I Love My Bookmarking System On Ao3 Because I See This Kinda Thing

adapted from this response

1. Write your notes in a way where you can test your retention and understanding. 

Many people write notes that do a great job summarizing their materials but their notes are not designed to promote learning, retention or diagnosis of their weaknesses. But my notes can – and so can yours. Simply put my notes can be used like flashcards because I write them in a form where I separate a “stimulus” from a “response.”  The stimulus are cues or questions (think: front side of flashcard), while the response is the answer to the cue (think: back of flashcard).  But the stimuli are to the left of a margin, while the responses are to the right. The key advantage of this is that just by putting a sheet of paper on top of your notes, you can hide the responses, while leaving the stimuli visible. You can have multiple margins and multiple levels of stimuli and response for greater information density. When you get good at this you can write notes in this form in real-time. To get some idea of what I’m talking about google for “Cornell Notetaking method”. My notetaking method is a variant of this. I usually use completely blank paper to do this because regular lined paper has too small a margin. To give you an idea of how powerful this notetaking method can be, I learned several courses just hours before the exam and still got an “A” in all of them during a difficult semester where I had too many competing priorities to spend long hours studying. Had it not been for this notetaking method I don’t think that would be possible. 2. Develop the ability to become an active reader (this is the perhaps the most important advice I have to share). 

Don’t just passively read material you are given. But pose questions, develop hypotheses and actively test them as you read through the material. I think the hypotheses are part of what another poster referred to when he advised that you should develop a “mental model” of whatever concept they are teaching you.  But a mental model can be much more than simple hypotheses. Sometimes the model resembles a story. Other times it looks more like a diagram. But what they all have in common is that the explain what is going on. Having a mental model will give you the intuition and ability to answer a wider range of questions than would be otherwise possible if you lacked such a mental model. Where do you get this model? You creatively develop one as you are reading to try to explain the facts as they are presented to you.  It’s like guessing how the plot of a movie, before it unfolds. Sometimes you have to guess the model based on scarce evidence. Sometimes it is handed to you. If your model is a good one it should at least be able to explain what you are reading. Having a model also allows you to make predictions which can then be used to identify if your model is wrong.  This allows you to be hypersensitive to disconfirming evidence that can quickly identify if your model is wrong. Oftentimes you may have two or more models that can explain the evidence, so your task will be to quickly formulate questions that can prove one model while disconfirming the others. To save yourself time, I suggest focusing on raising questions that could confirm/disprove the mostly likely model while disproving the others  (think: differential diagnoses in medicine). But once you have such a model that (i) explains the evidence and (ii) passes all the disconfirming tests you can throw at it then you have something you can interpolate and extrapolate from to answer far more than was initially explained to you. Such models also make retention easier because you only need to remember the model as opposed to the endless array of facts it explains.  But perhaps more importantly, such models give you intuition. Of course, your model could be wrong, but that is why you actively test it as you are reading, and adjust as necessary. Think of this process as the scientific method being applied by you, to try to discover the truth as best you can. Sometimes you will still be left with contradictions that even your best models cannot explain. I often found speaking to the professor after class to be a time efficient of resolving these contradictions. I discovered mental modelling as a survival mechanism to pass my studies at the University of Waterloo – where their teaching philosophy is misnomer because their teaching philosophy is to not teach as well as they could. You can see this from their grading philosophy. Although they don’t use a bell curve or other statistical grade adjustment, they make their exams so hard that the class average is usually between 68 (C+) and 72 (B-) in spite of the fact that their minimum admission grades are among the highest in Canada (you need more than A+ to get into several of their engineering programs). The only way they can achieve such low test averages from otherwise high performing students is by holding back some of what they know, and then testing what they didn’t explain well in lecture on their exams; or by not teaching to the best of their ability.   This forces students to develop the ability to teach themselves, often from materials that do not explain things well, or lack the introductory background knowledge needed to understand the material. I realized I could defend against such tactics by reverse engineering the results into theories that would produce those same results; i.e. mental model induced from scarce facts.     Then when I got to MIT I found myself in a place with the opposite teaching philosophy. Unlike Waterloo, if the whole class got an “A” the MIT professors would be happy and proud (whereas at Waterloo an “A” class average would be the cause for a professor’s reprimand). The mental modelling skills I developed at Waterloo definitely came in handy at graduate school because they enabled me to learn rapidly with scarce information. 3. Be of service to your fellow classmates.

I’ve personally observed and heard anecdotal stories that many students in highly competitive programs are reluctant to share what they know with their peers; a good example being the vast number of students in a top ranked science programs competing for the very few coveted spots in med school. I’ve seen people in such situations be afraid to share what they know because the fear it could lead to the other students “getting ahead” while leaving them behind. I would actually recommend doing the opposite: share liberally. You can’t expect help from others if you are unwilling to help others yourself. I spent hours tutoring people in subjects I was strong in. But, conversely those same people were usually happy to help me with my weaknesses when I needed it. I also found it easier to get good teammates – which is essential to getting good grades in team-based classes. I found I learned a LOT from other people. And their questions helped me to prepare for questions I may not have thought of – some of which would appear on the exams. 4. Understand how the professor grades. 

Like the real world, the academic world is not always fair. You need to understand who is grading you and what they are looking for. Oddly, if you actually answer questions as written, you won’t get full marks from some teachers. Some professors expected more than the answer. Some only accepted the answers taught in class as opposed to other factually correct answers – which coincidentally can easily happen if you rely heavily on mental models. Some expected you to not even evaluate whether the answers to their multiple choice answers were true or not; only to notice which answer choices aligned or did not align with the theories taught in class.  Some highly value participation in which case you ought to have a mental model of what they are teaching based on their assigned readings. The sooner you know who you are dealing with, the sooner you can adjust to their way of grading. Thankfully I considered the vast majority of my professors to have graded in a fair manner. 5. Get involved in research while still in undergrad.

Academics is a means to an end. To me that end was “solving problems” and “building stuff” specifically systems and organizations.  Depending on the school you apply for, your research may be just as important, if not more important, than your grades. In fact if all you have are good grades your chances of getting into a top ranked CS program with a research component (e.g. MIT, CMU) are slim to nil; though you might still be able to get into a top-ranked courseware-based Masters (such as Stanford where there is no masters thesis). I did an Artificial Intelligence research project in undergrad and posted it on the internet. Not long after it was cited in three patents from IBM, AOL and another inventor. Then 40 other people cited my work. I feel this helped me get into MIT because they saw that I could come up with theories with practical applications. It also led to internships with top research teams whose work I am still in awe of. This research also helped my graduate application. None of this would have been possible if I didn’t do research in undergrad. 6. Attend classes.

I do not understand the students who claim they did well without attending class. Many professors will only say certain things in class. Many classes only present some of the material in class. If you don’t attend class you simply won’t get that material. You also won’t be able to ask immediate follow-up questions. I also found speaking to the professor after class was an efficient way to resolve contradictions I had found with my mental model. 7. Time management is key – especially in undergrad. 

In my competitive undergrad program I once learned that a friend who achieved top 5% status actually timed how long he ate. While I do not suggest going to such extremes I offer this modest advice. I suggest spending no more than 30 minutes trying to solve a problem you can’t solve by yourself before appealing to office hours or another knowledgeable student. I also suggest you ask questions of your professor during or after class as opposed to leaving the class confused. This reduces wasted time in an environment when time is a very precious commodity. 8. Going out and having fun is conducive to good grades. 

In my early undergrad years I studied as hard as I could. And I thought this meant putting in as many studying hours as possible. But I later realized that going out and having fun refreshed the mind and increased grades. Unfortunately it took at least 2 years for me to understand this lesson. 9. Learn how to do advanced Google searches.

This is an essential skill that enables you to answer your own questions, quickly. At a minimum I suggest you learn how to use the following Google search operators  ~, -,*, AND,OR, and numeric ranges via the double dot (“..”) operator.  The “site:” operator is also often helpful. I also found adding the word “tutorial” to a Google search often yields great introductory materials. 

10. Turn weaknesses into strengths.

While studying for standardized exams I learned the importance of addressing one’s weaknesses as opposed to ignoring them.  If you make a mistake on a question, it is because of a weakness within you. If you do not address that weakness it will follow you to the exam. I learned this lesson when studying for standardized exams. I was able to legally buy 30 old exams and thought the best approach to studying for the exam was to do as many old problems as possible. But as I completed each exam I kept getting the same score  (+/- 5%) over and over. I had plateaued! But then I made a tiny tweak and my scores kept going up. Specifically, after each old exam, I would identify my weaknesses that led to each wrong answer, prioritize the weaknesses according to the degree to which they affected my score, and would address them in that order.  When I did that, my scores increased steadily all the way to the highest possible percentile (99%). I later realized that such standardized tests are designed to provide consistent scores (if the student does not study in between the subsequent exams to address their weaknesses). In fact that is one of the statistical measures used to measure the quality  of a standardized exam and it’s called “Reliability”  (Google for “psychometric reliability” to see what I’m talking about).

Let’s talk about Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship

And basically just how gay they are.

I want to start off by saying that I haven’t watched the entire Good Omens tv show but HOWEVER  I got a little too obsessed and watched all the scenes I could find. And by all I mean all. And some clips on it. And the thing that made me want to write this were the quite concerning amount of people categorising it as queerbaiting. 

I won’t say anything related to the book because unfortunately I couldn’t find the time to read it.

Okay so first of all the author confirmed that Good Omens is a story about two people in love. I do not have the time nor dedication to find where this was first mentioned but trust me on this one. But like I get it why people say it’s queerbaiting. I mean there’s no romantic interaction and all we have is subtext, right?

right?

well I, personally, wouldn’t say so. I mean yeah all we have in the actual show is pretty much subtext but there are also things that we have to take into consideration. First of all we have to remember that they are both (former or not) celestial enitites. They were both angels at some point. And what have those random posts and tiktoks taught us? Angels don’t look the way we think they look. Angels aren’t what we really think of them. 

Crowley and Aziraphale are spiritual entities, only having the bodies we see ,as some kind of vessel to help them integrate in human society. Therefore they are only human (biologically, we aren’t here to get into the entire moral structure and stuff, maybe another time idk???) by the way they look.

Now, why does that matter? Because the way we express love and the way we think about it is entirely a human thing. We basically created it, somehow, based on our biological desire to procreate. Spiritual beings don’t have the desire to procreate, cuz they don’t need to. Therefore they haven’t really evolved a way to show the romantic love, and at first or even always will be reluctant with the human ways. 

How do we know our ineffable husbands (they’re non-binary most probably, spiritual entities don’t need gender) are actually in love? OHH BOYY I haven’t even watched the show and it’s obvious that they truly share a profound bond (destiel reference to mourn after sp’s ending). I mean there are a lot of scenes, but I decide to be less professional and just say exactly why, not when.

1. I meannn the amount of times Crowley made compromises for Aziraphale and for him only, and just those sweet little things like always asking him for lunch or dinner or whatever and being careful with his books. I mean not to be sad but like my best friends wouldn’t have really been that careful with the things I appreciate. There gotta be something

2. Aziraphale was always telling Crowley (sooner or later) what he had found out and what he should do. He always wanted him to be on the right path, despite him being a demon and by definition being on the wrong path, a fallen angel.

3. Just Aziraphale being worried about Crowley and vice-versa. I mean that’s clearly a thing friends share as well but like they are basically on opposite sides. They should be fighting each other but, instead, go on cute little lunch dates together for like 6000 years???

4. Also this is a when one, but remember when Crowley asked Aziraphale to run away with him? Running aways is a gay thing, I’m sorry I’m not accepting any criticize on this one.

Anyways what did I try to prove with this long post? That love can be shown in many forms, some being sexual, some being romantic and some just being slightly romantic but not in an obvious way. Our little angle x demon ship does not do harm to the LGBTQ community, it does not practice in queerbaiting either, it just shows another way of showing love, a love that is so strong it doesn’t need to be proven. They both know it, it’s obvious, and they love each other in their own way.

Basically they’re asexual because they’re angels and honestly I am yearning for a relationship like theirs.

Anyways I’m down for any other opinions, this was just one out of hundreds.

anyways look at them I love them

4

/100

im verybdrunk rn

funny workd ngl

didnt do much as academically i meab but i did elbaorate on some of my ideas.world is funny abd luving lmfai have a jcie day

okay besties lets not talk about this one, okay?

4

/100

im verybdrunk rn

funny workd ngl

didnt do much as academically i meab but i did elbaorate on some of my ideas.world is funny abd luving lmfai have a jcie day

idk if i should blame this on sleep deprivation or simply having a wohoo ass brain but i literally thought that i can see mushrooms growing out of my phone in the colours of the app im currently on so i switched to tumbl to make it more interesting so yeah

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) + letterboxd reviews (prev. FOTR) (insp.)

You call it vintage outfit

I call it edwardian era inspired outfit~

We are not the same bro✌

I just love the feeling you get while studying something that you love with all your heart.

Learning new things about it makes you feel like floating in a sky full of coloured fluffy clouds...

why do your homework when you can *reads the entire hurt/comfort section*

Medieval Astronomy resources 🚀👽🌌

there’s a tiny bit of a tendency in resources on medieval astronomy to ignore either:

the contributions of any medieval thinkers towards ideas that gained traction in the scientific revolution (i.e. ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ is a medieval concept in and of itself! and it applies here!! the Great Man understanding of scientific history really cherry-picks what we remember about the past!!)

the immense contributions and genius of Islamic thinkers towards medieval understandings of astronomy, let alone the fact that Persian and Indian ideas were tied up in all of this 

the close relationship between science and religion in medieval Christianity and Islam (it was seen as a way of understanding God’s creation!! it wasn’t seen as bad unless it contradicted established doctrine!! in which case yes sigh the church would scold/ban/burn your ass, depending)

all of the above

and there’s often this undercurrent of “the Greeks and Romans had it sorted and all this knowledge was lost in the ~Dark Ages~ and until Aristotle was ~rediscovered~ the world backslid into ~primitive~ ignorance” 😪

TLDR: these links aren’t as nuanced as they maybe could be, but they’re better than some, so feel free to try mush them together in your brain and see what emerges 😂:

Medieval astronomy | Medieval Science History part 3 (10 mins)

The Medieval Islamicate World: Crash Course History of Science #7 (13 mins)

Religion and Science History in Medieval Europe | Medieval Science History part 5 (11 mins)

Podcast interview with Seb Falk - the guy in Neil deGrasse Tyson’s video above ^^ (19 mins)

Astronomy and Astrology in the Medieval Islamic World (essay/article)

India, the Islamic world, medieval Europe, and China (essay/article - did not give any person or time period before Copernicus enough credit tbh)

anyway astronomy and astrophysics are so SO interesting to me and i love a cheeky bit of overlap with my other One True Love (medieval history) so enjoy the vibes ❤️❤️⭐