#zeroth world problems

[deliciouskeys]

(Posting about writer’s block relieves writer’s block, right?).

Guys I’ve forgotten how to write fic, something happened to me between now and Nov 7. Going to Texas? Talking to a lot of cancer patients? Visiting my family and feeling slightly estranged?

I’m having that terrible swirl of thoughts to the effects of “I don’t write as well as I want, I haven’t improved a bit since 2003, what am I even doing with my adult life, no one wants to read my stupid sexual fantasies that are barely sexual, fanfic is a ridiculous past time, everything is pointless” (please no one feel obligated to tell me these are wrong sentiments, I’ve had this weird mindset before and I know it’s not an objective reality, I just hate being beset by this mood).

Also fandom-in-general wise, my bottomless gaping pit of insecurity I call a soul somehow gets upset every time I have an unpleasant interaction with someone in fandom, which i really should be inured to by now. I’m just shocked that it still happens even when I’m trying not to stir the pot, at least not intentionally. I’m still a bit traumatized about tagging fanart with anything but the most utilitarian tags. I live in fear and self-loathing.

[mathionalist]

I *still* want the power to see the page and link I opened a long-abandoned, newly-read tab from

[lovesongofnightandday]

There are many ways I can steer this account, where to even start with hornyposting lol?

[landofwindandskyscrapers]

The most frivolous thing I’ll ever post here

Rounding numbers up or down-whether that 0.5 is a 0 or a 1-is extremely important.

In the science fiction setting of Warhammer 40K, entire worlds are lost due to rounding errors.

At work in Philip Morris, there was a deep anxiety over how to resolve a difference in rounding between two procedures that were at odds with each other.

I’ve studied a hard science degree (chemistry), and I deal with technical measures everyday, and so I have to round off a lot of numbers (because 0.457914 doesn’t really fit on a technical data sheet, you know?)

And always, always, how to handle a .5 is a source of great concern.

In one of my textbooks, flipping a coin was suggested as a way of resolving this issue.

From 0 to 4? Round down. From 6 to 9? Round up.

5? Abandon hope all ye who enter here.

WHY ARE PEOPLE SO FUCKING STUPID

There is a simple way to resolve all rounding disputes, that can easily be reached by logic and common sense.

Arabic numerals have ten symbols, 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Divide ten in two and you have five. 

The first five symbols - 0 1 2 3 4 - make you round down. The latter five - 5 6 7 8 9 - make you round up. 

Easy.

I’ve seen people with Doctorate’s and Master’s degrees get tripped up over this stupidity. Why.

(and for the bonus answer: how do you round up or down a number like 0.458? If you from the back end - 0.458 becomes 0.46 becomes 0.5 becomes 1 - you get an answer, rounding from the from - 0.458 becomes 0 - you get another one. How you resolves this? By fucking splitting the number line in two and remembering what the original number was. So, 0.499999 is rounded down, and 0.500000 is rounded up).

[heroicmeep]

y’all probably thought that was some kinda serious life vent post

well you weren’t wrong

[writeaboutrap]

Two modes of graduate school writing

Both of these writing modes are essential skills for graduate students to master, but it's hard to get them to even try the "teacher-development" mode, perhaps because it's more difficult. (It's especially important for continental philosophy students to master this, since they will very often be addressing non-CP experts when addressing professional colleagues.)  

I barely understand the need for complexification. The world is so complex as it is, I feel like the most valuable thing I do is simplify other peoples simplified depictions of the world.

[muchlessmuchmore-blog]

Gah! Choosing a grad school ID photo!

My instinct would be to use my Facebook photo, but currently that one is a picture of two cartoon boys in monkey costumes boxing each other.