My Second School Year Begins
Hi Reader,
Hope you’re doing well! It’s officially my second year studying at Colorado State University.
The second year of school is heading off to a slow start. For this semester, I’m taking five classes in hopes of finishing 17 credit hours. Let’s see if I can finish it.
Macroeconomics: Probably the coolest thing about this class is the textbooks. Professor Harvey didn’t like the standard Macroeconomic textbooks because they were bland and tedious. So, he wrote his own book in a personal narrative style while explaining every macroeconomic concept. I haven’t started reading it yet, but I’m excited to dig in.
Science of Learning: My first psychology class ever. Although I have read plenty of books and binged watched ample videos on learning and memory. This class seemed more practical to see if I really know much about the topic of meta-learning. Professor Delosh is just fantastic. He gives us weekly in-class experiments. This week tried memorizing Swahili words.
Chinese: We already moved up to HSK 3 now, which is much harder because English definitions aren’t mentioned. Only Chinese characters and pinyin. Class is engaging and 老师 (teacher) is just great.
Understanding Dance: This is probably the easiest class. We basically learn about the history of creative art performances like a dance. Honestly, I simply just wanted to engage with the University’s art department more, and opting for this class was the best way. Students here look different with more tattoos and hair colors. Perfect diverse environment.
Essay writing: I really like the intention of this class but I don’t enjoy the topics we’re writing about. I don’t know if it will go well but I’m hoping for the best. I’m starting my personal narrative essay draft about my 11th-grade Hemkund trip. I’ll upload that on my site in the near future.
Here is your weekly dosage of 6-Snippet Sunday, a list of things I’m exploring, reading, and learning.
TV series I’m watching
Rational Life is a Chinese romantic drama series featuring Dylan Wang, as Qi xiao (起小), and Qin Lan, as Shen Ruo Xin （身若心). I couldn’t stop binge-watching the show all throughout the weekend. I initially started watching it for the purpose of learning Mandarin because I’m minoring in Chinese. But like most K-Drama and C-Drama, it’s addicting. However, apart from sharing my biased opinions, It’s a fantastic series, with top-notch drama. I’m quite embarrassed to admit it, but I even cried a little bit. Only a little bit.
item I’ve purchased
Birkenstock Boston Mocha Clogs are definitely my favorite footwear. I’ve always wanted to get my hands on this formal and casual footwear. During my trip to New York, one of my landlord’s daughters was wearing it all the time. Every outfit she wore went well with those Clogs. Although it’s quite expensive, it’s extremely durable. I use to buy lots of cheap products, which never last. But I’ve considered fewer items, which have premium quality.
Book I’m reading
The Only Study Guide You’ll Ever Need by Jade Bowler (@unjaded.) I’ve taken study technique courses in the past, binge watched productive study hack videos, but all can’t compete with this book. It’s easy to read and breaks down every evidence-based learning skill.
Here is what I learned thus far:
S: Spaced Repetition
A: Active Recall
A: Association
D: Desire Difficulty
Acronym is SAAD, which was one of my teachers’ names in High School.
What is Spaced Repetition?
Psychologist have discovered that everyone goes through the Forgetting Curve. If you’ve learned the Economics concept of “diminishing of return,” this is a similar case. Information in your brain eventually goes away and you forget. That’s why you shouldn’t cram or commit to blocked studying the night before exams. You might do well, fingers crossed, but you’ll forget. Instead, begin learning early on in a short burst of time. Consistency.
What is Active Recall?
Rereading is what most if not all do to remember information. There are now published works from scientists indicating that you should test yourself more. Here is the learning cycle: Understanding, Remembering, and Applying.
When you’re summarizing, rereading, and highlighting, you’re not recalling. What’s the point of understanding a concept if you can’t remember it?
What is Association?
You’re linking your previous information to your new information. For instance, 爬山 (pa shan) is hiking or climbing in Mandarin. To remember this word, break down the vocabulary. 爬 means crawl and 山 mean mountain. Imagine a mountain with arms and legs crawling on the floor. Trust me, you won’t forget this word again. You can’t say I forget!
What is Desire Difficulty?
Change your mindset. Passive learning is desirable because you’re essentially learning less. It’s easy, to be plain and simple with you. If you try to retrieve information and wrestle with the information, that’s not boring but hard. You would feel sleepy if the task is easy, but not when it’s hard. You’ll just be angry, stressed, or even sad. All in all, asking yourself the “why not” question is the best.
Podcast I’m listening
Life’s Mysteries in Modern Wisdom. Sabine Hossenfelder is a theoretical physicist, a research fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced studies, a quantum gravity researcher, and an author.
We all have big questions when it comes to science. Does the past still exist? Do particles think? Can we compute a human brain? Why no one gets younger if math is the ultimate basis of reality? And the biggest question of all is, do we have free will?
Although Sabine doesn’t answer all these tough questions, she reveals some myths about them. As of now, she says we can’t compute consciousness. Some of you might already know that but I sometimes believe that it’s already been invented. It’s reassuring to hear that it hasn’t yet.
Quote I’m pondering
“There are two types of education. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live.”
JOHN ADAMS
From “Ahead of the Curve” by Philip Broughton
This quote really resonated with me because we’ve got this false belief (or hope) that education leads to happiness. Happiness and success aren’t interconnected. Success is stature, and happiness is contentment.
Please give me feedback on Twitter. Whichever snippet you enjoyed reading. Suggest which you want more and less of. Any suggestions would do wonders for 6-Snippet Sunday. Please do let me know. Just tweet to @banzatanyi and put #6SS at the end so I can find it.
As always, thanks for reading 6-Snippet Sunday.
Best wishes,
Banzatanyi
Modern Wisdom — #521 — Sabine Hossenfelder — Life’s Mysteries, Explained By Physics — podcasts.google.com
Sabine Hossenfelder is a theoretical physicist, research fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, quantum gravity researcher and an author. There are a lot of big questions in the world, like does the past still exist? Do particles think? Was the universe fine tuned for us? Do we have free will? And are we living in a simulation? Given that we don’t have answers yet, why not let a physicist have a crack at them? Expect to learn why physicists who say they know how the universe started aren’t telling the truth, whether we can compute a human brain, why no one gets any younger, if maths is the ultimate basis of reality, why there might be copies of all of us out there in the universe, how your entire life could be the imagined history of a brain floating in space and much more… Sponsors: Get 15% discount on Craftd London’s jewellery at https://bit.ly/cdwisdom (use code MW15) Get a Free Sample Pack of all LMNT Flavours at https://www.drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 20% discount on the highest quality CBD Products from Pure Sport at https://bit.ly/cbdwisdom (use code: MW20) Extra Stuff: Buy Existential Physics — https://amzn.to/3Rqbk6F Subscribe to Sabine’s YouTube Channel — https://www.youtube.com/c/SabineHossenfelder Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom — Get in touch. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/
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