Camp Cthulhu
01/05/2015 11:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaIzzie has been a busy serpent. There was so much stuff going on in April. All sorts of government gossip and a dreaded certain centenary and a whole bunch of gardening to be done. For most of the month the weather was absolutely gorgeous. It was sunny but not too hot and most of the time there was the delicate light that invites quiet contemplation, pottering amongst the weeds and general contentment with the universe.
Also during two weeks of April there was an invasion of artists from all over the world adorning the city walls with gorgeous murals. Some were so large that the artists used cherry pickers. It was wonderful fun wandering around with the lists and ticking each item off one by one. Since a lot of the walls are a bit off the beaten track and hiding in quirky corners it was a most fascinating way of seeing the suburbs.
One proved to be very inspirational indeed.
Then there was the annual ritual of Camp Nanowrimo for folks who do not want to wait until November to squiggle their stories. So that’s where all the words have been going the last month. Was slacking a bit going for a goal of 33,333 words for the month rather than the usual April quota of 50,000. Just been for a quick visit over at the camp cabins. These are groups of a dozen or so participants who share a ‘campfire’ where they can post snippets of story gossip, offer ideas or encouragement to each other. Well that is the theory anyway.
It is always amusing to see how the April fools rush in with grand plans for 50,000 words and within a week most have abandoned their projects because enthusiasm is no substitute for habit. Of the 12 in my group, every single one of those who chose the default option of 50,000 words ended the month with word counts of zilch, nichts, nada, absolute zero. Maybe they did write a page or two but none of them bothered to update or validate their word count.
The other 6 had goals ranging from 10,000 up to 33,333 words and only one of them actually reached the target. No prizes for guessing ;)
In spite of the best of intentions I could not help but pick some tasty looking fruit from the online trees of knowledge in the MOOC garden. I had vowed to stay away from such temptations until after April due to dropping out of every single one attempted since December. The overseas adventures were the first distraction, but since returning it’s been sheer laziness and lack of discipline that has been the major reason for such a high fail rate. Bailing out on a coding course using Scratch is simply inexcusable. It is literally kindergarten kids stuff. So the good habits developed during the daily writing rituals for Camp Nanowrimo might be just the routine needed to get back to doing serious studying.
One such course started last week. It is offered by a Dutch university and concerns the Dark Art of framing which is basically a sneaky and devious trick to win arguments or discussions by resorting to the manipulation of values and emotions.
Got to thinking that all those “How to think and reason” sorts of courses are like two edged swords. The same training used to learn how to spot logical fallacies and other dodgy debating techniques is precisely what can be used to create them.
This course is different in openly embracing the Dark Side rather than claiming to be merely a defense against such dark arts.
It is quite scary to think that some of the material used to illustrate the concepts includes Australia’s immigration policies. I am inclined to suspect that the recent drug smuggler Death Row deadline drama in Indonesia might also feature in future episodes.
There’s homework due on Tuesday so will dedicate the rest of the weekend evenings to that. It is such a pity that the course is using the Edx platform which has truly awful discussion forums that are almost impossible to follow.
There is also another course starting soon on the topic of propaganda. I’ve created two religious cults during April’s writing adventures so such a course will provide invaluable information for research purposes.
Of course that is also the excuse for rereading “Call of Cthulhu” and “The Dunwich Horror”. James Herbert’s “Portents” has also proved to be very inspirational. Climate Change Chiller is a genre I’ve never come across before. It’s not quite the same as tales of the zombie apocalypse but still spooky and creepy.
On the subject of the Apocalypse, it looks like the Book of Revelations might provide some useful inspiration for a nihilistic death cult. Since I cannot get my greedy green paws on a proper copy of the Necronomicon, it could prove to be an acceptable substitute.
Also during two weeks of April there was an invasion of artists from all over the world adorning the city walls with gorgeous murals. Some were so large that the artists used cherry pickers. It was wonderful fun wandering around with the lists and ticking each item off one by one. Since a lot of the walls are a bit off the beaten track and hiding in quirky corners it was a most fascinating way of seeing the suburbs.
One proved to be very inspirational indeed.
Then there was the annual ritual of Camp Nanowrimo for folks who do not want to wait until November to squiggle their stories. So that’s where all the words have been going the last month. Was slacking a bit going for a goal of 33,333 words for the month rather than the usual April quota of 50,000. Just been for a quick visit over at the camp cabins. These are groups of a dozen or so participants who share a ‘campfire’ where they can post snippets of story gossip, offer ideas or encouragement to each other. Well that is the theory anyway.
It is always amusing to see how the April fools rush in with grand plans for 50,000 words and within a week most have abandoned their projects because enthusiasm is no substitute for habit. Of the 12 in my group, every single one of those who chose the default option of 50,000 words ended the month with word counts of zilch, nichts, nada, absolute zero. Maybe they did write a page or two but none of them bothered to update or validate their word count.
The other 6 had goals ranging from 10,000 up to 33,333 words and only one of them actually reached the target. No prizes for guessing ;)
In spite of the best of intentions I could not help but pick some tasty looking fruit from the online trees of knowledge in the MOOC garden. I had vowed to stay away from such temptations until after April due to dropping out of every single one attempted since December. The overseas adventures were the first distraction, but since returning it’s been sheer laziness and lack of discipline that has been the major reason for such a high fail rate. Bailing out on a coding course using Scratch is simply inexcusable. It is literally kindergarten kids stuff. So the good habits developed during the daily writing rituals for Camp Nanowrimo might be just the routine needed to get back to doing serious studying.
One such course started last week. It is offered by a Dutch university and concerns the Dark Art of framing which is basically a sneaky and devious trick to win arguments or discussions by resorting to the manipulation of values and emotions.
Got to thinking that all those “How to think and reason” sorts of courses are like two edged swords. The same training used to learn how to spot logical fallacies and other dodgy debating techniques is precisely what can be used to create them.
This course is different in openly embracing the Dark Side rather than claiming to be merely a defense against such dark arts.
It is quite scary to think that some of the material used to illustrate the concepts includes Australia’s immigration policies. I am inclined to suspect that the recent drug smuggler Death Row deadline drama in Indonesia might also feature in future episodes.
There’s homework due on Tuesday so will dedicate the rest of the weekend evenings to that. It is such a pity that the course is using the Edx platform which has truly awful discussion forums that are almost impossible to follow.
There is also another course starting soon on the topic of propaganda. I’ve created two religious cults during April’s writing adventures so such a course will provide invaluable information for research purposes.
Of course that is also the excuse for rereading “Call of Cthulhu” and “The Dunwich Horror”. James Herbert’s “Portents” has also proved to be very inspirational. Climate Change Chiller is a genre I’ve never come across before. It’s not quite the same as tales of the zombie apocalypse but still spooky and creepy.
On the subject of the Apocalypse, it looks like the Book of Revelations might provide some useful inspiration for a nihilistic death cult. Since I cannot get my greedy green paws on a proper copy of the Necronomicon, it could prove to be an acceptable substitute.
