It's really exciting that MOOC, or massive open online courses, are gaining more momentum and attention! Education and knowledge is no longer for the wealthy. It is accessible to anyone with access to a computer with an internet connection.
This article names a few of them out there, the main and widely recognized one being Coursera. I've taken a few courses with them since the summer of 2012, which were Social Epidemiology, Astrobiology, and Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society. I want to take the Gastronomy class which will be offered in July, too.
I've yet to hear about the other sites mentioned, but I can at least say that Coursera was a very cool experience. You can chat with people from all over the world about your topic and the courses offered are diverse. For the most part everyone is there to learn and I didn't have any problems with irate ranting comments (which you find commonly online). You can choose anything from classic literature to programming to entrepreneurship. The site is well organized and visually appealing which makes the class content a lot easier navigate and give you a good user experience.
I recommend you check Coursera out. You're never to old or busy to learn something new. Especially when world-class faculty has set up the course and every subject matter under the sun is available to you for free.
Monday, June 17, 2013
How I Squandered My Inheritance at Age 18
How I Squandered My Inheritance at Age 18
This is a great article that I can really relate to. I'm sure I'm not alone in seeing this trend where well-meaning parents provide for their children's education, only to have those children squander the opportunity and take even more time than was necessary to finish up their degrees (if they do, at all).
It is so sad, but I suppose it comes from not having that survivalist's desire to better ourselves and taking a very laissez-faire attitude, because after-all our parents (or whoever) will always be there as a safety net. And yes, I include myself in this category of young adults that aren't serious enough about their education and have wasted time and money finding themselves/taking detours/failing classes/etc.
It's weird that having a sense of security can be kryptonite. Don't think I'm trying to deflect blame here, because that is not the case at all--I feel horrible for not taking advantage of my early college years, and spending up my parents money (especially now that they have become strapped for cash). But I think if I had had to figure out how I was going to pay my own way or had more financial stress at the time, I would have finished quicker and been more focused in my studies. That is hypothetical though. I can't think of any way I could have realistically avoided that time that was wasted.
Oh well. Now that I am older, eager to get this chapter of my life over with, and have had to pay for my own school (and can't afford to spend much more time there) I'm finally going to graduate. I'm not really sure how to avoid this problem because I only see it getting worse for future generations! For example, I see my little brother (a freshman in high school) and how he and his friends take a very entitled and ungrateful approach to money. It is scary. Kid's today think they are entitled to getting the latest video games, and having a fancy phone, and not having real consequences or punishments when they do something wrong. And it's a result of having a loving and sympathetic parent that has worked hard to give them anything they could ever want... it's all very ironic.
What this says to me, is that new models of behavior toward finance need to be implemented. Technology and lifestyles have changed, so parenting and the values that we teach our children need to be changed or altered as well.
This is a great article that I can really relate to. I'm sure I'm not alone in seeing this trend where well-meaning parents provide for their children's education, only to have those children squander the opportunity and take even more time than was necessary to finish up their degrees (if they do, at all).
It is so sad, but I suppose it comes from not having that survivalist's desire to better ourselves and taking a very laissez-faire attitude, because after-all our parents (or whoever) will always be there as a safety net. And yes, I include myself in this category of young adults that aren't serious enough about their education and have wasted time and money finding themselves/taking detours/failing classes/etc.
It's weird that having a sense of security can be kryptonite. Don't think I'm trying to deflect blame here, because that is not the case at all--I feel horrible for not taking advantage of my early college years, and spending up my parents money (especially now that they have become strapped for cash). But I think if I had had to figure out how I was going to pay my own way or had more financial stress at the time, I would have finished quicker and been more focused in my studies. That is hypothetical though. I can't think of any way I could have realistically avoided that time that was wasted.
Oh well. Now that I am older, eager to get this chapter of my life over with, and have had to pay for my own school (and can't afford to spend much more time there) I'm finally going to graduate. I'm not really sure how to avoid this problem because I only see it getting worse for future generations! For example, I see my little brother (a freshman in high school) and how he and his friends take a very entitled and ungrateful approach to money. It is scary. Kid's today think they are entitled to getting the latest video games, and having a fancy phone, and not having real consequences or punishments when they do something wrong. And it's a result of having a loving and sympathetic parent that has worked hard to give them anything they could ever want... it's all very ironic.
What this says to me, is that new models of behavior toward finance need to be implemented. Technology and lifestyles have changed, so parenting and the values that we teach our children need to be changed or altered as well.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The Gift of ADD and multiple sciences on the matter
I read an interesting article, not only pertinent to those with ADD, but also people who have learning "disabilities" or other "faults".
We live in a fast-paced society that focuses on achievement, and labels you as successful if you do well in a specific collection of skills, like: test taking, punctuality, organization, routine, articulation, etc. But what if you aren't good at some of those things, you have not been nurtured in an environment that values those things, or they are not biologically natural for you? Well like me, you may feel like a failure in a lot of the things that you try to achieve. You are told by others or made to feel that you are irresponsible, lazy, or other-wise a bad person or unable to rise to the occasion.
This is the reality of having so few and inconclusive measures of success. I mean how many times have we all seen the book-smart person who is completely illogical and stupid in real world situations or the intelligent but disorganized and unkempt person? Yet, it is constantly implied that only clean and organize people get anywhere in life! And if you read and get excellent grades you are an intelligent person! Obviously these statements are wrong totally wrong.
Now if this was such a horrid trait to have, why didn't it get selected out? Well it must have been useful or the behavioral traits related to the disorder were not majorly problematic back when our society did not rely so heavily on these false measures of success we've adopted. However I do want to look at ADD through the lens of evolution, and seeing it as a more immediate proximate behavior than a genetic disorder that makes it out to be an ultimate behavior. So, we see people with ADD and ADHD from all walks of lives living at all levels of society. I mean if the behaviors associated with ADD were all that bad, wouldn't we see all the individuals with it, living in gutters and begging for alms on the side of the road? Nope, we don't. What I am getting at here is that having ADD is not incapacitating and there are probably more important factors that would determine success then the few that we have zeroed in on, because studies show that many individuals with ADD behaviors are extremely intelligent*.
The article I mentioned talked about the book "The Gift of ADD" and how we shouldn't look at it as a disorder or focus on the things that this individual can't do, but focus on what this individual's strengths are. In other words change the conversation to, "we are all different and have different abilities. What YOU do really well is..." Now this brings to mind the Funds of Knowledge, which is a theory in educational anthropology that focuses on the child's strengths and cultural knowledge in order to teach in a way that is more relevant to this child's reality and focuses on what they have been brought up to do well based on their cultural values. These are some seemingly incredibly academic ideas but there are a few thousand movies that all focus on this theme and use this method of educating! I mean tons. Really, it should be it's own genre. To name a few "Sister Act", "To Sir, with Love", "High School High", and "Freedom Writers".
So really, all that it would take to improve the lives and success of individuals with ADD and ADHD, would be to work from the opposite direction. Instead of the mindset, "I must be this way, to be good at __", we need to think in terms of "I am great at __, so I will do this." Look to change those outside stressors, when changing yourself is not working. Find those venues and activities where they can succeed, and encouraging those will raise their self-esteem and allow them to see that they have valuable behaviors. I feel this is a major attribute that GT programs get right. They encourage creativity and being different rather than assimilating and forcing everyone to meet the same standards. I was so fortunate to be in GT throughout middle and high school, and I feel it made me into the educated, curious, and competent individual I am today. When I was smaller and was enrolled in a private school, I had a lot of problems. Now I realize they were all due to me being different. I was left handed (and my teacher tried to change that), I was always getting in trouble for not finishing assignments and daydreaming, I was always crying because everyone was always getting mad at me, and just a nervous wreck from all the parent-teacher conferences. Later when I moved schools and got into the GT program, I discovered school could be fun! What a revelation. Rather than only doing worksheets and flashcards, we got to do creative projects and group work and present things in a manner we wanted to do it in. We even had a whole Egypt lesson, where all of out classes centered around Egyptian things. In pre-algebra we learned about the Egyptian number system and algebraically substituted the symbols in equations, in history we learned about the culture and history, and in writing we made cartouches. In high school it was more focused on picking the topics we chose, doing our own research, and sharing with the class in creative and drawing manners. In English we had some really interesting conversations projects where we got to analyze characters and I remember doing a dating profile for one of them. In Political Science/Econ we did a mock stock exchange, produced radio shows, and an advertising campaign for colonial Virginia. So this lead to discussion and many individual's perspectives.
Anyway, we all need to learn some adaptation in our lives, and ADD people can be good at that and multi-tasking too*. So just because they don't do this or that well does not mean they can't achieve it or even think about success in that area. They just need to approach the challenge on their own terms, and find the ways of reaching that goal that work for them.
Being creative and adaptive is the key! Just as in survival, those that can adapt, survive (a damaging misconception is that the "fittest" survive, but Darwin's real message is that those that adapt are the one that are fittest). And we just came full circle there with the evolution, which I'd like to boast was planned... but it wasn't.
So do you have ADD or ADHD? Some doctors do not diagnose the disability if it has no negative affects on your life. Or maybe you don't have it but do have some of the negative behaviors associated with it? Who knows, but it might give you some peace of mind to do some quizzes on the matter.
Here are two that I thought were very comprehensive and asked more in-depth questions:
We live in a fast-paced society that focuses on achievement, and labels you as successful if you do well in a specific collection of skills, like: test taking, punctuality, organization, routine, articulation, etc. But what if you aren't good at some of those things, you have not been nurtured in an environment that values those things, or they are not biologically natural for you? Well like me, you may feel like a failure in a lot of the things that you try to achieve. You are told by others or made to feel that you are irresponsible, lazy, or other-wise a bad person or unable to rise to the occasion.
This is the reality of having so few and inconclusive measures of success. I mean how many times have we all seen the book-smart person who is completely illogical and stupid in real world situations or the intelligent but disorganized and unkempt person? Yet, it is constantly implied that only clean and organize people get anywhere in life! And if you read and get excellent grades you are an intelligent person! Obviously these statements are wrong totally wrong.
Now if this was such a horrid trait to have, why didn't it get selected out? Well it must have been useful or the behavioral traits related to the disorder were not majorly problematic back when our society did not rely so heavily on these false measures of success we've adopted. However I do want to look at ADD through the lens of evolution, and seeing it as a more immediate proximate behavior than a genetic disorder that makes it out to be an ultimate behavior. So, we see people with ADD and ADHD from all walks of lives living at all levels of society. I mean if the behaviors associated with ADD were all that bad, wouldn't we see all the individuals with it, living in gutters and begging for alms on the side of the road? Nope, we don't. What I am getting at here is that having ADD is not incapacitating and there are probably more important factors that would determine success then the few that we have zeroed in on, because studies show that many individuals with ADD behaviors are extremely intelligent*.
The article I mentioned talked about the book "The Gift of ADD" and how we shouldn't look at it as a disorder or focus on the things that this individual can't do, but focus on what this individual's strengths are. In other words change the conversation to, "we are all different and have different abilities. What YOU do really well is..." Now this brings to mind the Funds of Knowledge, which is a theory in educational anthropology that focuses on the child's strengths and cultural knowledge in order to teach in a way that is more relevant to this child's reality and focuses on what they have been brought up to do well based on their cultural values. These are some seemingly incredibly academic ideas but there are a few thousand movies that all focus on this theme and use this method of educating! I mean tons. Really, it should be it's own genre. To name a few "Sister Act", "To Sir, with Love", "High School High", and "Freedom Writers".
So really, all that it would take to improve the lives and success of individuals with ADD and ADHD, would be to work from the opposite direction. Instead of the mindset, "I must be this way, to be good at __", we need to think in terms of "I am great at __, so I will do this." Look to change those outside stressors, when changing yourself is not working. Find those venues and activities where they can succeed, and encouraging those will raise their self-esteem and allow them to see that they have valuable behaviors. I feel this is a major attribute that GT programs get right. They encourage creativity and being different rather than assimilating and forcing everyone to meet the same standards. I was so fortunate to be in GT throughout middle and high school, and I feel it made me into the educated, curious, and competent individual I am today. When I was smaller and was enrolled in a private school, I had a lot of problems. Now I realize they were all due to me being different. I was left handed (and my teacher tried to change that), I was always getting in trouble for not finishing assignments and daydreaming, I was always crying because everyone was always getting mad at me, and just a nervous wreck from all the parent-teacher conferences. Later when I moved schools and got into the GT program, I discovered school could be fun! What a revelation. Rather than only doing worksheets and flashcards, we got to do creative projects and group work and present things in a manner we wanted to do it in. We even had a whole Egypt lesson, where all of out classes centered around Egyptian things. In pre-algebra we learned about the Egyptian number system and algebraically substituted the symbols in equations, in history we learned about the culture and history, and in writing we made cartouches. In high school it was more focused on picking the topics we chose, doing our own research, and sharing with the class in creative and drawing manners. In English we had some really interesting conversations projects where we got to analyze characters and I remember doing a dating profile for one of them. In Political Science/Econ we did a mock stock exchange, produced radio shows, and an advertising campaign for colonial Virginia. So this lead to discussion and many individual's perspectives.
Anyway, we all need to learn some adaptation in our lives, and ADD people can be good at that and multi-tasking too*. So just because they don't do this or that well does not mean they can't achieve it or even think about success in that area. They just need to approach the challenge on their own terms, and find the ways of reaching that goal that work for them.
Being creative and adaptive is the key! Just as in survival, those that can adapt, survive (a damaging misconception is that the "fittest" survive, but Darwin's real message is that those that adapt are the one that are fittest). And we just came full circle there with the evolution, which I'd like to boast was planned... but it wasn't.
So do you have ADD or ADHD? Some doctors do not diagnose the disability if it has no negative affects on your life. Or maybe you don't have it but do have some of the negative behaviors associated with it? Who knows, but it might give you some peace of mind to do some quizzes on the matter.
Here are two that I thought were very comprehensive and asked more in-depth questions:
- 1) From Psych Central. It even offers measurements in the subcategory of hyperactivity in case that is not strong for you or unusually strong, which would alter your overall score. I had a 34 which made me moderate, however my hyperactivity rating was very low.
My results: - From Psychology Today. It is labeled as "Attention" under the test section. I scored a 32/100 on this one. There are some helpful tips oh how to cope with it. But remember, FINDING YOUR STRONG SUIT is really the most helpful.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
My Life Goals/Bucket List
Looking in my old diary at my "before I am 21..." list:
- go clubbing
- get drunk
- buy something very expensive with my own money [my treasured 1st laptop]
- buy cigarettes for fun
- buy a lottery ticket
- sneak out of my house
- find my passion career-wise
- get to 2nd base [not really sure I knew what 2nd base entailed at the time... actually I still don't]
- get a piercing. either:
- 2nd set of ear piercings
- cartilage
- nose
- eyebrow
Okay, I'll admit it, judging by these aspirations I was a pretty immature idiot. In my defense, I was sheltered and these are the things that meant freedom and adventure to me at the time. Anyway, I think I accomplished everything before I turned 22 except for buying a lottery ticket (go figure, the easiest one), finding my passion, and getting that piercing.
I've grown since then though and the goals are at least somewhat more inspired and true to the person I want to become... kinda.
My Life Goals and Bucket List:
- Get a cool piercing - cartilage, nose, or lip [this one's a keeper!]
- Ride a camel across the Sahara Desert.
- Sky dive
- Travel! Visit: Thailand, Britain, Travel across Europe,
New Orleans, NYC, The United Nations HQ, Washington D.C. -
See ancient runes [Tulum] - Try scary foods
chapulines [fried crickets! salty and crispy resembling sunflower seeds]frog legsalligatorchicken heart- See an Olympic event or a world-class tennis tournament in person.
- Live in another city on my own.
Go on an archaeological excavationDiscover an ancient artifact (on that excavation I pulled out a pouch of beads that ended up being a huge part of the archaeologist/master-student's dissertation).Be an actress [standardized patient]Go on a cruiseWhite water river raftingGo kayakingRead more! (I'm up to 156 on Goodreads and counting!)As of mid 2014 I'm at 227 books!Smoke some Mary JaneTry Ecstasy- Try amphetamines or "uppers"
- Ride a motorcycle
Ride an elephant- Get close and personal with an elephant
Touch a buffaloTouch a llama [Cattleman's]Touch a camel [San Diego Zoo]- Ride a horse across a long distance
- Write a novel
- Cross-country train ride
- Find my calling
- Learn a 3rd language
- Start a Drive-in Theater
Present research at a conference
and still adding!
Goals to be achieved this summer:
- Write a story, article, part of a book
- Get anything published
- Make handmade jewelry
- Finally DO some fashion DIYs
- Work out and have a sexy beach body
- Internship or future oriented work
Sunday, March 17, 2013
DIY Style
~DIY~ Unique denim shorts by triskabella featuring runwaydreamz shorts
Some amazingly simple ways to give old clothes some hipster edge. Just add studs and accent with some dye.
DIYing gives you the anonymity to have fun with making your own designs and patterns... but if you need help coming up with your totally unique hipster fashion, here are some ideas.
Look at all the ways you can work with this simple idea! Just google "DIY galaxy shirt" for instructions on how to create this awesome effect. All you need is bleach and a few fabric paints!
or I guess you could just buy one...
Check out this Tee Twice. She has a lot of really cool screen print tees!
Some amazingly simple ways to give old clothes some hipster edge. Just add studs and accent with some dye.
DIYing gives you the anonymity to have fun with making your own designs and patterns... but if you need help coming up with your totally unique hipster fashion, here are some ideas.
Look at all the ways you can work with this simple idea! Just google "DIY galaxy shirt" for instructions on how to create this awesome effect. All you need is bleach and a few fabric paints!
or I guess you could just buy one...
Check out this Tee Twice. She has a lot of really cool screen print tees!
Friday, March 15, 2013
Anthropology Archaeology Movies!!!
I am a bit of a film buff and love to watch epic adventure movies, sci-fi, and fantasy sorts of things. Even though I am really into anthropology, for some reason I JUST barely noticed that a lot of my top movies (and some movies I think are just "good-ish") are archaeology related... how could I have been so blind?!
Anyway, I thought I should compile a list for any other people out there that are interested in
Indiana Jones (of course! It's the epitome on anthro/archaeo movies)
The Mummy... and though the second doesn't quite compare, I'd say it is still good-ish.
Prometheus. Can you say an Archaeologist's total wish fulfillment? I mean hello! Instead of just looking through stupid artifacts on earth, let's go on a space adventure and examine where the human race actually came FROM. Yeah it deviates from evolutionary theory, and I've been told by a stick-up-his-butt friend that the science was shoddy... but hey it's supposed to be fantastical and adventurous, and make you think about things. And THAT is what I love about it. And it is so visually spectacular! AND, David is one dead sexy robot.
Atlantis. Yes, the Disney cartoon. Disney should get their hands dirty more often with highly stigmatized subjects like they did here. Look how great Pocahontas (colonialism), Aladdin (caste system), Mulan (gender issues), and Tarzan (imperialism/exploitation) did.
The Gods Must Be Crazy. Such an unexpectedly hilarious and illuminating movie. You must check it out this mock documentary.
Sahara. Okay, no actual archaeology is involved, as the rag-tag team of under-water excavators are actually treasure hunters. The way ancient artifacts are treated are really quite appalling... but a bad ass W.H.O. epidemiologist, Cruz, and shirtless McConaughey made me overlook that.
Can't think of anymore... Can anyone else?
Anyway, I thought I should compile a list for any other people out there that are interested in
Indiana Jones (of course! It's the epitome on anthro/archaeo movies)
The Mummy... and though the second doesn't quite compare, I'd say it is still good-ish.
Prometheus. Can you say an Archaeologist's total wish fulfillment? I mean hello! Instead of just looking through stupid artifacts on earth, let's go on a space adventure and examine where the human race actually came FROM. Yeah it deviates from evolutionary theory, and I've been told by a stick-up-his-butt friend that the science was shoddy... but hey it's supposed to be fantastical and adventurous, and make you think about things. And THAT is what I love about it. And it is so visually spectacular! AND, David is one dead sexy robot.
Atlantis. Yes, the Disney cartoon. Disney should get their hands dirty more often with highly stigmatized subjects like they did here. Look how great Pocahontas (colonialism), Aladdin (caste system), Mulan (gender issues), and Tarzan (imperialism/exploitation) did.
The Gods Must Be Crazy. Such an unexpectedly hilarious and illuminating movie. You must check it out this mock documentary.
Sahara. Okay, no actual archaeology is involved, as the rag-tag team of under-water excavators are actually treasure hunters. The way ancient artifacts are treated are really quite appalling... but a bad ass W.H.O. epidemiologist, Cruz, and shirtless McConaughey made me overlook that.
Can't think of anymore... Can anyone else?
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