2. Is it really that surprising? Given his demonstrated breadth of knowledge (html, java, cock jokes, ascii art, every friggin' grammar rule known to man, etc.), I'd be more than a little afraid of the program that felt comfortable rejecting him.
I'll be serious for one moment. Ben's obviously a very smart guy (in real life too), and it's a lot of fun to have him here, and not at all surprising that he's been admitted.
html, java, cock jokes, ascii art, every friggin' grammar rule known to man
It's gonna be some dissertation that works all these things in. Some kind of performance/installation art might cover it. Sort of Jeff Koons meets school marm grammar police.
Congrats, although -speaking from experience- giving up the temp/paralegal job does put a cramp in your blogging. Get in your cock jokes while you can (unless getting your PhD is much cooler than I expect)
Although I wanted to say "no, no, save yourself! Turn back while you still have a chance"
Really? I thought you were fine with academia but just down on small town life and willing to do something else for better quality of life.
Congratulations, Ben. On the plus side of the scale, while there's a lot of bullshit in academia (as in most careers), it can be a hell of a lot of fun if you're motivated by discovery and argument.
cw, both pgrrrl and I been blog-bitching about academia, tenure, blah blah blah, over the last couple o' days. there's a real discontent in the academic blogosphere right now...it's kinda weird.
girl27, I'm a lowly legal assistant with naught on the horizon for my betterment but the life of the mind (so-called because you can't afford to feed your body). It would be easier, I'm sure, for you to come to Chicago.
g-school will make you faster, better, stronger, but...just like those crazy-assed pressing playdoh machines that look like they're taking a crap, you come out a different shape, size, and perhaps color.
then it takes a few years to get your perspective back.
there's a great thing I give to my undergrads that are pondering grad school over at Tim Burke's. Here's the address:
(Pr. Goose, I've read that essay more than once, and even pressed it on friends, and, back when it was still active, used to read Invisible Adjunct regularly.)
I thought you were fine with academia but just down on small town life and willing to do something else for better quality of life.
Yeah, I was just having a little fun, getting him ready. See, you need to go into it knowing that you were warned, knowing that it will be evil ... so that when it really isn't all that bad you feel kind of relieved.
One thing's for sure though ... a PhD is deadly for your sex life. (At least if you're a chick.)
Philosophy!? Great Caesar's ghost, I was sure it was compsci!
Ben W try the following thought experiment. Replace "Stanford" with "Goldman Sachs" and "phd program" with "analyst program." Almost the same -- just like the morning star and the evening star! This is another case where intersubsitution generates philsophical problems, but where all are better off for contemplating the perplexities generated.
[[And of course, take this all with the general caveat: Congratulations. It's a great program. You and The Man? Indistinguishable. ]]
In order to get into Stanford's PhD program in CS, I would have had to have applied in the winter, and also have been a different person—one who knows more math, for example. There's an ever-so-slight chance I could get into their Master's program (I did get into DePaul's and Chicago's Masters in CS programs, but they aren't very, shall we say, selective), but I would have to apply next year.
Speaking of flashbacks, I just remembered the time I asked you, Ben, if you were a grad student and you said no. See? I'm always right, it just takes a while for the world to get round to fitting my view of it, is all.
1. Well done. Congrats to Wolfson.
2. Is it really that surprising? Given his demonstrated breadth of knowledge (html, java, cock jokes, ascii art, every friggin' grammar rule known to man, etc.), I'd be more than a little afraid of the program that felt comfortable rejecting him.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 2:21 PM
I'll be serious for one moment. Ben's obviously a very smart guy (in real life too), and it's a lot of fun to have him here, and not at all surprising that he's been admitted.
Too bad he's so gay.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 2:24 PM
Thanks, folks.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 2:24 PM
Excellent. Now you can quit the paralegal job, creating a job opening for someone younger, more enthusiastic, and cuter.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 2:31 PM
html, java, cock jokes, ascii art, every friggin' grammar rule known to man
It's gonna be some dissertation that works all these things in. Some kind of performance/installation art might cover it. Sort of Jeff Koons meets school marm grammar police.
Posted by cw | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 2:48 PM
Congratulations. (Although I wanted to say "no, no, save yourself! Turn back while you still have a chance")
Posted by profgrrrrl | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 2:53 PM
We don't know in what
Philosophy.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:11 PM
Congrats, although -speaking from experience- giving up the temp/paralegal job does put a cramp in your blogging. Get in your cock jokes while you can (unless getting your PhD is much cooler than I expect)
Posted by mike d | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:14 PM
Congratulations Ben!
If you're ever in Canadia, look me up. I'd like to buy you a drink. Moreover, I'd like to get you drunk...
Posted by girl27 | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:16 PM
Philosophy.
oy gevalt
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:16 PM
Heh. Don't worry, it's far from clear that I'll attend.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:19 PM
Although I wanted to say "no, no, save yourself! Turn back while you still have a chance"
Really? I thought you were fine with academia but just down on small town life and willing to do something else for better quality of life.
Congratulations, Ben. On the plus side of the scale, while there's a lot of bullshit in academia (as in most careers), it can be a hell of a lot of fun if you're motivated by discovery and argument.
Posted by cw | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:19 PM
I was going to congratulate you. Then you said "philosophy."
So, now I feel as though I should shake the living shit out of you. (amen to ogged...)
A mind is a terrible thing to waste...Empiricism forever!
No, seriously...if it's what you love, do it with all you've got. Congratulations.
Posted by Pr Goose | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:20 PM
Maybe we should start a donation pool to pay for girl27's tickets to meet everyone she's propositioned on this site.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:21 PM
cw, both pgrrrl and I been blog-bitching about academia, tenure, blah blah blah, over the last couple o' days. there's a real discontent in the academic blogosphere right now...it's kinda weird.
see what you're getting into Ben?
Posted by Pr Goose | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:22 PM
Congratulations!
Run away!
No, wait, congratulations!
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:22 PM
(Best advice to new graduate students: make sure you find a good therapist.)
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:23 PM
girl27, I'm a lowly legal assistant with naught on the horizon for my betterment but the life of the mind (so-called because you can't afford to feed your body). It would be easier, I'm sure, for you to come to Chicago.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:25 PM
Maybe we should start a donation pool to pay for girl27's tickets to meet everyone she's propositioned on this site.
Hey now! Two years of Unfogged, and two crushes. Cut me some slack.
Posted by girl27 | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:26 PM
Ben, I think you're muffing it. Next you're going to tell her that you only have dial-up.
Posted by Mitch Mills | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:26 PM
amen, b. amen. the shit'll fuck you up, man.
g-school will make you faster, better, stronger, but...just like those crazy-assed pressing playdoh machines that look like they're taking a crap, you come out a different shape, size, and perhaps color.
then it takes a few years to get your perspective back.
there's a great thing I give to my undergrads that are pondering grad school over at Tim Burke's. Here's the address:
http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/tburke1/gradschool.html
a snippet: "If you and academic life are a mismatch, then grad school won't help you discover that. It will just confuse you even more."
Posted by Pr Goose | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:28 PM
No way, man. I've got a thick pipe and enough throughput to power Old Faithful.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:29 PM
Ben, I weigh 100 pounds on a good day. I suspect still, that you make more money, and eat more than I do.
I win. Time for you to visit Canadia, then.
Posted by girl27 | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:29 PM
(Pr. Goose, I've read that essay more than once, and even pressed it on friends, and, back when it was still active, used to read Invisible Adjunct regularly.)
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:31 PM
I thought you were fine with academia but just down on small town life and willing to do something else for better quality of life.
Yeah, I was just having a little fun, getting him ready. See, you need to go into it knowing that you were warned, knowing that it will be evil ... so that when it really isn't all that bad you feel kind of relieved.
One thing's for sure though ... a PhD is deadly for your sex life. (At least if you're a chick.)
Posted by profgrrrrl | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:33 PM
Dissenting opinion here. Getting laid is the only thing the goddamn PhD's gotten me.
Maybe I shouldn't complain so much...
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:38 PM
hang on a sec, b...let me pull out the "why you should go to grad school" brochure...I happen to have kept mine.
all the shit about community of ideas...freedom to think about what you want to think about...blah blah blah...neuroses...gastrointestinal distress...
nope, no fucking in the brochure. sorry ben.
Posted by Pr Goose | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:42 PM
a PhD is deadly for your sex life
Yeah, avoid grad school cuz look at Ogged. Or, well, erm, Kotsko (cry, cry...). Nope. Well, apostropher's a new father he's probably.... Hmmm.
Well, bw, no matter what you do hang onto your girlfriend like she's your life raft. Cuz unfogged is bad for your sex life.
Posted by cw | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 3:42 PM
Congratulations, Ben. That's a fine program.
Posted by FL | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 5:35 PM
Goose, I threw my handbook out a long time ago and decided to just make up my own goddamn rules.
(Look at Labs, taking the high road. Ptthhbbb.)
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 5:37 PM
Look at b, pretending she doesn't love him for it.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 5:39 PM
Stanford tip: the Quizno's on California Ave and El Camino Real is the best Quizno's in the WORLD!
Posted by Bob | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 7:40 PM
He's going to the Bay Area and you recommend a Quizno's??
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 7:46 PM
Philosophy!? Great Caesar's ghost, I was sure it was compsci!
Ben W try the following thought experiment. Replace "Stanford" with "Goldman Sachs" and "phd program" with "analyst program." Almost the same -- just like the morning star and the evening star! This is another case where intersubsitution generates philsophical problems, but where all are better off for contemplating the perplexities generated.
[[And of course, take this all with the general caveat: Congratulations. It's a great program. You and The Man? Indistinguishable. ]]
Posted by baa | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 7:47 PM
In order to get into Stanford's PhD program in CS, I would have had to have applied in the winter, and also have been a different person—one who knows more math, for example. There's an ever-so-slight chance I could get into their Master's program (I did get into DePaul's and Chicago's Masters in CS programs, but they aren't very, shall we say, selective), but I would have to apply next year.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 7:54 PM
He's going to the Bay Area and you recommend a Quizno's??
He's not going to the Bay Area, he's going to Stanford.
Hit the Quizno's, ben, I'm sure it will comfort your Irvine-raised ass.
Actually that's way way more snarky and judgmental than I intended. Replace with: CONGRATULATIONS!
Posted by Mitch Mills | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 7:55 PM
Hit the Quizno's, ben, I'm sure it will comfort your Irvine-raised ass.
Quizno's != In'n'Out.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 7:56 PM
Quizno's : In-n-Out :: Limbo : The Empyrean
Posted by baa | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 8:13 PM
Indeed. Let's just pretend that Bob's comment never happened.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 8:33 PM
Please. B/c it's giving me flashbacks, and not good ones.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 9:38 PM
Speaking of flashbacks, I just remembered the time I asked you, Ben, if you were a grad student and you said no. See? I'm always right, it just takes a while for the world to get round to fitting my view of it, is all.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 9:40 PM
Not that I actually know you , but I guess I spend enough time reading comment threads here to say congratulations.
re: 37
How exactly does Quizno's factorial equal In'n'out?
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 10:19 PM
"!=" is common programming-languagese for "does not equal".
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03- 3-05 10:25 PM