Saturday, October 22, 2005

Culture details

In particle kinematics, I finished a review of the quantities used to describe position, and started looking more closely at atomic physics. Atomic physics includes areas of nuclear physics, electronic structure, ionic physics, and behavior of atoms. In chemistry, I did a brief overview of the noble gases; Helium, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon, and Radon. In Biology, I also finished a review of (nonhuman) anatomy and physiology. I have slightly more extended notes on Mohammed.

Going down further into language studies, I am also reviewing linguistics. As I see it, this includes phonetics (study of sounds), morphology (study of word forms), Syntax (study of language structure), semantics (connection of words with usage and meaning), and language variation.
Of somewhat less personal interest, I'm looking at graphic arts, which include drawing, painting, printmaking, cartography, photography, and animation. I'm not entirely comfortable with this arrangement, but it's the best I can come up with for now.
I'm also looking at customs. These include vital customs (sleeping, eating, elimination), customs of dress and adornment, customs of dwelling, customs of carrying and transportation, customs related to social interaction (such as greeting), and customs related to families, religion, and the like. These would naturally include subjects of etiquette and proper behavior.
I've finished a preliminary look at tools, which should help in the study of other areas.
I've begun a look at economic systems, which so far includes traditional economies, command economies, market economies, and economic system behavior (such as the business cycle, depressions and recessions, and the like.)

Religion is an area I've long wanted to give more time to study. The importance of religion and religious beliefs and their secular equivalents appears to be have been underestimated in the modern secular age, but these underlie many of the religious and culture wars in today's society. I also have sections for religious practice, organization, and the particular religions of the world

I've taken a couple of notes on Shanghai, and begun a review of Scandinavian people, including Danish, Swedish, Norse, Finnish, and Lapps. These are not necessarily closely-related groups except by geography, but I don't yet have a better classification.

For several reasons, lately I've been attracted to the broad sweep of history, especially considering literature and the arts, but for now, I've finished a preliminary look at the first 20 years of the 20th century.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just linked to this from a forum. It is great to see someone who is so systematic in their pursuit of self-education. Well, I will be checking more out later.-Barb aka abby76

Confutus said...

Thank you for the compliment. It's relatively easy to manage a self-education project if it's a small one, but when it passes a certain point of complexity, it becomes totally unmanageable and unrewarding. I've been trying for years to crack this problem, and have been forced to develop a system out of sheer self-defense.