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way up i feel blessed

By joni sky
February 27, 2015 - 20:21
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Before I get to my chosen tree I see something more exciting. It's two large birds eating and fighting over some floppy creature. I stop for a while. The sunset behind them is bright orange, brighter than I've seen in a while. Their activity doesn't let up, and when I leave they are still there; I hear them making noise for the whole thirty minutes I sit at my site. The snow is stiff and crunchy. Earlier in the day, someone told me that it felt like stale cake. Maybe. 

Why not just use the library function?

By Doug Blank
February 27, 2015 - 11:02
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This post captures some good reasons for having an algorithm in Python, rather than simply calling a fast library function:

https://jakevdp.github.io/blog/2015/02/24/optimizing-python-with-numpy-and-numba/

  • Pure-Python code is easier to read, understand, and contribute to. 

  • Pure-python packages are much easier to install than Python-wrapped C or Fortran code. 

  • Pure-python code often works for many data types. 

Contact Zones??

By tajiboye
February 26, 2015 - 12:53
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When Anne asked us in class (I think last Thursday) to think of specific scenarios that involved contact zones, I couldn't really think of a specific time. However, when I thought of a a contact zone I couldn't help but think of times of when I was either in fear or in desperation. I find that in many of those scenarios where I was fearful or under severe stress, language itself could not serve as an efficient mode of communication. For example, last semester some of my friends and I were discussing about whether or not there was really a ghost in Pem West.

flagged

By Anne Dalke
February 25, 2015 - 21:40
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tajiboye--
when I visited your site on Tuesday morning,



I was surprised to see that it was circled by flags.



This reminded me of an exhibit I saw in Central Park a few years ago, Christo's "The Gates,"

Internal Contact Zones

By Ariel Skye
February 24, 2015 - 19:29
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I want to expand on what Marian was saying about how creatures in themselves (such as dolphins) can embody a contact zone. Humans, in their own way, can also embody that contact zone, because we are filled with contradictions--artificial versus natural, empathetic versus selfish, good versus evil. We, as humans, embody these contradictions; they function as a yin yang at our core. What is interesting to me is how, within certain contexts, like when people are brought outside of their comfort zone, these complicated dichotomies can be brought to light.

Science as a Political Practice

By Persistence
February 24, 2015 - 12:13
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I want to respond to what Ariel said about how humans are narcissistic, self-centered beings. According to Freud, science allows us to make ourselves the ultimate being in which our world is built on "purpose and meaning imposed by human want and desire". Ariel mentioned how science as a subject tries to offer a humbling, subjective perspective. I believe that science has always been a political practice to shape the world. Not only has people used science as a mean to make ourselves superior than other species (e.g.

Observations from Hartwood Elementary

By sarahfj
February 24, 2015 - 11:47
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On my first day at Hartwood Elementary, I was directed to a trailer about 100 feet from the school. I knocked on the door, unsure of what to expect. It was quickly opened by a short, stout Italian woman with a hurried air. She shook my hand quickly and handed me a textbook. "We're reading on page 172," she said, then immediately resumed addressing the class as if she had never stopped to admit me. I was thrown by this quick introduction and it took me several moments to adjust to the spacious, carpeted and colorful interior of the trailer.