.  When I discovered Isaac Asimov, I adopted him as my patron saint, so to speak.

My son is a chip off the old block as well.  When he was younger (he's 14 now) he used to ask me to regale him with tales of Hannibal Barca and the Punic Wars as bedtime stories.  There's a reason I use the general as my moniker here!  The kid's becoming an amazing writer in his own right, too...he puts what I wrote at his age to shame.

Oniya, I don't own a television as well, and have spent countless hours on Youtube watching lectures and wisdom from the likes of Dr. Susskind, among others.  There is a lot of good stuff on there.

[RedRose]

Great thread!

I have tons of weird interests, which puzzles people as I apparently don't look the part. I've had a teacher tell me she thought I was superficial in the beginning of the year but then she changed her mind at first test (not the only time I've had similar comments but that was the more open). :/

I LOVE genealogy and was lucky enough to be taught about it as a kid and on my own family's documents. I have probably spent thousands of hours on old portraits, texts and trees and became quite a specialist. I'm kinda burned out but I'm still the go-to person (at least among the new generation) for relatives who need help or infos. Some assume it's ok not to call me for years and then text me "who's aunt Ida's paternal grandfather again" or "where did the Blooms live during the XVIth century I forgot". If there's a weird language or name, it's also me that my friends ask.

I'm very interested in history. My father is older and lived through several European - local and colonial - wars, both as the victim and as the occupier. I probably know more about all that than I would care to (except for the topics he won't mention or just plain deny), but per se I love history. I was born a long time after those but it was still in his mind enough to teach me to shoot as a child (absolutely illegal). I didn't find it so weird at the time, as I had cousins in similar situations. Medals on the wall and all. You name a Euro army and I probably had a relative involved.

I love learning about different cultures and cultural differences. I am well-travelled if I may say so and tend/try not to judge, though sometimes it's impossible. Anyway, discovering the real culture behind the touristic façade is well worth it, discussing with people, learning some words... I'm generally good with languages. English is my third.

Can't forget music, literature and movies, actually studied (French) lit and cinema at university though my main was English and attended a select music school near the Champs Elysées as a child, then a theater conservatoire as a teen. I also have a degree in economics (hate) and sociology (love). I'm certainly forgetting things...

Obviously I love writing  :)

[midnightblack]

I have a PhD in theoretical physics. It's pretty useful. For example, one day I overheard a discussion between two women, with one of them stumped on a math problem her kid got in primary school. They had to find out how many students and how many benches are present in a classroom if you know how many benches remain empty when you distribute students in them in certain ways. The fact that I managed to explain the solution to her feels like one of the bigger achievements of my life so far.

[RedRose]

I have a PhD in theoretical physics. It's pretty useful. For example, one day I overheard a discussion between two women, with one of them stumped on a math problem her kid got in primary school. They had to find out how many students and how many benches are present in a classroom if you know how many benches remain empty when you distribute students in them in certain ways. The fact that I managed to explain the solution to her feels like one of the bigger achievements of my life so far.

That's nice! I often feel like I don't use the maths I learned at school... Actually apart from the languages I mentioned above, I definitely don't use many things in my every day life.

[Oniya]

I have a PhD in theoretical physics. It's pretty useful. For example, one day I overheard a discussion between two women, with one of them stumped on a math problem her kid got in primary school. They had to find out how many students and how many benches are present in a classroom if you know how many benches remain empty when you distribute students in them in certain ways. The fact that I managed to explain the solution to her feels like one of the bigger achievements of my life so far.

That sounds like one of those Martin Gardner puzzles.

[stormwyrm]

Well, I graduated with a degree in computer engineering and might have turned into a hardware geek, and I suppose I still remember enough to be able to design circuits and glue logic if it came down to it, but after a year-long project designing a microcontroller-based embedded system I couldn't find more hardware jobs and had to go deeper into software. Not that I wasn't already eyeball-deep in it before, having programmed my first computer in 1985 at the age of nine from scraps of photocopied C-64 reference manuals...

Before I got too busy I would study mathematics and physics on my own, and actually learned enough of group theory and Galois theory from a few books I managed to find, which really wasn't too hard given the background in linear algebra and discrete mathematics that I received with my degree. The heavy abstraction and generality in modern mathematics that people like Emil Artin and those guys who call themselves Nicolas Bourbaki pioneered was rather off-putting at first, but after a while you get used to it... If I have time again and find good enough books I'd try to swim into algebraic geometry. I also have an abiding interest in modern physics and have tried to get into quantum field theory but haven't found enough foundational books to bridge my knowledge of non-relativistic quantum mechanics from school to at least quantum electrodynamics... I wouldn't even know where to begin with general relativity though.

[midnightblack]

stormwyrm,

In my opinion, Einstein's own "The Meaning of Relativity" remains to this day the best read if you want to educate yourself on the subject (then again, any of his original papers are a beautiful example of what it means to have a clear head and deep insight into the nature of things). I find that the second volume of Landau's series on theoretical physics, dealing with relativity theory and electrodynamics in vacuum, is the clearest book of the course and another pretty simple & straightforward exposition of the topic.

The clearest book that I know of regarding qed is that containing Gribov's lectures. It was assembled by a collective of his former students and I do not think it was ever formally published, but it should be floating around on the Internet.

[Inkidu]

Again, this thread is too smart for me.

[Pumpkin Seeds]

Meh, my head blew up awhile ago.

[HannibalBarca]

Again, this thread is too smart for me.

Nah, knowledge for knowledge's sake is a good thing.  The more we know, the less we know kind of thing.  Humility is good, especially for those of us who have kept our noses in books for most of our life.  There are many kinds of intelligences.  None of us know everything.  I tend to prefer breadth of knowledge to depth of knowledge.  I like knowing a large variety of subjects.  I'm only deep in history, and maybe music.  I love science, but I don't have the depth of background to understand it too deeply.  I appreciate quantum mechanics, reading about chaos theory or string theory...but I stopped taking math in high school after trigonometry.  I can't fully grasp much of theoretical physics without that math knowledge and background, but I still appreciate what people like Brian Green and Stephen Hawking are able to translate for me.

For me, it's all about being a well-rounded person.

[RedRose]

Nah, knowledge for knowledge's sake is a good thing. 

For me, its all about being a well-rounded person.

100%

[CopperLily]

Lily is technically Professor Lily, and works on health policy related stuff. Mostly about keeping sick people from getting sicker because they're in hospitals.

[RedRose]

That's a useful thing to do!

I have taught.

I love the concept but not the practice  XD

[EloquentWizard]

While I don't consider myself highly educated, I did post just to show that this site has quite a diverse population. Unlike most, literature is my weakest subject. Rather, I just got my M.S. in robotics and am going to be working on autonomous driving. However, I do love reading fantasy novels and have an insatiable lust for good stories. I love my imagination, which is fueled both by textbooks and novels.

[Beautiful Mystery]

I have always poked my head in here, just reading what others have studied. However, I didn't want to post in here until it was official. So I just graduated with my BS in Biochemistry and I am getting a BS in Psychology this summer. I am deciding if I want to go on with a Ph.D. program or if I just keep working.

It feels good to finally post in here. :P

[VioletPanda]

I just graduated with a BA in History and I feel like I've wasted the past few years of my life. Does that count?

[Beautiful Mystery]

I just graduated with a BA in History and I feel like I've wasted the past few years of my life. Does that count?

Why do you think it is a waste?

To be honest, I see a lot of jobs that just require a 4-year degree. Doesn't matter what. Now, obviously you cannot go be a doctor with a history degree (unless you are teaching the history of medicine...) but there are still a fair amount of jobs out there that just want a 4-year degree. Having a degree opens you up to many more jobs than if you only hold a high school diploma.

I have heard people say that college isn't worth the money but I believe having a degree isn't a waste but that is just me...

[VioletPanda]

Why do you think it is a waste?

To be honest, I see a lot of jobs that just require a 4-year degree. Doesn't matter what. Now, obviously you cannot go be a doctor with a history degree (unless you are teaching the history of medicine...) but there are still a fair amount of jobs out there that just want a 4-year degree. Having a degree opens you up to many more jobs than if you only hold a high school diploma.

I have heard people say that college isn't worth the money but I believe having a degree isn't a waste but that is just me...

I recently relocated to a new state and didn't realize the job opportunities were...shall we say less that stellar for white collar work.

[Inkidu]

Why do you think it is a waste?

To be honest, I see a lot of jobs that just require a 4-year degree. Doesn't matter what. Now, obviously you cannot go be a doctor with a history degree (unless you are teaching the history of medicine...) but there are still a fair amount of jobs out there that just want a 4-year degree. Having a degree opens you up to many more jobs than if you only hold a high school diploma.

I have heard people say that college isn't worth the money but I believe having a degree isn't a waste but that is just me...

When the only job you can get is Walmart, you tend to think of it as a big old waste of time. :(

It's utterly required for some thing on paper, but has turned out to be useless in a practical sense. I honestly feel like mailing the thing back.

[yobo]

I have a master degree in history, as well as some minor ones in economics and educational science. Can't say I've used my degree in history all that much, but it has proven handy. Waiting to hear back from a job interview where I will be able to really use my degrees should I get the job, so fingers crossed.

Also, congrats to those who have just graduated. :-)

[VioletPanda]

When the only job you can get is Walmart, you tend to think of it as a big old waste of time. :(

It's utterly required for some thing on paper, but has turned out to be useless in a practical sense. I honestly feel like mailing the thing back.

+1000 Because everything around here is transportation, I'm probably back to fast food after spending 50, 000 on 'bettering myself'. So you can see why I'm a tad bitter and cynical.

[RedRose]

It's such a French thing to require a diploma/degree, even for a job that won't use it - or to choose the candidate with the degree in that case.

[Rhadiance]

Started three years ago...still have four to go before I even graduate bachelor's.  ???

[RedRose]

Stay strong, you can do it! I almost gave up on my MA, especially because I was feeling like I would never finish up my thesis. But I'm so happy I stuck through and even published the thing!

[Life in Color]

I'm currently working on my MS in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance.

*nerd glasses*

I have a BA in Cultural and Political Studies and a BA in English Literature.

Yay liberal arts!

I love to academia the hell out of comic books and video games and nerd culture in general. <3

[clonkertink]

I love to academia the hell out of comic books and video games and nerd culture in general. <3

This is basically what my second year Western Thought class was. Each week a different student would write a presentation and a paper on one of the thinkers we were studying, usually applying it to some kind of pop-culture phenomenon.

Mine was on Nietzsche and "The Killing Joke". I had a whole lot of fun with that.

[Frelance]

knowledge for knowledge's sake is a good thing.

I don't have any degrees, but my education consists on listening to The Great Courses lectures, podcasts, or audio books while I work an eight hour shift at a factory. That is just to keep myself from going insane at work. Currently I am listening to Lost Worlds of South America at work then pulling out my e reader and reading 1491: New revelations of the Americas before Columbus. Interesting read and listen that give some many ideas for settings that could be used in stories on E.

While never really being books smart I am have always been the kind of person to know tons one scattered information from multiple sources. Normally my knowledge is just from the media I take in within the last year I am started looking into Bio hacking and have gotten two NFC chips implanted. One in my right hand and another in my left arm just behind the wrist. Looking to implant a rare earth magnetic (sealed in a medical great bio-neutral coating.) into a finger or two soon.

My interests vary depending on the fiction media I am consuming or the games I am playing. A recurring theme that keeps catching my interest in Alternate history. One of my favorites is what if the vikings had set up a permanent colony in North America and if they had kept trading with Europe could that have spread European disease to North America. To that end would being hit by the disease sooner have given the people already living here time to repopulate before Europeans started to trade with them in large numbers.

The newest one to catch my interest is what if the Chinese had not stopped sending out treasure fleets in the Fifteenth century and had instead become a naval power in East Asia and the India ocean. How would that have affected events when the Portuguese arrived in India only to see a Chinese ship that could carry multiple of their own ships in its holds easily.

Alright I am done ranting. I really ended reading through this tread its full of some many interesting people and topics!

[Magicaddict]

Got my PhD in Inorganic Chemistry just as the European credit crunch hit in late 2007.  Suddenly, attaching pendant DNA bases to siloxane chains wasn't quite exciting a prospect, particularly as the research demonstrated that it was possible, but in the current guise (due to excessive cross-linking) had about as much commerical use as chocolate catflap in the pope's inflatable elephant house.  I still work in the sciences, but never really made it back into academic research after that. 

[RedRose]

Aaaaand I swore left and right that I'd never go back into academia, but here I am, reworking my thesis because I was told there would be interest in a second edition...