7 Quick Takes Friday - Monsters, Cryonics, Bitcoin... (and Cabbages and Kings)

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First, in honor of Halloween, here is the best article I ran across in relation to monsters this week. it still had me thinking the day after I read it. "How Monsters Point Us to God" by Paul Pastor in Christianity Today. It talks about how the creation of monsters reveals our fears, including our fears about God.

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I took the GRE today!! I got "unofficial" scores on the Verbal and Quantitative Reasoning sections (I got a 162 and 147 in them, respectively). I was disappointed with my score on the Quantitative (math) portion, because the degree I am applying for is in physics. BUT, in my defense, I haven't had math since I was a sophomore in high school (15 years ago), so I think the fact that I did as well as I did should indicate at least a potentiality that I can do well in the subject. I also finished the rest of the application process, including my letter of interest.

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Here is part of that letter of interest, in which I briefly mention one of my research goals:

As an example of my cross-discipline research interests, I am interested in studying the theoretical ethics of humans in extra-Earth temporal dimensions. With the expansion of space exploration and the hope of humanity inhabiting other planets, this will pose a very real concern at some point in the not-so-distant future, and a framework now might provide a useful reference for legal considerations to come. These might touch on all sorts of subjects from cryonics, cloning, and death ethics to the age of adulthood and the sexual ethics inherent therein.

It sounds good in my head, but I'm a little worried it sounds more like I want to write Sci-Fi than academic research. Oh well. I think the best nonfiction does read like an interesting story.

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I'm hoping I am not the last person on the planet to have heard of Bitcoin (a type of digital currency). Just learned about it this week when, by chance, I glimpsed an article about a Bitcoin ATM machine being installed in Canada. I find it interesting that, as a medium of currency, it can fluctuate in value just like the stock market. Makes me curious to learn more about how it is supposed to work in an efficient way. Honestly, at first glance, it seems kind-of like a overly complicated form of PayPal to me. But then, what do I know?

---5---

So I'm reading through the Harry Potter books for the first time. I am now a little ways into the sixth book. Phenomenal writing. The movies are great, but it's true that the books are even better. And have you ever done an Internet search for Harry Potter fan fiction?! There are so many sites!! Plus there is Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (sort of a cross between Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, and actual, nonfictional principles of reason...?). And recently a friend introduced me to this "Hogwarts Seminary" Tumblr page with GIFs that illustrate various moments in the life of a seminarian (there are others of these out there, too). Here's one I could identify with:

"The feeling of trying to write a concise book review a month after reading the text."

(...which is why I now make notes in books...something I eschewed as evil in my younger days.)

...Even now I find it hard to keep on track and read books in a brief time span so as to be able to write a coherent review. I was going to try to write a few reviews here on the blog, and the one I'm reading now (Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey) is going to be available for purchase in like 4ish days...so if I don't get to it, ...[sigh]....

But I digress.

ANYWAY...

J. K. Rowling, consider me a fan; your works are definitely classics. I'm only sorry I'm just now discovering this!!

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Did you notice I skipped #6? Yeah...that's all I got this week, folks. Enjoy your weekend! Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to visit Conversion Diary for more great Quick Takes!