Chebucto Regional Softball Club

myrmepropagandist

IDK I think it's really good.

myrmepropagandist

Buying a company that's taking off to keep from needing to compete against them is "market dysfunction" it's anti-innovation.

myrmepropagandist

Companies never get to grow up anymore. If they do anything worthy of real investment they get bought by the big boys. The big boys are too big.

myrmepropagandist

@JosephMeyer

All I can do as a teacher is watch for signs this has happened.

Also... if a math person is talking about 2+2 with great care... be warned, they are trying to find an easy way in to the deep end. There is probably a horrible little wrinkle.

myrmepropagandist

@JosephMeyer

Math can make very clever people who are accustomed to running circles around others mentally feel totally clueless and lost. And it can happen out of nowhere, if, for example your prof assumes you know all about some topic and launches off in a new direction.

There is a meme where two guys are taking notes in math and bored since the teacher is writing 2+2 on the board. They blink and suddenly the board is full of arcane symbols from the pit of hell.

myrmepropagandist

@jhavok

But, there is also another matter:

New concepts need time to sink in. You learn a new concept and then you need to use it right away, then we move on.

The class that made me cry was Complex Analysis. I was so frustrated by "poles.". But then a decade later when I looked at my notes I cried AGAIN because it was all so simple I couldn't understand how I'd ever been so upset about it.

Of course, by then I'd used it to do things, seen in many contexts. Dreamed about it.

myrmepropagandist

@jhavok

"I never understood what d/dx meant until long after I was away from calculus"

Frankly I think this is true of most people who take calculus. It's not really explained well. Too much time is spent learning "methods" that matter even less than ever. Although there are people working to improve this.

Really knowing what the d/dx and dy/dx is all about IS the point.

myrmepropagandist

@mayintoronto @paninid

We get some international students who are algebra and computation masterminds, but some of the "explain your reasoning" is very alien. It's not that they don't think logically ... parsing it out is just alien.

myrmepropagandist

@mayintoronto

I decided not to give a "proof quiz" (I kind of hate using class time for testing, but testing is also important) so some of them didn't pay attention to the very ominous comments I'd been putting on their homework.

She's a really great kid and I think she'll get it soon enough.

That said the school I teach at has a very aggressive curriculum. Mostly the students want it and enjoy it but they want to do well so when they don't it's a huge blow.

myrmepropagandist

Contrary to popular belief, there is a LOT of crying in mathematics.

I've see it in grad school.

myrmepropagandist

Feeling kind of down because a student was crying about her test. She's been working very hard but the proofs just aren't coming together for her.

myrmepropagandist

@cdarwin

"given"

that is not the correct word. we have all paid for those benefits and they are OWED to those who qualify.

myrmepropagandist

@dragonminded

Are pull down resistors something that can waste power generally?

This was a neat comparison.

myrmepropagandist

@beadsland

TFW when you post something and comeback to two people you like fighting passionately over... you can't really tell, there are a lot of words, but you are along for the ride for some reason.