[csail-related] [Gsb-announce] GSB Tonight: Proposal

[bryt at csail.mit.edu (Britton 'Bryt' Bradley)]

And here I thought you were going to talk about pens and swords and how pens
can be turned into swords!

http://blog.shoplet.com/office-supplies/office-supplies-that-can-kill-you/

> -----Original Message-----
> From: gsb-announce-bounces at lists.csail.mit.edu [mailto:gsb-announce-
> bounces at lists.csail.mit.edu] On Behalf Of Andrew "Jamoozy" Correa
> Sent: Friday, May 06, 2011 2:40 PM
> To: csail-related at lists.csail.mit.edu; gsb-announce at csail.mit.edu
> Subject: [Gsb-announce] GSB Tonight: Proposal
> 
> I'm writing my Ph.D. proposal.  Instead of working on it, I've started
> to think about the word "proposal".  I feel like it must be the most
> loaded word in academia.  After all, aren't marriages begun with
> "proposals"?
> 
> Then I started to think about the other terms that crop up in the Ph.D.
> process here---at least the terms in Area II---and couldn't think of an
> equally-heavy term.  RQE?  No.  Thesis?  No ... that last one sounds
> pretty nerdy, actually.  What about "Minor"?  No.  I don't know why I
> even considered that one ...
> 
> Then I got to thinking: how is it that words lose their meaning after a
> time?  For example, "epic" doesn't mean nearly what it used to.  It
> used
> to mean "epic".  Now it means "cool" (e.g., "Yeah, that was epic.").
> 
> Really, I think that the only thing that has the same effect requires
> more words!  We need phrases (e.g., "One in a million")!    I'm not
> sure
> if this is because more = bigger = better, or because, since there are
> more words, phrases aren't used as often, so their rarity lends them
> strength.
> 
> And I thought the pen was mightier than the sword ... I've gotta say,
> the sword is looking mightier and mightier ... (especially since it
> seems to fund the pen, around here).
> 
> Let's talk about the power of the pen, at this week's:
> 
>         +-                                                  -+
>            girl scout benefit -+-  5:30 pm  -+- 32-G9 lounge
>         +-                                                  -+
> 
>             For those coming from elsewhere: Building 32 is
>              <http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?selection=32>
>         Once you are in 32, just take the G-elevator to the 9th
>     floor and we will be in the lounge that you will be looking at
>                   <http://projects.csail.mit.edu/gsb>
> 
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