New College CEO

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Can a computer write a sonnet that’s indistinguishable from what a human can produce? Computer scientists at Dartmouth College tried to answer that question – and now’s your chance to be the judge! Here are six poems. Can you tell if they are written by a human or a machine?

Human Or Machine: Can You Tell Who Wrote These Poems?

Here, our second slate of James Joyce Scholars takes in the grounds of Trinity College in Dublin. They’ve just returned, and we’ll have more posts soon about their trip. Here, rising fourth-year Scott Smedley tells us about one of the highlights of the trip.  

Among the opportunities given to me in this trip to Dublin was an especially enjoyable trip to see a theatrical adaptation of Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. When I first heard of the production, I had trouble imagining what a novel often talked about for its stream-of-consciousness narrative techniques and modernist focus on interiority might become on stage. I ended up very impressed.

The play took place at Dublin’s New Theatre, a venue in the Temple Bar area separated from the street by a bookstore. The inclusion of this bookstore as part of the New Theatre experience was the first thing to strike me about this night out. It was similar to bookstores I had been to before, but not ones from the United States–ones from Montreal, and London. Like these, the New Theatre’s bookstore had a number of volumes from the academic and political left that might be hard to find in a Sarasota bookstore. More unique still, much of the material on display was specific to Ireland, such as several pamphlets demanding Irish sovereignty and a special issue of socialist publication Jacobin put together for the centenary of the Easter 1916 rebellion.

Walking into the theater itself, I was pleasantly surprised to find an intimate venue with not many seats. Hearing that this performance had been winning some awards, and seeing the venue, I thought that this must be a production that does a lot without much of a budget–and is probably a little weird. And the play didn’t disappoint. It had a lovely combination of material drawn straight from the novel and original contributions (textual, visual, auditory), and the adaptation was handled delicately enough that the line between the two was not clear. How did they perform a textual interest in interiority? Much of the play’s dialogue seemed to occur not between characters but between the speaking character and the audience. For example, both the famous dinner scene with Stephen’s family and the hellfire sermon were performed with all characters facing the audience, as opposed to the family facing each other at a table or Stephen facing Father Arnall for the sermon. The effect of this decision was to create on stage not an integrated whole, made up of the characters as parts, with which the audience could interact, but a number of separate nodes (characters) to which the audience had “direct” access.

A lot occurred within this framework–the play could be funny, chilling, playful, thoughtful, bluntly overwhelming. The casting of someone who would not typically be read as male for the role of Stephen added a new layer of interest and introduced contention between the play and Joyce’s original text. The centerpiece of the show was certainly Father Arnall’s sermon on the terrors of eternal damnation, as tortuously drawn out in this production as it was in the novel–on stage, though, the effect is heightened because there is no opportunity to break from the experience, to look up from the page and take a breath.

14 scientific tricks to beat stress, anxiety, and fear

You might think being offered an interview after applying to a job is always a good thing. And, in the first elation of getting a response, you may rush to agree and set a time. Hold your horses.

As the job search rolls on, many people find themselves applying to an increasing number of jobs to increase their chances of finding something. Unfortunately, this often means jobs that they are not completely enthusiastic about. This includes jobs at companies that they don’t find interesting or roles that are only marginally related to what they really want to do.

If this is the case for you, you need to be honest with yourself when interview opportunities come up. Even if you haven’t diluted your job search in this way, there might be other reasons to turn down an interview.

It’s not always something you can put your finger on, but it may be something in the way the company communicates with you, something you’ve heard about the company or any number of other things. Trust your instincts. If a voice in the back of your head is telling you not to go for it, you probably shouldn’t.

It might also have been the case that you felt your back was against the wall, and decided to apply for anything and everything you could find – spray and pray. Now, you find yourself in the comfortable position of having multiple job interviews lined up. Preparing for a select few which you have high hopes for is better than taking every interview and not having time to properly prepare for each one.

Be wary of rejecting job interviews out of hand, though. Make sure to give it some thought; a job interview is often your best opportunity to really understand the role and company in question. So, if your doubts come down to not having a clear idea about either what the job entails or what it would be like working at the company, it’s a good idea to go ahead with the interview.

You can also think of each interview as an opportunity to improve your interview skills. The more experience you get, the easier you will find it next time around.

Mull it over and decide what is best for you. The key thing is not to feel bad or guilty about saying no. If it’s not right for you, there is no sense in wasting both your time and the company’s.

Mind mapping is one of the best ways to capture your thoughts and bring them to life in visual form. Beyond just note-taking, though, mind maps can help you become more creative, remember more, and solve problems more effectively. Whether you’re new to mind maps or just want a refresher, here’s all you need to know about this technique. 

A mind map is basically a diagram that connects information around a central subject. I like to think of it like a tree, although it has more of a radial structure. In any case, at the center is your main idea, say, poetry, and the branches are subtopics or related ideas, such as types of poetry, famous poets, and poetry publications. Greater levels of detail branch out from there and branches can be linked together.

Mind maps can be more effective than other brainstorming and linear note-taking methods for a number of reasons:

It’s a graphical tool that can incorporate words, images, numbers, and color, so it can be more memorable and enjoyable to create and review. The combination of words and pictures is six times better for remembering information than words alone.

Mind maps link and group concepts together through natural associations. This helps generate more ideas, find deeper meaning in your subject, and also prompt you to fill in more or find what you’re missing.

A mind map can at once give you an overview of a large subject while also holding large amounts of information.

It’s also a very intuitive way to organize your thoughts, since mind maps mimic the way our brains think—bouncing ideas off of each other, rather than thinking linearly.

You can generate ideas very quickly with this technique and are encouraged to explore different creative pathways.

What do you need to make a mind map?

Because Mind Maps are so easy to do and so natural, the ingredients for your “Mind Map Recipe” are very few:

Blank unlined paper

Colored pens and pencils

Your Brain

Your imagination!

When you use Mind Maps on a daily basis, you will find that your life becomes more productive, fulfilled, and successful on every level. There are no limits to the number of thoughts, ideas and connections that your brain can make, which means that there are no limits to the different ways you can use Mind Maps to help you. 

7 Steps to Making a Mind Map:

Start in the CENTER of a blank page turned sideways. Why? Because starting in the center gives your Brain freedom to spread out in all directions and to express itself more freely and naturally.

Use an IMAGE or PICTURE for your central idea. Why? Because an image is worth a thousand words and helps you use your Imagination. A central image is more interesting, keeps you focused, helps you concentrate, and gives your Brain more of a buzz!

Use COLORS throughout. Why? Because colors are as exciting to your Brain as are images. Color adds extra vibrancy and life to your Mind Map, adds tremendous energy to your Creative Thinking, and is fun!

CONNECT your MAIN BRANCHES to the central image and connect your second- and third-level branches to the first and second levels, etc. Why? Because your Brain works by association. It likes to link two (or three, or four) things together. If you connect the branches, you will understand and remember a lot more easily.

Make your branches CURVED rather than straight-lined. Why? Because having nothing but straight lines is boring to your Brain.

Use ONE KEY WORD PER LINE. Why Because single key words give your Mind Map more power and flexibility.

Use IMAGES throughout. Why Because each image, like the central image, is also worth a thousand words. So if you have only 10 images in your Mind Map, it’s already the equal of 10,000 words of notes!

Essential Mind Mapping and Brainstorming Tools:

1. Mindmeister

2. iMindMap

3. XMind

4.The Brain