- The concept of scientists losing touch with their data now that scientists generally plot their graphs using a computer instead of doing it manually. The professor's point was that when you plot data by hand, you immediately see where data points don't seem where you expect them to be.
- The concept of a research paper using different modes of rhetorical discourse. This is a theory developed by a colleague, based on a 1960 book on rhetoric that she found in a garbage dump. Basically, the Introduction is an exposition, the M&M is a narration (chronological order of events), Results is a description, and Discussion is an argument.
- A funny way of illustrating why you need to justify your research: How many people know the number of green cars on Mass Ave between Harvard and MIT between the hours of noon and 1 pm? How many people care?
While waiting for the bus this morning, I was thinking of another concept that I read in Octavio Paz's Labyrinth of Solitude: a good death is one that is consistent with one's life. Paz's take on Jesus' "He who lives by the sword dies by the sword" is "Tell me how a person died, and I will tell you how he lived." My Nana died a good death. It was peaceful, like the way she lived her life, despite the turmoil of her early years (lost both her husband and first child in WWII).
