Displacement: unique interests
Jul. 17th, 2003 01:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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rysmiel posted a meme about explaining one's unique entries in the interests section. So here's my version, cos I'm displacing.chevruta: Traditional Jewish approach to text study, where you work with a partner and basically argue until you get some personal meaning out of whatever you're reading. It's a very effective way to understand a subject (I've found that a chevruta-type approach works for a wide range of things other than Jewish texts), and at best it can be incredibly intimate and exhilarating. My first boyfriend had been my chevra for a while before we got together, and as far as I was concerned sex had nothing on chevruta in the intimacy stakes.
I don't know anything else that comes close to good chevruta in terms of sheer fun (though obviously that's a matter of personal taste), and mediocre chevruta is also analogous to sex in that it's better than none. I had some really good chevruta going in Oxford, with various combinations of Old A, J and new A and occasional others. (Hey, let's drop the metaphor now before this gets dodgy, hmm?) And I miss it tremendously. At the moment I'm getting by on the occasional session with RB or preparing a supposed shiur for Prof S which isn't quite the same, but at least it's something.
Everett Fox: The coolest Biblical translator I've ever come across. Sadly he's only up to Samuel so far, but his translation is absolutely amazing. It's incredibly close to the Hebrew, to the extent that he makes subtle textual allusions and assonnances transparent, but his English is very readable. It's not exactly standard English, but it's poetic and inspiring rather than clumsy. His amazing translation is published by Schocken Books, and it's totally changed my life. (He also acted as the religious adviser for Prince of Egypt, which is how the obscure Jewish mythological references got in there...)
GB Edwards: The author of one of my favourite books of all time, unfortunately terribly obscure. Edwards was a sort of recluse from Guernsey, but was also an autodidact and spent some time as a professor of English in an English university. He was absolutely miserable and regretted ever leaving Guernsey, so he wrote a sort of alternate history autobiography about his alter ego who didn't. The first volume of this is The Book of Ebenezer le Page; it took him about 40 years to write and he died with the remaining two volumes only in note form. It's an amazing piece of social history, describing Guernsey over the whole span of the 20th century, and it has a cast of characters like nothing else I've ever read. I shall post a proper review of it at some point.
Jewish-Christian dialogue: I've been deeply involved in Jewish-Christian dialogue since I was a young teenager; now I'm branching out into more general interfaith work, but Jewish-Christian will always be my first love. At least partly because I know Judaism and Christianity far better than any other religions, so it's easier to get into a profound level.
Through dialogue, I've met some of my dearest friends, and learnt an amazing amount about myself and maybe even the nature of truth. I also think it's a worthwhile enterprise in terms of promoting goodwill and multiculturalism and all those other sorts of things. It's perfectly possible to be cynical about it, and indeed, sometimes it's little more than mutual congratulation by liberals being fluffy at eachother. But I honestly believe that in some circumstances it can be a genuine force for social change.
Microphotography: Taking (artistic) photos of microscopic things, particularly cells, in my case.
When I first checked with the intention of writing this post, I had BBC micros and Weizmann Institute as unique interests, but it turns out that other users were interested in BBC computers and Weizmann, so I've altered mine to match. And there is one other lj user who is interested in p53 (my professional speciality, which deserves a post in its own right, but this isn't going to be it).
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BBC's!
Date: 2003-07-17 07:09 am (UTC)Re: BBC's!
Date: 2003-07-17 07:28 am (UTC)I was never quite as geeky about them as you, sadly; my programming didn't extend beyond BASIC, which has left me at least unscared of command line interfaces.
My old interest in them was revived recently because my current bf, M, was much more seriously into BBCs than I ever was. And he has a working model, of which I am deeply jealous (I'm just running an emulator on my gigaherz PC...)
Re: BBC's!
Date: 2003-07-17 07:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-17 10:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-17 10:41 am (UTC)First got into them because my first cousin J, a couple of years older than me, was a pretty serious geek and always had to have the latest hardware. So we used to inherit his obsolete year-old computers. I took to BASIC very well when I was primary school age, and had some excellent teachers.
Then other interests sort of took over, both for me and J. I continued using the latest of the bunch of BBCs (and an Electron) for games but didn't really follow up the programming side.
There wasn't much of a geek scene at school, was there? I mean, there was a computer room (full of BBCs initially, later upgraded to Archimedes), but pretty much all that happened was a teacher keeping an eye on you to make sure you weren't playing games.
I took the odd computing proficiency course, but found word processing, spreadsheets and what they used to call "desk top publishing" pretty uninspiring. By that time systems were already transitioning to recognizable prototypes of PCs, all GUI and no real user control. Then again, the school was only just starting to wake up to email and internet by the time I left (1997), so I never got into that side either until uni.
I'd have more or less forgotten about the BBC altogether, except that in 1998 I met M, who's an enthusiast, and was reminded just how much more playable 80s style games were than almost anything since. That was when I got into emulators, but it was kind of too late by then to get excited about programming; I wasn't that good as a 7-year-old, and after more than a decade, well *shrug*.
Between then and now... I stupidly lost touch with M, but that's a tale for another time, but continued playing Beeb games via the emulator. And of course when he managed to find me and later ask me out, we started talking about BBCs cos that was one of the things we'd had in common the first time we met.
Wow, I love how all these BBC fans are suddenly crawling out of the woodwork now that I've mentioned it in passing in my journal. Yay.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-17 10:57 am (UTC)There wasn't much of a geek scene at school, was there?
Not at all. It's weird, I reckon that had there been a geek scene I wouldn't have spent my teenage years rebelling etc. The lack of a geek scene at school is probably one of my biggest regrets about my childhood. I wonder, is this always the case with girls' schools? Do any girls' schools have a strong geek scene? I sometimes wonder about ringing up the Perse and offering to talk to their pupils about Computer Science, but somehow I haven't quite got around to it yet. I should really do something about that. Especially since I believe it's pretty hard to get into programming etc. unless you have family members who are doing that kind of thing, and I bet there are girls at the Perse who would be excellent at Computer Science but just don't realise it.
I can't believe I never noticed that you were into BBCs when we were at school. I wish I had noticed -- maybe then we could've started up some kind of geek scene! :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-18 06:57 am (UTC)It was several years later when I actually owned my first computer (I think I was around 15) - a Dragon 32, which was about to be thrown away. Again I spent most of my time on it writing programs, initially in the very buggy BASIC interpreter, and later 6809 assembler.
I have always considered it sad that kids at school nowadays are not exposed to programming at all, and despite "IT initiatives", computers are just running pre-packed software where children click randomly while being presented dubious claims of learning outcomes. I feel that IT in schools has moved backwards and that programming can be taught to everyone. Also I think that it is a useful and rewarding skill to learn, even if the child is not going to continue in computing.
Teaching programming
Date: 2003-07-22 10:10 pm (UTC)That's an interesting thought (and ties in to things I've heard about recent versions of Windows deliberately making it different for the user at home to get into the operating system and do stuff themself, where the earlier versions and DOS made it easy), but can you back it up? I.e., was programming a part of the mainstream syllabus in this country at some point in the past? You say yourself you did not pick up your programming skills from school.
In my case, I did start by being taught Spectrum BASIC at the age of 9 in my school's Computer Club in 1982, but that was extra-curricular, and I was pretty much left to fend for myself in the Senior School's Computer Club. The only computing I ever got in the formal curriculum was the AS-Level I took at the age of 17, and that was very much optional. Though I do get the impression that my school was a bit behind the times as regards the microcomputer revolution.
(Damn, I will not get sucked into this blog thing, )
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-23 11:15 am (UTC)However by the time I got to school this had all but stopped and children used pre-written programs, and as you say, now with Windows and MacOS much of the internals of the computer is hidden from the user (though MacOS X improves things slightly). This is fine if the user wants to achieve some task not associated to the computer, but is a bad thing if the user wants to learn what is really happening.
Re: Teaching programming
Date: 2003-07-23 12:07 pm (UTC)That suggests it's not only a girls' school problem.
I was taught a little Logo (yay!) at primary school, and a very little BASIC (which happened to be too elementary for me at the time, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing in principle). Nothing after the age of 7, though.
Re: Teaching programming
Date: 2003-07-23 06:05 pm (UTC)Oh yes, Logo, I'd forgotten about that. Someone in my school's computer club reimplemented that in BBC BASIC. He called it, appropriately enough, Slogo.
As for being left to fend for myself in the Senior School, that was because of the teacher in charge of Computer Club's leave-them-to-it attitude. This was the same teacher who refused to teach us what a nucleophile was and expected we'd pick up the concept from examples.
Re: Teaching programming
Date: 2003-07-23 12:15 pm (UTC)Oh, but you so will! Granted you have better self-discipline than I do, but even so, you're well on the trajectory that leads to capitulation.
It goes like this:
- you come across LiveJournal, think, hmm, cute, but no way do I have time for that kind of thing
- you discover you have a close friend with a journal (two, in your case)
- you want to read and comment on their journal
- you discover by browsing outwards or reading others' comments that there are a bunch of your other acquaintances on LJ
- you get into interesting discussions with random strangers
Sound familiar? Well, it's only a small step to:Re: Teaching programming
Date: 2003-07-23 06:18 pm (UTC)Oh, but I so won't. You know I'm in a slack period now immediately after posting to my writers group. In another day or few I'll commit myself to my next project, and definitely won't have time for this any more.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-23 12:04 pm (UTC)Hear hear!
I think it is a relatively useful life skill to get kids comfortable with your standard GUI, but basically the whole point of such things is that they're pretty intuitive. I can think of much better uses for hours and hours of teaching time (not to mention the money spent on computers which have to be the latest model because of Microsoft sales policies...)
But I agree that random clicking and pretty picture software is worse than pointless. And even good Windows-centric teaching should certainly not be to the exclusion of programming.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-22 07:31 pm (UTC)Yes, but to an extent that's what teenage years are for. I slightly regret that my teenage rebellion never extended beyond growing my hair...
More seriously, I agree that a lot of people (definitely including me) would have benefitted from a bit more encouragement to get into computers properly.
ringing up the Perse and offering to talk to their pupils about Computer Science
That's a really excellent idea. Especially as I suspect most of the current pupils are too young to remember life pre-Windows, so could easily miss the concept that you can tell a computer what to do.
I can't believe I never noticed that you were into BBCs when we were at school
It really wasn't very obvious; not the kind of thing that gained you either street cred or intellectual respect!
Re: BBCs!
Date: 2003-07-22 12:29 pm (UTC)In case you-the-readers are not aware of it, there a cool "The BBC Micro Lives!" site at http://www.nvg.unit.no/bbc/ (http://www.nvg.unit.no/bbc/), with lots of games, software, emulators and all sorts (with the notable exception of the BASIC and OS ROMs, which the inheritors of Acorn are still guarding the copyright on).
<plug> Speaking of games, if you like the likes of Snake and Tetris, can I take this opportunity to plug my game X*L*C*R (http://www.michael-grant.me.uk/xlcr.html), which is almost a cross between the two. It was released on the compilation Play It Again Same 19, and is now available, for all good emulators, to download at my website. </plug>
Re: BBCs!
Re: BBCs!
Date: 2003-07-22 09:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-17 07:48 am (UTC)What a cool concept. I've always loved talking about books in depth with people, and found it can be an utterly exhilarating experience; how lovely that there should be a word covering something like that feeling. I've always felt that my feelings about text and good conversation were more accurately perceived as lusts than as fondnesses, but too many people give you blank looks when you say something like that.
If only the way my brain does attention were compatible with doing this and giving a good backrub simultaneously.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-22 07:37 pm (UTC)I don't think chevruta is precisely a word for the feeling, I think it's a word for the activity which leads to the buzz I was talking about. Though it's certainly a nuanced word; the root ch-v-r covers friend, study-partner, fellow (as in member of the same society, associate I suppose), and sometimes lover.
my feelings about text and good conversation were more accurately perceived as lusts than as fondnesses
Most certainly, you put that very well indeed, thank you.
too many people give you blank looks when you say something like that
This is possibly cos they are puritanical enough to object to using sex as a metaphor?
doing this and giving a good backrub simultaneously
Mm, I see what you mean, it's a sort of skinship thing, isn't it?
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-23 05:19 pm (UTC)This is possibly cos they are puritanical enough to object to using sex as a metaphor?
I have felt more that it's a confusion of levels; that it's people who assume that most companionship is indirectly about sex, not necessarily honestly, and they can handle this being admitted, or cope with it being denied by the assumption that the denial is hiding something, but go into mental gearjam on the companionship being such an utterly distinct thing from sex that one can make tangential metaphorical connections with no weight of the sort they are seeking at all.
doing this and giving a good backrub simultaneously
Mm, I see what you mean, it's a sort of skinship thing, isn't it?
I find that particular word a bit cutesy, I prefer to think of the feeling as skin-hunger. Which is a very close and meaningful thing for me; this discussion connects on to things I mentioned here, which is sort of a position statement it's been very useful to me to have to hand for reference since.
However, administering a good backrub requires me to sink deeply into a non-verbal, non-visual [ I always take my glasses off ] cognitive space, which is all defined in terms of tactile and spatial things; the best I can do at getting words when I'm there is suggesting people should turn over or asking them how something feels or whether it's OK; so lovely though it is, I see no way it can exist in simultaneous parallel to any of the things that spin off chevruta as you describe it.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-23 07:05 pm (UTC)*blink* that seems a somewhat bizarre assumption, but ok, I can see how some people might think that.
such an utterly distinct thing from sex that one can make tangential metaphorical connections
That would be the point of drawing an analogy? All I can say is that if I try to explain chevruta and get this kind of response, I shall have a better idea where the confusion is.
skinship
Date: 2003-07-23 07:12 pm (UTC)Well, fair 'nuff. It's not really my word, I don't have a feel for it. I just picked it up from
a position statement it's been very useful to me to have to hand for reference since
WOW! That is one amazing piece. I really need to think about some of those ideas. Thanks for pointing me to it anyway.
I see no way it can exist in simultaneous parallel to any of the things that spin off chevruta
This clarifies your earlier remark, thank you. (It also reminds me of some other things that I think are probably not appropriate to discuss here.)
Pair programming
Date: 2003-07-17 03:07 pm (UTC)In pair programming there are two programmers per computer, one at the keyboard, the other watching. It is stated to have many benefits (http://members.aol.com/humansandt/papers/pairprogrammingcostbene/pairprogrammingcostbene.htm) and when I have tried it I have found it very effective. We were able to spot bugs during writing the code that neither of us would have probably spotted working by himself. I think this was because when I was not coding I was able to see the bigger picture, since I didn't have to worry about the details of the next few lines.
We were less likely to get distracted, and less likely to want to be distracted since we did not feel isolated, so I found it more enjoyable. Also by having to explain something we were about to do we gained a better understanding of it, and possibly realized a flaw without ever having it pointed out. It also made debugging less time consuming, firstly because a lot of bugs were eliminated during coding, and by being able to bounce ideas off of each other we were able to find the cause of bugs faster. There were probably other benefits too, and it is something I would like to try again in the future.
Re: Pair programming
Date: 2003-07-22 12:41 pm (UTC)That's the theory at least. In practice, I find it doesn't work out quite so well if the one at the keyboard has a better grasp of the code than the one watching. Theoretically you should swap back and forth to make sure one person does not monopolise the keyboard, but in practice pair programming has taught me I'm a control freak. I now open pair programming sessions with the exhortation to my partner to be merciless in taking the keyboard away from me. It's mine, all mine, MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!*
That said, I do vigorously endorse the other practices of Extreme Programming.
Re: Pair programming
Date: 2003-07-23 12:17 pm (UTC)The things people will admit about themselves in LiveJournal! I really never had you down as a control freak...
Re: Pair programming
Date: 2003-07-23 06:20 pm (UTC)You've never pair programmed with me. ;^b
I'm not a control freak in all regards...
Re: Pair programming
Date: 2003-07-22 07:41 pm (UTC)Do I actually know you, just out of interest? I'm guessing you came here via
Re: Pair programming
Date: 2003-07-22 08:03 pm (UTC)Re: Pair programming
Date: 2003-07-23 12:20 pm (UTC)Yeah, I have both Edinburgh and Cambridge connections. And as for geek connections, well, what's the point of being a geek if you're not going to make lots of connections with other geeks? So I 'spect we have quite a lot of people in common.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-19 12:32 am (UTC)Just another technopagan-Deist-with-divinity-school-girlfriend Religion major over here ... :)
(no subject)
I like technopagan-Deist as a religious self-identification. I mean, wow.
G.B.Edwards
Date: 2003-08-18 05:58 am (UTC)David (Downunder)
Re: G.B.Edwards
Date: 2003-08-18 09:21 am (UTC)