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

[jamoozy at csail.mit.edu (Andrew "Jamoozy" Correa)]

Are you going to show up?  We could talk about that, too ...

On 05/06/2011 02:54 PM, Britton 'Bryt' Bradley wrote:
> 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>