From a Letter

[Salty]

I was once given the rationale that including complicated mathematics in a general education isn't necessarily meant to give you mathematical skills directly, but instead to show you how to construct mental pathways that lead to improved general problem solving skills.

But I think a math teacher told me that, so there may have been some bias there.

[rong]

in an effort to make this thread more "well rounded" i would like to add:

it's not what you know, it's who you know.

[Cainad (dec.)]

in an effort to make this thread more "well rounded" i would like to add:

it's not what you know, it's who you know.

I am so fucked in that regard. Any time I move to a new location, I make about a dozen, maximum two dozen, acquaintances outside my circle of actual friends, which number 1-4 wherever I go. Everyone else is boring and I never see any reason to connect with them.

[Triple Zero]

Cainad, that is actually one of the social things the Internet is nearly as good for as IRL. The name kind of says it already, networking.

Seriously. You know a shitload of wide variety of people on PD, and most of them will give that littlebit extra if you ask them nicely and it's a small effort for them cause of their area of expertise, but would be really hard or expensive to get proper professional assistence with.

Same goes for other online communities and (ironically to a lesser extent), social networks.

I'm not saying that an online network acquaintance is worth as much as an IRL one (even though you may not meet the IRL ones that often either), but online it is easier to cast your net farther and wider, more targeted and more effectively.

In addition to that, moving around a lot should not be bad for your network either. Sure it will take some effort on your part to keep the contacts warm, but pick a few that are worth it, because having a connection somewhere far away can already be useful simply for the fact that they are far away, or that wherever you are in the world, you will have people somewhere near you?

my 2 ct