It’s Day 3 and I’m already running out of things to say…and I didn’t even really say anything in Day 1…
Hello again! Fancy seeing you guys here!
So today, given that it’s 10pm and I should be studying roots of unity or oscillating motion for my mocks next week, I thought I’d write today’s post on something that, like last year, I said I’d take seriously but never got round to. However, as I am now putting this on the World Wide Web, if I don’t uphold parts of it, then that could be a bit embarrassing.
So, I have four resolutions for 2015:
1. Learn how to write Python
Something that you guys may have gathered about me is that I’m a bit of a geek. Not only a science geek (though my A-levels are Maths. Further Maths, Chemistry and Biology, and I’m taking additional Mechanics module for some ridiculous reason) but a widely-read, University-Challenge-watching geek, which I like to think is the best type of geek.
I’ve applied for Biology and Natural Sciences at university, however I am an enthusiastic mathematician, and I have noticed that that makes me somewhat of an oddball in the biological community. It seems to be widely considered that biology is the science for non-mathematicians. This, however, is something I could not disagree with more. James Lovelock proved his Gaia Theory by creating the famous Daisyworld model (which I might write about when I’m feeling a bit more enthusiastic about life in general, and recently I have been using the SIR technique and differential equations to model the imminent spread of ebola.
This is where Python comes in. Python is (I am told) a pretty simple programming language widely used by all sorts of scientist. I am not particularly bright when it comes to technology, so I’m hoping that learning Python will not only quell my sheer dim-wittedness regarding the subject, but will also apply to my biological background.
2. Learn how to do the Times Crossword
I’m sure many of you have watched the recent film The Imitation Game about the life and work of Alan Turing, brilliantly portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. Throughout this film, there was a focus on the Times Crossword, in that Turing seemed to consider this to be the ultimate measure of one’s intellectual ability. I’ve watched my grandma do these crosswords, and just doing that left me in a dribbling intellectual mess.
This is because the Times Crossword is not just a typical crossword with typical clues. It is designed to test your absolute problem-solving ability and knowledge of the entire English language. And some of the answers are so neat. Take this one:
Important city in Czechoslovakia. Four letters.
I had no idea, but I was sure that it wasn’t going to be as simple as a 4-letter Czech city. Turns out the answer is Oslo (the capital of Norway, which really annoyed me until I found out why) because the word ‘Oslo’ appears in the word ‘Czechoslovakia’. That blew my mind…
3. Blog every Sunday
This will come into action after I have finished/given up on this 30 Day Challenge. I’ve always liked being able to describe myself as a ‘blogger’, and this gives me the opportunity to write about anything I want, from science to music to something as inane and irrelevant to anyone else as my New Year’s Resolutions. So, I’m hoping you guys are looking forward to that…
4. To not be single
Yeah, this just had to appear didn’t it…
This came courtesy of many of my other friends who have this as their only New Year’s Resolution. Which says something about my friendship group…
I’m not going to dwell on this ‘resolution’ to much, but the last two paragraphs did add 34 words to this post’s word count, so that’s quite good.
So that’s me done! If anybody wants to share their own resolutions or recommend any for me, I’d be interested to hear what you guys have to say!
See you tomorrow 😉
My Factless Autobiography 