Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
I'm An Artist Too (64)
The Unfortunate Demise of Sax and Violins.
Disclaimer: I have nothing against music featuring either violins and/or saxophone. I enjoy that music very much. In fact, I am listening to Mozart's Symphony No. 40, Allegro Assai at this very moment. In case you haven't noticed, my art tends to be a bit on the dismal side.
Besides, I could I resist the pun.
Frankly, I'm just impressed that I could draw a broken violin on my first try.
Disclaimer: I have nothing against music featuring either violins and/or saxophone. I enjoy that music very much. In fact, I am listening to Mozart's Symphony No. 40, Allegro Assai at this very moment. In case you haven't noticed, my art tends to be a bit on the dismal side.
Besides, I could I resist the pun.
Frankly, I'm just impressed that I could draw a broken violin on my first try.
Monday, May 19, 2008
I Have No Chemistry with Chemistry
I would like to euthanize a nasty rumour floating around about me. A couple of years ago I took a intro chemistry course by correspondence. My final mark ended up being 94%.
That's when the rumour started. People started thinking I was good at chemistry. After all, anyone who can get a 94% in chemistry must be good at chemistry, right?
Not quite. Here's why:
The average university course takes about 13 weeks, with 3 hours of class per week. Science classes that have a lab component often have a 3 hour lab every week. That's 6 hours of classroom instruction per week.
6 hours/week × 13 weeks = 78 hours.
The rule of thumb I heard when going to school was that for every hour you spent in the classroom you should spend two hours outside class doing homework and studying.
(78 × 2) + 78 = 234 hours.
Add an exam onto the end. Let's round up. 240 hours.
My average mark in university was 86%. That's an average of 0.358 percentage points per hour of course.
I know most courses don't require that much time to complete. I don't think I followed the 2:1 study time requirement for any of my courses in college or university. I'm being generous for the sake of argument.
Compare to a class I was good at: Computer Data Structures. I went to most of the lectures. I typically slept, or read a novel during class. I did the assignments. I probably put 1.5 hours/week into that course (including any lecture time when I may have been paying attention).
1.5 hours/week × 13 weeks = 19.5 hours of work.
My final mark was 97%. That's 4.97 percentage points per hour worked.
Chemistry took me from June to November to finish. That's 28 weeks (compared to 13 for the average course). From June until September I worked on chemistry for about 41 hours/week. (5 hours a day Monday through Friday, and 8 hours on Saturdays and Sundays). That happened for about 16 weeks.
41 hours/week × 16 weeks = 656 hours.
From September to November (12 weeks) I worked for approximately 11 hours/day on week days, with 8 hours/day on weekends. That's 71 hours/week.
71 hours/week × 12 weeks = 852 hours.
852 hours + 656 hours = 1508 hours.
Starting about a week before my exam and midterm, I took practice tests (which were very similar to the real tests). My marks were in the 50s and 60s. Those practice tests allowed me to see my strengths and weaknesses. I had about a week to work on them. When I wrote the tests, and got a 90% and 91%. Combined with my lab marks, and assignment marks I got a final mark of 94%.
1508 hours. That's 6.28 times more than the average course, and 79.4 times more than a course I'm good at.
That's an average of 0.062 percentage points per hour worked.
That's awfully low for something I'm supposedly good at.
In order to do 1508 hours of study for a normal course of 13 weeks, you'd need to study for more than 16 hours per day, every day.
Here's a table for the visually inclined:
And what did I get from it? What do I remember a year an a half later? Here is a list of things I remember from that class:
That's when the rumour started. People started thinking I was good at chemistry. After all, anyone who can get a 94% in chemistry must be good at chemistry, right?
Not quite. Here's why:
The average university course takes about 13 weeks, with 3 hours of class per week. Science classes that have a lab component often have a 3 hour lab every week. That's 6 hours of classroom instruction per week.
6 hours/week × 13 weeks = 78 hours.
The rule of thumb I heard when going to school was that for every hour you spent in the classroom you should spend two hours outside class doing homework and studying.
(78 × 2) + 78 = 234 hours.
Add an exam onto the end. Let's round up. 240 hours.
My average mark in university was 86%. That's an average of 0.358 percentage points per hour of course.
I know most courses don't require that much time to complete. I don't think I followed the 2:1 study time requirement for any of my courses in college or university. I'm being generous for the sake of argument.
Compare to a class I was good at: Computer Data Structures. I went to most of the lectures. I typically slept, or read a novel during class. I did the assignments. I probably put 1.5 hours/week into that course (including any lecture time when I may have been paying attention).
1.5 hours/week × 13 weeks = 19.5 hours of work.
My final mark was 97%. That's 4.97 percentage points per hour worked.
Chemistry took me from June to November to finish. That's 28 weeks (compared to 13 for the average course). From June until September I worked on chemistry for about 41 hours/week. (5 hours a day Monday through Friday, and 8 hours on Saturdays and Sundays). That happened for about 16 weeks.
41 hours/week × 16 weeks = 656 hours.
From September to November (12 weeks) I worked for approximately 11 hours/day on week days, with 8 hours/day on weekends. That's 71 hours/week.
71 hours/week × 12 weeks = 852 hours.
852 hours + 656 hours = 1508 hours.
Starting about a week before my exam and midterm, I took practice tests (which were very similar to the real tests). My marks were in the 50s and 60s. Those practice tests allowed me to see my strengths and weaknesses. I had about a week to work on them. When I wrote the tests, and got a 90% and 91%. Combined with my lab marks, and assignment marks I got a final mark of 94%.
1508 hours. That's 6.28 times more than the average course, and 79.4 times more than a course I'm good at.
That's an average of 0.062 percentage points per hour worked.
That's awfully low for something I'm supposedly good at.
In order to do 1508 hours of study for a normal course of 13 weeks, you'd need to study for more than 16 hours per day, every day.
Here's a table for the visually inclined:
| A course I'm good at | An average course | Intro to Chemistry | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark | 97% | 86% | 94% | |
| Time spent studying | 19.5 hours | 240 hours | 1508 hours | |
| % per hour | 4.97 | 0.358 | 0.062 |
And what did I get from it? What do I remember a year an a half later? Here is a list of things I remember from that class:
- If it looks like water, it probably is. Taste to make sure.
- Acids eat things. They poop out water. The opposite of an acid is a fortress.
- If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
- If your trousers are rapidly oxidizing, check your moral compass. You may be lying.
- Paraffin doesn't work for Tyler Durden
- The Addams Family tree is actually a table.
- Most chemists have mole problems.
- Many of these moles have lots of gas.
- Some of these moles are brave and noble.
- If you're really radioactive by insisting on calling in for all the contests, requesting your favorite songs, you may be only living a half-life.
- Giving your girlfriend coal earrings and insisting that they're diamonds because they're made of the same stuff will give you the opportunity to find a new girlfriend.
- Watching Pink Floyd's The Wall while experimenting with Acid will cause you to either mess up the experiment and/or miss some of the movie. And then the movie won't make any sense.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
I'm Not An Artist, For Now (Part 3)
Yesterday I received a package in the mail. It was my camera from Canon. A few weeks ago I mentioned that my camera broke and that there would be no further coffee cup art until it was fixed.
There was a note with my camera with my description of the problem, along with some other technical details, but nothing about if the problem was fixed or not.
I put batteries and a memory card in, turned the camera on, and it worked.
I am in the process of taking pictures of my recent coffee cup art. They will return to this blog next Wednesday.
It was a bit of a pain being without a camera though. I sure wish I had my camera last week when I saw Big Foot kidnapping the Lindberg Baby from Amelia Earhart.
There was a note with my camera with my description of the problem, along with some other technical details, but nothing about if the problem was fixed or not.
I put batteries and a memory card in, turned the camera on, and it worked.
I am in the process of taking pictures of my recent coffee cup art. They will return to this blog next Wednesday.
It was a bit of a pain being without a camera though. I sure wish I had my camera last week when I saw Big Foot kidnapping the Lindberg Baby from Amelia Earhart.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Blood From A Stone
Today's Article is interesting. The Recording Industry Artists of America (RIAA) is suing a homeless person! I'm really not sure how to feel about this. One the one hand, it still bugs me that big business is suing Joe Six-pack. On the other hand, there's a sort of humour to the idea of suing a homeless man!? Are they insane? Have they no discretion? How much money do they think they're going to get from this guy?
If they win, how will they collect their winnings? Are they gonna go after his shopping cart and collection of grocery store bags?
If they win, how will they collect their winnings? Are they gonna go after his shopping cart and collection of grocery store bags?
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