#randolphtheyeti

[baskingsnark]

URL change randolphtheyeti to baskingsnark

[scienceaddict]

10 Questions About Me

I was tagged by littlemissmadscientist, a very lovely person as far as I can tell.

1. What is your name? - Kia, or Harold

2. What is your birthday? - The day I was born

3. Where are you from? - Australia

4. Do you have a crush? - Oh, do I.

5. Favorite color? - red and black and green and black.

6. Type something in all caps. - WHY

7. Favorite band/artist. - Queen, Tom Waits, Wise Guys, Billy Joel

8. Favorite number(s)? -  e^(i*pi)

9. Favorite drink? -The blood of my enemies (and champagne)

10. Tag 10 lovely followers: tags, may work, may not 

[scienceaddict]

I got tagged

Okay, I got tagged by Mercaptan (thanks mate!) to do this, and so I thought, what the hell eh? Here goes:

The rules:

Always post the rules

Answer the questions from the person who tagged you

Write 11 new ones

Tag 11 people

Actually tell them you tagged them

Questions I was asked:

1. What is your favorite videogame?

I don't really play videogames, mainly cos I've got a very addictive personality and don't need yet another thing to get obsessed about. The only modern videogame I've played to any extent is Assassin's Creed, which I like cos although I love modern science, I like old ways of fighting, I don't like gun games or anything like that (that's really my brother's forte). I also really like the classic breakout from Atari, and Bubble Struggle. I also LOVE racing games, but I don't get to play them often.

2. Favourite compound? (Sorry for making you pick one)

Nitrogen monoxide, because NO is a very accurate description of my chemical abilities (doesn't mean I don't love it, though).

3. What branch of science is your favorite? And why? 

Physics. Of any kind. Though, if I have to choose, and I will have to, I love Astrophysics and Theoretical Physics, mainly Cosmology, cos there's speculation, there's wild speculation, and then there's Cosmology.

4. What’s your opinion about the relation of art and science?

Ok, now this is a subject that's very dear to my heart, but which I don't really have a clear answer for. I will definitely go against what my Art History teacher says, because although he's technically more experienced and wise than me, I think he is so wrong and has no idea what Science is (let's not go into that here though). Basically Art and Science are two different ways to understand and present the world - Art the subjective, and Science the objective ways. Many scientists love Art, and many artists like Science, although I think the way that Science is presented at school stops artists from truly getting it and they think science is this stuffy old thing - it isn't, it's beautiful. An artist creates a model of the world through their own eyes, be it realistic, impressionistic, expressionistic, whatever they feel like doing. Scientists create models of the world through the rules of science, which often can disagree with the artistic (look at Goethe's spat with Newton's optics) or philosophical, but which are "right". I don't think Science is in any way colder than Art, just read what Feynman had to say about that, and I don't think one is "better" than the other. I myself would like to be an actress/comedian, but I will study Physics because a) Dad's happier with me getting a "serious degree" first, and b) I love Physics just as much as performance art. Science and Art are both awesome, should never, ever be seperated, need each other, and are the pinnacle achievements of humanity. Science needs Art, because the ideas of Science are made easily accessible through song, television, drawings, poetry, etc., and Art needs Science because the great mediums of Art: paint, paper, musical instruments, speakers, cameras, etc. are products of science. To quote Al Murray, "Science and Art should walk into the future holding hands" (or something). 

5. If you could visit one prehistoric time (or just in the past, doesn’t have to be prehistoric), what time would you travel to?

I've no idea. I'd like to see dinosaurs, but I've watched Jurassic Park too many times. If I could survive and view as an outsider I'd love to see the birth of our sun and solar system, maybe the Earth. Or I'd like to be in the 18th/19 centuries and met all the groovy scientists, or mid 20th century. Or perhaps meet Sagan. Why are you asking me this, this is harder than solving polynomial equations.

6. If you could be an astronaut and go to one place in the solar system, where would you go? (assume you can resist any temperature/pressure with your awesome suit…)

I'd like to go to any exoplanet that has a good chance of supporting life, cos I'd love to see aliens. i'd also love to jump into Jupiter, or go moonwalking on its moons.  

7. Favorite TV series?

WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME ALL THESE DIFFICULT QUESTIONS???? I honestly cannot say. I mean first the obvious, Sherlock, Doctor Who, Buffy, but maybe my absolute favourite is Babylon 5, cos it's so feckin' brilliant. I also love British comedies like Fawlty, towers, Blackadder, Red Dwarf, etc. and Australian comedies like Kath and Kim and Mother and Son. Most of my favourites are pretty old cos I was raised on Mum and Dad's favourite shows.

8. Do you think things like fractal arts are really art, given that sometimes it takes little effort from the artist to make it? In general, how much skill do you think a form of art need to be considered art? Does it need any at all?

Ok, I cannot say what in the multiverse art is. No idea. I consider most anything to be art, if the creator considers it to be. I think art should require effort from the creator, but not everything that requires effort is art. i personally love fractal art, and consider it to be art. But as I said, I couldn't really argue my position, it's just a feeling.

9. Do you believe in the hierarchy of sciences? (Physics-> chemistry-> biology->…) Do you think it’s a good model of how science works?

Ok, I'm young and am allowed to be sightly biased if I wish, as long as as I grow wiser I can change my mind (that is how it works, right?). I am incredibly biased towards physics being a superior science, but I wouldn't hold it against a biologist for thinking biology is the superior science - I love physics, and I think it's the best thing ever. I hope that biologists think the same of their areas. I do however think that physics is the description of really everything fundamentally, and that though not everything, that is the most important thing, the fundamentals of how things work. Of course biology and chemistry are important and awesome, but I have to say I am biased towards the hierarchy, and please don't hate me! I do not however think that Mathematics is higher than physics, because mathematics lives in a pure world in which we do not live, and I do not consider it a science (it also doesn't really use the scientific methods, it uses logic). 

10. Exactly how much do you think the average person should know about science? How much science do you think the average person should understand in order to trust scientists, not in a blind way?

I think people should know as much as possible, especially when the justification of the research is "it will help you", and when the research involves things like animal experiments and ethically muddy things. I think science projects in a lab should be compulsory so that students learn a little bit of the frustration and work involved in science, as well as how muddy the results can get. They should also know how to think sceptically. I think people should know basic high school science, I think that's enough - know what chemicals are, how they affect things, how atoms and molecules work, how evolution works and genetics, how electricity and stuff works, mathematics up to at least comfortability with pre-algebra. But the philosophy of science should definitely be made clear, and controversial topics (GMOs, Animal experimentation, space exploration, etc) should be common knowledge and it should be made clear to the public exactly what is going on here. I think scientists are once again removing themselves form the public eye and people really no longer have a reason to trust them anymore (it seems mainly only physicists are still very public, and physics isn't really a big controversial science at the moment). I do realise that this isn't actually a very good answer, but I really don't know exactly.

11. IF you could enhance/expand one of your senses, which one would it be, and how would you enhance it?

I think my eyesight, cos it's crap anyway. I'd definitely enhance it so I can see other wavelengths and pick up way more light, and could use it as a very powerful telescope. That would be so awesome. 

My Questions:

1. If you could meet anyone in the history of the universe, who would you choose?

2. What is the most important subject that you think should be involved in the school curriculum (like something that there already is, or something that's not normally in a school curriculum).

3. Favourite actor?

4. Favourite scientist, but for reasons not directly to do with their research?

5. Who was the teacher who impacted your life the most, and how?

6. If you had to study something that isn't what you want to or are, what would you choose?

7. What is your favourite art style?

8. Videogames, tv, or movies?

9. Do you think the way science is presented in pop culture good, bad, or in between, and why?

10. How important do you think maths is in real life?

11. Do you have a role model, if so, who and if not, why not?

I tag: Dwynnian Xyara, albis-luigi-potter, scienceandscifi,randolphtheyeti, sciencevevo, spireofkhufu, science-in-a-jar, warsbeforedoors, mahlums, moderatelyinterestingweirdo, inspirement

[gladiolus---amicitia]

randolphtheyeti replied to your post “[[MOR] ugh there’s this kid in my english class who is just the...”

I know the feeling, I'm sorry you have to go through that. I'm sorry I can't offer a solution but you should avoid being confrontational because from experience they love that. What they don't like so much is being ignored but it's still not always effective. Xx

Yeah, I have found that. It's very annoying because I'm naturally confrontational and while I do fine with ignoring people (I'm actually not too bad at it) it's really more fun to deliver a smackdown

but that doesn't work *sigh* so...