Bistro d'aporia

Walking

2011-10-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

Masahito Yoshida is walking through Vancouver currently. He has walked from Tokyo to Portugal, and then from Toronto to Vancouver, over the last couple years.

His Japanese blog: http://alkinist.blog111.fc2.com/
His English blog: http://alkinist2.blog135.fc2.com/

I got to meet him this last weekend as he walked the last two hundred kilometers to Vancouver. The distance that I drove in a couple hours will take him four days to walk.

He pulls a cart with all his belongings and is an IT engineer.

The parents of the family I lived with in my second year of university have done equally long distances but on bicycle, and they met him two years ago. Since then they helped him plan his trip across Canada and will be housing him for a couple nights before he goes to Australia.
Chris and Margo's bike blog: http://legacyweb.triumf.ca/people/oram/cycling/

All very neat people!

Puppy agility and sheep herding

2011-09-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

My aunt is starting a dog and trainer training facility on Vancouver Island! Her and a friend are working to start a buisness teaching: agility (a competitive race over standard obstacles), sheep herding (with real live sheep!), and obedience (self control for puppy and owner).

Even if you are an experienced trainer, these ladies can help you brush up on your puppy-human communication or teach you to train other trainers!

They are rather excited about it. And are great teachers and dog trainers!

http://westcoastcanineacademy.com/

Income Tax: credits and deductions

2011-09-04T23:53:00.000-07:00

So I was browsing the government of canada website when I ran accross the annual budget and saw some items related to new 'tax credits'. Not knowing what this really meant, I thought I'd do some research. (My dear mother has done my taxes for all years I've been eligible so far, but it's time to start understanding it myself).

Disclaimer: This is my current understanding only! I can't commit to this being correct. Please comment if you have corrections or clarifications.

One pays tax (surprise!), to various places but in this case I'm just going to look at federal canada.

The current tax rates should be here. Basically, If you earn $0 to ~$41,000 you pay 15% of that as federal tax. ~$41,000 to ~$83,000 you pay 15% on the first $41,000 and 22% on the rest. And so on.

There are tax credits and tax deductions.

Tax deductions reduce the actual taxable amount by the stated amount. So a tax deduction of $5000 reduces a taxable income of $35,000 to $30,000. Common tax deductions include a Basic Personal Amount of ~$10,000, and CPP contributions.

A tax credit is an amount and a percent. Say $1000 at 15%. Take the percentage of the amount, 1000 * .15 = $150 in this case, and subtract that from the tax you actually pay. Examples include transit passes. You have to actually pay the amount to get it, so that $1000 is actually a maximum and you get 15% of whatever you actually pay.

Resources:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/ncm-tx/rtrn/cmpltng/ddctns/lns300-350/300-eng.html
http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com/2006/05/tax-deduction-vs-tax-credit.html
http://blog.taxresource.ca/what-is-the-difference-between-personal-tax-credit-tax-deductions/

Frontpack

2011-02-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

My observation

I've taken to walking from class to class wearing my backpack backwards. With the pack in front of me instead of behind.

It's nice, it means the weight distribution is different and so I feel like I use different muscles (or the same muscles in a different way). I can't say for certain obviously, as I'm not educated in anatomy.

I've spent the last 15 or so years of my life carrying a backpack, and it's been a great help, but I'm also guessing that it has done some interesting things to my posture. This change won't fix things, but it does seem to help.

Because I spend so much time in front of a computer, I spend a lot of time sitting down and hunching forwards. This would seem to catch the general muscle-use of wearing a pack on my back. In both cases I am contracting my front or bending forwards. This overlap increases the need for me to do daily activities that work other muscles.

For any designers or pack-makers out there

It would be really neat to see a pack specifically designed for wearing on the front. My current pack isn't too bad but it's not ideal. The shape of the shoulder straps seems the most in need of reworking.

Open process

2011-01-26T11:35:00.000-08:00

In open source software, the sources code is made available to anyone who is interested. This means that I can go and look at the source code of, say, Firefox, and see how it works. Which means I can learn from it! YAY!

What if someone keeps a regular diary of their activities throughout a project and makes that publicly available? Perhaps someone can learn from that? Let's call it 'open process'.

I have a friend who is in interaction design who keeps really good records of what she is working on. She generally doesn't make it public, but I've had the chance to look through them (with her consent of course!), and I've learnt a lot from reading that. Not completely open process, but sharing one process so others can learn. Having people to learn from is one of the reasons I keep my friends around! :P

I've done this before with the MyHomeYourHome project here: http://dropbox-myhomeyourhome.blogspot.com/

Now I'm sort-of doing it for a directed studies course at University. It's not just my process, or all of it, but it's a regular blog about what I've been working on written for my friends/collaborators, and the prof who is supervising the course. It's also written for you! If you find it interesting, maybe you can learn something from it (then you can be one of my friends too!).

You know...

2010-07-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

You know you're well off when your train of thought leads to thoughts such as this...

Thanks Mum!

2010-06-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

So I really just work better when I am well fed. I was brought up being fed homemade food for the vast majority of my meals, and learning a bit about cooking for myself in the process. This is mostly due to my dear mummy staying at home on a regular basis and spending a fair chunk of time in the kitchen making breakfast, lunch, and dinner for three boys and my dad.

So: Thanks Mum! For staying at home and cooking on a regular basis, and not going out and doing something silly like getting a highly paid job as is your right as an equal citizen. I appreciate this more than anything else, and feel like it is the best thing you could have done for me. I respect you more for this than if you were a published physicist or a successful activist or a rich CEO.

(There's actually another letter like this that I need to write. It's exactly the same as this except it says thank you for: taking me hiking and orienteering and camping, and limiting the access I had to a computer and tv.)

Value

2010-06-18T00:56:00.000-07:00

A dollar now is worth less than a dollar 100 years ago. (It can buy less bread)

A Canadian dollar in Canada is worth less than a Canadian dollar in Africa. (It can buy less bread)

A dollar coin in Canada is worth more than a dollar coin in England. (I england I can't buy any bread with a Canadian dollar, I have to exchange it at specialized locations like money exchanges)

Usually, a dollar coin is worth the same as 100 pennies, but:
If I'm in need of a heavy weight, the 100 pennies is worth more than the single dollar coin.

When I'm walking in south Glasgow, and it's getting late, and I need to get home quickly:
9 British pounds in change is worth much more than a 10 pound bill. As I can only get a bus fare with the coins. This means that I am happy to give someone the 10 pound bill for the 9 pounds of change.

Of course, this doesn't just extend to coins and bills. It also applies to anything else.
10 gazillion barrels of oil has a value that depends on it's precise location.
If it's inside a strong pipe, on it's way to a refinery, then it's a very nice thing to be the named owner of. It's worth a lot.

But if it is outside that pipe - hardly more than a couple meters away - seeping into the ocean then it's a very, very bad thing to have in your name.

It could cost you your job.

a script to tweet my experiences into memories

2010-05-21T01:31:00.000-07:00

so I started by watching a TED talk on the differences between the 'experiencing self' and the 'remembering self'. The general distinction made was that every moment of you life is interpreted, and responded to, by the part of you that experiences things - while the remembering self if composed of your memories.

The talk in question

So, for example, if your doctor asks you if you can feel anything when she taps your knee, she's talking to your experiencing self. Whereas if she asks how your knee felt after you ran a marathon last weekend, she's talking to your remembering self.

There is some interesting fuzzyness that pops up if you accept this distinction. Example fuzzyness: your decisions in the moment are based on your experiences in the past (you can't say you knee hurts if you don't know what hurting feels like, and if you don't know what your knee usually feels like), and your memories are interpreted and built by your experiences as they happen (everything that is a memory is an experience first).

Anyhoo, I was thinking about this, and then I wanted to post a link to the video to my facebook page. Which immediately struck me as an attempt of my experiencing self (me watching something on the computer) to save/remember/permanentize the experience into my memory (my facebook page, which holds a variable collection of thoughts that I think are worth holding onto and sharing). Thus I saw me and my online presence enacting what the talk was talking about.

The fact that the remembering side of things has been computerized by using facebook ( you could also use files or myspace or twitter) leads me to wonder if the 'deciding what to save' portion could also be computerized. Could write a computer program or script to: evaluate my experiences as they happen, give everything a value, and then post the most 'valued' ones on twitter? It seems at least possible to me with my current ability and experience.

Would this script rely on the memories to evaluate future sets of inputs?

Could the 'experiencing self' be analogous to the environment/program that runs the script in that it just interprets the script line by line and has no real long term memory outside the files it saves (ie it's memories)?

would something like this be some sort of artificial intelligence?

Abstractions

2009-06-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

"Software is ... onionlike, a thing of layers, each built painstakingly and precariously on the previous one, each counting on the one below not to move or change too much. Software builders like to talk about laying bricks; skeptics see a house of cards. Either way, there's a steady accumulation ogoing on. New layers pile on old.

"Programmers call these accretions 'layers of abstraction,' because each time a new one is added, something complex and specific is being translated into something simpler and more general. The word abstraction comes from the Latin for draw away; here's one computer science definition of the term: 'The process of combining multiple smaller operations into a single unit that can be referred to by name.' Abstraction begins in the nursery. It is what children learn when they realize that if they want an apple, they don't have to find one to point to but can simply say the word that refers to it. They also learn that abstraction depends on a comon language, on shared assumptions of what class of objects the word apple refers to.

" 'This is what programmers do,' wrote Eric Sink, a programmer who led the creation of the Web browser that became Microsoft's Internet Explorer. 'We build piles of abstractions. we design our own abstractions and then pile them up on top of layers we got from somebody else.' And every year the piles grow higher."

--Scott Rosenberg, Dreaming in Code

For example:
Web browser are a wonderful creation. They turn the mess of networks, servers, routers, clients, network protocols, html code, and access permissions that are the reality of the internet - and let users pretend that they are working through a magical window into another world.

This quote does an excellent job of explaining what I mean when I talk about abstractions - a term I apply to linguistics and psychology almost as much as computer science - as well as justifying my current direction in life.

Perceptions of History - a funny story

2009-06-03T12:40:00.000-07:00

"It might be a good idea if the various countries of the world would occasionally swap history books, just to see what other people are doing with the same set of facts."
- Bill Vaughan
(Found in the Social Studies section of the Globe and Mail)

The next day there was a reply:
"On the topic of swapping history books with other countries (Social Studies, June 1), reader E. A. Carruthers writes: "When I was a child in the States, we learned that the War of 1812 was fought between the Americans and the British, and the Americans won. Later, in Canada, I learned that the War of 1812 was fought between the U.S. and Canada, and Canada won. I asked an English friend about the War of 1812. He looked thoughtful for a moment and asked, 'Weren't we fighting Napoleon then?' "

I really, really, really want some foreign textbooks. On all sorts of topics. (If only I could read them in other languages as well...)

Living vs. Doing

2009-05-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

I had a chat recently where the diffusion of ideas came up as a topic. Discussion around how best to get something done.
Is it possible to pick the best way of doing things?
Or can we let ideas diffuse and allow for natural selection of what's best?

I've recently found that I'm more comfortable with focusing on living over pushing a common best approach on others.

In a practical sense, baking bread over solving poverty.

If I do my thing and let others do their thing, will things all work out ok?
In any case, I seem to help most as a sounding board. Listening, asking questions, supporting, and critiquing constructively. Or not even being involved, just uprooting trees and eating.

Maybe I'm getting old(er). What I know of developmental psychology suggests that this transition from novel/broad/revolutionary pushing to supporting/suggesting/living is part of normal/biological/human aging.

Or I could just be lazy and unmotivated.
Where's the line between not pushing to make an impact and not having anything to do?
Do we live to try to make a difference?
Do we do to have something to live for?

(I'm still blogging existential angst late at night, so I can't be done with the developmental stage (ie. teenageryness) just yet right? :)

Wikipedia = Cities, an analogy

2009-05-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

Disclamer: This is not my idea. This is just a reblog.

On the topic of trusting wikipedia - the great online encyclopedia where anyone can change anything, for better or for worse.

"It is this sidewalk-like transparency and collective responsibility that makes Wikipedia as accurate as it is. The greater the foot traffic, the safer the neighborhood. Thus, oddly enough, the more popular, even controversial, an article is, the more likely it is to be accurate and free of vandalism. It is the obscure articles — the dead-end streets and industrial districts, if you will — where more mayhem can be committed. It takes longer for errors or even malice to be noticed and rooted out. (Fewer readers will be exposed to those errors, too.)

"Like the modern megalopolis, Wikipedia has decentralized growth. Wikipedia adds articles the way Beijing adds neighborhoods — whenever the mood strikes. It is open to all: the sixth-grader typing in material from her homework assignment, the graduate student with a limited grasp of English. No judgments, no entry pass.

...

"[T]here is a professional class of Wikipedia skeptics. They, too, have some seriously depraved behavior to expose: Wikipedia represents a world without experts! A world without commercial news outlets! A world lacking in distinction between the trivial and the profound! A world overrun with facts but lacking in wisdom!

But:
"It’s all reminiscent of the longstanding accusations made against cities: They don’t produce anything! All they do is gossip! They think they are so superior! They wouldn’t last a week if we farmers stopped shipping our food! They don’t know the meaning of real work!"
--from: Wikipedia: Exploring Fact City, NYTimes

And so, says scott, wikipedia is to be trusted as you would trust a city.
And so: Do you trust wikipedia more, or cities less?

all I want...

2009-05-07T08:44:00.001-07:00

All I really want is a home. With people coming and going. Some group habits that allow me to make exist in a regular way, and to bake bread and have a garden. These things take time to build into habits, and I want to do a good job of making them into habits, so it will take time.

I want to know that when I clean the kitchen or tidy up the trees outside, that friends/family who are important to me will benefit from it. Plural people. (Where is the line between family and friends? Could I break it up a bit?)

Pancakes in the morning. I get up early. Early enough to go for a run and then make breakfast, early enough to enjoy myself and to help others wake up. *Poke* "Breakfast is ready!"

Where are the people?
I'm lonely.

Human Cognition

2009-04-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

The current approach of trying to figure out what goes into making something intelligent doesn't seem to be having much success.

Instead of asking what it takes to make a mind, what if we asked what is missing from the human mind?
Such as:
+Constant attention
+Perfect memory
Other things that computers have that we don't?

If we want to replicate humans, we need to copy their flaws as well as their strengths.

Re: expectations in my CPSC course

2009-03-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

Context: The lecture style is a bit different from usual, and people have generally found the course harder than they expected (it being a first year CPSC course). The midterm was very hard for most people and many people got lower grades than expected. The instructors have admitted that it was a bit harder than they aimed for, and have offered some makeup questions on the next assignment.

"I think more questions is better than fewer questions as it assesses more parts of the course topics, and not biasing those who are more stronger in one area vs another."
--from the class discussion board

hmm, this is an interesting point. Could we as students just be very used to finishing all questions on an exam? Is this a reasonable goal to have?

How much of the course material should the exam aim to cover? If the coverage is limited to what can be completed in the given time, then there will be some parts of the course that aren't tested. This means that students who are better at the content not covered will be at a disadvantage.

Perhaps there is an expectation inflation in the same way as grade inflation?
I personally feel I learn more from classes that cover some content that is beyond my current ability (only expecting me to just pass the course, and not (necessarily) to know everything). If I don't get it right away, it will often make sense later in the class or even after the class is finished.

open source analogy

2009-02-07T11:44:00.000-08:00

open source means that you are held accountable for your design. leads to more accessible code and less mess.

open source also means that each problem only has to be solved once (though it can be revisited as many times as necessary), thus it is reasonable to aim for better code. As opposed to a closed system where you just need to make something that works and no one will ever see it in the pre-production stage again.

So closed source code is similar to doing make-work in school that you don't learn from and no one looks at after it's marked (though you get paid for it, which is analogous to getting marks for make-work.)

So by analogy, open source code would be like self directed projects which you do because you want the ideas out there and because you want people to build on your ideas.

Group estimates

2009-01-23T17:53:00.000-08:00

The average of many peoples' estimates is better than an expert's estimate.

Interestingly, the many estimates by one individual is almost as good.
(See: The Economist, from a long time ago)

So I'm happy not writing down every good idea that I come accross or dream up, because I feel that if it's really good, it'll come up again, and in other places and contexts.

So people collaborating on {books, projects, etc}
should produce better work than individuals.

People all together sometimes do things that none of them aim to, or can.

Again, collaboration leads to new places.
Now we have books written by large, un-regulated, amorphous groups. Will this be better than the alternative?
Books | Global Text Project

I belive so.

family tree

2009-01-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

My grandfather:
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0005220
Aeronautics and cognition, neuropsychology.

My grandfather's father:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvill_Jones
The importance of fluid resistance (aerodynamic drag) for aircraft.

My grandfather's godfather:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Ingram_Taylor
Quanta, Fluid Dynamics, and Wave Theory.

My grandfather's godfather's grandfather:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Boole
y'know... that logic dude...

My youngest brother:
Want's to fly planes.

Me:
Cognition and machine-human interaction (??)

And fun times were had by all.

Things that were learnt in conversation:

2009-01-01T09:32:00.001-08:00

Separation of work and work-environment. There are many aspects to any activity/learning/work, you could enjoy the content of what you are doing but hate the people you are working with. In the vast majority of cases it would be possible to find a similar situation that changes just that part that you don't like. It is possible to learn from activities you do and don't enjoy in an attempt to build up a better understanding of what works well for you in various areas of life.

That some people (related to me) prefer to have some starting point or an existing project to build on in self-directed work of their own. For example, the uncle-that-lectures prefers to build on an existing curriculum (no matter how terrible it is), than to come up with his own. I remember thinking something similar before about myself, but I forgot it. I do feel that there is something similar in me.

The best ideas are those that come up on a regular basis, so don't worry about writing brainwaves down immediately, they'll come back if they're actually any good.

Can you live...

2008-12-28T10:58:00.001-08:00

... both in the moment and for the future?

For every portion or volume of your existence you care to measure, can you do or see some activity or thought-pattern:

+ that you enjoy/appreciate/respect at the time?

+ and that you will appreciate/remember/learn-from at *some* point in time in the future?

Consider it a challenge if you wish...
:)

I like what the world can do...

2008-12-08T16:59:00.001-08:00

Looking for a couch?
Trying to get rid of a sofa?
Don't want to get off your chesterfield to do so?
Then go to the fields in chester,
Where the sofas grow green and strong,
All couched in low low prices.

Open source process

2008-12-08T16:42:00.001-08:00

(not really "open-source" as such, but it's a buzz-word which makes things fun)

The question:

What happens when you keep a public journal or blog as you work through a project or problem?

I just read the blog a guy kept of his summer code project ( http://devhobby.blogspot.com/ ) and realized that now anyone can learn from his process. Neat. Not that you can learn everything, but some things can be picked up.
Remember when older/educational sorts would suggest that you keep a record of your experiences so as to learn from them? Well now everyone can learn from them.

Now that blogs are easy to get and keep (Thank-you Google!) anyone can start one for any project they desire, all the details of maintenance are abstracted away so that they can just focus on their own project and writing up the occasional details.

As I see it, this would allow people to learn from others' process, something that usually disappears and is never seen again. Which means that less experiences/information is lost and general human 'knowledge' and 'experience' 'increase' faster. I don't see why this is a bad thing, and maybe it'll be a good thing.

Thoughts?

edumacate me

2008-02-11T22:28:00.000-08:00

Instead of taking classes in physics and math, I want "formal" education in:
-how to construct a varied and nutritious eating plan
-what constitutes, and how to implement, good posture for note taking
-shaping of legible letters at a reasonable speed
-some basic sketching
-how to communicate, verbally and written, digital and real, synchronous and asynchronous
-how to learn, remember, and develop an understanding of
-reasonable expectations of health
-how to recognize health problems that need attention
-reasonable and regular activity in a limited setting and timeframe (ie within university)
-understanding and following simple and common programming languages
-personalization of computer operating systems and the use of macros
-how to be polite in many languages
-accounting and taxes and where to get such information
-voting and lobbying and how to be heard
-repair: clothing, computers, bikes, health, relationships
-community politics and organization
-how to listen to others
-how to teach (something, anything)
-raising and looking after children and differently functional people. your own and those without relation to you.
-how to shut up and listen

This is something between a list of what I personally want to gain a deeper understanding of, and a list of what I feel should be expected for everyone to learn in some way or another.
Some of these I already have an ability in or have an understanding of (to some extent or another), others are personal goals and wishful thinking.

I'm not quite sure what I mean by "formal"... perhaps someone can tell me. I think I mean in a curriculum in a school of some form, but much of this seems to come from outside institutionalized situations.
I would like to see a first year of university that has nothing to do with majors or degrees, and probably has very little choice in what you learn. The coverage would be all those useful things that we need to pick up before entering professional work but that we were to young to understand or be interested in before.

The "problem" with facebook (and here actually...)

2008-02-11T22:27:00.000-08:00

...because we all like to pretend to know how to fix things.

There are all sorts of blogs, websites, and networking sites scattered over the vast expanse of the internet. They allow many varied ways of connecting and interacting with people that you know, and with those you don't. Some even interact between types, allowing you to reference what you wrote elsewhere, but by far the majority have a very solid wall between their world and the rest of the net.

Why is this a problem? Every now and then there is a concern (valid or not) about something like the privacy provided by a networking site. (Yes, I'm focusing on facebook here, but from what I know of other similar places, this is not an isolated phenomenon.) Even if there is a ruckus created, and people are informed, many of them don't bother leaving because their friends are all using the site and leaving would damage or weaken connections. These people want to leave, but have a lot of pressure to stay.

Now in the free market that we are all so proud to be living in, we deal with such problems by creating alternatives and letting the people choose their own poison. While there are alternative networking sites, under the current setup, entire networks of friends and associates would have to move if they want to stay connected.

So what would be an alternative? Perhaps thing along the lines of a single (more or less) unified language between networking sites that allows the creation and use of as many interfaces as can be dreamed up. To the user, everything would appear as their choice of interface presents it, as though there were no other ways to access this inter-web language; but underneath, there would be a single language that every site uses to communicate changes and updates.

For example. Say I use facebook and you use myspace (because you're terrified that facebook will make a profit off of knowing your favorite books). I have you as a friend on facebook, and you have me as a friend on myspace. When I upload pictures or make updates, you get notification of them on myspace along with the data being stored and presented in whatever way myspace does such things. To each of us it seems as though the other is also using our own networking site.

Here there is more choice, and almost no need to use the same networking site as your friends (there's always that social pressure to conform heya?). Everyone can pick the user interface that they prefer, based on accessibility, privacy, complexity, or what-have-you.

For an example of a similar system in action, I only need to point you towards something that has been in use much longer than networking sites and has more widespread use. Email. There are various email clients, each of which was created and is implemented seperately, that all use the same language to communicate with each other.

I don't yet know how to create such an existence, but I'm sure someone does, and maybe you know them. Or perhaps you have thoughts on the topic? I'm always happy to hear them.

Q Answer?

2008-01-01T16:10:00.001-08:00

Why are people so bothered and stressed by deaths?
Or am I just unemotional?

creation theory

2008-01-01T15:40:00.000-08:00

I avoid creation. there is enough out there that already that can be used and reused that I don't need to make stuff.

Art. Take and present others' work. collect it together. look at it in new ways.

User interface. and other such refinements. Why bother with the creation of better when I can just work or better use of what already exists.

Warhol. didn't create in creating.

As a way of life. Worldview. Theory. In whatever word sense that is used, the refinement of that which already exists.

Editing.

2007-12-23T20:48:00.000-08:00

I need a better way to communicate, and to practice communicating.
This is too one sided.
Thoughts?

health

2007-12-13T15:58:00.000-08:00

There is general populace interest and knowledge of politics. ish. in that there is general voting availability.

There is general knowledge formation by the populace. wikipedia. web 2.0 and social networking.

There is general knowledge of and use of computers.

When was the last time knowledge of health was considered correct from any source other than "professionals"? Is health something you actually need professional information on? Would wikipedia type health work if it was a collection of many experiences and results.

Don't we have a health worker shortage currently?

In Somalia, there is no government. There, an effective non-state system has the potential to work. There is no specific monopoly on things like law and government.

Is there currently a monopoly on healthcare?

Edit:
To hell with even having a community of knowledge! Just get people to understand that they can look after themselves and get them to listen to themselves when they hurt. and give them a chance to fix themselves! Stop expecting people to work through being sick/broken.

2007-11-21T20:03:00.000-08:00

the theory of fruit.
instigated by the reading of the small yellow bordered magazine of goodness. and its articles of leopard seals and frogs and evolution.

From the plant, for the plant. Fruit is for the nutritioning of seeds and the attracting of the beings to eat the seeds such that the seeds can travel. Because of this the producer of the fruit has better offspring.
From the uncivilized person the difference is that of view. this wonderful packet of nutrients and useful material can be easily located in large quantities and is generally not poisonous. thus the harvesting of such is an efficient use of resources, again leading to a better outlook in procreated life.
When the need for the nutrients becomes unimportant, fruit is… useless. tasty.

at what point is fruit not food, such that enjoyment of it is the only reason to consume? the enjoyment (attachment to sugar and so on) is only stemming from the fact that it is so nutritious. which stems from the adaptation to liking it, because of its availability as a good source of sugars in a small bundle. which stems from its creation as an accessory for reproduction. Therefor fruits are genitalia? By action yes, definition, probably not.
repeat the line:
When the need for the "nutrients" becomes unimportant, "fruit" is… useless. tasty.

As a concentration of energy fruit also brings many theo-psyco-logical questions to thought. Something that is more useful than the rest of the being, or more useful to certain other beings anyway. Why? Certainly why not, but that is an easy answer. As organisms, we all concentrate energy so as to use it later. (Is this because it is a good plan? Or because that is how we evolved?) we have to take bundles of energy in in an efficient as possible manner so as to be better off than the competition. Such is life. From enjoyment to survival. Because of the existence of such packets (quanta!) we consume them.

Entropy is the assumption that everything breaks down from high (concentrated) energy to low. Because we exist in such a way as to make use of such things as fruit (and in saying we I mean all organisms, and some (perhaps all) not so organic isms) (and by fruit I mean all such high energy things, like muscles or stars or communities or edible tubers) and to covert the work of something else into something more useful to ourselves. Could this be different? Alternate realities and all that crap? Somewhere where we give energy to personally gain? Somehow where we spontaneously gain energy and have to give it away to survive?

From that: A world where giving is necessary for survival, receiving is seen as selfless. Everything extrudes energy and needs to stop picking up energy (or something similar) for survival. in such a world you would have to reverse such things as the big bang (imagine a world on top of a thick layer where to be noticeable you have to create less. but you have to give the something you dug up to somewhere/thing else. here the big bang is the very first (expanding) dent in the surface.

Similarities to fruit in this theory. All other concentrations of food for us consuming organisms such as edible roots, nuts, other organisms, the specific components of said organisms. The sources of high energy that is leeched from by these none consumers (plants consuming from high energy sun, for example). The importance of centers of energy (populace, community, society) in international conflicts, such that they are seen as priorities. Batteries.

Libraries, and other such places of thought (universities) and information act opposite to fruit. For when individuals go to such places, thoughts and ideas as energy are not taken or degraded but built upon? Certainly there is some breakdown, but perhaps an example of an opposite force to entropy. If Libraries were fruit and knowledge was energy, instead of eating the fruit, we would take a copy of it, use said copy to power ourselves, and perhaps later we would come back to add to the fruit to make it larger and juicier. perhaps like the previously imagined world. or a 'reason' for the universe.

Theretohearforwhatsoever:
Fruit are genitalia, we enjoy eating them of course. = predictable
Fruit is an example of entropy. =in more ways than one = ok
International conflicts can be seen by looking in a fruit grove. = zen
Universities are the antithesis of fruit and by extension of entropy = build/burn more universities!

lunch spot

2007-11-14T15:37:00.000-08:00

I just remembered that taking a break to sit down outside is very important for my functioning.
I need to do so more often, with a sandwich and some water.

I found a potential spot for this, one that is better than anywhere else I've found on campus.
I shall try to go there more often, with a sandwich and some water.

2007-11-14T15:35:00.000-08:00

I grew up with conversation being formal and with very little written communication.

Socializing started to exist about the same time as online communication, and usually came in one package.

Thus, for me, verbal communication functions best in a formal setting, for example debate, whereas written communiques automatically contain a layer of informalism.

eerk

I am jack's mistake-making polymerase

2007-11-13T17:28:00.000-08:00

I am jack's point mutation

Social Darwinism,
I don't know if I have the right definition, but I don't care.
The effect of natural selection like evolution within society, within culture.
The interaction between society and evolved traits. and back again.

Marxism "died out" because it didn't recognize the individual's utter devotion to it's own offspring. Society selected for interactions that increased the chance of individuals reproducing. As one ant expert put it, Marxism was a "Wonderful theory. Wrong species."

There are also explanations for various cultures living happily in coexistence with one another due to their niche fulfillment in resource consumption. But I meander.

The point is:
Of course we can't get everything right all the time. And what might be good in the short run (even if it is entirely selfless) may have long term consequences that can't be seen.
So what do we do?

I want to create mutations. within society. small ones (point mutations for you biologists) that don't necessarily damage anything short term, but that will spread and grow if they are beneficial.

These aren't meant to become widespread, or else they defeat their purpose of being novel and adaptive.

I am the mutation in jack's great, great, ... great, grandmother that gave jack's lineage bilateral symmetry.

I could also be jack's oncogene...

Exploded duck, a recipe

2007-11-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

No fowl are actually harmed in the production of this despicable activity.

Think of a duck. A small uninteresting bird that ignores you and that you ignore. Imagine trying to make interesting photos of a duck, anywhere. It's bland and anything that could be done has been done.

Now, what would increase the potential photographic experience?

I want to explode a duck. Or have someone do so for me.

It is to be exploded like a diagrammatic explosion, as opposed to a feathers and fire explosion. A 2 dimensional explosion diagram isn't good enough though. It needs to be a full model of a duck.

Made out of whatever works. I'd see hard plastic as being nicely durable, but a nice alternative would be glazed actual duck (ala the various human body exhibits that float around museums). The thing with actual duck bits is that they would be much too small. This needs to be large, the size of a car perhaps.

The separation of the pieces is to be such that there are gaps all the way through and that various levels can be seen. But it must still look like a duck and have all the pieces of a duck. No cutting pieces out, just spreading them apart.

Now you can photograph it. There are forests of tendons and feathers. There is variety for composition: bones, muscle, and a plethora of organs. You can photograph up close and be immersed, or from a distance and with the duck between you and something else.

Isn't that more interesting?

For bonus marks you can make a model that has all the pieces a normal distance from each other at one end, and that increases the distance between bits as you move a way from that point. From nose to tail for example. Or you could go for a variable model. Much like the folding/exploding plastic ball toy that I'm sure someone has run across.