A little bit on orchid anatomy

January 6, 2021

Orchids are really freaking cool. Although not my favourite plant nor flower, they manage to captivate me with their beauty, and well, just really wicked evolved traits. Once the libraries open up again (thanks, coronavirus), I will look for a more detailed book on them, but for right now, I have a mix of Internet and previously obtained knowledge to share.

The Orchidaceae are a family of plants more commonly known as orchids. Many know them for their regal yet tropical look and their long lasting flowers. There are over 28,000 species of them according to our friend, Wikipedia the Great, and typically are classified as “orchids” by their anatomy. I could not find actual criteria for an orchid, but it pretty much seems that most non-orchids are not smart enough to bamboozle us, so anatomy is a good baseline. If the flower can make it past that test, there’s a good chance they’re the real deal. I think if we want any more substantial criteria, we’d have to go ask a taxonomist– they probably do have an actual checklist for what qualifies.

Java and Minimalism

January 4, 2021

My question of the day:
How much coding ability qualifies as knowing how to code?
I was reading through some posts on what MD/PhD programs look for, and a lot of people suggested learning to code. I would not be doing that to look good for admissions, though, I’m not about that life, but rather because if it saves me the trouble later when I would actually need to use that skill, it would be worth it. I feel like there are a lot of different languages to program in, so how would you know for sure which will be needed? What I learned in AP Computer Science in high school gave me a pretty good introduction, but I don’t feel like I completely mastered Java or anything. It has, though, helped me mess with the html in Weebly and helped me find errors in the program my PI wrote when I did research in a cochlear implant lab. That program, though, was in Matlab, which looked similar to Java but most definitely was not the same. Since I will most likely do my later studies in STEM or linguistics (or both???), I looked up common languages.

“___ is the hardest language!”

January 1, 2021

Howdy,
Not sure how to start off a blog so I’m just going to jump into a light discussion of something on my mind. I should also disclose that I am running on about 2 hours of sleep right now, so this is not going to be a post of quality.

Well, I like to learn languages. I don’t think I am necessarily that great at it, and it doesn’t help that I don’t spend nearly enough time studying. It is more of the overall concept I enjoy– techniques to learn best, or how languages are related, or how the grammar works (but not actually the work of memorizing all those words*), etc. The patterns and connections in systems and the ways multiple systems fit together pleases me. I personally believe that is why a biology major is a very good fit for me; every piece connects with each other at some point. (I am definitely calling out physics here *cough cough* general relativity and quantum mechanics inconsistencies bother me. I need answers.) I’m sure there are points where topics of biology don’t fit together nicely either, but everything feels more definite? Maybe it’s all in my head haha.* I enjoy learning it and being able to use it, but in natural ways, such as through using the word/grammar in a real conversation, or learning the meaning because you heard it in a song. Memorization without application is rather humdrum in my opinion.

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