tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71671312024-03-19T01:47:09.536-07:00Jim Davies: the BlogThoughts of a cognitive scientist and artist.Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.comBlogger464125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-50149560826046797282021-12-02T03:57:00.002-08:002021-12-02T03:57:14.116-08:00A Very Dune Christmas<!--AddThis Button BEGIN-->
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<!--AddThis Button END--><div><br /></div><div>Track List for the album <i>A Very Dune Christmas:</i><br /><br /><div>1. Rabban Around the Christmas Tree</div><div>2. I Get Geidi and Primed for Christmas</div><div>3. I Saw Mommy Giving Birth to a Son in Defiance of the Reverend Mother's Wishes Underneath the Mistletoe Last Night</div><div>4. Cozy and Worm by the Fire (irregular beat sandworm remix)</div><div>5. Sleigh Ride (feat. Debbie Gibson)</div><div>6. The Tooth, the Tooth</div><div>7. My Name is a Merry Word</div><div>8. Desert Wonderland</div><div>9. Have Yourself a Maud'ib little Christmas</div><div>10. Vladimir the Red-Nosed Harkonnen</div><div>11. I'll be on Arrakis for Christmas</div><div>12. Feyd Navidad</div><div>13. Dusty the Freman (was a very Thirsty Soul)</div><div>14. It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Kyle McLachlan</div><div>15. Here Comes Kwisatz Haderach (Right Down Kwisatz Haderach Lane)</div><div>16. The Little Duncan Boy </div><div>17. Let it Spice! Let it Spice! Let it Spice! </div><div>18. Up on the Wormtop</div><div>19. I Will Kill Him (feat. Sting)</div></div>Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-40008037821555546162018-01-24T11:29:00.001-08:002018-01-24T11:29:36.169-08:00The (Low) Cost of Bike Ownership<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXOggcoEhpP4tSJObv_1EI0znqMjA5ArptT_G44_EwfOc0AYTtf8RPNqS1pTkwEIqQJgl9QEhgHEmSD1CegC3nOq8cuWw0YgI_RaNwIRe2Dbed2kxvBtFY5WL3JR1Tlo6mIakhGQ/s1600/IMG_0457.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXOggcoEhpP4tSJObv_1EI0znqMjA5ArptT_G44_EwfOc0AYTtf8RPNqS1pTkwEIqQJgl9QEhgHEmSD1CegC3nOq8cuWw0YgI_RaNwIRe2Dbed2kxvBtFY5WL3JR1Tlo6mIakhGQ/s320/IMG_0457.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In 2011 I got a bright green Strida bike for my birthday from my parents. The Strida is a folding bike, designed in the UK. My friend Dan Thompson suggested it. In the picture, it's the one on the right.<!-- AddThis Button END --><br />
<br />
I've been riding this bike, year-round, since then (I live in Ottawa, so I cycle in the snow). I named her Stacey Pilgrim, and she's finally died, so I got a new strida (the yellow one on the left, named Knives Chau). <br /><br />I had Stacey Pilgrim for six and a half years. But now she's totaled, and I'll save her to harvest parts from when Knives Chau needs them.<br />
<br />
I've been collecting receipts for bike supplies and repairs since, so I can roughly calculate how much it costs to own a bike.<br />
<br />
Over this period, including the cost of the bike, I spent about $4066. Divided by 6.5, that means that bike ownership, for me, costs about $625 per year.<br />
<br />
I started biking seriously at about the same time as we got rid of our car. So what I'm interested in, primarily, is the cost of bike vs car ownership. But the number I reported above does not count extra costs for busses, Uber, taxis, and car rental that I wouldn't have done nearly as much of if I'd had a car. Also, my time is valuable, and often bikes take more time than taking your own car (this isn't always so--bikes are somewhat immune to traffic jams, and parking never takes time for a bike). However, it's also important to note that this extra time is also exercise, which is great for you. Also, some of these receipts might have been for repairs of my wife's bikes, and my other bike.<br />
<br />
Does $625 per year plus Uber sound like a lot? Car ownership is <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/08/cost-car-ownership.asp">estimated</a> to cost, all told, about $8,000 per year. That is, if you're a car owner, for, say, 20 years, that is what you'd pay, on average, per year.<br />
<br />
So I think bike ownership is a pretty great deal.<br />
<br />
Welcome to Knives Chau my new bike!<br />
<br />
You can get a Strida in Canada at <a href="http://www.stridacanada.ca/">Strida Canada West</a>. Makes a great stocking stuffer.</div>
Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-67198368133532466092018-01-09T10:48:00.002-08:002018-01-09T10:48:52.165-08:00Books Read: 2017<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00LOOCGB2/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies</b> </a>by Nick Bostrom<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00BR25N5W/themonkeykhomeim"><b>N0S4A2</b> </a>by Joe Hill (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000UZQHN4/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters</b> </a>by Satoshi Kanazawa<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B071V5MC1C/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Ethics in the Real World</b> </a>by Peter Singer<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005TIM9LG/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Survival of the Beautiful: Art, Science, and Evolution</b> </a>by Daniel Rothenberg<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01B1MWKIU/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel</b> </a>by Jodie Archer and Matthew L. Jockers<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B019PIOJV8/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix</b> </a>by J.K. Rowling (audiobook)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00IQO403K/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Three-Body Problem</b> </a>by Cixin Liu<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01EMJ2VYC/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Ahsoka</b> </a>by E.K. Johnson<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000OCXG46/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Summer Knight</b> (Dresden Files book 4) </a>by Jim Butcher<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001650UDA/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Grave Peril </b>(Dresden Files book 3) </a>by Jim Butcher<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003P2WO5E/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Way of Kings</b> (The Stormlight Archive book 1) </a>by Branden Sanderson<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01HDSU2KY/themonkeykhomeim"><b>From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds</b> </a>by Daniel Dennett<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B004H4XL7E/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Pitch Anything</b> </a>by Oren Klaff<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1419722255/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Art of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story</b> </a>by Josh Kushins<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452296293/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Magicians</b> </a>by Lev Grossman (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1598038419/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Writing Creative Nonfiction</b> (The Great Courses, Audible) </a>by Tilar J. J. Mazzeo<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316334758/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Girl with All the Gifts</b> </a>by M. R. Carey (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553250426/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Clan of the Cave Bear</b> </a>by Jean M. Auel (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1770411895/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Born to Walk</b> </a>by Dan Rubenstein and Kevin Patterson<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0147516145/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Magician's Land</b> (The Magicians Book 3) </a>by Lev Grossman<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B077ZH4CSH/themonkeykhomeim" style="background-color: white;"><b>Concerto</b> (Forte Book 2) </a><span style="background-color: white;">by JD Spero</span><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195398971/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Case for Mental Imagery</b> </a>by Stephen M. Kosslyn and William L. Thompson<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1598039482/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Food: A Cultural Culinary History</b> (Audible, the Great Courses) </a>by Ken Albala<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345518705/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Warded Man</b> (The Demon Cycle, Book 1) </a>by Peter V. Brett<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1592409660/themonkeykhomeim">*<b>Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Help Others, Do Work that Matters, and Make Smarter Choices about Giving Back</b> </a>by William MacAskill<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/159184651X/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date</b> </a>by Samuel Arbesman<br />
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-61498972734272751212017-10-09T04:44:00.001-07:002017-10-09T04:44:10.406-07:00Why Canadian Thanksgiving is Better than American Thanksgiving<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Thanksgiving_Dinner_Alc2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Thanksgiving_Dinner_Alc2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
I'm an American who has lived in Canada since 2004. I'm now proud to be a Canadian (as well as an American) citizen. As many Canadians (but not a lot of Americans) know, Canada has its Thanksgiving on a different day.<br />
<br />
It's today.<br />
<br />
I love Thanksgiving and I celebrate both. So I get two Thanksgivings every year (sometimes more; see below). I'm going to talk about the big differences and their significance.<br />
<br />
<b>1. Canadian Thanksgiving is at a more reasonable date.</b><br />
Today is October 9, 2017, and it's Thanksgiving day in Canada. In America, Thanksgiving is in late November. The problem with the American date is that it's just too close to Christmas. The two days when it's most important to travel to be with family in the whole year (in much of American culture) are Thanksgiving and Christmas, which are only a month apart. Lots of college students, who might only be able to afford go to home twice a year, do it on these two dates. Too close! Mid-October gives you a little breathing room and time to actually start to miss your family again.<br />
<br />
<b>2. Thanksgiving seems to be more important in America. </b><br />
This isn't good or bad, but it seems to me that getting home for Thanksgiving was always a much bigger deal in America than it was in Canada.<br />
<br />
<b>3. You can have Canadian Thanksgiving dinner on any day (and, indeed, multiple days) of the Thanksgiving weekend.</b><br />
My Canadian friends are often surprised when I tell them that in America, you actually have to have Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving day. Likewise, I was surprised when my beloved (and Canadian) wife first asked me what night I wanted to have Thanksgiving dinner on. I tell Canadians that for an American, suggesting that one have Thanksgiving dinner on another night is like negotiating about having Christmas morning a day or two earlier to make it more convenient for weekend plans. We just don't do it. But in Canada, Thanksgiving can be any day of the weekend. The great thing about this is that, if you have a lot of friends and family, you can have more than one full Thanksgiving dinner every year! You can have it with friends on Friday, and with relatives on Monday, and still have time for one just for you on Saturday, if you really can't get enough.<br />
<br />
Wherever you live, and whenever you celebrate, cheers to the things you have to be thankful for!<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-85092570810571017812017-07-12T07:58:00.003-07:002017-07-12T07:58:52.448-07:00Magic Grammar Square<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Recently I learned about the concept of the "Magic Square."<br />
<br />
Here's one:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmVvMMaTvAW_wwYGagsndSJweJ8NeINPMcbiW273y_omHQuNEqqboHiUETsMKvg4uKB0O-AMYkui9rUF7sk-X8C0PIRh57KgAZozvN0kaYS1r481-ydE-5phdlmBSwhZmT3MebQA/s1600/1200px-Magicsquareexample.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="933" data-original-width="1200" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmVvMMaTvAW_wwYGagsndSJweJ8NeINPMcbiW273y_omHQuNEqqboHiUETsMKvg4uKB0O-AMYkui9rUF7sk-X8C0PIRh57KgAZozvN0kaYS1r481-ydE-5phdlmBSwhZmT3MebQA/s320/1200px-Magicsquareexample.svg.png" width="320" /></a></div>
What's magic about it is that if you sum the numbers in any direction, you get 15.<br />
<br />
I was thinking about how one might make a Magic Grammar Square, in which no matter which directly you read it, you get a grammatical English sentence.<br />
<br />
This is one I came up with:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB44DDWjDQqVqzk-fDDf-yVRMlAdSUAmxq_qS8OxiAmjne1Us6sjSkigfVBaP68HHTyJ1UXdIjsZujwm6WCP6qKTEetlYoaHVtJToKpgNcVj0Bjj5ffZDqtwgwD5fM3ap_rGFORg/s1600/Magic-Grammar-Square.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="377" data-original-width="883" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB44DDWjDQqVqzk-fDDf-yVRMlAdSUAmxq_qS8OxiAmjne1Us6sjSkigfVBaP68HHTyJ1UXdIjsZujwm6WCP6qKTEetlYoaHVtJToKpgNcVj0Bjj5ffZDqtwgwD5fM3ap_rGFORg/s640/Magic-Grammar-Square.png" width="640" /></a></div>
If you read it in the direction of the arrows, you get a grammatical sentence, though some of them are a little unusual.<br />
<br />
<b>"Deer chase now."</b><br />
If the deer weren't chasing, you might say this to indicate that now, the deer are chasing.<br />
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<b>"May arrived fast." </b><br />
Suggests that spring came up sooner than you expected.<br />
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<b>"Sometimes back completely."</b><br />
Suppose you're talking about backing a project or startup, and talking about whether or not you should ever back one completely.<br />
<br />
<b>"Deer may, sometimes."</b><br />
Other times they may not.<br />
<br />
<b>"Chase arrived back."</b><br />
Chase is your friend, he arrived and he was coming back when he did.<br />
<br />
<b>"Now fast completely."</b><br />
You're giving someone instructions on a cleanse.<br />
<br />
<b>"Deer arrived completely."</b><br />
To emphasize that they might not have completely arrived, but indeed they did.<br />
<br />
This would be even better if all of these sentences made some sense backward, but making this was hard enough as it was. In particular, the trick is that the top left square should be a noun (preferably one that sounds the same as singular or plural).<br />
<br />
The cells with "chase" and "may" should be words that can be both nouns and verbs.<br />
The cells with "sometimes" and "now" need to be both nouns and adverbs.<br />
The middle cell need only be a verb. Past tense makes the conjugation check out.<br />
The cells with "fast" and "back" need to be both verbs and adverbs.<br />
The bottom right cell ("completely") need only be an adverb.<br />
<br />
Making it was kind of fun. Give it a try.<br />
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-67189582464515744992017-04-17T09:51:00.002-07:002017-04-17T09:51:39.223-07:00Idea Capture: Some Ideas for Implementation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/3x5_Notecard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/3x5_Notecard.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boy, do I love these...</td></tr>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>This post was written in April, 2017. I update my thoughts about idea capture on a google doc. If it's much past 2017, you might prefer to read the google doc here:</i></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VqMUEpp_RZ_mo2sknlSwcwucIn2paUPhg0RN_M5B824/edit?usp=sharing</i></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the most important parts of any creative endeavour, including all of the arts and sciences, is not letting the good ideas you have get forgotten. And believe me, no matter how good your ideas are, and how much they captivate you when you think of them, only a small portion of them will come back to you when you can use them. I know this because when I look over the ideas I’ve written down over the years, I often don’t even recognize them. They are completely unfamiliar, and I know they’re mine because they’re on my files or written in my handwriting.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-fa6a01b0-7ccd-f532-0f92-0da1bdd2824e" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To keep this forgetting from happening, you need to have a system that captures these ideas so that you can exploit them later. In this essay I’m going to talk about the many ways I use idea capture, so that you can use them as a starting-off point to develop a system that will work for you.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 20pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Using Biological Memory</span></h1>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When most people “try” to remember something, they mentally focus on it, or perhaps repeat the idea in their minds over and over again. Then they get on with their business and hope that later they’ll be able to 1) remember that they needed to remember something and 2) actually remember what they were supposed to remember. If either one of these fails, and at least one often does, then the idea is lost. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first strategy I recommend is to create for yourself what is called a “memory palace.” A memory palace is a cognitive strategy that functions as a memory aid: a mnemonic device.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The basic idea of a memory palace is this: you choose a physical location, usually a building, that you know very well. You decide on a walk through it, and you specify locations as you do. So every time you (virtually) walk through the house, you do it in the same order, attending to the specified locations in the same order every time. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For example, I have a memory palace of the house I grew up in. I start in my childhood bedroom. I look at the turntable (location 1), then on top of my desk (location 2), then I look out the window and see what’s under the tree (location 3). Eventually I work my way through all the rooms in the house. I have over 70 locations in there. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is something you mentally practice: using your imagination to walk through your memory palace, taking note of the locations, in the same order every time. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It should be fairly easy to memorize, because it is a location you know well, and you try to specify a route through it that makes some kind of sense. For example, in mine I follow the left wall to go from room to room. In a given room, the floor of the room is always first, then the next locations are around the perimeter of the room, from left to right.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When you have a memory palace in place (even one with only 10 locations is incredibly useful), you can start using it to remember things. The way you do this is to create vivid images at the locations that represent what you want to remember.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let’s say I wanted to remember to call the dentist. I might imagine my dentist, spinning on my turntable. I might want to also remember to buy my sister a birthday present. So I’d imagine my sister sitting on my desk (location 2), happy to be getting a birthday present. Images of concrete objects are easier to remember than abstract concepts (buckets are easier than “justice” for example), and emotional, sexual, and violent images also stick in memory better (for a great book on what kinds of images are most memorable, I recommend reading </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moonwalking with Einstein.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Later, when you have an opportunity to write down your ideas, you simply virtually walk through your memory palace and look at each location. Then you interpret the picture and write down the idea you had: call my dentist and buy a present for my sister. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I use this several times a week. When is it most useful? When you can’t write anything down. I use it when driving, or riding my bike, or when I’m in a movie theater, and so on. When I get home I just go through my palace and write down all the ideas. Then I “clean out” the palace by imagining removing those images from their locations and imagining them empty again. This actually works.</span></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 20pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Using Ink and Paper</span></h1>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As well as memory palaces work, you can’t keep all of your ideas there and you need to get them into some non-biological medium. Pen and paper is a great way to do this. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Personally, I use index cards. I keep a stack of them in my back pocket and replenish them frequently. I keep a pen in my front pocket, so I can always jot something down. I’ve also used a little pad, in the past, and I’ll explain why I prefer the cards.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Index cards are large enough to get a complex idea onto, but small enough for your pocket. I recognize that women’s clothing often does not have pockets, so I’ll let you translate pocket to pocketbook in this essay. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They also have the benefit of being unattached to each other. That is, I can do something with an index card without having to rip it out of a notebook. I find that if I have a notebook, there is something in my that wants to preserve the integrity of the notebook, making me not want to rip out pages. Also, a notebook with half the pages ripped out of it is not aesthetically pleasing. You want to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">like</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the tools you work with.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Often I’ll write down book or movie recommendations on an index card, and I can immediately hand it to someone.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can also quickly file away your index cards into physical folders. If you use a folder system for your projects, you can just put each card into its appropriate folder, to be retrieved later when needed. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have a box for “writing fragments.” When come up with some clever idea for fiction, I put it on an index card, and when I get home I throw it in a box. When need writing ideas, I have a box full of them.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can also throw away cards when you don’t need them. If you wrote down a reminder to call the dentist, and you called her, you can discard the index card afterward.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One thing that’s nice about a notebook is that you have an automatic chronological record of the notes you’ve taken. You’ll often have a lot of crossed-out things, but those are sometimes useful, too. </span></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 20pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Using Your Phone</span></h1>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why not just use your phone? Well, you should also use your phone. I do.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The phone does have some drawbacks that index cards do not. It’s not as easy to make diagrams. It’s harder to give someone information with your phone. If you wanted to recommend a book to someone at a party, you’d have to get their email address or phone number (which they might not want to give you) and then email or message them the recommendation. The index card feels a lot more homey and less intrusive. It’s also socially awkward to pull out your phone sometimes: in the theater, at a dinner party, while you’re talking to someone, even watching TV with a friend or lover. If you pull out your phone to take notes at a talk, people assume you’re texting your friends or on Twitter or something. Somehow, taking notes on an index card is more socially acceptable in many situations. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That said, there are times when the phone is great. There are several ways to use the phone for idea capture.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First, you can use a “notes” feature. This is only useful if you remember to process these notes later. Also, make sure it’s backed up in the cloud.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Second, you can use a cloud service, such as Evernote or GoogleDocs. You just open the right file, and put your idea in the right place. This is great, and sometimes I do this, but there is a cost associated with it that is so great that I can’t rely on it. Opening the application, navigating to the right file, and finally typing takes a long time, and if you’re say, walking with someone on the street, it might be too much time, and you might find yourself thinking “maybe this idea is not that important. Maybe I don’t need to write it down.” If you find yourself having such conversations with yourself, you need to get easier modes of idea capture available to you. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What I prefer is using an app called Zipnote, which admittedly sounds like a ridiculous application when you first hear about it. Basically, all it does is sends an email to yourself. You can just use your mail program to do that, right? Well, yeah, but Zipnote takes away several button presses. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have to click 1. the Zipnote app icon, then 2. into the body of the email message. Then I start typing. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If I use my email program, I have to 1. Click the email program app icon, 2. Click compose message (hopefully without getting distracted items in your inbox!), 3. Type the first letter of my name, 4. Click my name, 5. Click in the body of the email. Then I can start typing. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It only saves you a couple of seconds, but it’s shocking how the friction caused by a few seconds’ of time will make you say to yourself “nah, I don’t need to record that idea.”</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And when I say “start typing” I mean typing or using voice recognition. I am using voice recognition more and more, and it saves me a lot of time. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also, sometimes when I send myself a message from my phone, it ends up only in my “sent mail” gmail folder, not my Inbox. Infuriating.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyway, the next time I sit at my desk to process email, I have a bunch of ideas, from me, in my inbox. Thanks, universe!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While I’m on the subject, the location of the zipnote icon (or whatever icon you use for idea capture) should be in the very lower-right corner of your home screen (lower left if you’re a lefty). The point is that you need to make it as easy as possible to capture an idea. (As an aside, you should populate your home screen on your phone not with the apps you use the most, but the apps you </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">want</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to use the most. I moved Facebook and Hearthstone to the second page, buried in folder, so I’d be more likely to open Zipnote or Kindle.)</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEYOfjT7aiCmGT7Ij2dzOec5iJRXP3wQaRwLoU6imQaHIJbidJILduj53CZqOtQ6WbpwlGHK094aJTss1DtrewyfJCAj9-9barr7p4dWUFI319NNTMgkw_6k1JMEcyjeGXVRgiKw/s1600/home-screen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEYOfjT7aiCmGT7Ij2dzOec5iJRXP3wQaRwLoU6imQaHIJbidJILduj53CZqOtQ6WbpwlGHK094aJTss1DtrewyfJCAj9-9barr7p4dWUFI319NNTMgkw_6k1JMEcyjeGXVRgiKw/s1600/home-screen.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Your home screen should not be full. Put there the things you endeavour to use more.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I like to read on my phone and tablet, and I’m constantly using zipnote while I read to get all the ideas that come to me while I’m doing it. </span></div>
<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 20pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Normal-Sized Notebooks</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zipnote, index cards, and little pads are great for when you’re on the go. But when you know that you’ll be taking notes, like if you are at a meeting or a talk, you’ll often have a full-sized notebook with you to use. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Notebooks have the benefit of being chronologically-organized. I recommend putting your email address on the first page, along with a “please return” plea, in case you lose it. I also put the date of the first note, so I can organize my notebooks by starting dates on my shelf for easy access. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also put the date at the top of the page, and a record of who is there with you. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Notebooks are great, but one thing people forget to do is to process them later. If you write in your notebook a note to yourself to go to the dentist, if you just bury it in later pages of notes and never go back to it, it’s as though you’ve never written it down at all. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What I do is this: when I’ve filled a notebook, I put an item on my todo list to “process” that notebook. I’ll go over what that means in the next section. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Recently I’ve become enamored with the Livescribe Pen and Paper system. It’s an electronic pen, and special notebooks with minute dot patterns on them. When you write with the pen on the paper, a little camera in the pen records your penstrokes. Then you can upload all of your notes onto your computer. So I have several notebooks full on my shelf, and on my computer--and with OCR I can search my notebooks to see, for example, all my meetings with “Sterling.” </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But it gets better. You can also record sound with the pen, and then, later, click some text you’ve written and hear what was being said when that text was put to paper. So if somebody’s talking a mile a minute, and you can’t write everything down in time, or you can’t understand your notes later and need to hear what the context was to get it to click, or you need to remember something said for which you didn’t take a note, it’s awesome. I think all students should have this for their classes (ask your instructor if it’s okay to record the lectures, though).</span></div>
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<h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 20pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 20pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Processing Your Ideas</span></h1>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once your ideas are out of your head and into some physical (or electronic) medium, then you need to make sure you put it in a place where it can be useful to you later. I call this step “processing” your ideas. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whether it’s emails from zipnote in your inbox, entries in your notebooks, or items on index cards, you need to do </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">something</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with them. This pretty broad, so I’ll just give some examples.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If it’s a fragment of poetry, I will put it in a GoogleDoc called “poetry fragments.” I will return to this when I need inspiration for poetry.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If it’s a reminder to call the dentist, I will either immediately call the dentist, or put a note in my todo list to do so. Then I cross it off (or discard the index card.)</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If it’s something I wanted to put in a book I’m writing, I might open the document for that book and writ it in then and there, or I might make a todo item for it. (generally, things that take longer than 3 minutes get put in the todo list. Quick things are done on the spot.)</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If it’s a phone number, I put it in my contacts. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If it’s an idea for a future project, I put it in a list of “Someday/Maybe” projects.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And so on.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I take a note on something I have to do, I put a little square before it. When I do the thing, I put a checkmark in the box. This way, after I take a lot of notes, I can scan the left margin for empty boxes and quickly do all of the things I marked. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After I fill a physical notebook I put in a todo item to “process” it. I go through every page, and do the kind of thing I’m talking about with the things in it. Some of these things (like notes from talks) are not actionable; I just like to have them there in case I want to retrieve them later. That’s fine. Deciding to leave something in the notebook, but to take no further action now, is a part of processing it. When I’m done, I put an “i” in the front of the notebook (you can use a “p” for “processed;” the “i” means “incorporated.”)</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is where a concluding paragraph would go, but I don’t think this essay needs one, so this is all you get. </span></div>
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-81684081446914376852017-04-12T04:13:00.000-07:002017-04-12T04:13:11.324-07:00Pastwords: A Game You Can Play in the Car<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I designed a game with my beloved, called Pastwords. I'll describe it in this blog post, but if it's been a long time since April 2017, you might want to read it on this googledoc instead, where I it might be updated.<br />
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MT07tMU2udBIBq3WdPKUrkOA4Qz4Y7aiuPnUPNteEOM/edit?usp=sharing">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MT07tMU2udBIBq3WdPKUrkOA4Qz4Y7aiuPnUPNteEOM/edit?usp=sharing</a><br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Brief:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pastwords is a non-competitive game for two or more players, designed to help people get to know one another. It only requires talking, so it is a game that can be played while driving or walking. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How to Play:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In some order (going around the room, for instance), someone says a letter of the alphabet.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The next person says a word that begins with that letter. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then every person, in no particular order, tells a story from their past, or relates some interesting information, related to that word. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then, the person who said the word gives the next letter, and the game continues until people want to stop.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Example of Play:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eileen is playing the game with her wife Rebecca on a drive to Charleston. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eileen starts and says the letter “p.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rebecca says “proud.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They both think for a minute. Eileen thinks of something first, and tells a story about how she was proud when she sang a solo in high school. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On Rebecca’s turn, she talks about an article she read once in a psychology magazine about how pride can be good or bad for you. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The round is over. Rebecca picks the letter “n.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eileen chooses the word “Neverland,” and the game continues until they stop for dinner. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why This is a Good Game:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have a lot to learn about one another, but sometimes we don’t think of interesting things to say, or we think of them but they feel conversationally inappropriate (or apropos of nothing), so we keep them to ourselves. A structured game like Pastwords both gives permission to talk about stories or interesting information, and inspires stories you might not otherwise think of. You can play it with people you barely know. For example, you might play it with guests after dinner. You can also play it with family members and others you know very well. At the time of this writing, Jim and Vanessa Davies have been a committed couple for over 10 years, and still play it and come up with stories that have never been told.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tips for Playing:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The most important thing to keep in mind is that the “rules” of the game are just there to start conversation. There is no winning, no cheating, etc., so don’t get too hung up on everyone having something to say, or whether or not someone’s story is actually relevant or not to the word. The point is to get conversation going and to get to know people. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Certain kinds of words are more evocative of stories than others. Avoid really specific jargon, such as “muon” or “oligarchy.” Most common nouns, adjectives, and verbs work well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Enjoy!</span></span></div>
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-55183210635074610802017-03-17T08:27:00.001-07:002017-03-17T08:27:11.818-07:00The “Artificial Intelligence” Name is Doing Just Fine, Thank You<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnqW6mBcYXTMLxwX6okifTPCCQ-U9e9RUBvqT5K9r6pxPU7WrIrhYGit-U5gA4Nc5f3k9xQARKCwfatlji6LcrZK4hS3v7jnMoknsyxDQhNOkdD4zfhRNjLATWR4aeHaK98PdmKw/s1600/Big_dog_military_robots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnqW6mBcYXTMLxwX6okifTPCCQ-U9e9RUBvqT5K9r6pxPU7WrIrhYGit-U5gA4Nc5f3k9xQARKCwfatlji6LcrZK4hS3v7jnMoknsyxDQhNOkdD4zfhRNjLATWR4aeHaK98PdmKw/s320/Big_dog_military_robots.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BigDog robots trot around in the shadow of an <a class="extiw" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV-22_Osprey" style="background: none rgb(248, 249, 250); color: #663366; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.3px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" title="w:MV-22 Osprey">MV-22 Osprey</a><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.3px; text-align: start;">.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Recently a distinguished professor from my alma mater, Georgia Tech, published an Atlantic article about how the term “artificial intelligence” has become meaningless. </span></div>
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<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/03/what-is-artificial-intelligence/518547/?utm_source=twb" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/03/what-is-artificial-intelligence/518547/?utm_source=twb</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I like Ian Bogost, and I’ve cited his research. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But he’s got this one wrong.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He lists a bunch of AI systems that don’t work very well, which is kind of like saying that the word “painting” is meaningless because there are bad paintings. Other systems are criticised because they don’t use AI techniques. One, for example, uses a “pattern matching filter.” Presumably, if it were using an actual AI technique, it wouldn’t be listed. To say that Google’s DeepDream isn’t AI because it only uses deep learning networks is absurd, because deep learning networks are about as AI as you can get. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But there’s the rub, isn’t it? Without some notion of what constitutes AI techniques, you can’t make the distinction. But if we know what AI techniques are, then how can the concept of AI be meaningless? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He derides one system as merely using “off-the-shelf computer vision,” not acknowledging the fact that what counts today as “off the shelf” is the result of 60 years of hard work by AI researchers, who just happened to break off into a subfield called “computer vision.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He asks artificial intelligence researcher (and friend of mine) Dr. Charles Isbell what AI is, and Dr. Isbell says that AI should do something it takes humans effort to learn--a curious requirement, because that excludes vast areas of traditional AI research, including vision, bodily motion, and language processing--all things humans, it turns out, learn effortlessly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then there’s a bit of talk about “true” AI, but this is a completely different topic, and one that constantly haunts discussions of the field. On one hand, people use AI to mean the field that develops techniques for machines to execute thinking, and on the other other it’s used to describe what we now commonly call “general AI,” which is a single AI agent that can pretty much do every kind of thinking a human can. If the term “artificial intelligence” is problematic, it’s here, but the distinction between the two is not even made explicit in the article. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is it fair to critique AI as being a hodge-podge of methods, which indeed it is? Considering the hodge-podge of ways the human mind processes things, perhaps not. What if a general intelligent being has to use a hodge-podge of processes to do it all? It’s like saying that “medicine” is meaningless because it has disparate things such as talk therapy and radiation treatment in its set of techniques. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We might apply the same reasoning to a subject of Bogost’s personal interest: games. Just like artificial intelligence programs, I could trot out countless games are don’t work or aren’t fun. I could say the term “game” is meaningless because the set of game systems and rules are a hodge-podge. In fact, the idea of a game is the example Wittgenstein used to argue that almost all words evade necessary and sufficient conditions, and that word meaning is a result of a kind of “family resemblance.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Artificial intelligence has remained a core part of computer science ever since there were computers. If AI is meaningless, I’m left to wonder in which classes we’d teach about Bayes’ nets, production systems, machine learning algorithms, and natural language processing. Compilers? Databases? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The term “artificial intelligence,” is a gist with a fuzzy boundary, with nothing sacred or absolutely true about it, held together by a bunch of vague meanings. It gets abused by people who don’t know the field-- or are trying to use the term as a buzzword to sell us something. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But it’s only meaningless to the extent that most words are. </span></div>
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-87780734059697013092016-11-07T04:03:00.002-08:002016-11-07T04:03:22.003-08:00Where are all of my Star Wars movies?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Clone_Wars_screening_-_Anakin%2C_R2%2C_and_Obi-Wan_costumed_fans_(5240102759).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Clone_Wars_screening_-_Anakin%2C_R2%2C_and_Obi-Wan_costumed_fans_(5240102759).jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e1mr5-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">There have been about 14 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a franchise that only started in 2008. That's an amazing number of movies. Marvel studios is owned by Disney, who also owns Lucasfilm. But how many Star Wars movies have come out since 2008? Only one. What gives? I want my 13 other Star Wars movies. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="f41bb-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Star Wars has had a few television programs (<i>Clone Wars</i> and <i>Rebels</i>), but the MCU has had <i>Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage</i>, and <i>Daredevil</i>. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="el71r-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Why are they so slow at making them? I think it might be because Star Wars is a bit too precious to them. Unlike Star Wars, the MCU is not something people had incredibly high expectations for. It's something new, and Star Wars, now, is something relatively old. But I have hope. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="85u47-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And the MCU is what gives me hope. Although it's easy to carelessly classify the MCU films as superhero films, they are actually pretty clever about bringing in other genre films that just happen to have superhero in them. <i>Captain America: The Winter Soldier</i> is kind of like a spy film--in fact, it's a better spy film than many of the James Bond films. <i>Jessica Jones</i> is kind of a psychological horror show. <i>Doctor Strange</i> is a little like inception, and a little like urban fantasy. <i>Thor</i> is an extra-dimensional setting that borders on high fantasy, <i>Guardians of the Galaxy </i>is a Star Wars style space opera, and <i>Captain America: The First Avenger</i> is kind of a war film. </span></div>
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They can do this with Star Wars, too. In fact, they've already explored it. One of the great things about the long-running animated <i>Clone Wars</i> TV show was that they had all kinds of genres in there. There were horror episodes, mystery episodes, political dramas, action stories, coming-of-age stories, gangster stories. You can do almost anything in a Star Wars setting. I hope they do. </div>
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If you're shocked at the idea of a Star Wars movie every year, think of what we're getting from Disney in their MCU franchise, and, to me at least, I don't think it's enough. </div>
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PS: And, by the way, a mixing of genres is also exactly what <i>Star Trek</i> needs... Can we do something other than a Starfleet ship and a crew, finally?</div>
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PPS: Hey Marvel Studios, how about a She-Hulk movie? </div>
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<i>Pictured: Cosplayers dressed as </i>Clone Wars<i> characters.</i></div>
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-91495041305119863692016-06-14T12:45:00.003-07:002016-06-14T12:45:41.555-07:00Why You Should Eat Mussels<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steam them in chopped tomato, olive oil, wine, oregano, and garlic. Eat with a baguette.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "system font regular"; font-size: 10.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">I'm pretty excited about eating mussels, because </span></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 10.0pt; letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">they are a good source of protein, </span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 10.0pt; letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">the probably don't feel any pain, and </span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 10.0pt; letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">because they are filter feeders, they actually *clean* the water they are in. This
is something you can't say about many farmed animals. So they are good for the environment.</span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "system font regular"; font-size: 10.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">I was at the Canadian Science Writer's conference recently and asked a fish farming scientist a question I get asked: because mussels are filter feeders, should I worry about bioaccumulation? Bioaccumulation is when unhealthful pollutants (often heavy metals) accumulate in fish over the course of their lifetime. This is a problem with big fish, like tuna. He said no, because they are farmed in fairly clean water, and because they grow to maturity so quickly the pollutants inside are negligible. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "system font regular"; font-size: 10.5pt; letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">I plan to eat more!</span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-30316089595146449792016-06-13T12:29:00.000-07:002016-06-13T12:29:02.152-07:00Write in: Why do people care more about dogs than people?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dog in the film "Independence Day." When this dog survived the explosion, the cinema I was in erupted into applause.</td></tr>
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<br />
I got a good question in my inbox the other day.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
Hey Jim,<br />My name is Henri one of the readers of your book "Riveted". Amazing stuff by the way!<br />Book made me wonder a one Question.<br />Why people feel more feelings when human is killing a dog in th1e movies? But when human is killing a human if feels like just a normal day.<br />Have you never wondered about this & do you have some kind of thought why?</blockquote>
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My answer:</div>
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Glad you liked the book!<br />I don't know any data on this, but I think people think about dogs like they do children. So I think that when a dog is hurt on screen, people respond kind of like they would if a child were hurt. So what I would predict is that they would be just as disturbed by a child being hurt on screen as a dog, and the difference you are thinking of would appear only for adult humans being hurt on screen. </div>
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You can see my book at <a href="http://www.jimdavies.org/riveted/">http://www.jimdavies.org/riveted/</a></div>
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-69378378657117868142016-06-06T09:13:00.002-07:002016-06-06T09:13:29.255-07:00Struggling for Good Data on Animal Welfare<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is this a "medium" sized cage? How the hell am I supposed to know? </td></tr>
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<br /><br />A "Whole Foods" supermarket opened recently in my city, and I was very excited because it offers meat that meets what appear to be fairly rigorous ethical standards. For example, when I buy a chicken there, I know that it wasn't raised in a cage. I've read many things that make me think that animals that are raised for meat are pretty miserable, and I didn't want to support that.<br />
<br />
I recently got back from the conference of the Canadian Science Writer's Association, which was held in Guelph, Ontario. It was hosted by the University of Guelph, which prides itself as being "Canada's Food University." I met a few farmers there, and what they told me has made me less certain.<br />
<br />
We all have a problem with anthropomorphizing animals a bit too much. Without other data, I suppose it's okay, but we really should try to find scientific findings before insisting on this or that treatment. I remember being told by a zoo director years ago that there were people at the zoo protesting the fact that the orangutan was in an enclosure all by itself. But in the wild, orangutans are solitary creatures. So when we insist on good animal treatment, we should take care to know what it is the animals actually want. Of course, we cannot ask them, so we need clever experiments to get the answers we need.<br />
<br />
According to the farmers, chickens evolved from a wild bird that liked to live in the roots under trees. They argue that being in a cage is actually less stressful for them than being in the open, because it resembles their ancestral home more. Further, chickens tend to be mean to each other. They have dominance displays that can result in some chickens being malnourished or dying. This is more likely in a cage-free environment. I was also told that chicken welfare has been studied, and the finding was that a "medium sized cage" (I'm don't know how big that is) is better than a cage that's too small and better than being out in the open.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, when you go to the grocery store, we are told that the chickens (or eggs) are either cage free or not, and you have no idea what size the cage was that the chickens were raised in. What's the customer supposed to do?<br />
<br />
I also asked about small enclosures. In the book I'm reading right now, <i>Sapiens</i>, there is a picture of a cow in a small enclosure. I am told that this cow only gets out of this and able to interact with other cows on its way to slaughter, about four months into its life. That certainly sounds miserable. I told this to a farmer and she said that maybe this was done with veal, but not with cows. And the reason? Doing that is actually <i>more expensive</i> than putting them in a common pen.<br />
<br />
And those pictures of pigs, locked into cages on their side? I was told that this wasn't done for their whole lives, but only for feeding piglets. And why? Because mother pigs have a tendency to flop over and crush their piglets. So even that cage, which looks like a medieval torture device, is used to protect the animals from hurting each other.<br />
<br />
I was told that when farmers see videos of animal abuse, they think that the people doing it are idiots and are giving farmers a bad name.<br />
<br />
Okay, so who should we believe? The problem is that we see these pictures and videos that are pretty scary, and we don't always know the reasons farmers do what they do (sometimes it's actually in the animals' best interest), and further, we have no idea of whether the abuse we see is systematic. How often does it happen? Are we really supporting that when we buy meat?<br />
<br />
I can honestly say that at this point I have no idea. I feel I have no source of information that is from an unbiased group. Animal welfare activists have an interest in making us think the abuse is more widespread than it is (I'm not saying they're guilty of it, only that they have an incentive). <br />
<br />
Likewise, the farmers have an incentive to make it look like everything's hunky dory. At the conference I was given a magazine called <i><a href="http://www.realdirtonfarming.ca/">The Real Dirt on Farming</a>, </i>which was published by the Farm and Food Care Foundation, which is an association of farmers and associated businesses. This document is dismissive of the animal rights movement (p45):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Activists of any kind are not usually interested in finding solutions, but prefer to focus on problems and dramatic examples to generate funds and support for their organizations." </blockquote>
Wow. If they wanted to look unbiased, they sure screwed up there. Activists <i>of any kind?</i> Really? Is that what they think of the women's liberation movement of the 1960s, or Martin Luther King, Jr.? It makes me wonder if the whole document is bullshit.<br />
<br />
So now I'm not sure what to think. Are there any scientific results out there that is from arms-length groups that can shed light on this issue? What is a concerned consumer supposed to do?<br />
<br />
(And yes, I tried being vegetarian and I was miserable.)<br /><br />Related links:<br />
I have implemented "meat offsets," inspired by carbon offsets, where I donate money every time I eat unethical meat. See my blog post at:<br />
<a href="http://jimdavies.blogspot.ca/2010/03/meat-credits.html">http://jimdavies.blogspot.ca/2010/03/meat-credits.html</a><br /><br /><i>Image from Wikimedia Commons. </i><br />
<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABustanHagalilBattery.JPG"><i>https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABustanHagalilBattery.JPG</i></a><br />
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-14083034807295166902016-05-20T09:36:00.003-07:002016-05-20T09:36:29.854-07:00Top 10 Most Popular Contributors to 4Chan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZIkWivzwJ_C3NvrbGmE2VF0jAL8C1ana16PyzUuAR7TJfnt2psanl_JfR6DS9JpvjARljk59zDGReP3a-mNNgIaIOhkVRkLJJAtaLk62Oaf4a1NSyWSSzvH3A9TNivNvR9WkoZA/s1600/lkj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZIkWivzwJ_C3NvrbGmE2VF0jAL8C1ana16PyzUuAR7TJfnt2psanl_JfR6DS9JpvjARljk59zDGReP3a-mNNgIaIOhkVRkLJJAtaLk62Oaf4a1NSyWSSzvH3A9TNivNvR9WkoZA/s320/lkj.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Anonymous</li>
<li>Anonymous</li>
<li>Anonymous</li>
<li>Anonymous</li>
<li>Anonymous</li>
<li>Anonymous</li>
<li>Anonymous</li>
<li>Anonymous</li>
<li>Anonymous</li>
<li>Anonymous</li>
</ol>
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Plus an honorable mention: Anonymous<br />
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<i>Image from Wikimedia Commons:</i><br />
<i> <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:4chan#/media/File:Paper_bag_mask_with_4chan_smiley_at_Anon_raid.jpg">https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:4chan#/media/File:Paper_bag_mask_with_4chan_smiley_at_Anon_raid.jpg</a></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-71779646285068255252016-01-06T11:45:00.004-08:002016-01-06T11:45:55.856-08:00The Books I read in 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My book consumption has gone up drastically since I started listening to Audiobooks! Audible has a subscription service that for $10 per month you get 1 credit, which can be spent on any audio book. It's a great deal.<br />
<br />
<b>Paradox Lake</b> by J.D. Spero<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006158326X/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Happiness Project</b> </a>by Gretchen Rubin<br />Great book. Rubin reads everything about happiness and reports on her experience trying to improve herself.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00EMXBDMA/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Martian</b> </a>by Andy Weir (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00GT2QZ20/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Behavioral Economics (The Great Courses)</b> </a>by Scott Huettel (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1780972717/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Beastie Boys Book Deluxe: A Unique Box Set Celebration of the Beastie Boys</b> </a>by Frank Owen<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316334758/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Girl with All the Gifts</b> </a>by M. R. Carey (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1598037188/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Meaning of Life: Perspectives From the World's Great Intellectual Traditions. The Great Courses </b></a>by Jay L. Garfield (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00DD62E02/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Lost Worlds of South America</b> (Great Courses/The Teaching Company) </a>by Edwin Barnhart (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0515144185/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Guilty Pleasures</b></a> by Laurell K. Hamilton<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00DTO4PVY/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Medeival World</b> (The Great Courses) </a>by Dorsey Armstrong (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B008AE4SCE/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Hallucinations</b> </a>by Oliver Sacks<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1598032372/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Great Courses - Philosophy of Science</b> </a>by Jeffrey L. Kasser (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00OHXRI9M/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Neurobiology of the Gods: How Brain Physiology Shapes the Recurrent Imagery of Myth and Dreams</b> </a>by Goodwyn, Erik D.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B006A0PQJE/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Espionage and Covert Operations: A Global History (Great Courses / The Teaching Company)</b> </a>by Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300180276/themonkeykhomeim">***<b>The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically</b> </a>by Peter Singer<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0857663321/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Deaths of Tao: Tao Series Book Two</b> </a>by Wesley Chu<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1426214723/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Art of Risk: The New Science of Courage, Caution, and Chance</b> </a>by Kayt Sukel<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00IUBJACK/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Heroes and Legends: The Most Influential Characters of Literature (The Great Courses)</b> </a>by Thomas A. Shippey(audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385743580/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Firefight</b> (The Reckoners Book Two) </a>by Brandon Sanderson (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195146298/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them</b> </a>by Marjorie Taylor<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0812975219/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Fooled by Randomness</b> </a>by Nasim Nicholas Taleb (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000FBJAGO/themonkeykhomeim"><b>A Fire Upon the Deep</b> </a>by Vernor Vinge (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00LWBZ696/themonkeykhomeim"><b>How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method</b> </a>by Randy Ingermanson<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00EIQ3KR2/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Customs of the World: Using Cultural Intelligence to Adapt, Wherever You Are (The Great Courses)</b> </a>by David Livermore (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00A1M5EG2/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Lives of Tao </b></a>by Wesley Chu ****<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000UODXP0/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Mating in Captivity </b></a>by Esther Perel (Audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452296293/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Magicians</b> </a>by Lev Grossman (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00ARHAAZ6/themonkeykhomeim">*** <b>Steelheart (Reckoners Book 1)</b> </a>by Brandon Sanderson (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0037NX018/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers</b> </a>by Robert Sapolsky (audible)<br />
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-17785747765655316492015-11-27T04:20:00.001-08:002015-11-27T04:20:24.634-08:00Writing and the Word "Said" Part 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Should I use `replied' in my novel?" she said, not asked.</td></tr>
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I've read several books on how to write fiction, and been to many writing conferences, and there is one piece of advice that seems to be unquestioningly believed and repeated:<br />
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Don't use any word for "said" other than "said." That means never use questioned, replied, exclaimed and so on.<br />
<br />
The belief is that using these other words is distracting, pretentious, and a sign of amateur writing.<br />
<br />
At the same conferences, and sometimes in the same talk, people will advise to use unusual ways of describing people. Use a less familiar word, like "grimy" rather than just "dirty" all the time.<br />
<br />
These two pieces of advice are, at least at first glance, contradictory. Why is it okay to use unusual ways of describing in one context but not another?<br />
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It's further complicated by the fact that there is no empirical evidence that I've ever been able to find that they are right. <br />
<br />
In the meantime, I just read reviews of the audio version of Scalzi's <i>Redshirts</i> and it's almost hilarious how many people complain that--I'm not kidding-- he uses "said" too much! Take a look for yourself; it's pretty striking.<br />
<a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Redshirts-Audiobook/B007SP2LPM/">http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Redshirts-Audiobook/B007SP2LPM/</a><br />
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Interestingly, the reviews for the print and kindle editions don't complain about this as much (though some do.)<br />
<a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Redshirts-A-Novel-Three-Codas/dp/0765334798/">http://smile.amazon.com/Redshirts-A-Novel-Three-Codas/dp/0765334798/</a><br />
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Is "exclaimed" really that bad?<br />
<br />
I have
an ambition to run a study to find out. I'm just waiting for an
interested student (when that study is done I'll post Part 2). <br /><br />
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-55501032372110333982015-04-24T09:40:00.001-07:002015-04-24T09:40:21.043-07:00Tabletop Role-Playing Gaming with Little Kids (ages 4-9)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stealth Fighter's character sheet</td></tr>
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Recently I played a tabletop role-playing session with my wife and three young nephews, ages 9, 7, and 4. It worked beautifully, and I wanted to share with you how I did it and how easy it was.<br />
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The first thing I did was make rules, and I wanted them very, very simple. Basically, anytime their characters tried to do something difficult, the kids rolled two six-sided dice and summed the results. If it was higher than 6, it was a success, and if it was 6 or lower, it was a setback (not a failure). <br />
<br />
I asked them to make characters: What is your character? What weapon does he or she use? What is his or her magic power?<br />
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They had no trouble doing this, and the results were delightful. The eldest made "Fireborg," a cyborg man who used a flaming sword and could do an "explosion stomp."<br />
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The middle child made "Stealth Fighter," who was half cat and a little bit raccoon. He used spears and could climb on walls as his magic power. He wanted to draw a picture, which you can see in the image. Adorable!<br />
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The youngest made "Ninja Blobby," a slimy ninja who threw slime for a weapon and could replicate himself.<br />
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My beloved created an elf named "Galadriel" who threw glass balls and could heal people.<br />
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That was basically it. We got started.<br />
<br />
I made a very basic adventure. The setting was sword-and-sorcery fantasy. Townspeople complained that a monster was stealing their livestock. The characters ventured into the mountains and<br />
had to cross a rickety bridge with flying snakes attacking. Losing rolls are "setbacks" resulting in either some inconvenience (a delay) or actual "harm." Each character had four hit points. <br />
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After this first encounter I had them look at their attributes: tough,
smart, and magic. They could pick one to get +1 on rolls, another to get
+0, and the last would get -1. As you can see from the pictured
character sheet, Stealth Fighter had -1 Tough, +1 Smart, and +0 Magic. <br />
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Then they encountered a giant locked door. An old man was there and they talked him into giving them the key. This required a roll.<br />
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Then they entered the dragon's lair. After a fight they returned to the town, where each got a healing potion as reward.<br />
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The whole thing took about 45 minutes, the kids stayed interested throughout, and one asked to play again the next day, this time with a new character, "Glorglius," who was a ghost who could throw electric balls.<br />
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Getting kids using their imaginations does not require complex rules. They do it naturally. Just make something simple and go for it. <br />
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-35620570915418202342015-01-28T07:22:00.002-08:002015-01-28T07:22:51.120-08:00A new soundtrack to meditation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
For stress relief I've started meditating again. I did it for about a year and a half years ago, and stopped. You can read about how I meditated <a href="http://jimdavies.blogspot.ca/2009/12/ive-been-meditating-for-about-year.html">here</a>.<br />
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Perhaps I should not be multitasking while I meditate, but I am. There are a few stances/poses that I want to practice. First is the Tai Chi horse stance, which looks like the left image in this picture:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioXXKYUJhs5q5tfq1E7m6QvuR6y75Iut9ORo757z-iCMy4cYsop1VJ_azhfaasmHn7Lmw1IcsBQxZHsLJVbms5E_Pr7JVBmjTlqzqhsGW6rRBd8pl41N_huZ3FOhgukD1_1pCrvA/s1600/Horse_Stance_Bow_Stance.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioXXKYUJhs5q5tfq1E7m6QvuR6y75Iut9ORo757z-iCMy4cYsop1VJ_azhfaasmHn7Lmw1IcsBQxZHsLJVbms5E_Pr7JVBmjTlqzqhsGW6rRBd8pl41N_huZ3FOhgukD1_1pCrvA/s1600/Horse_Stance_Bow_Stance.gif" /></a></div>
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Elements of this stance include: 1) keeping your feet just a bit more than shoulder width apart, 2) pointing your feet straight forward, 3) bending your knees but not so far that they go past your toes, 4) keeping your hips thrust forward, tucking your bottom, 5) crunching your abdomen a bit, and 6) pushing your lower back out.</div>
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It's apparently good for your back to do this, and it certainly strengthens your legs.<br />
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The other position I want to practice is the Japanese way of sitting indoors, called "seiza."</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVy3xNT9-Ou7U3I76DbMG-17pJJ02uva2pZunwQ65hounTKVe5HLF6bNXPftZPDAuHqH7LAHvvwZrWhyphenhyphenRgWCtaEp4vspYJlpIJLEgxEoxAhXJwocXG6KnbXZKWTbz4M8jRTjYw2A/s1600/seiza-1-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVy3xNT9-Ou7U3I76DbMG-17pJJ02uva2pZunwQ65hounTKVe5HLF6bNXPftZPDAuHqH7LAHvvwZrWhyphenhyphenRgWCtaEp4vspYJlpIJLEgxEoxAhXJwocXG6KnbXZKWTbz4M8jRTjYw2A/s1600/seiza-1-1.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
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I find it a comfortable way to sit on the floor, but if you don't practice it your legs fall asleep easily.<br />
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I also want to practice the "asian squat," pictured below.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4EcePIw2M41oDlXjOTnltcP0Opaw5-0aYVAu8YX1to8oZFPzvIGTxF3LNv3_njRVCiJlg2AKTqoMpwV0fwwtDbuyUQ03Ar6xnRsUnHGNXt1pAs1dnYwZqZJWgrzeh_J6z8I9mKA/s1600/chinese-squat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4EcePIw2M41oDlXjOTnltcP0Opaw5-0aYVAu8YX1to8oZFPzvIGTxF3LNv3_njRVCiJlg2AKTqoMpwV0fwwtDbuyUQ03Ar6xnRsUnHGNXt1pAs1dnYwZqZJWgrzeh_J6z8I9mKA/s1600/chinese-squat.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
I picked this up in China. It's convenient when you're outside or in a dirty place and don't have a chair. If you practice it, it's comfortable and relaxing. Some people can nap in this position. Again, it is difficult (or impossible) without practice.<br />
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Finally, on the advice of my physical therapist, I like to lie on a foam roller.<br />
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I can do all of these things while meditating. I like to do them in five minute chunks, but it's really bad to constantly check the clock when you're meditating. So I made an MP3 of birdsounds that lasts about 27 minutes. Every five minutes there is a chime sound, and at the end of 25 minutes there is a gong telling you that you are finished. So in five minute intervals I practice 1) the tai chi stance, 2) the asian squat, 3) seiza, 4) the tai chi stance again (my legs are pretty tired by the end of this), and finally 5) lying on the foam roller.<br />
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Some believe that birdsong makes you relaxed. <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22298779" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; color: #3388dd; font-family: Interstate, 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Garuda, Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6000003814697px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22298779</a><br />
I don't know if this has been scientifically tested, though.<br />
<br />
I used to do mantra meditation, but now I'm trying to think of nothing, focusing on the blackness I see when my eyes are closed.<br />
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You can download the track here:<br />
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/scjimmyd/meditation-with-birdsong-and-chimes">https://soundcloud.com/scjimmyd/meditation-with-birdsong-and-chimes</a><br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/187779521&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-28152776100666786292015-01-14T07:55:00.000-08:002015-01-14T07:55:07.620-08:002014 Book Roundup<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here are the books I read in 2014.<br />
I started getting into Audible audio books, and it has almost doubled the number of books I consume.<br />
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My complete list, kept since 1993, can be found here: <a href="http://www.jimdavies.org/personal/books-read.html">http://www.jimdavies.org/personal/books-read.html</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B008EKLO1M/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Art of Character: Making Memorable Characters for Fiction, Film, and TV</b> </a>by David Corbett<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00DTO49Y2/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Practicing Mindfulness: An Introduction to Meditation (The Great Courses)</b> </a>by Mark W. Muesse (Audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0199678111/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies</b> </a>by Nick Bostrom (Audible)<br />An interesting, frightening exploration of the possibility of evil AIs.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00DMCVXO0/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Consciousness and the Brain: Decyphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts</b> </a>by Stanislas Dehaene (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00BAXFDLM/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch book 1)</b> </a>by Ann Leckie<br />Some good ideas, but not enough to support a book this long.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1455522384/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Stench of Honalulu: A Tropical Adventure</b> </a>by Jack Handey (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1598032704/themonkeykhomeim"><b>How To Listen to and Understand Great Music (3rd Edition) (The Great Courses)</b> </a>by Robert Greenberg (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345511220/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Star Wars: Scourge</b> </a>by Jeff Grubb<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062255665/themonkeykhomeim"><b>The Ocean at the End of the Lane</b> </a>by Neil Gaiman<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062225200/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception</b> </a>by Claudia Hammond<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00997VFHM/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Reversion: The Inevitable Horror (The Portal Arcane Series - Book I)</b> </a>by J. Thorn<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00C74WX5M/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Perv: The Sexual Deviant in All of Us</b> </a>by Jesse Bering (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316056898/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Bossypants</b> </a>by Tina Fey<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0071W4X7G/themonkeykhomeim"><b>What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses</b> </a>by Daniel Chamovitz<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00HY0719C/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Riveted: The Science of Why Jokes Make Us Laugh, Movies Make Us Cry, and Religion Makes Us Feel One with the Universe</b> </a>by Jim Davies<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00IKTU4H2/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Catcher's Keeper</b> </a>by JD Spero<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345546849/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Star Wars: Kenobi</b> </a>by John Jackson Miller<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00C5R7GRQ/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them</b> </a>by Joshua Greene<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1598038621/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Great Courses (Teaching Company) The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World </b></a>by Robert Garland (Audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062124293/themonkeykhomeim"><b>How to Be a Woman</b> </a>by Caitlan Moran<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0013TOX1Y/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Icemark Chronicles: Cry of the Icemark</b> </a>by Stuart Hill(audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00E31DR8E/themonkeykhomeim"><b>A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing</b> </a>by Lawrence Krauss (audible)<br />
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-60351845842290905462014-09-27T12:08:00.002-07:002014-09-27T12:12:21.466-07:00Exams With 728 Students Are More Complicated Than You'd Think<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I teach a popular first-year class at Carleton called "Mysteries of the Mind." It's got 728 enrolled students this semester. We have two exams, a final, and an essay. Today we had the first exam. I wanted to give you a taste of what goes into running an exam for this many people.<br />
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First of all, how on Earth do we have a class with over 700 people in it? I teach in one of the largest classrooms on campus, which seats 300. The course is a part of Carleton University Online (CUOL), so that students can register for a section where they watch the lectures on video. There are two people in the room running the cameras; I am miked and well-lit. The whole thing is very professional. The lectures are available online and on television in Ottawa. So that's where the other 437 students come from. Many of them are on-campus students who could not get into the in-class section because it was full.<br />
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They all need to write their exams at the same time, so nobody talks about what's on the test. Because many online students are working, we need to have these exams on nights and weekends. There are professional proctors we use, so CUOL has to make sure there isn't more than one CUOL class exam happening at the same time. So I schedule with CUOL when these exams will be a month before class starts.<br />
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All of these people have to sit somewhere--somewhere where they can comfortably look at the test and their answer sheet, so it can't be one of those crappy airplane-style desks. Not only that, they can't sit right next to each other, because it would make it too easy to cheat. There are only so many rooms on campus like this. So what happens is that they are spread out over about 10 rooms in two buildings, broken up by the section and first letter of their last name. So we have 10 proctors.<br />
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I bring my exams (multiple choice) and scantron sheets (machine-readable answer sheets) a half hour early to the exam room. I need a teaching assistant (TA) help me carry all of the paper. The proctors make piles of appropriate counts of tests and scantron sheets and they hustle off to their respective rooms. During the 2 hour exam time, the TAs and I wander from room to room, making sure everything is okay and answer content-questions. I have six TAs.<br />
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In each exam room each student sits with her student ID and pencils. At nine on the dot this morning all the tests were simultaneously handed out. At the half hour mark, attendance was taken. This takes quite long in the rooms that hold many people. Students can't enter after the half hour mark, and students also cannot leave until attendance is taken (all to prevent communication of what is on the test). So the students who are done quickly have to just sit there waiting until attendance is taken.<br />
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When the exams are all done, all the proctors bring the exams, scantrons, and the sign in sheets back to the exam room where a TA and I carry them back to my office they will be graded by machine. I will remove bad questions, etc., and the students get their grades.<br />
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The only time they all write the exam at the same place is for the final, where we take up a huge athletic room (see image at <a href="http://instagram.com/p/iJ1Z9lyiQo/?modal=true">http://instagram.com/p/iJ1Z9lyiQo/?modal=true</a>).<br />
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That's for the regular students. But many students cannot make it to the exam time for religious or whatever reasons. So there are deferrals. Right now we have four different deferral times to accommodate those students. If a student is sick on the day of the deferral, they need an additional deferral. You might ask how often this happens. Well, with 700 people, <i>everything</i> happens.<br />
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We have distance students, in Toronto or Korea or whatever. In cities like Toronto and Vancouver we have testing centres, but if you're on your own you have to set up and get approved a proctor. CUOL handles this too, thank goodness.<br />
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Then we have special-needs students. I have had blind students; I have had incarcerated students. I have students who need a special quiet room, or more time, due to learning disabilities. We have a separate exam centre for these situations. I have a TA in charge of the disabilities students and another TA in charge of deferrals.<br />
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And we do this three times a semester, twice a year.<br />
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Anyway, that's all I can think of --there's probably more to it that's not coming to mind right now. It's a big production and it's kind of exciting. I love that I'm communicating cognitive science to so many people. Lots of students watch these videos with their roommates or parents.<br />
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It's a lot of work for a lot of people, but I love it. <br />
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-61995657116705085692014-04-28T04:27:00.001-07:002014-04-28T04:27:30.071-07:00Write-In: Can we have goals independent of our environment?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Acapulco_fishermen.jpg/800px-Acapulco_fishermen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Acapulco_fishermen.jpg/800px-Acapulco_fishermen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">Hello Dr. Davies,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;"> I am currently working on my bachelor degree in psychology, and I am in</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">learning and cognition. I found my way to your articles, due to my needing</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">to find an answer to choice and mental processes. I tend to side with the</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">behaviorist view that experience and memory play a huge role in our power of</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">choice, but I am looking for an answer to the thinking about thinking</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">dilemma. Thorndike seems to have had a huge influence on my concept of</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">mental processes, as well as Hebb, Skinner, and Alder. I guess I am looking</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">for someone, who can tell me that we have higher mental processes that are</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">free of environmental stimuli and memory, which we can form our choices</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">randomly. Am I looking for some pie in the sky? Can you offer me some</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">direction, because I ultimately want to believe that we can master our</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">Universe through the power of our mind. In other words, we can direct our</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">lives in accordance with our dreams and our goals, instead of being subject</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">to environmental stimuli.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">My response: </span><br />
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For the most part psychologists don't think that we have any goals that are not products of either our environment, our genes, or some combination. However, there are goals we didn't learn, such as the goal to eat, sleep, etc. But from your letter it sounds like what you're interested in aren't evolved goals, but goals that are chosen deliberately. In those cases I think all goals are still a product of evolution and environment, but they interact in such complex ways that individuals can have very interesting, even strange goals that appear to be, and feel, very idiosyncratic. </div>
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So, for example, someone might have a dream to create a play that captures the feeling of social ostracism in a foreign country. This is individual and interesting, but there's no way a desire to make a play is free from the environment--she had to have heard of a play in the first place. And so on.</div>
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So to answer your specific questions, we can form choices randomly--we could use coin flips. We can direct our lives in accordance with our dreams and goals, and I think that's great, but to ask that they be independent of our environment is impossible--and not even preferable. In fact, you probably realize that your desire to be able to master your own world is a product, in part, of the education and experience you've had talking to people and reading.</div>
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<i>Pictured: Fishermen in Mexico. From Wikimedia Commons.</i></div>
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-82346745888452449762014-01-26T14:09:00.000-08:002014-01-26T14:09:41.339-08:00How Many Papers Should I Review For This Conference?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Charolais_cattle,_Sierra_Nevada,_Venezuela.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Charolais_cattle,_Sierra_Nevada,_Venezuela.jpg" height="265" width="320" /></a></div>
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My field's main conference is the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, or, as it's commonly called, "Cognitive Science." People submit 6-page papers. Each one needs to be reviewed by three people for a decision to be made. It's a part of a scholar's civic duty to review papers. It's natural to review papers for the conferences you submit to. But how many should you agree to review?<br />
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One way to think about it is that you should be pulling your weight, and not taking advantage of the system. So if every paper needs three reviewers, then maybe you should agree to review 3 papers for every one you submit.<br />
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There are two things wrong with this simple calculation--not all papers are single authored. If you're submitting a paper with 6 authors, maybe the pain should be spread out a bit.<br />
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The other factor is that there are freeloaders out there, and you might want to do your part to make up for them.<br />
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So what I do is say I'm going to review 5 papers for every one I submit. But this is divided by the number of authors I have on each paper-- so it's 5/n for each paper, where n is the number of authors per paper.<br />
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This summer Cognitive Science is in Quebec City. Nice and close! So my laboratory is submitting lots of papers. For papers with my name on it got two I'm the sole author on, three with two authors, and one with 6 authors.<br />
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So I'm going to review (5/1) + (5/1) + (5/6) + (3 * (5/2)) papers this summer. That's 18.33.<br />
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That's a lot of papers, but it's proportional to the amount of work I'm putting on everybody else in the community, so I'm doing my fair share.<br />
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It's easy to calculate using <a href="http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%285%2F1%29+%2B+%285%2F1%29+%2B+%285%2F6%29+%2B+%283+*+%285%2F2%29%29+">wolframalpha.com</a><br />
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<i>Pictured: A charolais in Venezuela. From Wikimedia Commons.</i><br />
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-4356428987068967722014-01-19T12:17:00.000-08:002014-01-19T12:17:15.792-08:00Book Round-Up 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Below are the books I read in 2013.<br />
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Near the end of the year I started using <a href="http://audible.com/American">Audible.com</a> which is great. For a yearly subscription, I get credit for one book per month, for $10 per month, cheaper than most audio books. And I get through about a book a month. Between that and podcasts I have lots to listen to. <br />
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I didn't get audible for a long time because I bike and I didn't want to bike with headphones. I found I didn't have much time to listen to books. But my beloved got a Bose bluetooth headset for Christmas. It can be used like most, but also can be used as a normal headphone. So now I can listen to books while I bike. It's only in one ear, so I can hear traffic and get that important situational awareness. The fact that it's bluetooth is great because I don't have lots of cords getting caught up in everything. This was especially a problem in the winter, with a coat, scarf, facemask, hat, etc. The bluetooth makes it so nice.<br />
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Anyway, happy reading! If you want to see my complete list of books read, see my webpage for it: <a href="http://www.jimdavies.org/personal/books-read.html">http://www.jimdavies.org/personal/books-read.html</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/014311526X/themonkeykhomeim"><b>Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness</b> </a> by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein (audible)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00AFPTSI0/themonkeykhomeim">
<b>Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success</b> </a> by Adam M. Grant (audible)
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005GMV3GC/themonkeykhomeim">
<b>Blood Rock: Book Two of the Skindancer series</b> </a> by Anthony Francis
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B002TXZT4I/themonkeykhomeim">
<b>The Player of Games</b> </a> by Ian M. Banks
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0765367033/themonkeykhomeim">
<b>Fuzzy Nation</b> </a> by John Scalzi
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195178033/themonkeykhomeim">
<b>In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion</b> </a> by Scott Atran
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/159413605X/themonkeykhomeim">
<b>Gone Girl</b>*** </a> by Gillian Flynn
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671654055/themonkeykhomeim">
<b>The Ragged Astronauts</b> </a> by Bob Shaw
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1476733953/themonkeykhomeim">
<b>Wool Omnibus</b> </a> by Hugh Howey
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393082067/themonkeykhomeim">
<b>Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking</b> </a> by Daniel Dennett
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00BMKDTNC/themonkeykhomeim">
<b>A Memory of Light (Wheel of Time)</b> </a> by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0037Z7LCU//themonkeykhomeim">
<b>Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution</b> </a> by Peter Richerson and Robert Boyd
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0465006965/themonkeykhomeim">
<b>Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought</b> </a> by Pascal Boyer
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-28230252230215849092014-01-13T07:19:00.000-08:002014-01-13T07:19:57.670-08:00Anyone Can Cook? How the Film "Ratatouille" Undermines Its Own Message<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e1/Ratatouille-remy-control-linguini.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e1/Ratatouille-remy-control-linguini.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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In the charming Pixar film <i>Ratatouille, </i>a rat named Remy is inspired by a famous cook who says that "anyone can cook." In the end, the rat is vindicated, and becomes the chef at a French restaurant. </div>
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The story evokes the American value that with hard work even someone from a lower class can achieve greatness. The theme of the film, "anyone can cook," resonates when even a rat, with sufficient ambition and wiles, can make it big. </div>
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What most people ignore about the film, though, is the complete inability of the other main character, Alfredo, to learn to cook, in spite of having the same ambition, and, indeed, extensive exposure to good cooking practices. </div>
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In the story, Remy secretly uses Alfredo as a puppet to cook (see the picture). In this way Remy's cooking gains acceptance--nobody would give a rat the same chances they'd give a human. But even by the end of the movie, Alfredo is incapable of making a decent meal on his own. </div>
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What's the difference between Alfredo and Remy? It appears to be some kind of in-born talent, which is at odds with the theme of the film. </div>
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Anyone can cook. Except you, Alfredo. You just don't have the right stuff. </div>
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<i>Pictured: A screenshot from the trailer. From Wikipedia.</i></div>
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-89387210261489801132013-12-18T07:57:00.000-08:002013-12-18T07:57:36.583-08:00Publishing with Nautilus Magazine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Nautilus-JB-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Nautilus-JB-01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I've been busy editing my book, <i>Riveted: The Science of Why Jokes Make Us Laugh, Movies Make Us Cry, and Religion Makes Us Feel One With the Universe, </i>which comes out August 5, 2014. As such I've missed some announcements concerning my publications in a new science magazine, <i>Nautilus</i>.<br />
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When I sold my book to Palgrave MacMillan, my editor there, Luba Ostashevsky, championed my proposal. But then she left to help start <i>Nautilus</i>. My agent said that losing your editor is a rite of passage in publishing; it just happened to me early.<br />
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Luckily for me, the publisher still wanted the book, and I got a new editor, and also luckily, my old editor Luba wanted me to write for <i>Nautilus</i>. I've developed a good relationship with her and their blog editor, Amos Zeeberg. I've published several articles and one short story with <i>Nautilus</i>, and hope to publish more in the future. It's a great magazine, kind of like <i>Omni</i> was back in the 1980s, and trying to be the <i>New Yorker</i> of science. Check it out at <a href="http://nautil.us/">http://nautil.us/</a><br />
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Here are my hyperlinked <i>Nautilus</i> publications:<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Davies, J. </b>(2013).
<a href="http://nautil.us/blog/so-human-so-beautiful">So Human, So Beautiful</a>.
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nautilus</i> December 11 blog entry.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Davies, J. </b>(2013).
<a href="http://nautil.us/blog/iron-curtain-of-the-mindour-tangled-thoughts-on-geography">Iron
curtain of the mind—Our tangles thoughts on geography</a>. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nautilus</i> December 6 blog entry.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Davies, J. </b>(2013).
<a href="http://nautil.us/issue/4/the-unlikely/explaining-the-unexplainable">Explaining
the Unexplainable: When Logic Fails, Stories and Superstitions Prevail</a>. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nautilus </i>Magazine Article. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Davies, J. </b>(2013).
<a href="http://nautil.us/blog/education-is-a-waste-of-effortbut-it-doesnt-have-to-be">Education
Is a Waste of Effort—But It Doesn’t Have to Be</a>. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nautilus</i> November 26 blog entry.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Davies, J.</b>
(2013). <a href="http://www1.carleton.ca/edc/2013/blog-informal-assessment-and-asking-questions-in-class">Informal
Assessment and Asking Questions in Class</a>. Guest blog post on the Carleton
University Educational Development Blog. October 28. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Davies, J.</b>
(2013). <a href="http://nautil.us/blog/fame-is-a-magnet-that-reveals-our-weak-hold-on-reality">Fame
is a magnet that reveals our weak hold on reality</a>. <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Nautilus, September 5 blog entry.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Davies,
J. </span></b><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">(2013). </span><a href="http://nautil.us/blog/why-people-love-to-get-lost-in-books"><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Why people get lost in good books</span></a><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">. <i>Nautilus </i>July 15 blog
entry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Davies,
J. </span></b><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">(2013). </span><a href="http://nautil.us/blog/why-do-we-get-transported-by-stories-we-knoware-false"><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Why do we get transported by stories
we know are false?</span></a><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"> <i>Nautilus</i>,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">July 16 blog
entry. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Other Links:</span></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><a href="http://nautil.us/" target="_blank">Nautilus</a> Magazine</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautilus" target="_blank">Nautilus</a>, the mollusk</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omni_(magazine)" target="_blank">Omni</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/" target="_blank">The New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="http://us.macmillan.com/palgrave.aspx" target="_blank">Palgrave MacMillan</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.tridentmediagroup.com/agents/don-fehr" target="_blank">Don Fehr</a> (my literary agent)</li>
<li>My colleague and friend <a href="http://nautil.us/search/jeanette%20bicknell" target="_blank">Jeanette Bicknell</a> has also published in Nautilus</li>
</ul>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><i>Pictured: A nautilus, from Wikimedia Commons</i></span></div>
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7167131.post-71344574136754175982013-11-27T05:35:00.002-08:002013-11-27T05:35:09.210-08:00My Professional Blog Entry on Nautilus: Don't Waste Student Work<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have published a blog entry for the great new science magazine, Nautilus. It's based on my teaching philosophy.<br />
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<a href="http://nautil.us/blog/education-is-a-waste-of-effortbut-it-doesnt-have-to-be">http://nautil.us/blog/education-is-a-waste-of-effortbut-it-doesnt-have-to-be</a><br />
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Jim Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958201922371210613noreply@blogger.com0