BF3s Book Club

2012-01-05 20:35:23

#1351

The A W S M F O X: I Won't Deny It; +172|5944|SQUID

helps if you're not funny oooozinger

2012-01-05 21:37:32

#1352

Dilbert_X: The X stands for; +1,815|6365|eXtreme to the maX

Uzique wrote:
no, it's not dumb at all dilbert. every university has its own degree-granting powers - a first from liverpool john moores is not the same as a first from cambridge. so how can you really distinguish and separate the wheat from the chaff? you need to be elitist and discriminatory, somehow. lower-ranked universities that are not so well known for good teaching or good research will reward much easier degrees - it's as simple as that. it's not as if there's a centralised examination/essay marking board that grades oxbridge papers alongside london metropolitan papers. you have to put a student's degree in context, and that context is normally the awarding body (and by extension what standard of excellence they will measure by). what's wrong with that? how else will the system work, on a general level? of course individual applications and interviews matter a lot, too... but that's the next level. can a bottom-end provincial university provide the facilities and learning to produce an academic genius? certainly. but it's very rare and is definitely an exception. and that genius will still get recognized and will get an interview, like anyone else. i'm just saying that generally the highly-rated universities produce the vast majority of postgraduate students, or 'career academics'. surprise surprise. what are you really taking objection to here? i mean, really? seems like a kneejerk reaction against anything you perceive as 'intellectualist' or 'elitist'. you've got to draw some lines somewhere. there's a lot of schools out there with hugely disparate standards and results. the RAE is the standard benchmark and common measurement, here. it's the most rigorous, objective method (furthermore with some worldwide validity).

Arguing that a University's research output is in any way a measure of the quality of its Bachelors graduates is inane.

Additionally, if a University produces an excess of post-graduate students often thats an indication their degrees are over-academic and they can't find jobs - not necessarily an indication that academic brilliance is the be-all and end-all.

Going back to 'vocational', in historical English culture its been normal to sneer at people who do anything more practical than push a fountain pen across a sheet of parchment and label them 'vocational'. As an example see the contempt Thatcher was treated with as a 'grocer's daughter' in the film 'The Iron Lady'.
'Academics' are the last remnants of people who clutch on to this archaic and counter-productive belief.

Fuck Israel

2012-01-05 21:54:23

#1353

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6860|132 and Bush

Isn't DeVry an accredited university? Accredited by who.. er whom?

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2012-01-05 21:57:25

#1354

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5617|London, England

Shocking wrote:
I'm confused, isn't a university more or less defined by academic research? I don't see how an institution that doesn't do any research can be granted "full-university status", the whole point is to educate their students to become researchers themselves.

In America the difference between a college and a university is simply that the university offers masters and doctoral programs.

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2012-01-05 22:59:22

#1355

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6860|132 and Bush

Question. Do you guys, or maybe I should say can you guys, listen to music when you read?
I guess it really depends on the book for me.

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2012-01-05 23:03:20

#1356

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5617|London, England

Kmar wrote:
Question. Do you guys, or maybe I should say can you guys, listen to music when you read?
I guess it really depends on the book for me.

If it's fiction or history and it doesn't matter if my mind wanders for a page then yeah I do

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2012-01-05 23:15:58

#1357

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6860|132 and Bush

precisley.. if it's something intensive.. like philosophy I cant.

others, well, something like this is fine.

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2012-01-05 23:21:06

#1358

Shahter: Zee Ruskie; +295|7035|Moscow, Russia

Kmar wrote:
Question. Do you guys, or maybe I should say can you guys, listen to music when you read?

i cannot. at all. music is, to me, a language in itself. listening to music while reading for me is like having a conversation with two persons at once - i don't understand neither.

if you open your mind too much your brain will fall out.

2012-01-05 23:23:44

#1359

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6860|132 and Bush

Nothing with actual lyrics ofc. But as I am reading it all seems to fade away, and I think perhaps subconsciously, it helps relax me sometimes.

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2012-01-05 23:34:04

#1360

Shahter: Zee Ruskie; +295|7035|Moscow, Russia

i wasn't talking about lyrics. music has it's own... ehm... qualities, similar to those of a language. my perception is probably affected by my education in music - i studied piano for seven years, even have a basic degree (i cannot play worth of crap anymore, though). i cannot simply let music flow, my mind always starts to analyze the input and it becomes a major distraction. that's simply the way it is for me - i have to either give up reading or turn off the music.

Last edited by Shahter (2012-01-05 23:44:23)

if you open your mind too much your brain will fall out.

2012-01-06 00:00:01

#1361

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6860|132 and Bush

I know.. I was just adding that personal tidbit (no lyrics). If I'm left analyzing music, it's specific technical formation, then it's somewhat lost it purpose for me.

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2012-01-06 00:22:57

#1362

Varegg: Support fanatic :-); +2,206|7069|Nårvei

I've decided to stop reading anything deeper than comics since my non academic backround tells me I won't understand it anyway!

Wait behind the line ..............................................................

2012-01-06 00:30:01

#1363

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6860|132 and Bush

oooooo lighten up man..lol

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2012-01-06 00:33:04

#1364

Varegg: Support fanatic :-); +2,206|7069|Nårvei

Kmar wrote:
oooooo lighten up man..lol

That resembles a joke am I right? ... not sure since my non academic backround renders me useless at analyzing the written word

Wait behind the line ..............................................................

2012-01-06 00:33:47

#1365

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6860|132 and Bush

yes, i was rolling with it.

:crickets:

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2012-01-06 00:36:47

#1366

Varegg: Support fanatic :-); +2,206|7069|Nårvei

Kmar wrote:
yes, i was rolling with it.

:crickets:

Haha ... good one

Btw ... I often put on some classical piano concerto or similar when I read, it's quite soothing

Wait behind the line ..............................................................

2012-01-06 02:00:05

#1367

Kampframmer: Esq.; +313|5102|Amsterdam

KEN-JENNINGS wrote:
Hopefully you have a companion reader and/or understand all the allegory and imagery. Pretty pointless to read either without that understanding.

I have a bit of an understanding of it (I would say slightly more than the average person), but the edition that i have comes with an elaborate introduction and notes (a sort of small dictionary for terms, sayings and words that readers would most likely not understand) by Dr Adam Roberts from Holloway uni.
Once you've gotten into it, it's not very hard to read, although it does take me quite a lot more time than with other books.

2012-01-06 02:40:10

#1368

Shahter: Zee Ruskie; +295|7035|Moscow, Russia

Kmar wrote:
If I'm left analyzing music, it's specific technical formation, then it's somewhat lost it purpose for me.

you know, i don't think it is strictly technical. not really. it's something unconscious and, if anything, i would say that it actually adds to the experience. when you are reading a book you do not have to consciously dissect the material to enjoy it. ones level of understanding and, in effect, enjoyment of art is, among other things, defined largely by ones intellectual and educational levels. you simply read stuff, most of the processing happens automatically. i'd say the same happens to me when i "read" music - it demands attention and concentration, yes, but it adds depth too.

now, there's something lost as well: the "perception of the ignorant" so to say. i'm not sure what's better, actually - a lot of stuff my mind simply rejects as not sufficiently complex and thus not worthy of processing. so, even though consciously i understand perfectly well that simplicity is not always a bad thing, my over-trained and quite specific taste in music doesn't allow me to fully appreciate certain stuff. modern music is one such thing - e.g. no matter how i try, i cannot bring myself to listen to the shite uzique posts in "listening now" thread for more than a minute .

Last edited by Shahter (2012-01-06 02:44:19)

if you open your mind too much your brain will fall out.

2012-01-06 03:55:29

#1369

Dilbert_X: The X stands for; +1,815|6365|eXtreme to the maX

Varegg wrote:
I've decided to stop reading anything deeper than comics since my non academic backround tells me I won't understand it anyway!

I like Haynes manuals.

Fuck Israel

2012-01-06 04:36:59

#1370

Uzique: dasein.; +2,865|6730

i listen to ambient or (neo-) classical music when i read, but i wouldn't use the active verb 'listen'. i put it on to accompany my reading. i always feel guilty when i relegate music to background status and don't give it the attention it probably deserves, as a secondary sorta ambience-device. but i help it drowns out other distracting noises, and it helps me get into a little reading-bubble. always helps when you find music that compliments the mood/tone/atmosphere of what you're reading, of course.

Mod edit: Personal attack removed

_{libertarian benefit collector - anti-academic super-intellectual}. _{http://mixlr.com/the-little-phrase/}

2012-01-06 07:09:37

#1371

FEOS: Bellicose Yankee Air Pirate; +1,182|6670|'Murka

Kmar wrote:
Question. Do you guys, or maybe I should say can you guys, listen to music when you read?
I guess it really depends on the book for me.

Yes. Depends on the subject, though.

When I was in school, I limited the accompanying music to classical only.

Today, I'm reading a lot of current events/recent history pieces for school, and I only have music on when I'm reading while traveling (flying). That's just a mix of 80s-current "soft" pop music. Lyrics don't bother me--I'm not going to analyze them, since I've heard the songs a million times. It's just background noise.

If I'm not traveling, though, I tend to not have music on. Probably because my wife threw out all my classical CDs before I could burn them to mp3.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
― Albert Einstein
Doing the popular thing is not always right. Doing the right thing is not always popular

2012-01-06 08:53:50