Moot

When the end of the Bafflement comes, will we be ready?  

Ready?  There's no such thing.  

Well here it comes anyway.  

All Greek To Me

When we learn the alphabet, we're presented with a big picture of a letter, in its uppercase and lowercase form, and shown that letter in use in a familiar word.

Nobody ever did the equivalent for me for rho, sigma, lambda, etc. They just showed up on a blackboard in a sophomore physics class, without introduction.

Is that a common experience?

If so, then physics educators are lacking basic techniques known to kindergarten teachers everywhere.

That's pathetic.

It's like hiding physics knowledge behind a secret door so only the most determined students actually reach it.

To-do is the wrong term

When I think about task management habits and techniques (which I do a lot) one point I keep in mind is that "accomplish" isn't the only way to get an obligation off your list.  "Obviate" works just as well.

Cultural Reference

I talk about the Pattern, and it occurs to me that it might be confused with Zelazny's Pattern.  What I mean by the word might better be compared with the dance between the Pattern and the Logrus in Zelazny's world.  I live immersed in that dance.

Divert

Half the things that my brain throws up for my consciousness to see are escapes.  Things to distract me from whatever it is I'm doing.  If some conspiracy, good or evil, had planted a program in my brain to keep me from accomplishing my destiny, whatever it is, I'll bet this is how it would feel.

Fashion

Whatever happened to Connectionism? It was right, as far as it went.

Layers
Strata
Lasagna of
Buzzing slipslide
Can't get traction
Can't fix location
In the
Noosphere
Namespace
Phase space
Head space
Problem space
What heading what bearing

Simulated annealing
Fitness function

How do you know which moves take you closer to your destination if you don't know the location of your destination?

Gradient
Flavor
density

Taste your way there.

Old Entish

It takes me a long time to do anything. So, I need to be careful to do things that are worth taking a long time to do. I feel like an Ent. Unfortunately, I don't have the collective history and wisdom of an entire species with similar constraints to draw upon.

Fluoxetini

The generic name of Prozac is Fluoxetine. It would be fun to invent a cocktail called a Fluoxetini. I'll bet it'd be a hit with the young people.

Take A Breather

I'm sure it happened earlier than that, but Enigma's "Sadeness" (currently playing on my headphones) is the first song I remember hearing featuring a recording of the breathing of an apparently sexually aroused woman as an instrument.

Now that sound and its variants are staples of all electronic music.

I can't say I'm disappointed.

Changing of the Guard

One of the many voices in my head is The Guy Who Always Says No. Through some shady political maneuverings, he managed to get himself elected Chairman for calendar year 2008. We're just now beginning to realize the extent of the damage.

A note

Dear tech support dude with an Indian accent,

You are an intelligent person in a rising empire. I am an intelligent person in a dying empire. I have no reason to wish you ill; on the contrary, you represent the best hope for the future of the species of which I am, after all, a member. I'd like to let you know what's happening here, in hope that it will help you and your community to avoid the mistakes I and my community have made.

When I share my experiences, when I tell my story in a place where you can listen, it is, at least in part, for your benefit.

Good luck.

2008-12-11 stuff on my mind

Don't Forget To Check Out Our Weekly Specials!

So I just went to the pharmacy. Let me talk about cognitive load. I'm directing this at the marketing executive who has been paid to design my shopping experience. I drive to your store, park, and enter, wander up and down the aisles looking for an item I need, and then try to buy it. Let me confess up front: I've been diagnosed (by the same professional and commercial Western Medicine System which you are in a very real sense a part of) with ADD (back when that was one of the things it was called; I know it's changed; the DSM be praised). As I attempt to carry out my intended tasks in your store, I am bombarded with words and images, visually and auditorily. Every square inch of the surfaces that surround me is emblazoned with advertisement, from the packages of the products themselves, to the logos and faces on the sides of the endcaps, to the stands holding flyers, which I try not to knock over. Voices, NON-STOP VOICES entreat me over the PA to check out your weekly specials. At every spot where I can interact with a human being acting as a representative of your corporation, the face I see has a halo extending to the edge of my vision consisting of candy to give me diabetes or cancer interspersed with pictures of scantily clad celebrities. As I shop, little plastic boxes protrude from the shelves, and blink at me, offering pieces of paper which can grant me infinitesimal discounts on products I don't need. At the register I'm told I need a Special Swell Customer Card so that, in addition to getting more infinitesimal discounts and letting you track the progress of my hemorrhoid, I can devote precious space in my already overstuffed wallet to what is, in essence, a billboard for your corporation.

And in among the logos and the slogans and the entreaties and the coupons and the Special Swell Customer Card and the acres of glossy cleavage, there is a VERY REAL risk I will FORGET what it is I came into your store to buy.

If that happens, it will defeat the purpose of my having offered this hour of my life to doing business with you.

My (justified) fear of that eventuality makes my shopping experience, frankly, hellish.

So. You, marketing executive, have been paid what is probably a pretty respectable salary to lure me into your store and make me into a loyal customer. And the result of your earnest labors is that the brightly-colored sign above your door might as well bear the words, "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

Keep up the good work.