Nick - We Had The Magic All Along -OR- The Future Of The Shadow Of My Footprints -OR- Make It A Priority To Learn: A Reprise

You know what's cool? Statistics. Statistics are so cool. This year I'm taking a class that involves writing a very light junior thesis (only has to be around 20 pages) on a topic of my choosing relating to the politics of international development. And before this year, I thought statistics were math on a piece of paper.

I know a guy working on his PhD, who once told me that I should "take more statistics. Statistics is like magic for grad students." Well, Robby does not lie.

When you want to do research and actually contribute to the field to which you have dedicated your life, you need the tools to evaluate the world. Evaluate the world in a way that can easily be translated to empirical numbers and facts. And to do that, even though sometimes it's boring, you need to know your math.

I feel like a lot of political science majors don't really get it. They don't learn anything and they spend their entire undergraduate career in courses about theory and political philosophy. But hold that thought for a second, I'll come back to it.

Today Monday night improv was cancelled, and I had some free time. I discovered Khan Academy, which is a great place to go if you want to learn things. And it helped me figure out all the statistics trouble I was having.

I think that with all the great free resources we have available to us now, we can move to a new generation of higher education. A generation that is more focused on research than theory, more focused on learning practical skills instead of leaving it up to you to put your skill set and the real world together. I feel like I stumbled into a tract of the political science department reserved for a few brave and lucky guinea pigs; here's hoping that the people of the future will get this opportunity earlier and more consistently.

I want to see higher education advance. I want to see people understand more, instead of just learning more. I want to see students learn how to do research instead of how to look at it.

I'm rambling, so I'm just going to cut myself off here and end on the same soap box that I ended my first ever Classic Brian post on: make it a priority to learn. Before this year, I didn't know that empirical research was a thing that one could study. There's a whole world of material out there you haven't even heard of yet.

-Nick.

On The Frontline

Ryna huddled down behind the bunker. Bullets whizzed past his ears. He was sure that the noise must be deafening, but strangely enough, he could no longer hear it. His mind was set on the task at hand. Everything else had melted away hours ago.

He was a mess. His clothes were in tatters from being on the field for so long. Blood soaked through to the bone. He would have been alarmed, but he knew most of it wasn't his. There had been a lot of splattering. Besides, he had no time to be alarmed. There were still enemies to kill.

Unlike the days before, where battle had been fought in forests and on beaches, today's battle took place in a clearing. Cover was scarce, and there wasn't much room to work with, considering the size of the meadow, but nonetheless, this was his element. He knew that in this mission, time was of the essence. That suited him. All that waiting and planning in the forests wore him out, both mentally and physically. Here, he had only to act. His adrenaline kept him sharp and focused.

As he peeked over the bunker, he saw his first enemy nestled behind a tunnel of sorts, no doubt used for sewage at some point, but long since abandoned. For a split second, the two made eye contact. And then the world erupted in gunfire, tearing through the quiet of Ryan's mind. This was it. Time to make his move.

After ducking down behind cover briefly to evade the enemy's bullets, he quickly sprang up and laid down a suppressive fire. Just as he had hoped, the enemy was forced to duck down behind the tunnel. This was his chance. He sprinted over to the end of the tunnel nearest to him and slide behind it before the enemy had time to see him. No doubt his opponent would think he was still behind the bunker.

Glancing down the tunnel, Ryan contemplated crawling down it. If he could get to the other end, he would be right behind the enemy. No, too risky. If anyone were to look down the tunnel while he was in it, he stood no chance. There would be no room to maneuver, and he would surely be shot.

Discarding the idea, he decided to crawl along the side of the tunnel, the side farthest awhile from the raging battle. He would surprise his current adversary, and then would assume the position he held, thereby gaining the enemies' flank. Fortunately for him, a series of short, impromptu walls had been constructed by the enemy to give themselves cover. Now he would use that against them.

Crawling his way behind the first wall, he peeked out to see if the enemy had detected him. It was clear. He proceeded to the second wall, and just as he was leaning out to advance to the third, the enemy showed his face. Ryan hadn't expected the man to look his way. He had been planning to surprise him from behind, but this would work just as well. Wasting no time, the soldier brought his gun up and fired two rounds in quick succession. POP POP.

"AAAARGH," screamed the enemy, before he dropped to the ground, dead. Both rounds had soundly found their mark: the enemy's head. It was hard to miss from that distance.

Ryan quickly took up the fallen foe's position, and as he was about to advance to the final wall where he would have the best flanking position possible, he heard a loud BANG. Pain shot through his arm. In a stupor, he glanced down at it. Surely there would be blood. If it hurt this much, he must be bleeding profusely. But he wasn't. The bullet must have glanced off his body armor and just bruised him.

Not wasting any time being thankful, he scrambled behind cover. Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself for what was necessary.

Springing up quickly, he returned the favor to his new enemy. Though the bullet only made contact with his shoulder, Ryan could tell he had severely wounded him. As he was about to finish him off before he could limp to cover, he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, another enemy. This enemy was directly to his left. Nothing stood between the two of them but open space, yet by some twist of fortune, Ryan had not yet been noticed.

Seeing that this third enemy was firing upon his friends, Ryan new that the threat needed to be eliminated immediately. He didn't want any more of his friends to die.

Swinging his gun around, Ryan opened fire. It wasn't long before he heard his enemy's shrieks. When they stopped, Ryan knew he was dead.

Turning back to the soldier he had wounded moments before, Ryan realized that he had vanished. Taking a quick scan of the surroundings, he saw that the battle was dwindling. His troops had gained most of the clearing, and it appeared that there was only one enemy defender remaining, stalwartly entrenched behind a bunker. The enemy was returning fire from the east, and had forgotten completely about the man who had wounded him. Ryan wasn't surprised. In the chaos of battle, a soldier tends to deal with the issue at hand. Right now, that wasn't him. But it would be. He would make the enemy pay for his neglect.

Abandoning cover, Ryan started to slowly advance, his gun trained on the enemy's location. He did not fire yet. That would only waste ammo and alert the enemy of his presence. No, he would wait.

Finally, after almost a minute of walking up the field, Ryan had a clear shot of the enemy's back. He took it. Wanting the battle to be over and not wanting to take any chances, he fired three of four rounds. It was sufficient. As Ryan watched blood blossom from the bullet holes in the enemy's back, he knew it was over.

Standing on the silent field of victory, he raised his gun to the sky and released a triumphant roar.

-Classic