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dellaroux
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« Reply #45 on: January 16, 2009, 07:43:00 PM » |
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I thought a forumite was an ancient insect found embedded in amber in the Agora at Athens....
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Pax in terra choreagibus
Ballo non bello parare
How am I?: There are four levels: Alive, Alert, Awake & Functioning. Right now, I'm standing upright & moving forward.
We are gifted superfluously--the cosmos is more generous than we can ask or imagine.
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mystictechgal
Happy in my "full, rich adulthood", and as a
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 9,937
One step at a time
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« Reply #46 on: January 16, 2009, 08:50:56 PM » |
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I'm not a member of academia in the way you define it. Heck, I'm not a member of academia in almost any way you define it. I acknowledged that in my very first post and said that I would withdraw if my presence was unwelcome. I have subsequently been welcomed by a number of people here, including you.
While I do not work for a college or university, and haven't even finished my degree, I am fairly well educated. I am interested in any number of subject areas and, when I can afford it, take classes--both to satisfy my interests and in the hope of possibly eventually finishing a degree. I've been at it, taking classes, for over 30 years. Starting at 16, and with substantial parental support, I was to have finished at least one doctorate by the time I was 23 at the latest. I suppose I'm either the ultimate slacker or I allowed life to intervene--your choice, I guess.
Today, I spend a large part of my time dealing with the "casual" education of the public. I also spend a substantial amount of time mentoring teens; 95% of whom I believe will eventually go to college, 90% of whom I believe will eventually go on to earn an advanced degree, most of them in the sciences.
I'm here because in my 30+ years of dealing with academia I've seen a lot of changes--both in pedagogy and in the population of students and professors. What you do matters, and how you approach what you do matters. I want to understand it, and I want to support it. By participating here I have a better understanding of why and how some things have changed. I have a better grasp of what I can tell to my teens about what is expected, both in terms of study and behavior.
Besides, you're a fun group. As a group, you care; you're witty; you're erudite. When you argue you, mostly, do so with citations and logic. And, you provide a perspective on society, our youth, and our future leaders, that can't be found, in quite this way, elsewhere. You even attract a more literate level of troll. And, while I'm here I get to learn, too, without paying tuition. I'm reminded of, or exposed to, scientific and mathematic principals, terms, works of art and literature... I've researched mineralogical polymorphs, statistical analysis, and the Spanish-American War; I've reacquainted myself with Venus of Urbino, Greek mythology, and, most recently, I've been given a site where I'm currently studying Old English, among other things. What's not to like?
Not all people with an academic bent have the luxury of being so employed. And, I'd submit that, concerned parent aside, having some contributers that look on from without may be valuable additions to the community. Of course, I only say that because I don't want to be kicked out.
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If a pouting pluot ploughman planted pluots in a plot, and the plot were ploughed on Pluto, would his pluot ploy play out?
"Is all the same, only different" -- Dr. H. L. |
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scheherazade
1/3 of the Triumvirate of Evil and the Most Delicious
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 7,105
Running feminist prostitution rings since 1998
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« Reply #47 on: January 16, 2009, 08:58:44 PM » |
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MTG, that's the sweetest ode to the fora I've yet seen.
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You historians disturb me sometimes. |
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dept_geek
SPAF by decree, documentor of local meetups, and
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 7,634
through a glass darkly....
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« Reply #48 on: January 16, 2009, 09:02:00 PM » |
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Of course, I only say that because I don't want to be kicked out.
Heavens. If we start kicking people out, I'm done. It's the diversity of this group (from the undergrad and grad students, faculty from all levels of the Carnegie scale and all spots on and off the TT, the admins, the spouses, the formers, the exes, the returnees, the restarters, everything in between) that makes it easy to learn something from a perspective that is different. The field is really easy to get isolated and I would hate it if the one place where the isolation is gone puts up walls & fences. MTG, that's the sweetest ode to the fora I've yet seen.
Agree. 1000%. My thoughts are unpolished and rough. |
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I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code. When in doubt, add chocolate.
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mystictechgal
Happy in my "full, rich adulthood", and as a
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 9,937
One step at a time
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« Reply #49 on: January 16, 2009, 09:18:51 PM » |
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MTG, that's the sweetest ode to the fora I've yet seen.
I'm not grade grubbing, I promise. I meant it. It's amazing when I go through my Google cache just how may things this forum has inspired me to research. Not, obviously, an in-depth level of research, but given the number of sites I've dug to on some subjects certainly more deeply than I would otherwise have been inspired to without the impetus. Quite honestly, one of the things that keeps drawing me back is the simple fact that the site is so active. I read far more than I post, and at any point of day or night there is always something new to read. Given the way my life has been going this site has helped, in great part, to keep me sane and alive. You make me think. You make me laugh. You guys care, truly care. You remind me that I care, too. And, you've made me realize, more than once, that I can only care if I'm here. You've made me feel alive, and want to be alive, at some points where I really wasn't sure I wanted to be any longer. (And, God help me, some of that credit does have to go to the site trolls and the responses they engender. It's hard to stay depressed when alternating between outraged disbelief and laughter.) |
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If a pouting pluot ploughman planted pluots in a plot, and the plot were ploughed on Pluto, would his pluot ploy play out?
"Is all the same, only different" -- Dr. H. L. |
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mouseman
Oh dear, how did I become a
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 7,103
The Validater/Validator-in-Chief
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« Reply #50 on: January 16, 2009, 10:12:35 PM » |
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OK, people, it's time, once and for all, to clarify who should be allowed to belong to the prestigious CHE fora. To that purpose, I've started a new thread here. That way we can cull all the plebeians who have infiltrated our ranks over the years (how you think I got in?) |
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In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
In the midst of his laughter and glee,
He had softly and suddenly vanished away -- -
For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.
Lewis Carroll
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tolerantly
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« Reply #51 on: January 16, 2009, 11:24:37 PM » |
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Or they may be someone who finds academics *hot*.
A new definition of perv. I'm pretty sure that's not a new definition of perv, but considering I am not now nor have I ever been an academic according to the OP's definition, I don't have to worry about the true answer. I'm not a keeper of truth and knowledge; I'm just a perv enjoying the thrill of being with academics. Pervs of the fora, unite! I'm an academic and a perv, does that count? Isn't that the best combination? No, it's a redundancy. |
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prytania3
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« Reply #52 on: January 16, 2009, 11:25:09 PM » |
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I'm not an academic. I'm actually a secret agent, Director of Ford Foundation, actuarian, but I don't live in Modesto. I live under the Pomona Freeway.
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Clowns, I tell you. Clowns.
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fiona
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« Reply #53 on: January 16, 2009, 11:46:47 PM » |
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Mystictechgal's posting makes me proud and happy.
The Fiona
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The Fiona or perhaps La Fiona
Professor of Thread Killing, Fiork University
The Right Reverend Fiona, PhD, Bishop of the Fora
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conjugate
Compulsive punster and insatiable reader, and
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 17,026
Tends to have warped sense of humor
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« Reply #54 on: January 16, 2009, 11:58:09 PM » |
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Mystictechgal's posting makes me proud and happy.
The Fiona
Me too. Hit the nail on the head. And I'm an academic, at least according to some definition or another. |
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Unfortunately, I think conjugate gives good advice.
∀ε>0∃δ>0∋|x–a|<δ⇒|ƒ(x)-ƒ(a)|<ε |
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mouseman
Oh dear, how did I become a
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 7,103
The Validater/Validator-in-Chief
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« Reply #55 on: January 17, 2009, 12:06:18 AM » |
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I would be proud and overjoyed to have Mystictechgal a part of any group I am associated with (whether she'd want to is another question...).
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In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
In the midst of his laughter and glee,
He had softly and suddenly vanished away -- -
For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.
Lewis Carroll
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systeme_d_
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« Reply #56 on: January 17, 2009, 12:07:33 AM » |
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I learn a good deal from so-called "non-academics" on the fora.
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Systeme_D is right. <rah rah RESEARCH!> |
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notaprof
Not a
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 11,084
This space for rent
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« Reply #57 on: January 17, 2009, 04:32:56 AM » |
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I think my moniker is pretty straight forward but I could change it to Notaacademic if that would be more helpful. I'm an academic stalker or a groupie, I guess.
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"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone.
"When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."
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hestia
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« Reply #58 on: January 17, 2009, 08:18:11 AM » |
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A former academic now employed once again in academia but in neither teaching nor research capacities, I hang out on the fora because here I can contribute some of the knowledge I so painstakingly acquired years ago and have no other use for. Besides, who else wouldn't be weirded out that this summer I counted 27 books on my bedside table? Basically, though, I stay for the jokes.
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"'What-ho! that absolutely whangs the nail over the crumpet.'" Dorothy Sayers
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big_giant_head
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« Reply #59 on: January 17, 2009, 10:33:01 AM » |
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I think my moniker is pretty straight forward but I could change it to Notaacademic if that would be more helpful. I'm an academic stalker or a groupie, I guess.
Well, you'd have to change it to Nota nacademic or be hounded mercilessly. |
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carthago can haz delenda
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Poll
