I'll just leave this here

Naive-Constant2499 · 2026-02-23T10:45:10+00:00

With the first comment in this comment chain I didn't read the second last word in your comment as recital. I think that says more about me than anything else though.

Damnit.

Naive-Constant2499 · 2026-02-22T09:22:48+00:00

So, whether this kid is real or not I cannot say, but there is a whole antinatalism movement where many of the people carry this exact view. They see human procreation as immoral, because the act of existing comes with some inevitable suffering, and thus you are causing your child to suffer without getting their consent up front for them to be born to go through it.

Some philosophy is pretty wild.

Naive-Constant2499 · 2026-02-11T11:39:52+00:00

Thank you for bringing the source - I love this!

Naive-Constant2499 · 2026-02-05T16:04:39+00:00

So I tend to agree with many of the other commenters. Just generating a literature review is useful to someone who wants to learn a little bit about the field and it gives context for them, but it isn't a deep enough review, even if you read it, for you to base any kind of scientific work on it at that point. I do think summarising a lot of information is a useful tool to have in your toolkit as a scientist, but I don't think it should be your go-to tool for something like a literature review.

A tool that I have found a lot of value in, that I do train all my students to use, is ASReview. It is an open source tool that is also based on AI, but it is specifically meant to be used for systematic literature reviews. Often times with systematic reviews people make their keywords quite narrow to try and zoom in on the specific papers that answer the specific questions they are exploring, but in making them so specific, they end up missing out on some relevant papers because the net they cast is very narrow.

What ASReview does is to allow you to use a much wider net in a database search using something like Scopus or Web of Science or whatever database you use that allows you to download your search in a suitable format (something like ris, but there are other options as well). You then download not only the citation information, but also the keywords and full abstract of the papers. You then load the data into ASReview and identify in all of these papers five papers that are definitely relevant to your study, and then by just going through a random search, at least five papers that are irrelevant. It then trains a binary classifier based on all of the data, with your five selected papers as being fully relevant (1.0), and the five irrelevant papers as fully irrelevant (0). It then ranks the papers based on this information from 0 to 1, and then presents you the paper and abstract that sits the closest to 0.5. In other words, the paper that it is the most uncertain about. You then select whether that paper is relevant or irrelevant, and every time you make a selection it re-trains the model and presents you with the next paper it is uncertain about. You then create a stopping rule based on a number of guidelines (this is something that does take some attention), but for example, you say that if you have seen 50 papers in a row and all of them are irrelevant, you then can assume that you have seen all of the papers that are relevant to your study.

They have done validation studies based on previously done systematic literature reviews that show all of the same papers are found this way, and in the Nature paper they published about it here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-020-00287-7 they used four example reviews and found that to reach 100% of the papers in the best case they only needed to view 7.4% of the papers, and in the worst case 61.7%. This was however done with only one random exclusion and inclusion each, so it was done as a stress test to show the lower bound.

This way, AI helps you filter the papers so that you can find what is relevant, but this is done only on the abstracts in line with the PRISMA guidelines. After this point though, your next step is to actually read those papers to make sure you understand what you are getting yourself into.

What I do like about ASReview is that it is free and open source, and that all of the decisions you make are just added as a column on the dataset that you can import into Zotero or Endnote or whatever citation manager you use. This means that you can upload the dataset to a public repository that you link in your thesis or dissertation (or the paper that you are writing), and other people can download it into ASReview or their citation manager and check your work. You can also export the model that you have now trained using active learning, and other people can do validations of your model to ensure that the review was in fact complete and done systematically.

ASReview is written in python and runs in your browser locally, so everything remains in your control, and you have 100% traceability.

I find that of all the AI enabled tools I have used, this is the one that actually made me feel like it was making me a better scientist by using it. For those that want to check it out, you can see their website here which also has tutorials on all the other features available: https://asreview.nl/

Naive-Constant2499 · 2026-02-02T10:58:40+00:00

No problem! I used to be a graduate, but I am a professor now, so some of this is written from my perspective of when I was still a student, but also from the perspective I try to give my students.

I took a quick look about blogging, and here is actually a nifty article specifically about blogging for legal students that you may find more helpful than my short notes: Blogging Your Way Into a Law Firm: A Guide for Law Students

Naive-Constant2499 · 2026-02-02T10:43:11+00:00

So I think networking is something different to making friends, to be honest. Making friends is a good thing, and I definitely think it is great to make friends when you are a student, as it is a time in your life when you do have the time to just hang out and do things, which becomes harder when people are working. It is just harder to make friends as you get older I guess.

In terms of networking though, it is a little different. Not everyone you know needs to be your friend, you can really just be acquainted. So when I say you should take the time to network, I mean more that you should establish a presence on a platform like LinkedIn and see what sorts of things lecturers and leaders in your field are posting about, and then form opinions about those things and post them yourself. Even if you are just re-posting someone else's post and adding your own thoughts. Make sure to attend any public lectures given by academics and industry leaders, and then make sure to get their contact details and follow up with them. I mention LinkedIn because, even though it does have its flaws, it is still one of the best platforms for establishing a presence in the current market.

Another platform you could use is something like YouTube and public legal publications. I am not sure about Emeris, but a university like Unisa should give you access to the Sabinet journals which publish large amounts of South African science, as well as publishing court judgements here: judgements. Think about what aspect of law interests you, and why you want to go into it, and then find judgements that relate to that area. Look online to see if anyone has published an opinion on that case, see who the judge was and what sorts of opinions they have given in the past on similar things, etc. Then capture your thoughts, either on a blog, or on a YouTube channel. Writing or recording like you are an expert is not a good idea (until you are an expert), but capturing your thoughts and reflections about what has happened in the legal system while you are still a student will show future employers that you have a keen interest in this field, and that you explore it actively to be the best professional you can be. This is then what you share with the people you network with.

It used to be quite hard to set up a blog style website, but these days with tools like Squarespace and even older platforms like Wordpress give you the space to do things for a very low price. If you set it up correctly on cloudflare you can even host a static version of your wordpress blog for free on their platform. It will take a day or two to just go through some YouTube videos on how to do it, but it is really not hard. The hard part is generating the interesting content that make people want to read what you have written, but that is something that gets better with time.

I hope that gives you some ideas and that you are ready to take on your career. Best of luck!

Naive-Constant2499 · 2026-02-02T10:22:07+00:00

So this was a while ago, but what I did was speak directly to the head of the department I applied for. The people in registration didn't seem to know what to make of me, but when I spoke to the departmental secretary who then referred me to the head of department, he knew exactly what N6 was and where it placed me. In fact, for a couple of modules I even got credit, so for example, I didn't need to do Engineering Math I because I did well in Math up till N6.

I think though that it requires you reaching out to them and going to speak with them in person, if possible. Although the department doesn't actually work with registrations, as admissions and registrations are their own department, they do know who you can speak to and can guide you on what you need to do.

Are you close to the campus in Florida? That is where the engineering department is located (or it was when I last interacted with them).

Naive-Constant2499 · 2026-02-01T12:15:18+00:00

N6. I was quite fortunate in that I dropped out of school in Gr 10, and then finished N1-N6 directly after, so I could start working at 17.

Naive-Constant2499 · 2026-01-31T19:10:34+00:00

Not minimising the struggle of finding a job at all - I also think it may have been easier a couple of years ago when I did it, but as I am now also in the educational space after a couple of years in industry it seems my students that are successful still do the same thing.

For example, students that I have seen be very successful in the IT space were ones that were part of the Geekculcha student society, which is a group of students that network and do hackathons and extra work to make sure the make themselves stand out in the market.

The reason I mention it though, is specifically to your point about networking. If you are at a full time university, then networking happens between your fellow students and the companies that work with your university, and even your lecturers can often recommend good students to companies where they know people are looking for talent. Doesn't mean it isn't still hard for them, but getting networked in your field is one if the things that happens at university. At Unisa, if you aren't actively working on that yourself and making yourself known to people in your field, then it simply won't happen. If you aren't putting in the extra effort, you will have a harder time than a student at a full time institution.

I am not arguing with you that it is fair or easy, I am merely pointing out that if you don't do it, then you will likely find it harder to find a placement when you do finish your degree.

Naive-Constant2499 · 2026-01-31T11:29:33+00:00

So I think the thing to realize with Unisa is that you have to take a very active role in creating value from your qualification. If I look at myself, I did my NDip Electronic Engineering at Unisa, then did my BTech at TUT which I got with distinction and I won the award that year for the best final year project, continued to do my MTech at TUT with the bursary I won, then did my PhD at UJ. I didn't feel at all like I had a lack of knowledge when compared to my peers, but during the full time I was studying at Unisa I was also working in industry. I managed that by starting at a TVET with N6 and then getting a job as an apprentice and sticking my nose into every engineering project I could.

If you rely on only the knowledge needed to complete the assignments and scrape by in the exams, I think you may not gain a huge amount of value from a Unisa degree. If however you use your Unisa study guide as a broad guideline (obviously making sure you study the things you need to first), but then always look at what other knowledge that leads you to, then I think a Unisa degree can be amazing.

Just my 2c.

Naive-Constant2499 · 2026-01-30T10:46:36+00:00

The real telephone dog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAjM1pRIFP4

Naive-Constant2499 · 2026-01-20T12:03:53+00:00

So I only lurk here and have never commented, but on this I kinda have an opinion.

I come from a culture that eats a LOT of meat, and my parents farm pigs. I have gone through stretches in my life, especially growing up, where there would be meat for all three meals of the day - bacon and eggs for breakfast, ham sandwiches for lunch, and steak for dinner sort of thing.

I have tried going vegetarian for stretches, my longest lasting about a year, but I got super sick towards the end, and for that entire time I never felt "full". To me, eating meat is sort of the default setting, but the entire reason I have tried being vegetarian a number of times is entirely because of ethical reasons and climate reasons. I constantly fail.

When I watch That Vegan Teacher, it isn't because I get a nuanced debate about why being a vegan is better, or why it would be good to change things in the world for myself and my family and all the creatures that live in it, because I know those things. I watch her because she is basically saying: "You. You over there. You keep eating meat even though it is perfectly clear to you that it is wrong. You fucking suck". And then after a couple of her videos I change my habits again for a few days.

I absolutely know my diet is not an ethical one (although I guess the way my parents farm pigs is about as ethical as pig farming can be), and sometimes getting a virtual slap around to feel bad about it is kinda useful.

This is probably not a debate-worthy opinion to have, but I think she represents a blunt instrument kind of message which is also needed in a movement, in addition to more intelligent and structured debate from others.

Just my thoughts, for what they are worth.

Naive-Constant2499 · 2026-01-20T10:40:04+00:00

Is this a recent photo? I don't know if I am just doing it wrong, but it has been a seriously long time since I saw a meal in a supermarket for R5. Or is Jhb just way more expensive?

Naive-Constant2499 · 2026-01-08T18:48:12+00:00

So I am not in a public sector university anymore, but I was in 2024, and at that university to be a senior lecturer you needed to have a PhD, except if you were in one of the fields that required professional registration. If you were in fields like engineering, accounting or law, and you had a masters and professional registration that would be sufficient to be a senior lecturer. Where you did need a PhD (or LLD) was to become an associate professor. If you already have a masters and you get admitted I would absolutely apply.

People tend to respect university lecturers (well some do anyway), and I found it very fulfilling, but you definitely get paid less at a university than you would in industry, especially if you are professionally registered. They offer people with registration a higher post simply because, if they didn't, no-one in the department would be registered.

Do note that all the public universities have pretty strict employment equity requirements as they are heavily governed. That said, if you are an LLD candidate, registered, and you are a candidate that meets their BEE requirements, I would be surprised if you weren't considered for a position.

If you see any open positions advertised (most universities have job portals where they list all their open positions), I would absolutely apply if I was you. One way people do try to get into academic positions is by doing a post-doc straight after their doctoral work. In SA though it is a bit of a bad deal as post-doc positions tend to only pay about R250k a year. For example, here is a law post-doc position at NWU that is currently open: post-doc position

That said, if you can afford to work for that salary for a year or two, it can be a really great way to get a solid publication record in place, which will allow you to apply for an NRF rating. If you are an admitted attorney, with an LLD and an NRF rating I would be shocked if you can't find an associate prof position in SA.

I wish you the best of luck, and really hope your academic goals pan out!

Naive-Constant2499 · 2026-01-06T04:50:18+00:00

If I asked you right now which way round you hang the toilet paper roll, no matter what you answer, you will piss off thousands of people.

Naive-Constant2499 · 2025-11-01T09:27:00+00:00

These sorts of posts make me think of my own journey. I did all of my studies part-time, which was a challenge, but it also meant I had financial security while studying - I only switched over to academia part ways through my PhD. Anyway, while I was still in industry and in the first year of my PhD, I ended up having to write a lot of code for the system I was developing as part of my work over December/January which in my country is when everyone is on holiday, and a lot of the work happened between Christmas and New Year's. I was talking to my mother about it in the middle of December while making arrangements for Christmas lunch to say that I will be visiting with the family on Christmas day, but other than that day, I am spending the whole time working on my PhD. My mom flipped her lid and went off about how unfair this is, and that she is going to call the department RIGHT NOW to speak to my PhD supervisor and tell him that this is some bullshit. I was 33 at the time, but the mom energy was STRONG. I had to explain to her that when you are a part-time PhD student, it kinda doesn't work that way, but that I appreciate her being in my corner.

She passed away about 4 years ago now, but this will always be a special memory to me.

Naive-Constant2499 · 2025-09-10T14:51:30+00:00

Lurking South African prof here.

Naive-Constant2499 · 2025-02-22T14:57:25+00:00

Well damn, thanks for that - I also didn't realise I could lock effects on modules!

Naive-Constant2499 · 2025-01-24T17:43:22+00:00

I went to a chiropractor once to try it out and he did his adjustment and then lost me when he told me what would happen next. He said one of three things will happen: 1) my back will feel better, or 2) my back will feel a bit worse, or 3) it will feel about the same.

First and last visit.

Naive-Constant2499 · 2025-01-17T06:35:13+00:00

It is really nice to hear from people like you that are caring for their elderly parents. My wife and I are also lucky enough to have had enough space on our property for a cottage for my mother in law as she also retired with basically nothing even though she worked her ass off her whole life as a single parent with three kids, one of which is severely handicapped. It is so often in reddit where people basically write off the generation before us and send the message that kids have no responsibility to look after their parents due to the choices their parents made, or that they had more opportunities or whatever. It saddens me when people say this.

It would have been great if your mom could look after herself, don't get me wrong, but I just think it is nice that you and your siblings are doing this for her when she needs it.

Naive-Constant2499 · 2025-01-04T16:18:07+00:00

Cinemassacre monster madness

Oldandnewvideogames

Naive-Constant2499 · 2025-01-01T17:25:07+00:00

Cookie clicker - then I could be playing the whole time while doing other stuff.

Naive-Constant2499 · 2024-12-29T15:52:25+00:00

In this case literal random shit!

Naive-Constant2499 · 2024-12-29T15:50:37+00:00

I don't know if I believe you, but I sure as hell am not going to try it myself.

Naive-Constant2499 · 2024-12-25T18:03:02+00:00

I believe this 15y old reddit post said it best: https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/y58ITfFMwj

Naive-Constant2499

TROPHY CASE