Saturday 27 September 2014

Ruminations (probably the first of many)

Alright, so this week, every one of my classes ramped up pretty quickly. I was expecting this to happen, but the degree at which it did still surprised me a bit. CSC165 was one of them, but the material still interests me. It's like what was mentioned earlier in the course, with the release of opioids when you solve a logic problem, providing that motivation to finish the problem. Maybe I'm just weird, but I find that absolutely true. I really enjoyed solving the paper folding problem on Friday for some reason, and the thrill of completing something like that makes the frustration of the problem worthwhile. I would love to see some kind of chart comparing difficulty of problem with expected release of opioids, and some kind of experiment charting which kinds of problems or what degree of difficulty creates the most positive response once the individual has solved the problem. Alright, that's all for now. Gabe out!

Friday 19 September 2014

First Impressions


Hello, world! Well, I suppose this isn't an entirely accurate place to say that, since that test post came before this, but I hadn't thought of it then, so whatever. Since this is my first week of this class, this slog probably won't be as choc-full of gripping logistical details as it eventually will be, but I will say a few things, mostly about my views of the course thus far in general. First things first: I like it. I really like it, a surprising amount. I don't really know how to say this without sounding like some sort of brown-noser, but who cares. I'm typically abysmal at math classes, or even logic classes, given that they are in some way related to math, but I'm not finding that to be the case this time. Sure, it takes a few different explanations of the material in class before I actually understand most topics (Vacuous truth, I'm looking at you), but I feel as if I legitimately understand them. When you actually find a class interesting, it's easier to concentrate, so hopefully that will lead to better comprehension of the material. My prime example of why I'm enjoying this class was the "streetcar conversation" problem we went over in class. I had never seen that problem before, but the confusing nature of the problem, as well as the fact that while it was in simple English, yet was still a verbal labyrinth, really appealed to me. Again, if you feel challenged by a problem, and instead of making you want to quit, it makes you increasingly more interested in solving it, something's going right there. I hope I'll have the opportunity to solve more problems like that in the future, since logic problems in English have always been more of my forte, as opposed to problems where everything is represented by symbols. I don't know why that is, it's just a failing of mine. In summation, I've been finding the class interesting and challenging thus far, and I hope those two qualities remain the same, as opposed to the challenge ramping up until I can't follow the material, but that remains to be seen. Thank you for your time!
-Gabe F

Tuesday 16 September 2014

Welcome to the Slog

First things first: I really wanted to call this The Uphill Slog, but I felt it would be a bit too pessimistic of a title for the course. Thus far, this actually seems like an interesting class. The logic portion makes sense, and I'd never taken a class that was primarily about logic and reasoning in high school, so it's a welcome break from that. For now, this is just a test post. I'll be posting more sensical things as the due dates call for it, but for now, I'm just making sure these post correctly. Nice to meet you, reader, whoever you are!
-Gabe F.