Hello, and welcome to this July 12th installment of my weekly newsletter. As we all must be noticing on our regular trips to the local gym, there is a new fad going around. No, it's not balanced eating. And no, it's not "Nike Air VaporMax 360"s. And again no, it's not Seinfeld season four, episode seven. The fad in question is actually a combination of two fads-of-yesterday which have fallen from their central role in Vogue Magazine, through Teen Vogue, and will now start finding their way into Time Magazine (as pressing issues, no doubt). If you haven't guessed them already, the fads at hand are apple cider vinegar, and foam rollers. First, some context: 1a. Apple Cider Vinegar This tasty treat is coming to the fore, after years of unjust and debatably legal suppression by competitors. Even though big-balsamic and big-red-wine continue to run their notorious smear campaigns (an example is featured below, for reference), consumer opinion is changing. This monumental shift is led by hipsters, of course, but not the hipsters we're all familiar with. These hipsters' waistbands aren't preposterously high, nor do their always-pantalooned wardrobe decisions remain unchanged regardless of hot temperatures. These hipsters aren't found at the counter of a craft brewery whose beer is pre-digested by elephants, nor are they participating in 30-day-juice-cleanses.
Unfortunately, the defining characteristics of an apple cider based hipster are more subtle. If you're lucky, you may hear them ask "Is your apple cider vinegar fair trade?", or possibly "Do you carry any aged, single-malt apple cider vinegars?". They can sometimes be identified on a hot summer's day by a vinegar bottle in hand as they exercise (be watchful for urine-colored liquids). If you're still feeling uncertain, please refer to this list of identification tips: 1b. For trees: a. first identify whether the tree bears flat leaves or long needles 2b. For birds: a. first, learn to identify what general group a bird belongs to, using shape, color, and behavior 3b. For photo ID a. first, remember this easy-to-remember acronym: OHSER (Outfit, Hair, Smile, Eyes, Relax) b. second, refer to the acronym 2a. Foam Rollers The second fad in question, foam rollers, are notoriously common in the homes of the physically aware. These ingenious devices have been used willy-nilly despite their ongoing legal battle in a fight for unionization. Their desire for labor rights, rights which are codified in national and international labor and employment law, has been unjustly delayed for years by the courts. Thankfully, when Bob Dylan released his most recent album "Daybrake", a duo project featuring himself (on tambourine) and a foam roller, international support has been growing. As Rolling Stone Magazine accurately put it, the album was "Great". Now back to the topic at hand, the new fad. Again, as we've all been noticing, there's a new fad going around at our local gyms. This new fad is a combination of fads 1a and 2a. And because there isn't a cool, crisp new name for it, let's call it what it is: rolling out tight muscles using rotten apples. I don't really have much to say about this new fad, other than "we've all been noticing it at our local gyms". Thanks for reading. I'd like to end this post with a quote: "We've all been noticing a new fad going around our local gyms"
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As you may be noticing, or may one day notice, it's winter time in "Canada". As days grow shorter, temperatures dip, and icicles loom menacingly, we are all faced with an overwhelming set of decisions:
1. Do I shovel, or do I wait, begrudgingly, for my landlord to do it? 2. Do I pretend to like the cold, or do I pretend to hate it? 3. How many times is it appropriate to bring-up my slow-cooker in a casual conversation? Here in "Toronto", I've found winters to be relatively harsh, making it a feat to remain thawed throughout, especially with these enormous questions over our heads. I find it truly amazing that, on top of keeping warm, weathered "Torontonians" can keep-up both the frequency and fervor of their empty TTC complaints, too (which is no small task!). You may be thinking "Hey, it sounds like these "Torontonians" have it figured out! or "Wow, these folks seem to have a functional relationship with winter, which needs no improvement!", and if so, this is where we disagree. In my mind, there is one glaring and unforgivable issue with the "Toronto" winter: snow removal. When snow falls in this city, what do we do? We push it around. Oh sure, we have a variety of scoops: hand-operated plastic scoops, combustion-engine-powered vehicles with height adjustable metal scoops haphazardly attached to the front, and even the occasional International HX Series (outfitted with Tenco one-way plows, rear-mount side-wing plows, and even combination bodies), but what can these scoops actually accomplish? Even though Toronto has "600 snow plows, 300 sidewalk plows, and 200 salt trucks ready to tackle the winter season", the word "tackle" stands out to me. Instead of actually dealing with the snow, they'll just push it around... indefinitely? I find the whole situation particularly shocking because the answer is so, so simple: grooming. Instead of plowing snow, we groom it. This may sound like a radical idea, but hear me out: With grooming, there is no pushing, no piling, and no salting. Instead, it's fresh, magical, and scintillating corduroy... every morning! Instead of pushing the snow away, we meet it, creating a snow-pack that both protects city infrastructure and helps us reduce carbon emissions to reach targets set by the 2016 Paris Agreement. Winter driving would instantly turn from a chore, to a delight, sidewalks would stay un-snowbanked, and your favorite pair of boots would keep from being eaten by road-salt... Plus, the experience of watching a snow-plow drive-by pales in comparison to seeing a Prinoth LEITWOLF X, or even a PistenBully 600. Now there would be some challenges, of course, namely: keeping your jaw from dropping in awe of how much better grooming is, managing the overwhelming joy of the entire city, and funding the extraordinary high costs associated with purchasing a fleet of brand-new snow groomers. These three points may seem daunting, and in reality, they ARE daunting. I believe, however, that the improvements to winter would be daunting, too! In conclusion: snow groomers > snow plows, fresh corduroy > salty slushy roads, Paris Agreement = good. If you have any thoughts, ideas, or questions, please direct them to John Tory (mayor of "Toronto"), Werner Amort (president of Prinoth), or contact me. This video explains, in 10 easy steps, how to quickly and easily ride a bicycle! Don't feel limited to your two feet any longer. Now you can get around quickly, easily, and safely using the hippest two wheeled invention since the breadbox, back in 1356 B.C.. Ever wanted to go to holland? This is your ticket! Just show this video quickly, easily, safely, and funly to any travel service, and they'll know what to do! My grandmother once told me to watch my step, and those words have stuck with me ever since. Whether you're an experienced bike racer, a casual bike pedaler, or a loose 2-wheeled deviled-egg, you WILL find something new and exciting in this gem of a clip quickly, easily, safely, funly, and definitely. Please watch responsibly. If I had a time machine, I would be able to travel back in time to meet September-me and pass on some hard-earned advice that I've taken away from CSC104. Would this be an appropriate use of one of the greatest technical marvels of our time? Would my advice be helpful, insightful, or useful in any way? Would September-me even listen to the crazed babbling of December-me? Who's to say. In any case, here is the advice that I would give: "So you're wondering how to design a function, eh?" (This is meant to be read more as a sneer than a Canadian-ism) In keeping with my nature, the process of me giving advice would most likely contain a careful mix of misinformation, references that are impossible to understand out of context, and occasional tidbits of actual information. This would all be in an attempt to keep the meeting of me and me interesting, as the actual advice December-me has to pass on is mundane. September-me might not like to hear it, but the advice is: go to class, pay attention, and do some of the work. With those key concepts in mind, it seems near impossible to finish the course without being able to easily design basic functions. In terms of preparing for CSC104, December-me has a few ideas. First, I would tell September-me not to worry about it, as the course material is straight forward and the workload is more than manageable. My advice would be to enjoy the remnants of summer! "Spend time outdoors! Cook some cool meals! Take in art! See friends! Read!" These are the things that I find myself missing the most in the throws of the semester's scholarly commitments. In other words, I don't think this course demands any specific preparation. Well, here we are. The end of the line. I suppose I should make a few thank you's. First, thanks to my parents. They birthed me and raised me etc! Second, thanks to my grandparents. Without you guys, my parents wouldn't have existed, and without my parents... Lastly, thanks to my TA Landy who's help and support has been extremely valuable! Couldn't have done it without you! Preparing for quizzes and tests:
To prepare for the quizzes I have been using a classic two-pronged approach, where prong-one entails the understanding of lecture materials, and prong-two refers to the understanding of the practice exercises. Prong-one contains three sub-prongs for me: attendance, attention, and analysis (the sub-sub-prong being alliteration, I suppose). To ensure that I am keeping up with the course material, I try to attend as many lectures as possible. It is vital that while in physical attendance, I also attend mentally! This is sub-prong-two. I personally find it helpful, especially for information retention, to pay attention to the lecture while staying as engaged as possible. This, coupled with some light note-taking, has done wonders for my programming. Sub-prong-three comes into play when I am unable to attend a lecture. “Analysis” refers to the process of reviewing the lecture materials that are posted on the course website. Once these three sub-prongs have been satisfied, I am ready to move back up to the prong-level, and approach prong-two (not to be confused with prawn-two). Prong-two is sits in a somewhat grey area when compared to prong-one. My approach is not as quantifiably black and white, although it is equally as important as prong-one for quiz preparation. My process can’t be neatly divided into sub-prongs, but here’s what it would look like when distilled down into a single statement: looking over the entire practice exercise while doing only the work that will positively benefit my understanding. For me, the ratio of time investment to information gained reigns supreme. Once both prong-one and prong-two have been fulfilled, I am ready to take on the quiz- if not the whole world! My preparation for tests simply adds a third prong to my two-pronged quiz approach. Let’s call this new prong “Preperation”. Prong three can be divided into review, and practice (as sub-prongs). I like to look over my notes and revisit the material that will appear on the test, hoping to re-familiarize myself to material covered earlier in the semester which may have slipped my memory. Then I like looking through the practice exams, getting a feel for the types of questions asked. With these three prongs, you can't go wrong. You will also have a fork (a trident?). (It’s probably worth noting that this approach has left me satisfied with my grades on the quizzes and test, so far.) Interesting functions: I have enjoyed looking at the stacking functions that we’ve written to automatically create large amalgamations of small original images. Although the visual process of stacking consecutively larger images is something that seems innately natural to me (at least to the creative/intuitive side of my brain), I am surprised by how convoluted and cumbersome the functions are, especially when evaluating. Intimidating to intimate-dating: Initially, I found the aforementioned stacking functions to be intimidating. In looking at more of them, and stepping them by hand, I have gained a better understanding of them. I hope to ask one of these functions on a date soon. Asking questions? Is it easy? Yes- I think! Although I haven’t asked any, it seems like there are a variety of helpful options. – Why did you choose CSC104? What do you hope to get out of the course?
I decided to take CSC104 to fulfill one of my arts and science electives this year because it seems to strike a healthy balance between interesting course material, and a manageable time investment. What I am looking for primarily in this course is the 0.5 arts and science elective credit that will contribute to my completing my degree and graduating this spring. My secondary hope is to understand more about computer science and programming in an attempt to gain a broader understanding of the world and the role that computers play therein. Toady, computers play a vitally important part of my everyday life, and I am aiming to better comprehend their inner-workings (as my current understanding is laughable- flappable really). – What did you expect programming to be like, and how does it compare with your experience in the course so far? (If you programmed before, how is programming in this course similar, and how is it different?) I have had a small amount of experience with programming before this course, learning the basics of HTML/CSS. This course has been much more fun than I expected. The racket programming language is slightly different than what I have previously experienced, but there are many similarities also. When I first opened and installed the program DrRacket, I did not immediately set the language to CSC104. This caused my first 20 or so minutes to be extremely frustrating… Thank goodness that I found a solution! – What do you find interesting so far? Learning the language and how functions can be embedded is interesting. Thinking through the steps reminds me of doing grade 9 Mathematics, BEDMAS in specific. I find this similarity interesting. – How did you study for the quizzes? Are you satisfied with your performance on them; if not, what do you plan to change? I have studied for the quizzes by going to lecture, and going over the practice exercise briefly. Yes, I have been satisfied with my performance thus far. I do not plan to change my approach much, unless the course becomes significantly more challenging. – Are there any specific Computer Science topics you're interested in? I am interested in being an active member in our future. With this in mind, I am interested in understanding how computer’s and programs function, on an elementary level at least. I have no specific interests other than to be interested in general. Harrison |
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July 2020
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