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You can find previous Brain Dumps here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21. Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31, Part 32, Part 34, Part 35, Part 36.

... I mean writing essays.

This was a pretty intense day of research and then writing an essay for my assignment. My brain is completely fried... and I'm hoping that just getting the experience off my chest and out of my mind by finding some solace in writing about it is going to be what will relax my mind. Writing for these "researched" humanities essays is one of the most distasteful things that I've ever done in my life... I like just writing for the sake of writing... if I write to convince, I'm less keen to be trying to adopt the humanities version of "research"... aka, cherry picking journals and articles to support an already established personal narrative.

I know that isn't the way that things are supposed to be done... but in many of these topics, the "real" research is so lacking in rigour already that it is impossible to get objective writings on them. So, you end up with a vast array of sources that essentially can support any position that you want. Of course, that does have a lot to do with the fact that humanities topics are hellishly more complicated with humans and non-quantitative measure than physics and mathematics...

... anyway, I just finished the essay with about two hours left on the assignment clock. I have been away on tour, and when that is happening... I rarely have time to write properly. So, I end up doing a lot of research and gathering of sources whilst constructing a skeleton for the essay. Then, it all just needs to be put together... and that is tiring and really quite irritating work.

There was a time when I really put a lot of effort into these essays... but given my lack of interest and time, I've stopped investing so much of myself into the assignments. One really good side-effect of this is the lack of stressing out about it... my wife would complain that I would spend a week or two stressing and writing these assignments... now, I just write and hand it in... without crazy amounts of rewriting, reading, and general misery. It is definitely a better approach, less over-thinking and all that self-critical metagame.

So... I have to say that this particular essay felt really really unfocused. Unfortunately, I also had thought the same thing of the last essay that I had submitted... and I ended up getting a High Distinction for that one...

... but this was really all over the place. I had a clear narrative and structure in mind at the start of writing.... but it started to get a little bit off-track in the middle, and I was finding it difficult to bind all the strands that I was touching upon into a coherent argument. In fact, by the end of the essay, I managed to quote a section from the relatively well known crypto-philosophical blog post, Meditations on Moloch.

Anyway, I'm not going to write much more about the essay prompt or the topic of my essay... just on the off change that my lecturer stumbles across this blog post and reads about how unconvinced I felt about the essay submission. But it was good to get this all off my chest... my brain and soul already feel lighter.

That marks the end of the topic for me... and that means that the start of the third trimester of study is approaching. I have only enrolled for a single topic of study... it could be interesting, the use of ICT in teaching. Apparently it has a pretty good lecturer, and if I get to play with computers and programs... it could be quite fun! Fingers crossed and hoping...

I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
Steem
Publish0x

Handy Crypto Tools

Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
Binance: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
GMX.io: Decentralised perpetual futures trading on Arbitrum!
Kucoin: My second choice in exchanges, many tokens listed here that you can't get on Binance!
FTX: Regulated US-based exchange with some pretty interesting and useful discounts on trading and withdrawal fees for FTT holders. Decent fiat on-ramp as well!
MXC: Listings of lots of interesting tokens that are usually only available on DEXs. Avoid high gas prices!
Huobi: One of the largest exchanges in the world, some very interesting listings and early access sales through Primelist.
Gate.io: If you are after some of the weirdest and strangest tokens, this is one of the easiest off-chain places to get them!
Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
Crypto.com: Mixed feelings, but they have the BEST looking VISA debit card in existence! Seriously, it is beautiful!
CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
Poloniex: One of the older regulated exchanges that has come into new ownership. I used to use it quite a lot, but have since stopped.
Bitfinex: Ahhh... another oldie, but a goodie exchange. Most noted for the close affiliation with USDT and the Basic "no-KYC" tier!