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Lessons I wish I had been taught (1996)

alumni.media.mit.edu

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Re: Lessons I wish I had been taught (1996)

#61

Post by formerkrogemp »

JulianWasTaken wrote: post #36
zabzonk wrote: post #14

> Blackboard Technique Use Whiteboard. Worst teaching experiences in my life have featured blackboards. Ooh that scree of the chalk and the eraser that does no such thing. Mind you, I haVE bad experiences with whiteboards too, particulary when the previous user defaced the board with non-whiteboard markers

Sounds like crummy chalk -- a good blackboard with some chalk is heaven for me. Whiteboards are so sterile. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhNUjg9X4g8

I will never miss whacking the erasers to remove the chalk dust in the morning as a child or the screech of chalk.

Re: Lessons I wish I had been taught (1996)

#62

Post by mywacaday »

retcon wrote: post #59

It's Rota's 10th point, on ageing, that's ringing in my ears. I'm the oldest person in the room far too often (and the population growth of recent decades serves to increase the effect and maybe even accelerate its onset) and I can absolutely attest, with the benefit of belated hindsight, to Rota's observation that this transformation happened overnight in a simple erasure of a former life. I'm searching for any indi…

I had the realization last week that the intern sitting next to me is young enough to be my son in a non scandalous manner, I am definitely in the the second half and there definitely was no transition period.

Re: Lessons I wish I had been taught (1996)

#64

Post by toyg »

dang wrote: post #11

Related: Ten Lessons I Wish I Had Been Taught (1997) [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23722803 - July 2020 (52 comments) Lessons I Wish I Had Been Taught (1996) [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15989599 - Dec 2017 (28 comments) Lessons I wish I had been taught (1996) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11747598 - May 2016 (20 comments) Lessons I wish I had been Taught - https://news.ycombin…

The fact most of those submissions are actually pointing to unique URLs, should tell us something about academia, the practice and ethics of republishing, how valid content will effectively fight a continuous battle for memetic survival, and the innate fragility of the web as publication media.

Re: Lessons I wish I had been taught (1996)

#65

Post by randomdata »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #7
kamaal wrote: post #5

>>10 Be prepared for old age Like my dad adviced me. As you age worry only about four things: Health, Relationships, Side income and Free time. Forget about career, accolades, titles, awards or recognitions, nothing is really remembered in this world where kids can't remember their parent's birthday or what they had in dinner yesterday.

Then why side income? If you're not going to worry about your career, why worry about side income?

Side income is what sets you up for retirement. Generally, without a side income, you can't retire or stay retired. I don't suppose I have to explain why retirement is something of growing concern as you age.

Depending on where you live, the government may provide you a side income after a certain age (mid-60s, commonly), but often it is well below what one needs for their preferred standard of living, so one's own side income remains important to many.

For what it is worth, this is more typically referred to as investing, but not all investments successfully return the all important income, so the distinction does matter here.

Re: Lessons I wish I had been taught (1996)

#66

Post by jstanley »

nl wrote: post #39

I do believe Gian-Carlo Rota would have fitted in quite well on HN: Activity Calories burned -------- --------------- Writing one line of C....................... 10 Debugging one line of C..................... 300 Writing one line of Lisp.................... 2 Debugging one line of Lisp.................. 20 Writing one line of Fortran................. 25 Reading e-mail.............................. 200 Writing e-mai…

How can writing email have negative calorie consumption?

Is this person usually eating while writing email? Is writing email an as-yet-undiscovered solution to world hunger?

Re: Lessons I wish I had been taught (1996)

#67

Post by aj7 »

“ Give them something to take home It is not easy to follow Professor Struik's advice. It is easier to state what features of a lecture the audience will always remember, and the answer is not pretty. I often meet, in airports, in the street and occasionally in embarrassing situations, MIT alumni who have taken one or more courses from me. Most of the time they admit that they have forgotten the subject of the course, and all the mathematics I thought I had taught them. However, they will gladly recall some joke, some anecdote, some quirk, some side remark, or some mistake I made.”

I took 18.02 from Rota in my very first semester. What I remember was what a nice person he was.

Re: Lessons I wish I had been taught (1996)

#68

Post by aj7 »

SenHeng wrote: post #34
jjoonathan wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, but we'd better zip up our flame proof suits before the chalk fans arrive. Look, I appreciate dark mode as much as the next guy and the chalk bouncing trick is super slick, but my god, the sound.

My primary school teachers liked to joke how they’d all die of bronchitis or tuberculosis from inhaling all that chalk dust over the years.

I remember my skinny, somewhat pinched in-her-late 50’s calculus teacher drawing perfect huge circles on the blackboard in less than a second, using her double-jointed shoulder as the pivot. I had been warned about this by my buddy who hah had her for trig.

Re: Lessons I wish I had been taught (1996)

#69

Post by aj7 »

randomdata wrote: post #65
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why side income? If you're not going to worry about your career, why worry about side income?

Side income is what sets you up for retirement. Generally, without a side income, you can't retire or stay retired. I don't suppose I have to explain why retirement is something of growing concern as you age. Depending on where you live, the government may provide you a side income after a certain age (mid-60s, commonly), but often it is well below what one needs for their preferred standard of living, so one's own s…

Unless you work for the government. I fell for the free enterprise shtick, hook, line, and sinker, but everyone with a good government job did better than me. I’m talking, $150k to $200k PENSIONS in two cases. Even the divorced secretary of my thesis advisor at Berkeley did better!

I’m not complaining, I did fine. But by going into private enterprise, I gave up the ability to tax the American people directly for my sustenance. I didn’t understand that.

Re: Lessons I wish I had been taught (1996)

#70

Post by dang »

paulpauper wrote: post #22
dang wrote: post #11

Related: Ten Lessons I Wish I Had Been Taught (1997) [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23722803 - July 2020 (52 comments) Lessons I Wish I Had Been Taught (1996) [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15989599 - Dec 2017 (28 comments) Lessons I wish I had been taught (1996) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11747598 - May 2016 (20 comments) Lessons I wish I had been Taught - https://news.ycombin…

lol ppl keep submitting this. I knew what it was before even clicking the link.

Reposts on HN are fine after a year or so (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html).

It's good for each new cohort of users to get exposed to the perennials and classics. Not everyone here is a grizzled veteran, thankfully.

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