user since
Sat Oct 7 2000 at 21:18:29 (24.1 years ago )
last seen
Mon Nov 22 2004 at 05:46:21 (20 years ago )
number of write-ups
46 - View kelrin's writeups (feed)
level / experience
4 (Wordsmith) / 1235
mission drive within everything
find out about everything, and social interaction
specialties
Philosophy & Cognitive Science
school/company
Indiana University
motto
"I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it." --Elwood Dowd
most recent writeup
Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr.
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I've just finished a year as an adjunct professor at RPI, where I recently got my M. S. in Philosophy, and am now in a doctoral program getting a combined degree in Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Indiana University. Other history--got my B. A. from Dartmouth College in Cognitive Science, went to Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park, NY (near Albany). I teach Logic over the summers at CTY Saratoga (Center for Talented Youth, through Johns Hopkins), and do a little on the side for The Princeton Review (a test prep company--I'm particularly fond of the LSAT, as it's mostly a logic test). I used to play Magic and have done some role-playing, but that seems to have slowed down now, though I'd be willing, with the right group, to role-play again. I used to fence while an undergrad (foil and sabre). I'll probably end up as a professor somewhere permanent-style after I get my doctorate, which is cool, because I love teaching.

The Nodes of Which I Am Most Proud



Reminder to self: node up Angus King, Governor of Maine:
resources:
  • http://www.state.me.us/governor/
  • http://www.msnbc.com/news/645132.asp?0si=
referred from slashdot, regarding pop!something (conference-y deal) Also node Hilbert & his axiom system of deductive logic. Also do Incompatibilism



Another note to self: try and figure out why the following writeups are in Node Heaven:

You and your node may visit together for a while.
XP stoicism (idea)
rep: 24

I feel a reply to mr.nick's comments on XP Stoicism is warranted, mostly to paint a somewhat rosier picture of social grooming. When someone tells me that they found a node of mine interesting or well-thought-out, I get a very pleasant feeling of connectedness, and feel a positive emotion towards and interest in the person I've just met. Usually, I go to their home node, and take a look at some of the nodes they've written. About half of the interesting stuff I've read on Everything comes to me this way, and I'm just starting. I expect the proportions to increase as time goes on and I meet more folks. Anyway, since I find interesting stuff there, I upvote it. All of this could be put down to a sort of arbitrary quid-pro-quo, but there's at least one other redeeming factor: if someone likes my nodes, chances are there's something similar about our thoughts. The chances that I'll like the nodes of someone who likes mine is much higher than the chances I'll like a random node.

It seems to me that this social grooming phenomenon actually helps me to find the information I am most interested in seeing. Admittedly, it's not so positive when people essentially trade votes without regard for node quality, but I think I've suggested one way that something that looks a lot like that might happen, without being negative at all.

+++++++++++++++++

Node Heaven Visitation
You and your node may visit together for a while.
Everything University (idea)
rep: 16

I found that, after reading what I believed to be everything linked in Everything University, I still felt as though there was much going on that I did not understand. I am a lowly noder, and in no way connected to the company, editors, or Everything Illuminati, but I have found that respecting and understanding the editors enhances my enjoyment of my time here. To that end, I suggest that all who wish to have a fuller understanding of Everything the living beast (as opposed to Everything the defined entity) read the Everything Editor Logs for a while back, just to see what goes on, and get an explanation of why they do some of the things they do. It very much helped me to understand the mentality, and how I could best contribute.

Lest this writeup seem entirely one-sided, I recognize the momma's boy nature of this attitude, and that it isn't for everyone. I'm just trying to find my bearings here, though, and the editors seem like they know what they're doing, and I generally like reading their nodes, so I'm going to keep on with it.

I hereby invite the destruction of this node and the incorporation of the suggestion to read the logs into something else in the University, for brevity's sake, if this is desired by the Great and Powerful Oz, or anybody bigger than me. It's all about the humility.

don't forget to replace the hardlinks in them when the chance arrives.