Category: Random

Thanks for your love and support! Physics requires putting in the work, there’s no magic solution. But there are some effective ways to do better; try to keep up with the work and don’t let it run away from you, use the peer tutoring at the Connors Family Learning Center (bit.ly/BC-connors), and don’t be afraid to see your professor during office hours if you are lost.

You can discover which important intrinsic values people are willing to re-apportion to extrinsic value through currency exchange. Is there a thing you can sell that you can (through the magic of marketing) associate with, say, falling in love? Raising children? Satisfying thirst or hunger? Raising class status? Pick any important driver of human behavior and hitch your money-making scheme to it. Or if creating a business sounds too risky, look into the US Labor Dept’s crystal ball for occupations and median pay: https://www.bls.gov/ooh.

Pre-med is a lot of work, but getting inadequate sleep will not make it better. Maybe consider academic coaching at the Connors Family Learning Center (bit.ly/BC-connors).

First, ask yourself whether it’s crucial. If you’re just curious, it’s probably not worth creating a schism. If it’s crucial, you could ask it in a roundabout way: what’s their religion’s position on LGBTQ issues? They might relay their own position in the process. The other question is what you’d do with the information. If this is regarding your own sexuality and they’re homophobic, would you keep it a secret? Come out anyway? Ask for a housing change? Before you do anything, I’d recommend visiting the LGBTQ-friendly folks at the Office of Student Outreach and support: http://bit.ly/LBGTQBC.

One possibility: old habits (such as working in spite of being ill, not wearing a mask while ill) die hard, even in the face of a serious pandemic. Another possibility: it’s allergy season, and they know they’re having seasonal allergies. In a sense, it’s their choice. But ethically, their choice should be influenced by its potential affects on others. Daily, we avoid doing things (like smoking indoors or driving drunk) that could harm others’ health.

The answer to that depends very heavily on school policies and local/state laws. Masks have been shown to be effective at preventing the spread of Covid-19. https://bit.ly/bc-masks. Almost half a million children have become infected nationwide in the last two weeks. https://bit.ly/bc-masks2

Yes, but according to the law, I do have the right to forbid it, since wearing a mask is not hard-coded into the law. I am not saying masks aren’t effective, it’s a personal choice affected from plenty of reasons. The thing that’s on my mind are 2 things: Private schools do have the right to force anything, since it’s their land, right? And if that’s true, then do these fundamental parental rights have full power on public schools, correct?

I’m not a lawyer, I’m a whiteboard hanging in a library lobby. Public health law in general is a local and state matter, so if you’re looking for confirmation I’d suggest a visit to a lawyer, or maybe your town’s website. Most states also publish their statutes online. Have a lovely day.

The Office of Health Promotion has you covered on this one: bit.ly/SleepyBC. Lots of tips, and you can also click on “Meet with a wellness coach” to get individualized help. Wishing you some quality Zzzzzzzz.

So exciting to see visitors from across the globe! I hope you had a great visit.

I’m sorry, I’m deeply committed to Library Door. They were open to a relationship with a wall, in spite of our very different opacities. I’m an upstanding wall and would never date while dating them.

It varies by context, for example, for doctors it might be “first, do no harm”, the commercial for the investment company says it is “don’t lose the money”, but for fight club… well, let’s not talk about that!

I’m just a wall. I’m not sure how you humans go about this. You could say to someone: would you be my boyfriend? Of course, there’s the risk of disappointment. You might want a fallback plan, like: how to get out of the room quickly & find a close friend who will let you cry on their shoulder. Then try again another day, with another person? IDK, like I said, I’m a wall.

“God is love” is the equivalent of saying: you don’t have to merit love to be loved. That kind of love is called (by many Christians) agape. Eros is a different kind of love, based on the merits (beauty, humor, intelligence) of the beloved. When you love someone, you’d do just about anything for them. If you’re indifferent, you’re likely to do nothing. The world is a better place when we’re all driven to act for the benefit of others.

What happens if you remove the word “should”? If it’s making you feel guilty about something you enjoy, it’s not doing you any favors. Do you have enough money to take care of your needs? Once you do, you are allowed to choose what you value more. Art has been part of human culture for as long as there have been humans–these paintings on cave walls are 20,000 years old. https://bit.ly/bc-lascaux Compared to that, money was invented an eyeblink ago.

Thanks for asking – I am fine, but answering that question in 2021 is always strange isn’t it? There’s an unspoken (or spoken) “but…” I hope you are also well, “…despite…”

Crackle? Pop?

Dog made itself clear: wants mints.

Not sure, really? Maybe because I’m a bit of a blank slate, leaves room for people to fill in details they like.

These are great suggestions for you. There’s also the annual Poetry Days events from the Lowell Humanities series (coming up in April, bit.ly/PoetryDaysUGrad and bit.ly/PoetryDays22.)

I would suppose ultimate concerns depend on the person and the context. It’s a grim fact, but we’ll all lose to death those we love, which means we all need to love fiercely. Here’s a poem by Philip Larkin that says it better: https://bit.ly/larkin-mower

Love means “nothing.” In tennis.