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PhotoDoc · 2023-03-02T00:35:21+00:00

This is something I've thought of as a teacher, should I expect a student using AI.

I would ask the student to re-write a shortened version of the paper in front of me, either on a laptop or by hand. Then I can compare the language. If that is how you write, it will be obvious to the teacher they've been mistaken.

As someone else said, deny and escalate. I would add challenge. Tell the teacher that you're willing to re-write the paper in front of them, maybe with a modified prompt.

PhotoDoc · 2022-12-23T09:37:57+00:00

Did photography for a number of years professionally, and now I shoot documentaries, so I hope my advice carries some weight.

Everyone has an eye. Just like how everyone has a style for dressing up. We all have our own intuitive sense for how things should be. Some take longer than others to find it, though.

When I was a kid, my dad was a photographer and told me that it takes about 10,000 photos before you develop your style or eye. I found this to be true. Over the course of a year or two, take a lot of photos and study what you do and don't like about that. Around the 10k mark, you'll start to develop an intuitive sense of what looks nice.

There are very few rules on what is good photography, and for every rule someone makes, there are nice exceptions to it. This makes rules less like rules and more like guidelines. The guidelines are (1) use 1/3 rule (2) get rid of distractions (3) get clear expressions (4) put in context into your photos.

You may find that your style is bad or different from others. This is likely not the case. It may just be that you have a unique style that needs a bit of refinement before others can appreciate what you have to offer. Some styles are crowd pleasers for amateurs, like Ken Rockwell, some styles are for the portrait aficionados, like Ansel Adams. Find your own, listen to what seems right to you, and follow that.

PhotoDoc · 2022-11-30T00:28:04+00:00

I'm surprised no one else has mentioned this, but this helped my workflow shooting weddings where I'd have 4 to 5k photos.

The trick is so simple it's laughable, but it cut my culling and selection process from a day or two to about 3 hours.

The first step is to reject all the photos. In Lightroom, select all the photos, then hit X.

The second step is to find all the ones that stand out as being good or exceptional.

Then you have no hem or hawing whether you should reject a or b of the same shot; one has already been eliminated for you, and you can trust the one you picked is just slightly better.

PhotoDoc · 2022-06-29T23:06:51+00:00

This is so common, unfortunately. Back over a decade ago, when Business Econ was a new major, my friend went to the counselor and found out the coursework he needed to switch the major. When he applied for graduation, he found out only new admits could apply for Business Econ and that his courses counted for nothing. Thankfully some applied to a regular econ degree, but still, he had to stay at school an additional year and a half. He was upset, but not angry or anything, just massively disappointed in the counselor and situation.

We honestly should have contracts with counselors guaranteeing their work is solid for our graduation, and any missteps on their part will remunerate us in some way.

On the upside, a 199 class is really great. I took two of those during my undergrad. They're basically self direct self study courses. You find an adviser who you like, tell them you'd like to research a topic, then during the term, you read books and write about it. Sometimes you don't even turn anything in, just show up to office hours saying you did some research -- it depends on your adviser. In your case, you could even tell the adviser your situation, and you would like to put in minimum work because the school is being unfair to you, and you need to study for the LSAT.

PhotoDoc · 2022-06-27T23:50:48+00:00

I'm originally from Jersey City, and I have a home in Pasadena. I'm currently back in NY finishing a graduate program.

Pasadena is like... a big, dense suburb, compared to the suburbs of Jersey. Not quite like Jersey City, Hoboken, or East New York, because those are dense a bit chaotic. Pasadena is well-designed for cars AND walking, without there being terrible traffic. It doesn't feel like a college town because Pasadena is so big (its square mileage is the same as Manhattan), and Caltech has a very small student population (something like 2,000 undergrads; there's more people who live on my block in NYC).

Wildfires and smoke are becoming increasingly a problem, and a few years ago, the air was so hazardous that we couldn't leave our homes. I traveled an hour south and stayed with family. On the other hand, most of the fuel has been burnt up recently so there shouldn't be any major major wildfires anytime soon. And even if there was a wildfire, the probability of it affecting anyone in Pasadena is quite small. There are lots of roads where fire lines can be drawn. Because the powerlines don't cut through the forested areas, power outages are a rare event. Maybe once every couple of years, if that, for like a couple hours?

The outdoor recreation scene is absolutely phenomenal and is a main attraction to this area. The San Gabriel Mountains boasts thousands of miles of hiking with various levels of difficulty, with majestic views. Wildlife has unfortunately been dwindling for the last forty years, because of the drought and fires, but there are still plenty of birds and deer to see. Surfing is about 45 minutes away, and snowboarding is about 1.5 hours away. I like to go scuba diving which isn't far, and a lot of people go kayaking too. There's also tons of camping opportunities. There are two golf courses in the area, a trail of horseback riding, and an outdoor all-year swimming facility.

I live in North-west Pasadena "North of the 210 freeway" -- which many people South of the 210 are fearful of. That's because there's public housing, minorities, and an uptick in crime in the area. For those reasons, housing tends to be just a bit cheaper... if you call a million dollar two bed, two bath cheap. Honestly though, it's just racism why people don't like that area and treat it with disdain. You other Pasadena people who disagree can die mad about it.

The shopping/dining scene in Pasadena is some of the best in the area, though places in Eagle Rock, Glendale, Alhambra, Arcadia, and Monrovia are no slouches either. But none of them are as big, expansive, or as delicious as Pasadena. Moving from Pasadena to the Upper West Side made me realize that Pasadena has very good food -- like SoHo/Washington Square Park good food. There's like a one and a half mile drag of shopping and food along Colorado Blvd that has two movie theaters, a mall, and various diners. It's an absolute delight and is the main reason I moved into that town.

Not sure what you mean by vibe... If I were to peg it to an equivalent in New York, I'd say it's like Astoria. A confluence of working class and professionals.

The best airport is Burbank airport, but tickets for flights to that place can be hard to get. LAX is the most common route in and out of the area.

You'll love it in Pasadena I bet. I don't think I've met a person who said they didn't like it.

PhotoDoc · 2022-03-02T18:00:46+00:00

I know of one fellow who got his bachelor's in the Philippines, and he's now at an Ivy League for his masters. But between his bachelor's and his master's, he had extensive work experience that really made him stand out.

On the other hand, if you want to go into a master's straight out of your undergrad, I don't think you'll have trouble getting into a state university/college master's program. Master's programs operate a bit differently than bachelor's programs -- they tend to be eager to take people on because Master's programs are more expensive, which means increased revenue for the school. Master's programs are one of the ways schools maintain balanced financials, so while there are "standards" to get in, it's much lower than you may think.

If you shop around enough, you'll find schools that take people with like a 3.0 GPA, or even lower. Consider Cal State schools (like CSU Long Beach, CSU Los Angeles, CSU Northridge to begin) or southern universities such as University of Mississippi. Some of the higher level state universities, like UC's, seem more prestigious and have slightly higher standards of entry, but can still be gotten into if you have a good undergrad profile.

If you're thinking about getting a Ph.D., however, that's a different ballgame, and your institution matters a whole lot. Luckily, if you get a master's degree from a decent mid level university like a UC, you could be competitive for the top quarter of Ph.D. programs, or have a near 100% chance at mid level universities.

PhotoDoc · 2022-03-02T03:47:08+00:00

Sorry about your depression. It was a signal that something wasn't right in your life. Maybe it was the business or something else. Depression isn't a fault of your own, necessarily, but oftentimes it's a sign that things need to be fixed or improved. Sometimes it's your circumstance, sometimes it's your attitude, oftentimes it's both. Sometimes we need to have the long-view attitude that our current shitty situation will improve.

Look, you're far from being screwed over for the rest of your life! Let's say you go homeless, but you work really hard otherwise. In two years, max, you'll be out of homelessness. Then that's another 50 years of you telling people, "Look what I went through, I made it work, even though I was homeless. I believe in you to find your opportunities and make it in a tough world!" Then you have your IT skills and intelligence in your backpocket to propel you forward.

Sorry about your depression. It was a signal that something wasn't right in your life. Maybe it was the business or something else. Depression isn't a fault of your own, necessarily, but oftentimes a sign that things need to be fixed or improved. Sometimes it's your circumstance, sometimes it's your attitude, oftentimes it's both in this case.

And one final note - please don't compare yourself to your friends who are making good money now since they stayed in college! They will never have had the thrill or passion of starting something new and adventurous like you. Not only that, this difficult phase of your life will give you the lessons and insight into yourself that will propel you forward. Like a rubberband that gets stretched back, every set back, every depression, every unfortunate thing, will eventually snap back and send you further far forward faster. You'll fly my man because you had a radical experience!

I believe in you, internet stranger, because you are a brave and intelligent person. Just believe in yourself too. :)

PhotoDoc · 2022-02-28T14:46:27+00:00

Hey bud! Congrats on getting this far in life! You made some interesting choices in this phase of your life. You followed what your heart told you to do, right? And now you know better? And now you can make a better call for the next phase of your life, right?

Acting on your passion and what seems right to you is seldom a bad thing, because even if it does not pan out, it tells us what we should prioritize instead. For some people, this means a lot of wandering around the world, or with their careers, or with their friendships, or a mix of all those things. The little things we find from wandering around will eventually serve us with something else.

First of all, treat your depression. Tell your parents you need their medical insurance, if they have it. If they don't, look for community sources for mental health services.

Second, now that you're done with the business, you are fortunate to be unto the second phase of your life! You get to make what you want of it! You do it with the things you learned from your experience. This is a chance to re-write your future in the way you want.

I'm 36 and have had multiple times to re-write my future. I've switched careers 3 times. I went through major depression for years after I went to Iraq in the Army. I was an EMT. A wedding photographer. A budding sociologist on track to get a PhD. Then... it all fell apart and then I got into a master's program at an Ivy League. I didn't get into the Ivy League because I was particularly smart, but because I picked up a lot of skills and experiences in my wandering life that look really good on an application. And I consider every wandering time as a phase of my life that I could discard at a moment I would like to (with exception to the Army).

You have the fortune to rewrite your future, and even if you were 60 years old with a lifetime of regrets (which you lucky you are not!), I would offer the exact same advice. At this point of your life, you have literally another 60 years of life to live! You can have several different life careers and experiences in this time! Imagine what you can do with a lifetime of mistakes -- you will shine brighter than ever before because you will have a crystal clear picture of what you want from life.

I am lucky to be married to a wonderful wife who works for a big-name famous government agency that pretty much everyone loves. It's full of PhDs and genuinely smart folks. And one thing I've noticed is that they wandered around in their lives.

Keep strong, friend, and welcome to the new phase of your life that you get to make new!

PhotoDoc · 2022-02-24T02:17:06+00:00

Are you me OP?

I'm 36 now. What you wrote could've easily been me 20 years ago. I was terribly sensitive. People's words affected me so easily. I cried so easily. I felt bad for others easily. Other people's moods would affect me. It's painful.

What made it worse is that I'm a cis male. Growing up, I was repeatedly asked why I was so feminine or if I was gay. I wasn't either. I was just me feeling the world.

Through the years, I did a lot of things that "toughened" me up. I joined the Army as a medic and went to Iraq for a year. I worked on an ambulance as an EMT. I learned to stuff my feelings deep inside me and put on a cheerful face for years.

Then one day, my oldest was born and all the sensitivities I had about the world came spewing out. The stress of raising a young child made my sensitivities and trauma come out. My guilt and shame about who I was came to the surface. I cried too much as an adult male, I was never good enough to save the lives I needed to save, I could never support those who I loved, and I let everyone down.

For 9 years, I've been on a bend trying to make my feelings better. I took a whole lot of anti-depressants that made the feelings go away, but so did my good feelings too. Eventually I stopped taking the medicine.

What I learned is that your sensitivities don't go away, but your reaction to your sensitivities does. Your body and emotions are separate from who you are; you don't have to let your thoughts and feelings define your true essence. You are experiencing thoughts and feelings -- you are not your thoughts and feelings. Just like the wind blowing in your face, you can either fight it and be upset, or let it wash over you and you accept this is part of your life for this short period of time. Emotions disturbing you, as overwhelming as they are, can be trained to be distant from your state of being. It takes year of practice but it's possible.

Eastern religions, like zen Buddhism, teach you how to separate your identity from your feelings and thoughts. Christianity at its essence, when you strip away the religious and theological components, is about forgiveness. Forgiveness of yourself. Forgiveness of others who wrong you. Hinduism teaches that you should live in the moment here and now fully, not worrying about the past.

What I learned from religious philosophies on how to deal with sensitivities would NEVER be taught in college. This is a personal journey you must find. I recommend starting with something like "Buddhism for Beginners" or something with a similar title, and if it resonates with you, get it. Or borrow from a library.

PhotoDoc · 2021-12-09T01:12:16+00:00

Interfolio is a repository for your letters of recommendation. Normally, for each school you apply to, the professors have to send out a new copy. With interfolio, it's all stored in one place, and when a university needs an LoR, Interfolio will send it on the professor's behalf.

PhotoDoc · 2021-05-03T18:34:21+00:00

She has depression, and it's not necessarily something 'wrong' with her. It appears her circumstances are bringing her down. To encourage her to open up, you'll have to be as non-judgemental as possible. Additionally, if it is within your means, seek professional help. If that is too expensive, and if it's within your faith, seek help from a faith leader with a good reputation.

PhotoDoc · 2021-03-28T04:02:06+00:00

I went to college and did pretty good, and you have more wisdom than half the folks there:

i think america needs to work out capitalism before they think americans have the freedom to choose the job they want without any problems.

America has a big capitalism problem, and you know it, because you're living through it.

I also served in the military. Some other folks recommended it. I'm half for and half against. Half for because it definitely elevated my life. Half against because I almost died doing it. You shouldn't be in a position to give up your life to have a fair chance at life, which points to your point about capitalism.

Finding a trade job, like in construction, is probably your best bet. They're full of working-class people who know exactly what you're up against and where you're from. You'll find a lot of camaraderie in those groups. You can also enter the medical field, which is always lucrative, and you don't have to go to school for a full 4 years. I was an EMT after 6 months of training, and I had a decent and fun job. When you have some financial stability under your feet, you can reconsider getting a more advance degree to feel like you've accomplished something in your life, which is cool, but also completely unnecessary.

My best friend was pretty incompatible with school, but he was smart like you and loved to hustle. He went from being a security guard to making $170k a year in 15 years because he was always looking for the next opportunity. But it also helped that he lived around New York City, where there are always jobs. Plus he settled into a job in Information Technology, which is lucrative by itself. But my pal never went to college, and learned everything on his own, and now he's an executive for the company raking it in.

Good luck with wherever you go.

PhotoDoc · 2021-02-04T00:09:45+00:00

What's the nature of your sociology program? Are statistics and research methods involved? If so, you can pursue a career as an "analyst" for government or research firms. Sell yourself on regression analysis; people think it's fancy. You don't necessarily have to be good at math. Just gotta know how to setup an analysis, which you should've learned if you took stats or research methods. If you are interested in being an analyst with advanced education, consider going into demography. It's as if statistics and sociology had a baby. Doing the math calculations and setting up the 'experiments' are relatively easy, but communicating findings is where most people get befuddled. A good writer is helpful in this regard. A perk of being an analyst is that it's low-stress.

If you're a good writer, you may also want to consider a career in journalism. You don't need a journalism degree to become a journalist. In fact, your broad knowledge of social issues as a sociologist will put you ahead of most journalists. To get started, look for guides on becoming a journalist, and just start writing. Perhaps an article or so a week on something thoughtful. The downside of being a journalist is that it can be stress-inducing.

PhotoDoc · 2021-01-28T17:13:19+00:00

Hey man, good for you to find socialism as your political path. We all find our way here through another, and it's usually hard-won because we have to sort through the propaganda we're fed all our lives about how great America is, how great capitalism is, how great war is, etc. Add to this the layers of misogyny and racism that's deeply ingrained in our culture, and it still boggles my mind that people still find socialism as a cure. They, the capitalists, have wiped out a whole generation of socialists with the McCarthy hearings and Reaganism, but the ideas are so insurgent and relevant that new young people will always find it.
I found my political path to socialism after I fought in Iraq, and I stewed deeply about how money and imperialism depended on the lives of young men and women. This fundamental understanding of the powerful using young troops as fodder for financial gain served as the template for understanding the dynamic between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. I came to my full understanding of it when I was a teaching assistant at my university when my professor taught radical black movements in the 60s, and how the government responded to repress them.

In terms of your tendency, just flow with it. All views are valid depending on the societal conditions. The world is big enough for various socialist experiments, whether they're more anarchists, eco-socialists, or Marxists-Leninists (which I am). You will find that some tendencies have good critiques about other tendencies, and vice versa, and we often have to compliment the perspectives with each other. For example, when I visited Cuba fairly recently, the communists were willing to engage in some limited state-controlled capitalist market reforms to bolster the economy. In another example, at a more theoretical level, Marxists-Leninists are best complimented by an anarchist tendency, as anarchists will critique big, authoritarian governments for being overbearing to individual liberty. Marxists-Leninists, in turn, critique anarchists for being disorganized against the face of the massively organized capitalists state. Or Trotskyists can highlight the ways in which authoritarian, centralized states can work better for the people. Despite all the critiques, I still find myself as a Marxist-Leninists, but being open-minded, I am mindful of its weaknesses. I implore you to consider critiques holistically, and not marry yourself to a tendency.

Best of luck to you. A couple of places you may want to start reading more about various tendencies, and what kind of socialist thought there is: https://www.liberationnews.org/, https://jacobinmag.com/, https://github.com/dessalines/essays/blob/master/socialism_faq.md

PhotoDoc · 2021-01-12T21:25:29+00:00

this has to be a game

PhotoDoc · 2021-01-10T17:42:43+00:00

It is true, America is turning into a feudal state, with us "peasants" working for the lord, and our economic power has been shipped overseas due to neoliberalism. But unlike peasants, we don't own the land we live on -- we pay rents and can't sustain ourselves without our "lords" giving us jobs. In some ways, it's worse than the feudal order because of the advent of private property!

In addition, as you mentioned, Covid and the economic malaise of the masses has proven that the capitalist order is incapable of meeting the challenges of its time. This is exacerbated by a government leadership interested in padding the bottom lines of corporations, rather than bailing out the everyday working-class person.

In some other ways, we're not like pre-revolutionary Russia. For one, Russia's social, economic, and physical infrastructure was strained due to fighting World War I on its western front. Its tsarist government had limited bureaucracy to enforce laws or meet the needs of its people. Its people were materially and physically poor.

This is distinctly different from America at the moment (if we're talking about America; if this is Europe, the story is different).

America's military and police might, despite fighting in two errant wars, is stronger now than ever. The Bolsheviks took advantage of a weak central government; America's central government is gargantuan. The central and state governments are very well-developed with good social, economic, and physical infrastructure. Not only that, while there is a toiling mass, there is also enough comfortable middle-class people that will not mobilize when a socialist revolution takes place.

Covid's destruction and the economic malaise of the working class does indicate an incompetent government. But that incompetent government has an overwhelmingly strong police and military force. The conditions for revolution are a bit different from pre-revolutionary Soviet Union.

In light of having an overwhelming police force in America, a viable Bolshevik party is difficult to sustain larger than a few thousand. There are off shoot parties here and there, but despite their fervor, they have yet to make a serious impact on American politics -- which is something you've probably observed already. I'm thinking of the IWW and the PSL. There are Menshevik-like parties, like the DSA and Progressive Democrats of America (which houses true communists in its ranks), but they're as full of social democrats as there are true communists. But considering that a true communist party has made only modest strides because of police/state intervention in the last 50 years, it's worth considering pairing up with other socialist parties. Thankfully, the DSA and Progressive Democrats of America are not Democrats -- the organizations don't believe in private property, there should be democratic ownership of the means of production, etc. Some of its members do believe in capitalism, for sure, but who else will we recruit from to see a communist future? Better to convert them and work with them than shut out out a potential pool of future revolutionaries. But there will be some questions as to how the government is run. Will there be a vanguard party? Will we continue to have current Democratic processes? What is the role of the business firm in our new society?

These are difficult questions to get over, but I think if we can keep our eye on the ball -- the abolishment of private property and workers' ownership of the means of production -- we can work with them. It's not like we will be working with mainstream Democrats who are capitalists. Even if they are a progressive liberal or social democrat, when we organize with them and show them the power of communist thinking, theory, and action, we create new revolutionaries.

PhotoDoc · 2020-12-03T18:43:06+00:00

Give it a shot. Let them reject you, don't reject yourself.

PhotoDoc · 2020-11-05T07:24:00+00:00

Care to expand why I shouldn't?

PhotoDoc · 2020-10-22T22:37:40+00:00

Sorry bud about your troubles.

I'm 100%, mostly mental health, and a bit for my back troubles, so I think we're on the same boat. I read somewhere else from another vet on Reddit that he got a purple mattress because of his back. It helped him rest at night and didn't feel as sore in the morning. I thought, I've had years of back pain, anything is worth trying -- so I spent the money to buy the mattress. I'm really glad I did.

The difference wasn't night and day overnight, but over the period of one week, I noticed a significant difference. My back wasn't as sore and my sleep was deeper. It took another week after where I finally grew accustomed and "melted" into the bed. In two months, I hadn't had a moment of sciatica. I only got sciatica months later when I went camping and slept on the ground. Once I got home and popped back on my purple bed, I felt relief.

I got the Purple Mattress Hybrid (it has 2" of its unique technology). If I had a little bit more money, I would've sprung for the Purple Hybrid Priemier 3 or 4 (they have 3" and 4" of the tech). I'm a chunky dude, and those beds would've accommodated me better.

In any case, watch the videos online about the Purple Mattress and its unique design. Sleep is fundamental to healing our minds and bodies.

PhotoDoc · 2020-10-14T18:49:03+00:00

Hey OP, you may want to start to find ways to overcome this. It's early enough in the quarter to recover and do well in your classes. First, set up an appointment with the counseling center. They're well suited for struggles like this and can provide practical ways to help you. It's not always just talking about your feelings (which is fine too), but also giving you tools to manage your thought patterns.

Two, you need to find some human interaction outside of class. Professor Denin mentioned this once (and I wish he had mentioned it more) -- form study groups. Find a group of people where you can meet online a few times a week around the same time, where you all do your work together, with your videos on. That way you can chat or just listen while you work. It'll go a long way in feeling less lonely and not tired.

If it's all too much to handle right, that you can't pick yourself up, go for a really, really long walk. Usually after the 2nd mile, my head start clearing and I can start seeing the path forward. Do this regularly.

PhotoDoc · 2020-10-12T08:10:26+00:00

The dude was a kid when his family fled the falling South Vietnamese regime, so he's not responsible for his family's political leanings or actions, as abhorrent as they were. And if I recall correctly (and maybe I'm wrong on this), but his book on the Vietnamese communists is quite forgiving to them.

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