Note: In this newsletter I share life updates, news and events, books I'm reading, updates from my work at Virginia Tech, and other happenings. If you are looking for deeper discussions of the impacts of technology in society, check out my Pseudodragon Newsletter. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, please sign up here:
The Wall of Overcommitment Redux
In my last newsletter post, titled “The Wall of Overcommitment” and sent in July 2023, I discussed being overtaken by obligations, projects, and work. One major time sink has been preparing for an upcoming exam, called the Preliminary Exam,” for my PhD program in Science, Technology, and Society. Well, that exam starts next week, so I am hopeful that that overcommitment wall may soon fall.
The exam itself it in two parts—the first part is a two-week written exam on 60 books on the history of science and technology, sociology, and the philosophy of technology. The second part of the exam is an oral exam on the same, and the two parts span one month. The STS program uses the preliminary exam as a gate for determining if you can move on to the dissertation stage of the PhD program—if you fail, you can’t. So the good part is that after May 2 the exam will be over with; the bad part is that next week until May 2 will not be an idle time for me, to say the least. If you have any good vibes you can send in my general direction, I would be grateful!
FBI Citizens Academy
I did want to share a little about another project that recently wrapped up. Over the course of February I participated in the inaugural Roanoke FBI Citizens Academy. A group of local citizens attended five sessions to learn about the many roles the FBI plays in our local community. We learned about cybercrime, counterterrorism, financial crimes, gang violence, counterintelligence, and more.
Here, during a forensics workshop, we’re analyzing lifted fingerprints:
Here we are at the range learning from SWAT instructors:
And yes, guns and explosives were involved:
Overall, if you have a chance to attend an FBI Citizens Academy in your local community, I highly recommend doing so.
Kirkin’ O’ the Tartans
A last update I’ll mention is that last year I started taking bagpipe lessons from a great local instructor. Over twenty years ago I had purchased a set of bagpipes in Scotland and took a few lessons when I got back to the states, but life got busy, my instructor died, and a few decades passed. I started practicing in March, and by November I had progressed enough that my instructor invited me to join with his band in playing one song during a Kirkin’ O’ the Tartans ceremony at a local church. Why just one song? Well, at that point I only knew one song on the full bagpipes. But the event went well and I’m currently trying to learn a setlist to march with the band for an upcoming local parade in April. As if playing the bagpipes was not difficult enough, I’m finding that marching while playing is rather tricky, so we’ll see how things go.
Until Next Time
That’s all for now. Please let me know how you are doing, and let’s hope this overcommitment wall goes down and stays down!
Kendall
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About
Just joining us? Or maybe you’ve forgotten why you signed up? I’m Kendall Giles, a writer, researcher, and drinker of much coffee. Currently I work at Virginia Tech in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering in Falls Church, Virginia. I teach primarily in the Master of Information Technology and the ECE Master of Engineering Programs, and am a PhD student in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. I write and speak at the intersection of science, technology, and society, including the TechnoSlipstream podcast and the Pseudodragon Newsletter.