Need to save up money, and FAST.

Hey guys! Anyone who’s followed me for much time at all knows that I have been having some real money troubles and am constantly making the choice between paying my bills and having food to eat.

BUT THINGS CAN FINALLY CHANGE!

A close friend of mine is in a dire situation and needs a place fast, and so we’re going to try and become roommates to split rent and make things cheaper for everybody. 

If we get the place we’re going to look at, we have until December 23rd and I need to have around $900 to spare. Some will be saved from my wages at work, but it’ll need help!

With all the bills I have, itll be tough….but not impossible. 

This is an opportunity I cant miss! I can finally, after this year of struggling, get OUT of here.

I put a Donate button on my blog for the most giving of souls, but I’m also still VERY MUCH offering commissions!

DONATION BENEFITS:

If you donate any amount over $30, ill put your OC in a webcomic im working on (first five pages viewable here)! And every 30 you donate will get you an additional OC. ($60 = 2 OCs, $90 = 3, etc.) And I’m not talking one panel, or a distant group shot…they’ll help out some with the action for a bit!

Email AND Paypal: narwhalborg@gmail.com

Send me screenshots with proof of your donation if you donate through the button, or just email me with the email you send with! And of course, signal boosts so appreciated…I want this more than I’ve wanted anything else for a damn long time!

Hey! Update! Im drifting around $600 which is AMAZING. $650 is what it’ll take to lock down the apartment for me and my cats if we get approved!

Now i need to make sure i can get OUT of my current apartment–it’s $200 to sublease to someone else, and I’ll definitely have some moving expenses to fix the place back up before i get out of there.

Please, keep spreading this and consider commissioning / donating! Even if i dont end up getting out, all the donation OCs will still make it into the comic and the money will be used to keep me on my damn feet.

You guys are the damn best!

Open discussion - What’s your proof-writing process? 

This is my third semester assisting classes, and my second semester assisting an introduction to mathematical proofs course (for freshmen of any major). My office hours are starting to get popular, so I’ve got a great opportunity to build up the educational materials arsenal with new and ever more effective exercises and activities for teaching abstract mathematical thinking. Right now, I’m brainstorming on ways to write killer proofs. Any input you can give me on the following would be highly appreciated:

1. What is your favorite strategy for getting started with a proof? How did you establish the method? What methods did not work as well/did not work at all? 

2. Are there any activities or assignments that stuck with you as really fun/encouraging/informative proof-writing drills? How did they work? 

3. I’m noticing that the psychological aspect is usually people’s biggest stumbling block. Most of the students have never seen proofs before, and I think it’s deeply disturbing to be told that the math you knew (and liked, since many of them want to major in mathematics) is REALLY DIFFERENT than big-league math. How can this revelation made less jarring? What were the critical factors when you got started with proofs (learning environment/availability of resources/lots of feedback/etc.)?

-NOTE: This is a tough question for me, because I was never good at math until I met hard-core abstract stuff. It’s hard for me to put myself in the shoes of students who rocked at math in high school, and are now having their perspective changed. I (obstreperously and constantly) champion the cause that math is for everyone. I’ve been focusing on bringing abstract thinkers in to the world of math, and now I have an opportunity to extend that focus to include keeping calculation-based thinkers on board.

1) In the case of any proof of an implication statement (something that can be written as “If ____, then ____”), I try to figure out whether I can prove it directly, indirectly, or contrapositively. If I can make a bunch of steps in logic based on just the assumption, I’ll try a direct proof. If I can make a bunch of steps in logic based on the negated conclusion, I’ll try to prove contrapositively. If it’s a little bit of both, then I try an indirect proof. At the very least, I plan out a “want to show” that makes a few steps in logic before putting pen to paper (or type to LaTeX; whatever blows your hair back).

2) Having started proof-writing as a computer scientist for a while really helped. The way you write proofs in my “Foundations of Logical Thought” class is sort of like a table. On one side, you have what you conclude, and on the other, the theorem/axiom/etc. used, plus the number(s) of the line(s) that has(have) the necessary condition(s). So if you wanted to make a proof in words based on this table, you would take each line and make a sentence out of it, splitting up into paragraphs when a natural break in your proof occurred.

3) Start by going back to algebra. Start with an un-simplified algebraic equation and ask students to simplify. Then, make them write out each step next to the new line. If they subtract from both sides, WRITE THAT OUT. What will help is to have students talk it out first. Say what they will do, do it, then write it down. Repeat until finished, point to the side of the board that has each step written out, and say “That’s a proof.” Because it is.

As someone who always liked math (but hated the way it was taught), I love how proof-writing takes me out of my comfort zone. It helps me explain things better to myself and to others, and it gives me confidence in my answers. For many people who don’t like math, the reason is because they may not be confident in the answers it gives them. Proofs give confidence.

REAL QUICK DESPERATE TO MAKE RENT COMMISSIONS

I can churn these out REAL fast–in monochrome OR actual color–so I’m gonna do unlimited $10 character (oc or fandom) flat waist-ups. (+5 for quick shading) because wow! i need money.

my email and paypal are both narwhalborg@gmail.com, email me or shoot me a fanmail/ask! (though asks may not reach me bc tumblr)

Serious research progress today - verifying all sorts of identities with the goal of making this code bulletproof for Eisenstein integer prime factorization. 

Just don’t look too closely at that middle page, which is where servantofthewrittenword and I made a list of all the Harry Potter characters who would have been at Hogwarts during the Mauraders era. We had to research it because we’re very serious researchers, okay? We research everything. 

Sounds like a guy I really don’t want to hang out with. Anyone who would criticize me for applying “precise logic to imprecise things” is the kind of negativity I don’t need in my life.

Are you interested?

Imagine a mini documentary series that covered mental illness but not in a totally dreary light. Just interviews with real people who are incredible and happen to be suffering from a mental illness. The hook would be cutaway sketches that would try to visually express what the illness is like.

The primary focus would be to humanize people with mental illness - including the ones with more “scary” illnesses - to promote more support for those worldwide.

Reblog if you are interested.

Also feel free to submit any experiences you have with mental illness if you think it’d help.

Keep reading

As someone with not a lot of experience with these kinds of things, I can only offer so much amateur advice, so I just want to open with sympathy instead: Sabrina, I really enjoy your videos, no matter where you post them, and I’m glad to be subscribed.

Now, if I have any advice, it’s two things:

(1) You probably don’t need five channels. Maybe two or three, if you’re really self-conscious about a professional channel and a non-professional one (and a third for CCK). I can appreciate wanting to hold yourself to a higher standard of video-making, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to keep your content separate. But as someone who likes your videos, no matter what they are, I would rather not need to subscribe to five different channels.

(2) I first started watching your videos with the “Meninist Makeup Tutorial,” which was one of your most popular videos. I bet you got a lot of subscribers from that. Most viral video YouTubers get a crapton of subscribers and then lose them rapidly. Don’t fret too much: I myself would much rather have a few dedicated subscribers than a lot of subs who hate me.

Hope I was able to brighten your day a bit!

PLUTO 2015

NASA

I AM SCREAMING OH MY GOODNESS

OH MY GOD DO YOU GUYS UNDERSTAND HOW AMAZING THIS IS I HAVE BEEN READING ASTRONOMY BOOKS FOR YEARS AND EVERYTIME THERE’S JUST A PIXELLY BLUR FOR PLUTO NOT ANYMORE. NEVER AGAIN.

GUYS I AM FREAKING OUT HISTORY WAS JUST MADE WE KNOW WHAT PLUTO LOOKS LIKE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER ASTRONOMY AND SCIENCE YALL

Sorry, but this is an artist’s rendition of Pluto’s surface, not actual images. They’re made by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Labs, and it’s part of their documentation of the New Horizons spacecraft as it approaches Pluto. We have some really good images so far, but nothing this detailed yet.

“It isn’t easy dating a zombie…”

*goes to make a personal post* actually you know what never mind better internalize this shit