@peacockroomba / peacockroomba.tumblr.com
I’m trying to expand this project and add all kinds of new features. If you want to help, you can pledge 1$ to my patreon here, and in exchange, you’ll get access to a second project where I try to create the coziest/warmest art collection on the internet.
Alrighty folks, here are some nifty tips on how I survived (and could have better survived) college:
Take deep breaths. Make friends. Take no shit, do no harm.
((These are based off of my personal experiences, feel free to add on if you think of something))
Since we’re talking about it and I have experience with it, I’ll share what I’ve learned about it. Here are my troubleshooting tips, I hope they help.
I’m completely lost:
This paper might assume you know more than you currently do. Take a day or three to watch introductory videos to the topic, or read tutorials. Feel free to start reading when you can skim and at least recognize all the terms that aren’t defined in the paper.
I can’t put the pieces together very well, I’m familiar with the terminology, but it makes it harder to understand:
With a paper or pen in hand, write out the same sentences that you aren’t parsing, except replace the terms with their definitions. You might find that re-writing is a time consuming yet very effective process. It might even make the sentence look blatantly obvious. You might wonder why it had to be said at all. That means it’s working. This is my #1 favorite trick, it makes everything easier to think about.
I’m stuck on one line. It’s dense:
Try out the trick noted above. If it’s still giving you trouble, try working out a few examples by hand. If that’s giving you trouble, take a break and come back to it.
I’m stuck on one line. It looks wrong and it’s upsetting me:
Congratulations! You have enough confidence in this subject that you have certain expectations, and can call out stuff that sounds wrong.
If the paper was peer reviewed and published, you should immediately assume that this is not a typo or a mistake. Look for any lines you skipped, further context, explanations, footnotes, and make sure you understand what’s really being said. These will help you. If they do not, attempt to find a counterexample or a proof. That will either be a worthwhile email to the author or an enlightening activity.
If the paper has not been peer reviewed or published, all bets are probably off. People make mistakes, and it happens more than we’d like to admit. Try to prove or disprove the statement. See what happens.
A few Stack-exchange users suggest noting your issues with that line, accepting the conclusion, moving on, and coming back to adress your doubts later. I don’t. Math has a lot of unfortunate and counter-intuitive truths that need you to follow through with your questioning. Accepting something you can’t prove is a bad habit. Don’t get used to it.
I’m not understanding what I’m reading:
Are you taking care of yourself? Have you eaten, slept, rested, exercised, hydrated, and so on? If not, fix that, and try to come back to it later. It’s not always a good time to read a research paper.
I can’t recall what I read very well:
Don’t highlight, you need to interact with the text more. Take a pen and get ready to annotate. Put the subject/topic of every paragraph in the margin. Highlight important details, and also summarize them in the margin. If you have any questions, also write them in the margin. If the paper leaves out any justifications you are able to provide, add them in-between the lines.
I’m not in the mood to read because I’m tired:
Then don’t read it. It might be tempting to at least sit down with it, but what good is that when you’re probably going to surf the web on your phone or fall asleep. Don’t even kid yourself. Just save it for a better time.
I’m not in the mood to read because it’s intimidating:
Interpret it one line at a time. Be patient. Look up what you have to look up. Intend to finish this sentence and don’t worry about the next ones. Once you finish it, make the choice to keep going to the next sentence or not. You’ll probably blow through a paragraph in a little bit of time, which is better than nothing at all.
I’ve gotten lost in the details and can’t really contextualize what I learned:
Find a friend, online followers, or a taxicab driver and try to explain the paper. Just try it until you’re happy with how you explain it and contextualize it. That’s a good tool.
Alphonse Mucha (18 “Topaz” (1900) “Ruby” (1900) “Amethyst” (1900) “Emerald” (1900) Lithograph Art nouveau
“The Precious Stones” series depicted women personified as four precious stones. In each panel, the upper part of the composition is dominated by the female figure, while the lower part features a flower whose color echoed that of the gemstone. The color scheme of each panel - including the flowing robes, the hair decorations, the mosaic halos and even the colour of the woman’s eyes – recalls the color of the stone.
that one extremely homoerotic painting of a babylonian man listening to a babylonian twink playing babylonian harp. that one
yeah
this is my favorite painting full stop
that “babylonian twink” is King David
The baffled twink composing Hallelujah
smash that unmute button
#a fursona for u ok firstly
@shinydiscopaul I feel like you need this
it is so beautiful I am crying
