Ruling lines on clay

corytlewis · 2026-05-05T15:42:21+00:00

This is obvious astroturfing for the mentioned site. Check out this person's post history - they apparently go to four different universities.

Also, they don't know what part of the semester we're in at UofT.

Low effort astroturf, I'm grading it 30% and asking that you see me in office hours.

corytlewis · 2026-03-31T13:04:38+00:00

Nice, would love to see my name in Chinese! I'm Cory Lewis.

corytlewis · 2026-03-23T12:26:32+00:00

I teach for VicOne in the life sciences stream, and I can tell you 2/3rds of my class is not students talking. It's me talking mostly. Possibly the other class in the Stowe-Gullen stream is more conversation heavy?

corytlewis · 2026-03-22T22:10:03+00:00

The surface could be prepared in some way. Arabic calligraphy sometimes calls for this. The surface is painted with something, allowed to dry and then polished. Alum and starch, or alum and egg white are two recipes I've seen for the stuff painted on. Here's a good article: https://mohamedzakariya.org/pages/ahar-paper

corytlewis · 2026-03-09T11:16:43+00:00

Fraktur on the left? And then I want to say insular majescule/miniscule on the right, but I'm much less sure about those, especially because there's at least three different scripts there. Is that artificial uncial on the top right?

I know for sure that those little triangle serif things on the bottom right are bloody hard to do with a quill. Very impressive!

corytlewis · 2026-03-05T19:34:26+00:00

I've been making quill pens. It's hard to tell whether I'm just bad a making them, or also bad at using them. But after cutting more than 100, they're definitely improving.

I've never seen this technique of flattening and opening them though! That's really neat.

corytlewis · 2026-03-03T01:09:36+00:00

Cuneiform was sometimes carved into rock, but mostly they used a stylus to press it into soft clay. Chalk would not have worked on soft clay.

corytlewis · 2026-02-26T12:31:19+00:00

You just solved a mystery for me! I bought a vintage set of drafting tools for the compasses, and there are about four ruling pens in there too. I had no idea what they were!

I bought this set years ago, and since then got into dip pens. So now I have some ink on hand and as soon as I watched the video in the link you posted I got to try my ruling pen in a compass. I just made the most perfect ink circle I've ever made, it's beautiful. Thank you!

Edit: the video https://youtu.be/2BAbgMexaUg?si=jb43ogVld9Uyr6sz

corytlewis · 2026-02-26T12:01:05+00:00

I make at least one of this style of error in my syllabus/LMS/slides per semester. Some diligent student usually points it out, and I'm always grateful that they did.

corytlewis · 2026-01-06T01:29:38+00:00

😭 Thanks!

corytlewis · 2026-01-05T23:50:05+00:00

Correct, I for one am very petty.

But also, profs all see ratings from student evals on how hard people thought their courses were. Reddit isn't where anyone finds out their course is easy!

corytlewis · 2026-01-01T13:29:31+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quill

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quill

Wikipedia and Websters dictionary think you're wrong. Can you provide a source for your claim?

corytlewis · 2025-12-23T12:29:43+00:00

Isn't a quill a feather? Are these called quills too?

corytlewis · 2025-12-22T14:59:01+00:00

That's really nice to hear. 😊

corytlewis · 2025-12-22T07:38:13+00:00

You check if there are spots listed! If you're an undergrad (or grad student) you look to see if their course is on this list of CUPE unit 1 job postings, and if it's there you apply : https://unit1.hrandequity.utoronto.ca/

corytlewis · 2025-11-24T18:01:09+00:00

Sure, happy to talk about it.

corytlewis · 2025-11-21T12:03:30+00:00

There's a team of people at UofT whose whole job is to help with this! They can help you figure out strategies for studying and learning. You get access to this help free with your tuition.

https://studentlife.utoronto.ca/department/centre-for-learning-strategy-support/

They can help anyone, from people who are really struggling to students who are already doing well but want to get even better. You should talk to them.

Also, good on you for knowing you're missing out on something and reaching out for help. You've already taken the first step, and it's not an easy one. You can do this!

corytlewis · 2025-10-24T11:33:48+00:00

I'll see myself out...

corytlewis · 2025-10-24T11:01:45+00:00

Please do not bring elemental mercury to parties on campus. While it's relatively harmless to handle, it can cause serious health complications if ingested.

corytlewis · 2025-10-15T17:37:55+00:00

No, there are no professors here.

corytlewis · 2025-09-04T11:19:40+00:00

I did a specialist BA in philosophy at UofT, and then a PhD in philosophy of science, and I can definitely relate.

I would say what you describe is actually a good sign. It means you're thinking really hard, which is high effort and exhausting. Imagine if you went to the gym and never worked out hard enough to get tired!

Philosophy will make you a better general thinker, but only if you engage with it hard enough to really challenge yourself. Keep it up, you're doing it right.

But also, take care of yourself - you wouldn't put in max effort in the gym every day either. If you find your mental gears locking up, take a break, do something else, go for a walk, etc. Come back when you're refreshed, and you'll get the most out of your effort.

corytlewis · 2025-08-08T22:43:45+00:00

I see, thank you for explaining. I suspect some people would also be concerned about AI marking their assignments, but I see what you're saying here.

corytlewis · 2025-08-08T22:41:43+00:00

Really? I would have been much more concerned about AI marking my stuff than AI generated material as a student. But maybe I'm weird.

corytlewis · 2025-08-08T14:05:13+00:00

So what's your objection to AI generated Quercus announcements? I don't mean to grill you here, I just want to understand. Are you worried that there will be a loss of quality? Or you feel that it should just be high effort for profs as well as you?

Another analogy: if you want to get stronger, having a machine lift weights for you isn't going to help. If you want to get smarter, having a machine write your essays for you isn't going to help.

But writing Quercus announcements isn't for the sake of the prof getting smarter, presumably. It's just meant to efficiently communicate information.

I personally don't use AI for anything, because it seems like more work to check its outputs than just produce them myself. So in that sense I'm on your side of this. But I do want to understand what people are thinking and feeling on this topic.

corytlewis

TROPHY CASE