# Group assignment peers just don't care :)



## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

Yep, it's that time again: we have to do a group assignment - and this time it's for English class.

Little did you know, because I had to skip English class the first semester due to my intensive Computer Science labs which were more important, I am now stuck with what you would call 'the trash' of my English class. 
Yes, I am stuck with three other students who would not give a rodent's behind about English class and who are not putting one single ounce of effort in it. The worst part is that they are responsible for my grade!

Allow me to introduce my group of miserable losers:

1) One of them is so dumb I do not understand how he got into university in the first place (something tells me it has to do with the fact he's rich). The guy can't even read - he says "Man, what the f* is this assignment about? They ask you to read an entire chapter of a book and I already have trouble reading 10 pages". Oh great, that's 'student' number one, a clueless kid who cares about girls, booze and fun and cannot read at a pre-school level. 

2) The second guy is - luckily - a bit more serious. He may not be overenthusiastic and overachieving like I am, but he gets things done when it is asked of him.

3) The third guy has a mentality about quitting his studies and all he's doing now is looking for a job. Luckily reality is hitting him right in the face because no matter how many job applications he responds to, no one is responding to him. Hehehe, take that, guy who thinks he can make it without a degree in today's academically inflated society!

Anyway, yet again I am the only guy who has to take charge of these miserable creatures and tie the pieces together to bring forth something decent of a group work (it's a presentation). One man doing the job of four. Well, at least I am winning information and having a rich learning experience and all they are doing is slacking their butts on campus.


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## VeMuñeca (Sep 5, 2013)

Lazy people during group projects are so annoying. I especially can't stand it when they boast on about how lazy they are. My immediate come back to them is, "You can keep laughing all you want, but I will make sure to give you a bad review once the professor asks us to fill out the performance sheet on our group members."



s12345 said:


> 3) The third guy has a mentality about quitting his studies and all he's doing now is looking for a job. Luckily reality is hitting him right in the face because no matter how many job applications he responds to, no one is responding to him. Hehehe, take that, guy who thinks he can make it without a degree in today's academically inflated society


Well, actually you can -- there are trade school careers. And also, graduating with a degree doesn't automatically mean you get a job. There are even STEM graduates not finding work.


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

Doby said:


> Lazy people during group projects are so annoying. I especially can't stand it when they boast on about how lazy they are. My immediate come back to them is, "You can keep laughing all you want, but I will make sure to give you a bad review once the professor asks us to fill out the performance sheet on our group members."
> 
> Well, actually you can -- there are trade school careers. And also, graduating with a degree doesn't automatically mean you get a job. There are even STEM graduates not finding work.


Trade school careers do not give you a solid or profitable future and I know that from experience. University and college will get you making thrice to four times the money for the same amount of hours and I gladly say yes to that.

I automatically get a job because my Ivy League school is excellently connected to the job market and it even provides a nice internship + first paid year at a company of choice right after graduating. They set it all up for you and all you have to do is sign a contract. Luckily my STEM niche is that of Computer Science - which is a field that is extremely popular where I live. There are literally tens of thousands of open engineering jobs out there. A bright future smiles at me.


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## Grog (Sep 13, 2013)

s12345 said:


> Trade school careers do not give you a solid or profitable future and I know that from experience. University and college will get you making thrice to four times the money for the same amount of hours and I gladly say yes to that.
> 
> I automatically get a job because my Ivy League school is excellently connected to the job market and it even provides a nice internship + first paid year at a company of choice right after graduating. They set it all up for you and all you have to do is sign a contract. Luckily my STEM niche is that of Computer Science - which is a field that is extremely popular where I live. There are literally tens of thousands of open engineering jobs out there. A bright future smiles at me.


Trade school has been extremely profitable for me and continues to be .

_Staff Edit_


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## VeMuñeca (Sep 5, 2013)

s12345 said:


> Trade school careers do not give you a solid or profitable future and I know that from experience. University and college will get you making thrice to four times the money for the same amount of hours and I gladly say yes to that.
> 
> I automatically get a job because my Ivy League school is excellently connected to the job market and it even provides a nice internship + first paid year at a company of choice right after graduating. They set it all up for you and all you have to do is sign a contract. Luckily my STEM niche is that of Computer Science - which is a field that is extremely popular where I live. There are literally tens of thousands of open engineering jobs out there. A bright future smiles at me.


Not everyone equates happiness to money. Myself included. And not everyone has the opportunity to attend an expensive and prestigious school. Perhaps you got lucky with the job market, which I congratulate you for, but not everyone out there is as lucky. 

Some people don't like the idea of college. My dad went to trade school and made good money. I also know a hairdresser who is making nice money. A lot more money than my sister who graduated from an expensive university and ended up working a low paying job while still paying off loans.


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

"Perhaps you got lucky with the job market, which I congratulate you for, but not everyone out there is as lucky."

Lucky? I fought very hard to get into this Ivy league school. I worked my butt off to get here. These things are not just granted. No, money does not equate happiness, but it sure does help avoid a miserable financial struggle. Remember the three keys in life: health, wealth and love. If either one goes down in percentage, the other two suffer.

We learned in Management Analysis class that university and college will always surpass anything below it. If you use the right formulas, you will conclude that a graduated person in the long run outperforms anyone below his stature: he will have a constant stream of higher wages. Always think long term benefit, never short term. Too bad for those of you who did not have these classes because they are real eye-openers. Everyone in my life who has not had this wonderful stream of knowledge is living in misery and everyone in my life who does careful advanced financial analysis (complicated equations on your equity) is now living in a nice apartment, has a nice car and even his own cleaning lady. Life is for the smart people, not the 'quick and dirty' ones.


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## VeMuñeca (Sep 5, 2013)

s12345 said:


> "Perhaps you got lucky with the job market, which I congratulate you for, but not everyone out there is as lucky."
> 
> Lucky? I fought very hard to get into this Ivy league school. I worked my butt off to get here. These things are not just granted. No, money does not equate happiness, but it sure does help avoid a miserable financial struggle. Remember the three keys in life: health, wealth and love. If either one goes down in percentage, the other two suffer.
> 
> We learned in Management Analysis class that university and college will always surpass anything below it. If you use the right formulas, you will conclude that a graduated person in the long run outperforms anyone below his stature: he will have a constant stream of higher wages. Always think long term benefit, never short term. Too bad for those of you who did not have these classes because they are real eye-openers. Everyone in my life who has not had this wonderful stream of knowledge is living in misery and everyone in my life who does careful advanced financial analysis (complicated equations on your equity) is now living in a nice apartment, has a nice car and even his own cleaning lady. Life is for the smart people, not the 'quick and dirty' ones.


Once again, not everyone can afford schooling. :hyper And yes, lucky you are.


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## Curious Cat (Apr 3, 2015)

I'm usually the one who puts most of the work in group assignments and end up getting the group a good mark. In most cases, we don't do a fill-out sheet for participation.


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

Doby said:


> Once again, not everyone can afford schooling. :hyper And yes, lucky you are.


They should bust their butt like I did, working shift jobs to be able to save up money to pay for it. Like I said: nothing is given. There is no excuse not to study. Just fight to get where you want to be! Work and earn money! Then when you paid your subscription, you study hard enough so you get a scholarship like I did. None of these things came falling into my lap, I had to work hard for it.


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## VeMuñeca (Sep 5, 2013)

s12345 said:


> They should bust their butt like I did, working shift jobs to be able to save up money to pay for it. Like I said: nothing is given. There is no excuse not to study. Just fight to get where you want to be! Work and earn money! Then when you paid your subscription, you study hard enough so you get a scholarship like I did. None of these things came falling into my lap, I had to work hard for it.


Okay. I still disagree with you, but it is your opinion and I respect that. :yay


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## jakester13 (Mar 2, 2015)

Group projects are the worst! Sometimes you get the bossy types, the shy kids, the leader who thinks they can do everything, the one who secretly hopes you do the work even when they say they will help, the no shows, the list goes on and on.

My motto is to try your best to get through and get the heck out:bat


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

jakester13 said:


> Group projects are the worst! Sometimes you get the bossy types, the shy kids, the leader who thinks they can do everything, the one who secretly hopes you do the work even when they say they will help, the no shows, the list goes on and on.
> 
> My motto is to try your best to get through and get the heck out:bat


This is the best reply I have read! Thanks  It makes sense indeed.


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

I thought my thread title was a euphemism but what the hell, it appears it hits the nail right on the head! I had arranged a business lunch with my team for tomorrow so we could discuss our assignment but noooooooooooo, guess what?

I asked guy 1, he said he forgot all about the appointment.
I asked guy 2, no response.
I asked guy 3, he said "Er, I can't, I have to work and my hours are flexible".

You know what that makes me feel like saying: OKAY GO **** YOURSELVES ALL OF YOU!! I AM SO ****ING TIRED OF YOU PEOPLE!! YOU CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER ONE ****ING APPOINTMENT?! YOU CAN'T EVEN WRITE IT DOWN ON YOUR AGENDA?!! IT TAKES A FEW SECONDS TIME, YOU ****ING INCOMPETENT CAVEMEN!!!

Whatever.. I am sick of these slackers. I need to get this done ASAP.
I am angry.


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## Remnant of Dawn (Feb 22, 2012)

s12345 said:


> They should bust their butt like I did, working shift jobs to be able to save up money to pay for it. Like I said: nothing is given. There is no excuse not to study. Just fight to get where you want to be! Work and earn money! Then when you paid your subscription, you study hard enough so you get a scholarship like I did. None of these things came falling into my lap, I had to work hard for it.


You said you go to an Ivy League school. Congrats on that, but as I'm sure you're aware these all cost upwards of $60,000 per year. I shudder to think how many "shift jobs" would be required to pay for that.

Also, the Ivy League schools have a policy that prohibits them from offering scholarships to any student, so that's a little suspicious.

That said, I understand the frustration of having to work with people who aren't incredibly helpful, and especially of having your grade depend on their work. It's frustrating because you don't want to be that ******* who yells at everyone for not doing anything, but you don't want to fail either.

It's even worse when it's all for some waste-of-time English class anyway. Good luck


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

I just noticed there are many miscommunication elements going on in your reading of my words. 

"I shudder to think how many "shift jobs" would be required to pay for that."
"Also, the Ivy League schools have a policy that prohibits them from offering scholarships to any student, so that's a little suspicious."

As I said, the government here has an agreement with these schools where they help the students out as opposed to Ivy League schools in other countries. I don't live in the US or the other countries, so our policies are luckily more democratically here and they don't cost $60.000 a year but far less. Many students in other countries would want this system but alas, they don't have it. 

As well, I used the term 'Ivy League' to refer to the same type of (sadly, elitist) school we have here so that people in the US and elsewhere would know what type of school I am talking about.

I hope that makes it clearer.

I do not find any class a waste of time except the specialized Microsoft product ones - and I'm not talking about Visual Studio (which is excellent), but more like other specialized crap that has only one support forum on the entire internet and so on.
These English classes give me the tools to be a more knowledgeable and eloquent person.


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## Imbored21 (Jun 18, 2012)

How did they get into an Ivy League lol???


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

Imbored21 said:


> How did they get into an Ivy League lol???


I ask myself that same question every time I have to team up with dimwits.


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## jakester13 (Mar 2, 2015)

s12345 said:


> I asked guy 1, he said he forgot all about the appointment.
> I asked guy 2, no response.
> I asked guy 3, he said "Er, I can't, I have to work and my hours are flexible".
> 
> ...


Story of my life....



s12345 said:


> I ask myself that same question every time I have to team up with dimwits.


Don't be surprise in what people will do to try and get by in life. It's a messed up world.


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

jakester13 said:


> Story of my life....
> 
> Don't be surprise in what people will do to try and get by in life. It's a messed up world.


True words my man, true words.


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## VeMuñeca (Sep 5, 2013)

s12345 said:


> I ask myself that same question every time I have to team up with dimwits.


I've come to realize that intelligence has nothing to do with maturity, sadly. There are some smart people out there who still act like middle school children. Intelligence and good grades aside, these type of people still have no business at an Ivy League school. They are also the same people still throwing spit balls during lectures. :no


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## needformeaning (Mar 9, 2015)

Sorry about that.
Hope you finally get a nice grade, or get a better group next time.
You're gonna need a lot of patience.


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

Doby said:


> I've come to realize that intelligence has nothing to do with maturity, sadly. There are some smart people out there who still act like middle school children. Intelligence and good grades aside, these type of people still have no business at an Ivy League school. They are also the same people still throwing spit balls during lectures. :no


Luckily no one does that kind of thing at my school, but there are still many stupid kids who are so immature they don't want to do grade work.


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

needformeaning said:


> Sorry about that.
> Hope you finally get a nice grade, or get a better group next time.
> You're gonna need a lot of patience.


Thank you.


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## VeMuñeca (Sep 5, 2013)

s12345 said:


> Luckily no one does that kind of thing at my school, but there are still many stupid kids who are so immature they don't want to do grade work.


Yes! Don't even get me started on those people who are too busy tweeting or taking selfies for Facebook during lectures. This was an issue at my school.


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

Doby said:


> Yes! Don't even get me started on those people who are too busy tweeting or taking selfies for Facebook during lectures. This was an issue at my school.


That is not only an issue at my school, but it is a dominant culture. It is pretty saddening to watch potential get wasted.


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## TuxedoChief (Jan 11, 2015)

I panic whenever group assignments are announced, and feel sorry for the people who get me.


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## Negative Man (Apr 16, 2015)

I have never understood the point of group assignments.


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## VeryLoco (Mar 23, 2014)

Negative Man said:


> I have never understood the point of group assignments.


Theyre supposed to build your team/social skills for the real world, which apparently is more important than the knowledge you learn, since you can pass all the tests with A, but cant do 1 stupid presentation and you fail.


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## VeryLoco (Mar 23, 2014)

This is what normies think of group assignments http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/h...show-how-stupid-college-has-gotten.452873877/


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

VeryLoco said:


> Theyre supposed to build your team/social skills for the real world, which apparently is more important than the knowledge you learn, since you can pass all the tests with A, but cant do 1 stupid presentation and you fail.


That is correct.  Soft skills are dominant over tech skills. You need both, because if you are an ******* to your team mates, you will get fired for 'lack of social cooperation'. Let us not forget, people, that you can get fired for being asocial. Careful..


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

Allow me to explain why group assignments do not prepare you for the real world by using a simple comparison from the real world:

In university you are forced to work on a project for free, that most of the time you do not want, with people you do not know what actual skill level they have.

In real work, you get chosen by a team leader for your skill set to a project you probably like because of the fact you have that skill set and you know the other people's abilities and you get paid for it.

Both scenarios have a project, but one has an incentive and a team bond, while the other one is just a means to an end (i.e. to get a passing grade).


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## iCod (Feb 17, 2015)

s12345 said:


> Allow me to explain why group assignments do not prepare you for the real world by using a simple comparison from the real world:
> 
> In university you are forced to work on a project for free, that most of the time you do not want, with people you do not know what actual skill level they have.
> 
> ...


Yes, finally. A logical human being that _knows _how ****ing pointless group projects are.

And really, if I'm a shy, asocial introvert, do you _really _think I'm going to go get a job that requires a lot of talking, and interacting with people?



s12345 said:


> That is correct.  Soft skills are dominant over tech skills. You need both, because if you are an ******* to your team mates, you will get fired for 'lack of social cooperation'. Let us not forget, people, that *you can get fired for being asocial.* Careful..


Which is total bull**** of a reason to get canned. If I work better on my own and individually, give me jobs that allow me to succeed with that.



VeryLoco said:


> This is what normies think of group assignments http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/h...show-how-stupid-college-has-gotten.452873877/


Not surprised. Normies probably love getting up in front of people and spewing their stupid rants..



Doby said:


> Yes! Don't even get me started on those people who are too busy tweeting or taking selfies for Facebook during lectures. This was an issue at my school.


Yup, welcome to this generation, the future leaders of our country...
God saves us all....



TuxedoChief said:


> I panic whenever group assignments are announced, and feel sorry for the people who get me.


Yeah, what I do is just ditch the day of the presentation. That way, I've still would've gotten a decent grade because I did my part of the work(Or usually, all the work because normies just love being lazy, incompetent *******s that throw all the work to the one, weak person in the group who cant stand up for themselves)


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

> And really, if I'm a shy, asocial introvert, do you really think I'm going to go get a job that requires a lot of talking, and interacting with people?


If I can, so can you.



> If I work better on my own and individually, give me jobs that allow me to succeed with that.


We don't live in a society like that anymore. We do not live in hierarchical, vertical structures, but rather in cooperative, collaborative horizontal structures. Look into the paradigm shifts our society has undergone. There is plenty of information on it in modern books about sociology and online. I am not sure if you had lectures on modern ethics - it is all covered there.


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## Remnant of Dawn (Feb 22, 2012)

s12345 said:


> As I said, the government here has an agreement with these schools where they help the students out as opposed to Ivy League schools in other countries. I don't live in the US or the other countries, so our policies are luckily more democratically here and they don't cost $60.000 a year but far less. Many students in other countries would want this system but alas, they don't have it.
> 
> As well, I used the term 'Ivy League' to refer to the same type of (sadly, elitist) school we have here so that people in the US and elsewhere would know what type of school I am talking about.


Ah, okay. The "Ivy League" is actually a concrete set of 6 or so schools in America, which is what I thought you were referring to. If you just mean an elite school, I understand.



> I do not find any class a waste of time except the specialized Microsoft product ones - and I'm not talking about Visual Studio (which is excellent), but more like other specialized crap that has only one support forum on the entire internet and so on.
> These English classes give me the tools to be a more knowledgeable and eloquent person.


lol, that's your opinion. I'd rather be taking a hardcore systems or programming class than reading poetry, but that's just because I can't stand reading poetry.


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## qwiet (Dec 6, 2014)

Sometimes it's easier to just do it yourself, give them each a portion to read in the presentation so everyone is contributing somehow, and be done with it.

Yeah it's not the point of the assignment, but if they don't care about it, I'm not letting them sabotage my grade.


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

Remnant of Dawn said:


> I'd rather be taking a hardcore systems or programming class than reading poetry, but that's just because I can't stand reading poetry.


Hmm.. it looks like you are exactly the opposite of me on that aspect. I love art.. I love it.. and I hate logic, with a passion. I hate problem solving. Yes, it sounds illogical since my major is Computer Science Business Applications, but I like IT.. when I am doing my own stuff, not when I am forced corporate policy down my throat, which is what has been done to me all these years.

Everyone knows universities destroy creativity.. or at least try to. Even worse, they punish you for going outside the box, for being creative, for not adhering to their petty rules. Oh well, at least I can develop myself outside of school in that aspect.


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

qwiet said:


> Sometimes it's easier to just do it yourself, give them each a portion to read in the presentation so everyone is contributing somehow, and be done with it.
> 
> Yeah it's not the point of the assignment, but if they don't care about it, I'm not letting them sabotage my grade.


You have some great organizing skills.  Good idea.


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## Riri11 (Mar 24, 2013)

s12345 said:


> 1) One of them is so dumb I do not understand how he got into university in the first place (something tells me it has to do with the fact he's rich). The guy can't even read - he says "Man, what the f* is this assignment about? They ask you to read an entire chapter of a book and I already have trouble reading 10 pages". Oh great, that's 'student' number one, a clueless kid who cares about girls, booze and fun and cannot read at a pre-school level.
> 
> 2) The second guy is - luckily - a bit more serious. He may not be overenthusiastic and overachieving like I am, but he gets things done when it is asked of him.
> 
> 3) The third guy has a mentality about quitting his studies and all he's doing now is looking for a job. Luckily reality is hitting him right in the face because no matter how many job applications he responds to, no one is responding to him. Hehehe, take that, guy who thinks he can make it without a degree in today's academically inflated society!.


hehe you can't really help everyone sometimes... being in a group means understanding individual needs and meeting them in a humanly manner.. they're not machines, only human and one of them could get hit by a truck and die tomorrow and then you'll have a bigger problem...

this is a strategy i use when I'm in a group, we try to talk about unrelated things then get into the actual topic and finish the stuff needs to be done.. also don't overwork yourself or else they'll think you're doing everything and they'll feel even less motivated.


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

Just like that agent said in The Matrix: "Only human". Trinity: "Dodge this". Hahaha.

So, if you think humans are not machines (hardware with software on them), then surely you must be an epistemological dualist.  I have a friend of mine who thinks the opposite.. he thinks souls don't exist and that humans are nothing but meat, hardware programmed with software, completely manipulable.. ergh. Anyway, I'm a dualist as well. 

Thanks for the tips, Riri11!


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## Remnant of Dawn (Feb 22, 2012)

s12345 said:


> Just like that agent said in The Matrix: "Only human". Trinity: "Dodge this". Hahaha.
> 
> So, if you think humans are not machines (hardware with software on them), then surely you must be an epistemological dualist. * I have a friend of mine who thinks the opposite.. he thinks souls don't exist and that humans are nothing but meat, hardware programmed with software, completely manipulable*.. ergh. Anyway, I'm a dualist as well.
> 
> Thanks for the tips, Riri11!


At the risk of derailing your thread, I agree with your friend


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## Imbored21 (Jun 18, 2012)

Man... I have 2 group projects right now. One of them is full of ********** who don't know how to read directions and over complicate everything. The other one is with an overachiever that wants to meet up and rehearse the damn presentation until it's perfect. Cmon man I just wanna work with normal people!


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

Remnant of Dawn said:


> At the risk of derailing your thread, I agree with your friend


Well, if that's what you believe, it is a very, very frigid way of thinking in my opinion. Don't forget you are talking to a 100% Catholic person. Sorry man, I don't like you.


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

Imbored21 said:


> Man... I have 2 group projects right now. One of them is full of ********** who don't know how to read directions and over complicate everything. The other one is with an overachiever that wants to meet up and rehearse the damn presentation until it's perfect. Cmon man I just wanna work with normal people!


That is one of the points of a presentation yes. Remember the Steve Jobs tips: rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, otherwise you are not comfortable and it doesn't come in a natural way because you don't know it by heart.


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## Remnant of Dawn (Feb 22, 2012)

s12345 said:


> Well, if that's what you believe, it is a very, very frigid way of thinking in my opinion. Don't forget you are talking to a 100% Catholic person. Sorry man, I don't like you.


Ha, I know you don't. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

That #1 rich guy really pisses me off. He consistently puts off work and we have the presentation exam in two days. I kept asking him politely for us to organize an hour, rent a classroom on campus so we could have some preparation time. He goes "yeah but we can do that over skype". **** that ****ing ****. He has no idea how to work with people. GROAN. Anyway, thankfully I am proficient in English and I will iron out the rough spots.


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## s12345 (Jul 11, 2011)

Presentation scores:

group grade: 75%
my grade: 75%
others: 65%, 65%, 77%

\o/


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