First principles

      When doing an exam you often realise that you have no bloody clue how to find the answer (well, this doesn't happen to me, but I'm trying to relate to my less amazingly smart readers. Such as you. No offence.) so instead of sitting there like a duck you can try to work from first principles. This means using what you know and trying to build up to what you've forgotten. For example, say you've forgotten the quadratic formula, if you know how it is derived you can just use the general form of a quadratic and complete the square to find x.
      Different people's brains work in different ways. Some people remember facts and figures, while I on the other hand tend to remember the basis of a system and use that to prompt my memory. When I try to remember things that I can't connect to a simpler idea I tend to struggle (well, I say struggle, that is again me just trying to relate to normal people. I never really struggle. I'm way to smart for all that. These brackets are doing more alienating that relating, aren't they?). This is why working from first principles can be very helpful for me.
      Now, as you might have guessed from my continual insults, or a two minute conversation with me, I'm not great at socialising. The thing is, most people have a set of rules that they just kind of know and learn as they get older. I don't have those rules. What I do have is a basic understanding of the core drives of people. So, using that, I work from first principles. Unfortunately, these drives don't really mention etiquette, so I tend to seem like a bit of a dick. Also, they don't really help me write interesting blog posts, which is more of an issue for you than for me.