Are they even still useful

[cornerofmadness]

College fairs that is. Yes, I do believe face to face can really and truly matter but on the other hand so much is online I wonder if this is a relic. I can tell you the two hours of me standing in our gym was rather pointless (and heartbreaking that no one was even remotely interested in biology except like 2 people even chemistry had more interest).

Most of the kids were forced here. They have to collect paperwork and have X number of flyers. I'd say less than a dozen were truly excited and interested. I did get a few of them, even more when I was substituting for wildlife while they exchanged labs and got up to the gym. Of course our taxidermy bob cat did most of the heavy lifting in getting attention (he was road kill, poor guy) But dear children 'oooo I love animals I wanna do a wildlife degree' isn't really the best motivation if you don't understand anything about it...


Also CVS, thanks for filling 3 scripts no one asked for. I swear to fuck if I wasn't likely to have a new insurance by January I'd switch everything to mail order. they did have the 3 I actually asked for (the other 3 are prn allergy meds (i.e. ones I don't take daily. Hell I haven't even opened the last round)


Here are the last three communities I collected. Might need to do something else on thursdays

cap_ironman Steve Rogers/Tony Stark and their friendship and love.

recthething This is a comm for reccing fanworks, and also asking for recs! All media, fandoms, ships, and kinks are welcome here. Read recced fics at your own risk.

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> College fairs that is. <<

Well, college has largely turned into a scam that puts most students in debt for life, which is unfortunate.

>>Most of the kids were forced here. <<

That rarely goes well.

>>But dear children 'oooo I love animals I wanna do a wildlife degree' isn't really the best motivation if you don't understand anything about it...<<

No, but it's an excellent conversation starter. What do they love about animals? If you want to train domestic animals then you need a little biology. If you want to do wildlife rescue then you need a lot. If you want to work in a park, you need some biology but also a bunch of other sciences like ecology and geology. And so on.

Colleges often have pages like "50 careers you can get with a biology degree." That's a excellent way to attract interest.

Also worth mentioning is that any science degree will have some spread into other sciences. If you have a solid background in science, then it will be applicable to many possible jobs.

Another approach is to lay out some major/minor pairs. Biology pairs well with many things such as chemistry, geology, ecology, human or animal first aid, wilderness recreation, conservation, art if you like scientific illustration -- can also split into botany and zoology, or go into things like horticulture and animal husbandry. So you could take that list of careers and split it down to a handful per pair of subjects.

Education is a lot about showing people how a subject is relevant to their needs and interests, what it can do for them. Nobody cares about geometry until the teacher explains that it lets you do fun things like calculating how much paint or carpet you need to redecorate your room. Getting people excited about learning things is satisfying.

Re: Thoughts

[cornerofmadness]

yeah all of the sciences were together so we could work off each other.

I had a list of careers in XYZ paperwork but the former head of the dept insisted it was all QR coded. All no longer active. Which could have been fixed had I been given notice

I am going to work up an infomatic with that in mind

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> yeah all of the sciences were together so we could work off each other. <<

Excellent idea.

>> I had a list of careers in XYZ paperwork <<

That's awesome.

>> but the former head of the dept insisted it was all QR coded. All no longer active. Which could have been fixed had I been given notice <<

0_o I've learned not to assume that other people will do their own fucking job.

>> I am going to work up an infomatic with that in mind <<

Very prudent.

I hope it encourages some students to explore the sciences. They are useful in many fields -- especially if you take a minor in "science that is useful to your major." Someone who doesn't want to be a biologist but is interested in animals could benefit from Conservation / Biology, or whatever.

Re: Thoughts

[cornerofmadness]

yeah the exworker purposely tanked a few things for us out of spite. eye roll

I actually talked quite a bit about conservation (my doctorate is medical but i also have a masters in conservation)

[spikedluv]

It's too bad that your table was not well attended. Even by kids that were forced to be there. o_O

Oh, CVS.

You fixed the formatting!!!

Did you mean to include three comms, or just the two?

[cornerofmadness]

ugh for whatever freaking reason I have to post and then go back in and click off the autoformatting. It doesn't stay clicked off.

yes three but changed my mind but forgot to change the count

[kitarella_imagines]

It's pretty sad how everything is online now and humans are losing the art of how to talk to each other.

(she said, writing online)

[cornerofmadness]

but you're not wrong

[kitarella_imagines]

I think the online world is just more engaging and rewarding now for many people. Not sure how we can ever get back to pre-internet times.

[cornerofmadness]

the internet literally changes brain chemistry and structure. it's a bit scary

[kitarella_imagines]

I'm glad you confirmed that because I've suspected it for a while. People just aren't the same as I remember them from the 20th century and the early 21st century. No one seems to care about anyone else anymore, they are just chasing clicks, likes, follows etc. And broadcasting their thoughts to millions at once. It's not normal human behaviour. Can you imagine people in the 10th, 13th, 16th, 18th centuries etc. broadcasting their thoughts to millions at once? It would be impossible.

Do you have facts on how it's changing our brain chemistry and structure? I'm interested in learning.

[cornerofmadness]

not that is open to the public (that I know of) i have access to peer reviewed stuff.

oh wait, i googled and there's this https://netpsychology.org/neuroplasticity-and-internet-use-brain-rewiring/#:~:text=In%20this%20article%2C%20we%E2%80%99ll%20explore%20the%20fascinating%20intersection,attention%20and%20memory%20to%20empathy%20and%20identity%20formation.

[kitarella_imagines]

Thanks I knew you would know!

Fascinating and pretty scary 🫤

[cornerofmadness]

it is. I'm actually more worried about all the microplastics

[kitarella_imagines]

Yes, because those are inside us now aren't they. Who knows what they are doing to people's brains. Not good stuff, that's for sure.

[cornerofmadness]

last year at a conference I learned that a certain percentage of placentas are now plastic. that was terrifying

[kitarella_imagines]

Bloody hell that isn't good at all!

I had my daughter nearly 20 years ago, I hope my placenta wasn't full of plastic back then. It wouldn't have been, would it? Do you know?

[cornerofmadness]

I don't know that any of us know that answer but it probably wasn't AS bad

[kitarella_imagines]

Hopefully it wasn't. I don't think there were so many microplastics around 20 years ago.

[cornerofmadness]

I'm trying to remember if tide pods and those dishwater pods were around then, they're huge sources of microplastic

[kitarella_imagines]

I don't even know what those are, so I'm sure I didn't use them in the past. Phew!

I've always used washing machine and dishwasher tablets or powder as they're cheaper.

[cornerofmadness]

they're the gel packs you put into the dishwasher vs pouring in a powder/liquid

[kitarella_imagines]

oh good, I definitely didn't use those!

[cornerofmadness]

yeah the gel part is actually plastic so...