To hang up in my classroom, of course. It took so long because I wanted to include the titles and alt text. I've also thought about buying some of the big posters from the store (you know, the ones with the huge infographics like Money, Radiation, or Lakes & Ocean Depths).
Here's what I made:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bvklsp89d7r60pw/Landscape%20Posters.pdf
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8sg2zl0ub109yr7/Portrait%20Posters.pdf
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"To truly live, one must first be born." ~ Evan [aX]
Paper Mario Social: The Safe Haven of GameFAQs. (Board 2000083)
There are typos in the title-text. The title-text for Brand Identity, for example, says "along the boom". Copy-and-paste from the HTML instead of transcribing that stuff by hand, you silly.
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To live is to suffer. The suffering only stops when you die. In the meantime, you might as well make yourself useful.
Also, while you did pick a lot of good ones, I dislike "Graduation" and "Useless" and I think they have no place in a mathematics classroom. The latter in particular smacks of the idea that emotion and science are non-overlapping magisteria ("DERP FEELINS ARE HARD DERP"). Not nearly as bad as that line about "the mysterious equation of love" in A Beautiful Mind, but bad. These kinds of ideas are as saddening to an experimental psychologist as "Math is hard; let's go shopping!" is to a math teacher.
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To live is to suffer. The suffering only stops when you die. In the meantime, you might as well make yourself useful.
On a related note, I love "Hamiltonian"; too bad it's too sexually graphic for school.
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To live is to suffer. The suffering only stops when you die. In the meantime, you might as well make yourself useful.
I think you may be taking "Graduation" the wrong way. I'm guessing here at what you didn't like at it, but I don't see it as attacking the virtue of going to grad school, but of mindlessly going to grad school and not knowing why. If people are going to put themselves through grad school without a firm conviction about it, they're going to be miserable. It is not a good decision. If they're going through grad school and know why, then they're going to be as happy as Ms. Lighthouse for similar reasons; both they and Ms. Lighthouse are following their personal dreams.
Also, I don't think Ms. Lighthouse is being portrayed as wise because she chose to work at a lighthouse, but because, upon realizing that her definition of a successful life didn't match society's definition, she went with what she knew she wanted rather than mechanically follow what society expects of her.
The moral I'm taking away from it is something along the lines of, "If you want to find satisfaction in life, make sure what you're doing is what you really want to be doing, and not simply what you think it is that you are supposed to be doing." And I see that as a good moral.
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Fame is but a slow decay.
-Theodore Tilton
I agree both with your interpretation of the strip and the soundness of the core moral of living one's life deliberately. What I don't like is the romanticism (well, Romanticism) of the supposedly reasonable career choice used here. Ms. Lighthouse mentions rescuing people, but the way the whole strip is framed is in terms of Ms. Lighthouse having thrilling plans and the blond girl having boring plans. I don't like the conflation of the sexy and the consequential.
Perhaps I'm being much too harsh on this strip. Some strips which more clearly express Munroe's worship of the superficial are "Dreams" (http://xkcd.com/137) and "Interesting Life" (http://xkcd.com/308).
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To live is to suffer. The suffering only stops when you die. In the meantime, you might as well make yourself useful.
I would have actually used "Interesting Life" if it weren't for the curse word. Though I could probably censor it. It's an ideal that teachers are supposed to instill: you don't have to be what everyone says you have to be.
I agree with Spock's analysis of "Graduation."
As for "Useless," hmm, I do see your point, but I'm not sure I agree with it. ("There may be something to what you say.") But I think it's important for a math classroom, not just because these posters are there are reflections of my character, not just motivational posters, but because it's important to see that mathematicians don't think everything can be solved mathematically. It's the idea that the teacher is more than just the teacher of their subject. Even though I teach math, I don't think math is always the answer. (Though it often it.)
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"To truly live, one must first be born." ~ Evan [aX]
Paper Mario Social: The Safe Haven of GameFAQs. (Board 2000083)
…it's important to see that mathematicians don't think everything can be solved mathematically.
Sure, but that's what the scientific method is for. As opposed to FEELINS ARE HARD DERP, which is what the comic is suggesting. Besides, if you're enough of a logical positivist, you're hoping that all empirical truth can eventually be expressed and understood mathematically.
Compare: http://xkcd.com/836/
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To live is to suffer. The suffering only stops when you die. In the meantime, you might as well make yourself useful.
"The superficial" here being "non-productive but pleasant activities"? I don't know if that's really worship so much as appreciation. And it's getting a little heady, but I don't think there's anything wrong with appreciating both productive knowledge and "fun."
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Willis, it seems like every other time you post, I need to look up a word that's in the OED or Urban Dictionary but not both.
-Mimir
"The superficial" here being "non-productive but pleasant activities"?
A little more than that: unproductive, pleasant, and even in theory exciting, the sort of thing you'd put a photograph of yourself doing on your website, the sort of thing you might even be proud of yourself for doing. You know, entertainments that are somehow
glamorous. Whitewater rafting is perhaps the clearest example. Activities like playing video games and masturbating are unproductive and pleasant but most people have the sense not to take pride in them.
I don't know if that's really worship so much as appreciation. And it's getting a little heady, but I don't think there's anything wrong with appreciating both productive knowledge and "fun."
Well, what's appreciation? I don't object to innocuous beliefs like "Fun is pleasant" or even "Fun is good, all other things being equal." But I interpret the appreciation expressed here as a kind of respect. Although "worship" is exaggeration, I'm pretty sure Munroe wants to tell us that one actually
should do glamorous things, that there's some kind of virtue or value in going on adventures. That's a destructive idea.
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To live is to suffer. The suffering only stops when you die. In the meantime, you might as well make yourself useful.
I think that that in this case, "glamorous" activities are merely novel. Which to me more makes such messages into an "expand your horizons" sorts of messages.
Also, what do you consider so destructive about adventures? I wouldn't want my life to be wall to wall adventures, but I see a value to doing something different every once in a while. And for those that wish to live in a wall-to-wall adventure way, I'm not sure what harm they're causing themselves or others.
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Fame is but a slow decay.
-Theodore Tilton
So I guess we should kidnap Kodi for a day of strip clubs and roller coasters. And I guess we should plan that somewhere other than this thread that he's obviously posting in.
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Willis, it seems like every other time you post, I need to look up a word that's in the OED or Urban Dictionary but not both.
-Mimir
I think that that in this case, "glamorous" activities are merely novel. Which to me more makes such messages into an "expand your horizons" sorts of messages.
Yeah, I'd agree that some sense of novelty is part of this glamor. It isn't the whole of it, though: I've spent a lot of time recently experimenting with Markov-chain Monte Carlo, and that's novel but only glamorous if you're extremely geeky.
Also, what do you consider so destructive about adventures?
I mean to say not that entertainment is destructive but that the idea that entertainment has "some kind of virtue" is destructive. That's what I was referring to when I said "I don't like the conflation of the sexy and the consequential."
So I guess we should kidnap Kodi for a day of strip clubs…
Relevant:
In the late 1940s, during the Chinese civil war, Erdos took part in a food drive for the Communist Chinese. "I remember walking into a big room in Los Angeles, at UCLA, I think," said Vázsonyi, "and there was Erdos and all these people making packages of food. Some mischief-makers who knew of his disgust at naked women offered to make a $100 donation if he'd go with them to a burlesque show." To their astonishment, he immediately took them up on the offer. Afterwards, when they forked over the $100, he revealed the secret of his victory: "See! I tricked you, you trivial beings! I took off my glasses and did not see a thing!"
Although, I'm not as bad as Erdos: when I was collecting stimuli (pictures of half-naked women) for a sex-related experiment a few months ago, I kept my glasses on.
As for roller coasters, I've never had the courage for them. Someday, perhaps.
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To live is to suffer. The suffering only stops when you die. In the meantime, you might as well make yourself useful.
But then, I think the glamorous part comes from making it so. No one would, at first blush, think being a lighthouse keeper is glamorous, until the woman in the strip describes it in such a way that it is. Most of these activities that Monroe promotes are very exploratory in nature. His philosophy seems to be "Find new things! Explore, discover!" And where would we be if our ancestors had not done that?
(I don't think he would ever promote white water rafting, because it is so common.)
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"To truly live, one must first be born." ~ Evan [aX]
Paper Mario Social: The Safe Haven of GameFAQs. (Board 2000083)
Also, if I bought just one of the large prints from the store, which should it be? Lakes & Oceans, Money, Online Communities, Gravity Wells, Movie Narratives, or Height?
store.xkcd.com
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"To truly live, one must first be born." ~ Evan [aX]
Paper Mario Social: The Safe Haven of GameFAQs. (Board 2000083)
Exploration can be useful, sure, but we don't want to confuse thoughtful exploration with playfulness. The difference is similar to that between science and everyday observation.
I don't think he would ever promote white water rafting, because it is so common.
Point. Probably the closest he'll get to that is having the beret guy do rafting with a baguette as an oar.
Lakes & Oceans, Money, Online Communities, Gravity Wells, Movie Narratives, or Height?
Hm, tough one. I'm surprised there's no poster for "Depth". I guess my favorite is Lakes & Oceans.
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To live is to suffer. The suffering only stops when you die. In the meantime, you might as well make yourself useful.
My favorite is Movie Narratives, despite the fact that he neglects separating the men into appropriate groups when they go to the washroom in the middle.
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Fame is but a slow decay.
-Theodore Tilton
"Height" is my favorite by far.
Kodi's philosophy is strange, I think, or perhaps everybody who's not Kodi is strange. My understanding of it is that he wants to do non-productive, fun activities just enough to keep himself happy enough to be maximally productive. He defines production, I think, as the advancement of the intelligence of the human race, and one of his stated goals is to know enough to determine what our purpose should be. But I feel that's where it breaks down, because what is the purpose, of doing our purpose (if indeed there is one)? Isn't it satisfaction? You know, living your purpose makes you happy? So if we can be happy in non-productive ways *now*, what's the rub? Why doesn't Kodi like that as a virtue?
Doofus, don't you remember the famous exchange I had with you on the subject? I ended up swapping out the search-for-a-purpose axiom for a fallibility-is-bad axiom.
http://arfer.net/w/42
My understanding of it is that he wants to do non-productive, fun activities just enough to keep himself happy enough to be maximally productive.
I guess? More accurately, that
would be my goal if I were certain that there is some sort of logarithmic or hyperbolic relationship of the amount of fun you have with the amount of stuff you get done such that you are best off having a certain intermediate amount of fun. But I'm enough of a psychologist to doubt this simple model. Likely, the entertainments we pursue have all kinds of effects on us, some good and some bad. Likely, not all sources of fun are created equal. The most that I can say with high confidence is that, as a rule of thumb, taking resources (time, effort, etc.) out of deliberate work and putting them into entertainment will
not increase the amount of stuff you get done, and will likely decrease it.
That said, it may be worth re-emphasizing that in this topic, I haven't complained about the pursuit of happiness per se but about the romanticism of the pursuit of happiness. Hedonism pursued axiomatically is one thing. Hedonism pursued out of blind faith in dark gods like work–life balance or the American dream or deserving the fruits of one's labor is no good. It's bad psychology and bad philosophy.
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To live is to suffer. The suffering only stops when you die. In the meantime, you might as well make yourself useful.
Did you ever fly a kite in bed? Did you ever walk with ten cats on your head? Did you ever milk this kind of cow? Well, we can do it. We know how. If you never did, you should. These things are fun and fun is good.
-Dr. Seuss
Your move, Kodi!
Did you ever walk with ten cats on your head?… Well, we can do it.
Pics or it didn't happen.
Your move, Kodi!
http://arfer.net/w/faust
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To live is to suffer. The suffering only stops when you die. In the meantime, you might as well make yourself useful.
Even still, I would still say his argument is not one of pursuing happiness but of doing something different. You say he might not promote something like experimenting with Monte Carlo simulations, but I disagree.I think the strip that gets that idea across is my absolute favorite, The Difference. http://xkcd.com/242/
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"To truly live, one must first be born." ~ Evan [aX]
Paper Mario Social: The Safe Haven of GameFAQs. (Board 2000083)
But if the point of doing something different is neither happiness nor science, then what is it?
(For a moment I thought you mentioned Monte Carlo as part of some ingenious joke on the idea of "doing something different".)
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To live is to suffer. The suffering only stops when you die. In the meantime, you might as well make yourself useful.
By the way, today's XKCD is insane. An estimated 46-feet wide.
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"To truly live, one must first be born." ~ Evan [aX]
Paper Mario Social: The Safe Haven of GameFAQs. (Board 2000083)
...I can't scroll that much...
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Well, there is a new accent of n00b language. It's called: Vet LUEser goes Foreign!-MegaSpy22
Those must be the pants of the gods!-Digitalpython
You might need this mini-map.
http://i.imgur.com/oVTiU.png
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v129/ukealii50/kylo.jpg - Thanks uke!
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/829/07kyloforce.png - Thanks Diyosa!