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GRADupdate (from UWO) has always had very useful tips for the everyday graduate student. Even though some of the tips may not be groundbreaking discoveries, they act as reminders and they are always welcome. This past issue was dedicated on the dreadful final step: the thesis and defense preparation. I remember when I started writing my Master’s thesis; I must have read tens of ‘how to…’ articles. But the most useful tips of all I applied at that time was to “start writing early and to write for an hour or 30 minutes every single day”. Writing for blocks of hours can be very exhausting, but writing in small stints may actually be more productive. But here’s the GRADupdate article….
How do you examine others’ faces? Do you find it easy, difficult, or downright impossible to gauge the emotions of others in your daily interactions? You might be surprised to learn that your ability to perform these tasks is largely influenced by the culture that you grew up in, according to new research conducted by Caroline Blais at the Université de Montréal. In two recent articles (PLoS One 3(8): e3022 (2008), Current Biology 19: 1543 (2009)), Blais argues that Caucasians and Asians do not examine faces in the same way, and thus will often gather differing emotional information from those they are interacting with. Specifically, Eastern cultures have a lower tendency to recognize negative facial expressions than Western cultures do. Why is that? And how is it even possible to quantify such a thing?
Don’t miss out on some hockey and yes, the food…. Go CANADA!
Has Olympic fever gotten you yet? If you are following the Olympic coverage, there is much talk of the noticeable lack of winter in Vancouver (at least on Cypress Mountain), much secrecy and speculation as to who will light the Olympic cauldron (Wayne Gretzky vs Betty Fox, Terry Fox’s mother) during the Opening Ceremonies and whether or not Canada will be able to win gold medals on home soil (which we have not previously done). With the Games officially commencing in day and a half (Opening ceremonies take place Friday night, 6pm) you may be at a loss as to what to watch and who to follow. Here’s a brief primer – by no means complete – on some of our athletes going for gold in Vancouver:
The need to express personal feelings, dietary habits, travel itineraries, misfortunes and general whereabouts has become widespread. This somewhat egomaniacal urge has spawned from the proliferation of social media websites – facebook, myspace, twitter, linkedin and other general blogs. What compels me to write this post today was reading this entry on the Huffington post “The Funniest Facebook Snafus Of All Time” and Facebook recent privacy changes. The first article made me laugh for a good 10 minutes, but then hilarity was overcome by a sinking feeling of terror (fueled by the second article): world-wide-web embarrassment could happen to anyone, it could happen to you or me.
What are your feelings about seeing a movie on the big screen as opposed to watching it, say, on your iPod Touch? Well if you think it’s worth going to the theatre there are two film festivals on now playing films that you could easily rent at any video rental shop. First there is the Digital Film Festival playing at ScotiaBank theatre from the 5th to the 11th, which will have classic films like The Godfather I and II, Terminator 2, The Shining, Shawshank Redemption, and more. As well, there is the Best of The Decade, art film festival being organized by Cinematheque Ontario, and being held at The AGO. Here you can find critically acclaimed foreign films that did not necessarily have a large North American release. Tickets are not full price, with the digital film festival costing $5 a show, and the art film festival costing $6.50 for students. I think it’s totally worth the effort to see a film on the big screen, so check out the links if your interested: http://www.cineplex.com/Events/DigitalFilmFest/Home.aspx http://www.cinemathequeontario.ca/programme.aspx?programmeId=298
Family weekend and Valentine’s Day are approaching. Have you already planned something exciting? If not, here is a great idea: Why not go to Ottawa and celebrate the winter with Winterlude festival? Winterlude begins on February 5th and continues until February 21st. You can expect amazing winter activities and events. My personal favorite is skating on Rideau Canal. In winter, this historic waterway becomes the world’s largest skating rink! During the Winterlude, the Canal is the site of the Winterlude Triathlon, the Bedzzz Annual Bed Race, skating demonstrations, workshops and much more. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t skate, you can still have fun by exploring the Canal on foot. |
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