Professor Tim likes the number 3. He likes to give three examples of sustainable practices, unsustainable practices, advantages, dangers, features etc. for any line of thought. The man has a vast reservoir of environmental knowledge and practical experience. He could list endless examples. But he likes the number 3. Often he doesn't get there. Students distract him with questions, or he heads off on another fascinating tangent and the discussion moves in to a new realm. It's not a problem. It is a part of his considerable charm. But I'm interested in why, at least in the English language, we always list things in threes. We say that "the girl is kind, beautiful and intelligent" rather than "kind and beautiful" or "kind, beautiful, intelligent and witty"... why is that? Is it just a question of rhythm? Is it how we show that we have thought things through deeply? Is it to emphasise the plurality or three-dimensionality of any opinion? Is it just me? I like the number 3.
Professor Tim gave us lots of inspiration for our theses. I have more than three ideas now. I don't know if the ideas are any good, but at least I am excited about exploring them. Hopefully we can use Lennart and Mats' paper as a way of exploring this new-found inspiration.
I'm going away for the weekend to meet an old friend. I am looking forward to radiating enthusiasm about my studies and my new friends. It is nice to meet old friends with a smile on your face.
Have a great weekend everyone, and see you on Monday :-)
David
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2 comments:
Thanks for the post David... I totally agree with you about Professor Tim. So inspirational. Thank goodness we have role models like him in this profession!
Yeah, I agree - it was so nice to have some optimism!
A really good teacher and journalist once told me that he loves to tell his classes about things in numbers (although not only 3s) because "as soon as you say 'there are 5 or 7 or 4 or whatever important things, they all pick up their pencils and pay attention.'" It sure worked for Tim - every time he started on his 3, I listed 1, 2, 3 on my paper and waited patiently to fill them in...
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