...or full of BS.
I just quit my graduate "genetics" course because it was just shape-filling protein models with a prof waving his hands at a Plato's Cave Powerpoint screen. He's a genetics guy but genetics isn't pretty enough for Powerpoint so he spent the whole semester talking about molecular genetics, which either a) he doesn't understand or b) nobody understands. Probably both, and they definitely don't know that they don't understand it. I have better things to do with my time than listen to Just So Stories (and then Regurgitate them on the midterms). I want to go on record pointing this out, so that when the Revolution comes I'll have bragging rights.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
things i found on a summer hike at a ski resort in the lower sierras
eye drops and a single dime and...
economies of organisms, leaves, sticks and color
mountains
so white?
i thought there were clouds over on the horizon
will you write after their end?
record birds, heartbeats, melting snow
icecubes on the face, keep me awake
the hours field mice spend gnawing on nuts
dreams speeded up to cartoonishness
the way a bicycle amplifies someone running
white charcoal on the black foundations
a house gutted by red fire as tall as the green pine
arrows anchor the earth where the man, his wife, and their children stood
and what is money?
and can you add inside a black hole?
and
...a keychain thermometer, a tree covered in lady bugs,...
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Peak Trash: the End of Cheap Garbage
>>>>State of the Union Speech, USA, 2025.
My fellow Americans, as we all know, during most of the Century of Oil, discovery of new deposits increased to keep pace with demand. But since oil was a finite nonrenewable resource, this could not last forever. What is now known as "Peak Oil" occurred when the available deposits began to decrease, even as demand continued to increase. During the ensuing years the end of cheap oil brought an end to everything that was made from cheap oil: plastic, fertilizer (agriculture), transportation, energy, and, basically, the entire pre-Peak Oil economy.
However, that crisis was not as bad as some alarmists had predicted. Americans are a hardy, industrious folk, and a Solution was found to the problems of post-Peak Oil times. Due to the astounding foresight of our ancestors, it appears that huge deposits of useful plastic were safely stored away in "Landfills" in case of just such an eventuality as Peak Oil.
Our economy now relies almost exclusively on trash harvesting and services related to the scrounging of this precious resource. Thanks to the generosity of our forefathers, their used styrofoam cups and plastic milk jugs saved our country from Peak Oil and helped make America one of the richest countries in the post-Peak Oil world. Yet, a new crisis awaits us. Today, I bring you news from our leading scientists that we may be headed toward an end to our supply of cheap garbage. Unfortunately, it appears that garbage, like oil, is a finite non-renewable resource. Even as our demand for trash continues to grow, there are fewer and fewer Landfills to supply that demand.
We believe that this is the beginning of a new era, an era that will challenge each and every one of us; the era of Peak Trash. Without major new deposits of plastic plates, spoons, forks, and knives, some Americans may be forced to do without when they eat their dinners of fermented compost. What will the children of tomorrow use to carry water from the sewer ditch when all the milk jugs and styrofoam cups are gone? When all the rusted car frames are occupied, where will we find shelter? Without plastic bags, what will we wear to church on Sundays? We can only hope that, just as we were saved from Peak Oil by the miraculous foresight of our ancestors, we will likewise be saved from the ravages of Peak Trash by some other miraculous intervention. Thank you. [applause]
>>>>>>>>
My fellow Americans, as we all know, during most of the Century of Oil, discovery of new deposits increased to keep pace with demand. But since oil was a finite nonrenewable resource, this could not last forever. What is now known as "Peak Oil" occurred when the available deposits began to decrease, even as demand continued to increase. During the ensuing years the end of cheap oil brought an end to everything that was made from cheap oil: plastic, fertilizer (agriculture), transportation, energy, and, basically, the entire pre-Peak Oil economy.
However, that crisis was not as bad as some alarmists had predicted. Americans are a hardy, industrious folk, and a Solution was found to the problems of post-Peak Oil times. Due to the astounding foresight of our ancestors, it appears that huge deposits of useful plastic were safely stored away in "Landfills" in case of just such an eventuality as Peak Oil.
Our economy now relies almost exclusively on trash harvesting and services related to the scrounging of this precious resource. Thanks to the generosity of our forefathers, their used styrofoam cups and plastic milk jugs saved our country from Peak Oil and helped make America one of the richest countries in the post-Peak Oil world. Yet, a new crisis awaits us. Today, I bring you news from our leading scientists that we may be headed toward an end to our supply of cheap garbage. Unfortunately, it appears that garbage, like oil, is a finite non-renewable resource. Even as our demand for trash continues to grow, there are fewer and fewer Landfills to supply that demand.
We believe that this is the beginning of a new era, an era that will challenge each and every one of us; the era of Peak Trash. Without major new deposits of plastic plates, spoons, forks, and knives, some Americans may be forced to do without when they eat their dinners of fermented compost. What will the children of tomorrow use to carry water from the sewer ditch when all the milk jugs and styrofoam cups are gone? When all the rusted car frames are occupied, where will we find shelter? Without plastic bags, what will we wear to church on Sundays? We can only hope that, just as we were saved from Peak Oil by the miraculous foresight of our ancestors, we will likewise be saved from the ravages of Peak Trash by some other miraculous intervention. Thank you. [applause]
>>>>>>>>
Cognitive dissonance...in a fly?
[diagram from Kravitz lab "boxing flies" work]A couple hours phenology
on top of the mountain
cumquat in a plastic bag
white butterfly
after half an hour
some bees two? three?
above the valley
two eagles circled and cried
spit out cumquat seed
phenology? or phenomenology
threw the banana peel and i could almost see it
the I almost disappears --> goal
then a pair of big flies, then a pair of small flies
17 chia seeds drying on a pair of trousers
the gel does its job; hardens stuck to the cloth
cotton cloth is also gel
tug-of-war between them (like heat, electricity)
the actual neural decision-making logic of a fly -- scratch scratch it goes
strobe light-like
to investigate the cumquat seed
then shies away behind the bush
nothing here is human-sized
I won't be Ostrich-sized.
A spent caccoon hangs from a dead branch on a live bush
inches above the rocks
ALL life uses DNA. ALL countries trade with dollars.
should i follow the white butterfly? write her down?
if cities are a good thing than free trade is a good thing.
as i leave in the mid afternoon
two butterflies fight or dance
above
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Teaching lesson plans
teaching lesson plans
1) find the center of the triangle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incircle
2) alphabet on beyond zebra cyrillic arabic etc
1) find the center of the triangle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incircle
2) alphabet on beyond zebra cyrillic arabic etc
Apes
"The family Hominidae consisting of gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and humans collectively known as the "great apes".
APES; fellow travelers, uncles, caricatures, demons. They look out of the same eyes, see each otther as we see each other. Of all animals, the creatures we have perhaps the best chance of understanding. Closest. Kissing cousins. But Different, their faces twisted, their bodies warped, like us, but reflected imperfectly. All of these words for Different mean, somehow, Inferior. And, like the mentally retarded, it takes more cognitive machinery than most humans posses to understand them, irremediably separate, but Equal. Fellow voyagers clutching at one another's limbs on the edge of the cliff gazing out over the inexplicable universe. Can you name the four living species of ape (five, counting homo sapiens)?
APES; fellow travelers, uncles, caricatures, demons. They look out of the same eyes, see each otther as we see each other. Of all animals, the creatures we have perhaps the best chance of understanding. Closest. Kissing cousins. But Different, their faces twisted, their bodies warped, like us, but reflected imperfectly. All of these words for Different mean, somehow, Inferior. And, like the mentally retarded, it takes more cognitive machinery than most humans posses to understand them, irremediably separate, but Equal. Fellow voyagers clutching at one another's limbs on the edge of the cliff gazing out over the inexplicable universe. Can you name the four living species of ape (five, counting homo sapiens)?
Q: What is the point of Education?
Q: What is the point of Education?
A: To teach obedience and limit learning.
"The whole system was built on the premise that isolation from first-hand information and fragmentation of the abstract information presented by teachers would result in obedient and subordinate graduates, properly respectful of arbitrary orders."
-John Taylor Gatto, describing the adoption of Prussian-style education in 19th Century America.
CF. essays by Milton Friedman, David Henderson, others
notes
http://www.gracellewellyn.com
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com
good essay
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/hp/frames.htm
http://www.preservenet.com/theory/Illich.html
www.infed.org
Many people complain about government waste, but I welcome it…efficiency is not a desirable thing if somebody is doing a bad thing.…Government is doing things that we don’t want it to do; so the more money it wastes, the better.
Nobel laureate Milton Friedman,
http://www.reason.com/news/show/118175.html
A: To teach obedience and limit learning.
"The whole system was built on the premise that isolation from first-hand information and fragmentation of the abstract information presented by teachers would result in obedient and subordinate graduates, properly respectful of arbitrary orders."
-John Taylor Gatto, describing the adoption of Prussian-style education in 19th Century America.
CF. essays by Milton Friedman, David Henderson, others
notes
http://www.gracellewellyn.com
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com
good essay
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/hp/frames.htm
http://www.preservenet.com/theory/Illich.html
www.infed.org
Many people complain about government waste, but I welcome it…efficiency is not a desirable thing if somebody is doing a bad thing.…Government is doing things that we don’t want it to do; so the more money it wastes, the better.
Nobel laureate Milton Friedman,
http://www.reason.com/news/show/118175.html
Guest post from Henry
Not that long ago there was a bad Evil Man, a sorcerer so powerful the seas themselves bent to his command. One day from atop his throne of bare hard rock his saw a princess collecting pebbles from the water's edge. At once enthralled by her beauty and furious that she would take his property, he cast a spell to fence her in. The sun had shown brightly at the hour of her birth, and his magic was little against her: moments after the spell was cast it broke, leaving her free to leave. So the sorcerer recast the spell, and again it broke, and again he cast it, again and over again. And so his cruelty imprisoned the both of them. It is said that they both are still there, trapped... but beware if you find that hidden beach: the Evil Man's craaazy eyes may spot you too. (holla!)
Monday, April 02, 2007
Photojournalism is "objective".
Photojournalism is "objective". Instead of telling "stories", photos are chosen for holistic interest, a slice that is judged significant through an event that may or may not be judged significant. Because visual interest is often associated with traumatic experiences, a fair number of the major events of the day are reported, but also a cross-section of interesting minor events that, taken as a more-random sample, yield a more objective overall world-wide "picture".
What would constitute a truly "random" sampling of photographs? What does God see?
And yes, I realize that I'm confusing "objective"'s two meanings, both the metaphorical and the photographic. This is intentional, as are the potential dual meanings of "picture" and other terms that seem to have parallel or harmonious meanings in both the realm of images (CF. Wittgenstein's aphorisms) and our notion of truth. Despite what they say about Photoshop, seeing is still [closer than reading to] believing.
Friday CogSci: Conditioning on perceptual cues.
Ben Backus from Penn
Dr. Backus asked the question, which pairing of perceptual stimuli can be classically conditioned? Not just learning greater acuity, but actually learning perceptual experience; "the way the world looks". Can stimuli from different modalities influence each other? See for example the illusion of simultaneiety when someone claps their hands together a fair distance away. How does perceptual learning compare with other forms (appetetive, aversive) conditioning?
Interesting that, given these illusions, Dr. Backus assumes that visual perception is "optimal" e.g. uses all sources of information. What does it mean to argue that a structured representation is "correct"?
So, is the cue arbitrary? No, some cues (unconditioned stimulus) work better than others when paired with a given conditioned stimulus. For example, sound doesn't work to flip a Necker Cube illusion, but it does work on the bouncing/ghost ball illusion. There was a lively discussion afterward and during lunch about what makes a good model species, whether evolutionary justifications can explain (not just post hoc) what cues will work and which won't.
Is learning incremental or abrupt (i.e. paradigm shift)? Incremental, although perception is abrupt ("all or nothing").
Is there a "learning to learn" effect? No.
Dr. Backus asked the question, which pairing of perceptual stimuli can be classically conditioned? Not just learning greater acuity, but actually learning perceptual experience; "the way the world looks". Can stimuli from different modalities influence each other? See for example the illusion of simultaneiety when someone claps their hands together a fair distance away. How does perceptual learning compare with other forms (appetetive, aversive) conditioning?
Interesting that, given these illusions, Dr. Backus assumes that visual perception is "optimal" e.g. uses all sources of information. What does it mean to argue that a structured representation is "correct"?
So, is the cue arbitrary? No, some cues (unconditioned stimulus) work better than others when paired with a given conditioned stimulus. For example, sound doesn't work to flip a Necker Cube illusion, but it does work on the bouncing/ghost ball illusion. There was a lively discussion afterward and during lunch about what makes a good model species, whether evolutionary justifications can explain (not just post hoc) what cues will work and which won't.
Is learning incremental or abrupt (i.e. paradigm shift)? Incremental, although perception is abrupt ("all or nothing").
Is there a "learning to learn" effect? No.
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