Man is a hive. A nest. Men are ants so intent on their own tasks and too specialized to handle anything else. That was how I felt when in a fit of desperation I ran into the library wailing, "Help! Does anyone know how to compile?"
Of course, it was a stupid question. The people in the room gave me hard, condescending looks. "What do you want compiled? What program? Where's the code? What language is it in?"
My answer to all of this, "I don't know!"
My own ignorance and cluelessness eventually ejected me from the room of too-busy-for-you computer science people who probably knew more programming languages than a multi-linguist translator working for the UN. Despite this dejection, though, I eventually tracked down others who were willing to answer my stupid questions.
Yes, I go to Tech. And yes, a major option here is to take computer science. But that's not my interest, and I never took any related classes even for the curiousity factor. I'm just not one of those people who think staring at code on the computer screen is fun. But lately (as in since last night) I've been thinking that it may be prudent to learn some programming.
I don't want to be the little ant who gets squashed because all she ever learned was to guard the anthill.
"Book of the Week" (i.e. a book I finished today): Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe. Just a few remarks since I'm sure everyone else has read this in high school. Not surprisingly this book is probably different from the numerous movies out there that make this out to be a period romance. In brief, it's a economical "memoir" of a woman who got married five times (once with her brother), had a couple of affairs, and became a thief before being deported to America. It's very cut and dried, but you've got to forgive Defoe since back in his day he was treading the cutting edge of a new literary form.
Other stuff: The Mini-Mizer. Make a lego clone of yourself. Prime Number Pooping Bear. I know some teachers who would have a heart attack if they saw this. The Campus Squirrel Listing. I'm not surprised Tech ranked so low. As for a Campus Cat Listing, it'll be another story.
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