A friend of mine is participating in a competition, and I'm rallying for her to win

From her post on Facebook:
"I hate to be lobbying for votes again but I stumbled across this opportunity and was excited to be sharing my life's goal with like-minded people. Hopefully you guys can help a sister out with paying her bills! Every vote counts and I will personally thank anyone who helps me out. 50 votes helps me qualify to the next round and it only takes a second!"

Zabrina's goal, from the link below:
Cure Ignorance. I want to redefine "abnormal".
I've always had an itch to understand the people around me. Perhaps that's what started my obsession with psychological/neurological disorders. I've determined that "abnormal" does not exist, as we are a world compiled of different abnormalities. I want to study these glitches in our neurological network, so that we may all accept them.

I'd edit the above to say something along the lines of, "I'd like to discover the distinctions within the human brain that define our complexity, and perhaps this information will be used in bio-technical advancements to appear within the next few centuries". (I suppose if the major were along the Cognitive Science-Computation-A.I. route, this would work). Eve no Jikan is a short and sweet ONA that kinda reflects these topics.

Here's the link to Zabrina's post
And the link to the Dr. Pepper Tuition giveaway, here, if you wish to read other stories.

Unfortunately, mental illness does exist. We should accept that and look for treatments and cures, instead of pretending it doesn't.

Hmm we should. Well, I've taken one psychology course, so I wouldn't know too much about mental illnesses.
Hopefully these cures will be found, though.

Mental conditions are never treated because of the presence of the condition, they are treated when they interfere with your ability to function.

Lots of people have OCD tendencies but they don't all have to be medicated or have consueling. Everyone gets depressed, but that doesn't mean everyone needs anti-deps. Its only when your obsessions over power your ability to work and take care of yourself or when your depression prevents you from getting things done, that you get help.

Off topic: I don't see how Eve no Jikan fits into the abnormalities. EoJ was about the rise of sentience in androids/robots, their desire to have equality like humans, and the backlash in society against sentient droids seeking autonomy.

In the koohii lounge anything goes, as long it's safe for work.

My premise was that all knowledge was interrelated, particularly in Cognitive Science, which seeks to find a point of balance between the available knowledge we have about the nervous system, mind, society, and coding. The existence of droids that have thoughts and emotions and how they fit into society shows Human-Computer Interaction, which studies the relationship between humans and computer technology.

Aspiring Wrote:In the koohii lounge anything goes, as long it's safe for work.

My premise was that all knowledge was interrelated, particularly in Cognitive Science, which seeks to find a point of balance between the available knowledge we have about the nervous system, mind, society, and coding. The existence of droids that have thoughts and emotions and how they fit into society shows Human-Computer Interaction, which studies the relationship between humans and computer technology.

I see.

Quote:Human-Computer Interaction

Be careful how you use this term because it has a different focus and meaning in academia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human%E2%80...nteraction
The focus in HCI in most studies is on improving interfaces (ie: Graphic user interfaces, ease of use, etc), and not some kind of psychological or sociological interaction with computers, as if they were a living entity.