1,086 Matching Annotations
  1. Dec 2020
    1. Summary This design of the Cambria-Automerge integration has several useful properties: Multi-schema: The document can be read and written in any schema at any time. A document has no single “canonical” schema—just a log of writes from many schemas. Self-evolving: The logic for evolving formats is contained within the document itself. An older client can read newer versions without upgrading its code, since it can retrieve new lenses from the document itself. Future-proof: Edits to the document are resilient to the addition of future lenses. Since no evolution is done on write, old changes can be evolved using lenses that didn’t even exist at the time of the original change. One area for future research is further exploring the interaction between the guarantees provided by lenses and CRDTs. For example, Automerge has different logic for handling concurrent edits on a scalar value and an array. But what happens if the concurrent edits are applied to an array in one schema, and a scalar value in another?
  2. Nov 2020
    1. “I think of the self-actualizing man not as an ordinary man with something added, but rather as the ordinary man with nothing taken away.”

      Interesting way to look at it. We are all capable of greatness and what stops us are things that hold us back, not traits we do not posses.

      It is saying that we have all we need to self-actualize

    1. Psychologists have only seriously begun analyzing self-talk in the last couple of decades, and here’s what we know:1) Positive self-talk improves performance in most sports.2) Questions like “Will I do this?” produce better results than statements like “I will do this.”3) Using “we” in self-talk is better than using “I.”4) Talking about yourself in third person is more effective than talking in first person.5) Both motivational (“I will do this!“) and instructional (“See the target…straighten elbows…lock onto target…“) self-talk seems to be effective in enhancing performance.

      How to talk to yourself! Positive Self - talk and motivation are best executed when done this:

      1) Positive self-talk improves performance in most sports.

      2) Questions like “Will I do this?” produce better results than statements like “I will do this.”

      3) Using “we” in self-talk is better than using “I.”

      4) Talking about yourself in third person is more effective than talking in first person.

      5) Both motivational (“I will do this!“) and instructional (“See the target…straighten elbows…lock onto target…“) self-talk seems to be effective in enhancing performance.

    1. On the view that experience, like thought, has representational content, this can be understood as the view that experiences, like thoughts, can have content that is first-personal.

      Is it implied here that,

      (0) Concept is like a box which holds Representational Content (A) Experiences can have First Person Representation Content (B) Thoughts can have First Person Representational Content (C) Thoughts are conceptual. (D) Experiences are non-conceptual (E) Having Conceptual First Person Representational Concept implies the subject is self-conscious

      Therefore (F) Having Non-Conceptual First Person Representational Concept implies the subject is self-conscious as well?

    2. On this account, every belief involves the self-ascription of a property and so, arguably, is an instance of self-consciousness

      If you say, "I believe P", it may imply you are conscious that "you believe 'that P'"

      But can you believe something that you're not conscious of? Does saying 'I believe P' imply, you're actually conscious of P?

      for example, If I say "I believe that "All Cats have 5 legs" could it mean that I am conscious that "All Cats have 5 Legs" or does it mean that I am conscious that I believe "All Cats have 5 Legs". If the later is acceptable, then it is probably valid to say that beliefs, even visibly wrong ones, have self-ascription (self-indicating) property. That is, they indicate I am aware of 'What I believe'.

    3. first-personal thought and language is irreducible to non-first-personal thought and language, and is essential to the explanation of action

      Is the author implying that, on a 'Referent' and 'Thought and Language' Grid, 'Referent" ("I" as Subject) as a content of the 'Thought and Language' ("My pants are on fire") calls for action enablement. Whereas 'Referent' ("Smith" as Subject) as content of the 'Thought and Language' ("Smith's pants are on fire") is not self-locating, for being non-first personal thought?

      == Two Lines of Thinking == (1) Smith's pants are on fire. He should put it out. (2) Smith's pants are on fire. He should put it out. I am Smith. Therefore, my pants are on fire. Therefore, I should put it out.

      == unless, I come to believe 'I = Smith', only then it calls for action. Unless and until, 'Smith' becomes first-personal in the mind, it is unable to self-locate.

    1. Thanks for posting this helpful, well written article. Learning programming, or any other thing one takes up, requires you to sit at one place have a plan of action for your study.

      I was going through my Firefox bookmarks and I found article. I had read this article two years back and had commented that I found it to be useful. I read it back in May 2018. As of now, November 2020, my programming skills are still novice-level. I haven't implemented the ideas or followed suggestions given here.

      It has been 2 years and 5 months since I found this article to be relevant and it baffles me that I haven't taken action by making use of the knowledge given in this article. Two long years flew by. I guess reviewing my bookmarks is something that I will do more often.

      The article was posted on May 23, 2018 and I had stumbled on it the next day itself, i.e., May 24, 2018. This gets me thinking that we could finds solutions for problems(latest ones in this case) once we identify it, articulate it, hit the search button and just read stuff. I could presume that what happened next was that I misunderstood "finding a solution" to "realizing the solution", and perhaps became complacent or maybe there were more problems that didn't come to my awareness to identify and further find solutions. I'm not quite sure. Should I have identified my problems and googled more so that I could have learned C and C++ sooner?

      I wonder what held me back from taking action to accomplish and master something that usually takes not more that 5-6 months maximum.

  3. Oct 2020
      1. The best projects start with goals and plans.
      2. The subconscious has so much to do with success.
      3. Our subconscious decides whether to accept something into our awareness based on something called "Hot Goals".
      4. From this udemy course, I will learn how to set goals with the MOMA subconscious method, by which I convert what's not working for me into a HOT GOAL.
      5. Achieving hot goals is the means of the subconscious mind to keep you safe even if it isn't necessary.
      6. If your goals have to become hot goals then, your conscious goals must translate to subconscious goals.
    1. Self-regulation supports learning and performance on specific tasks through the following: Metacognitive knowledge about academic work. Strategies for analyzing tasks. Metacognitive knowledge about task-specific strategies (e.g., for managing work, learning mathematics, comprehending texts, writing paragraphs). Skills for implementing strategies. Strategies for self-monitoring and strategic use of feedback.

      Self-regulated Learning supports metacognition.

    1. 1. The Omniscience Flaw:Reflection in practice requires teachers to effectively address whatever provokes them in the moment, yet sometimes the challenges that require action are not the ones teachers see or hear. For example, while working with a small group or helping an individual student, teachers may miss off-task students in other corners of the classroom. To maximize reflection in practice, teachers need extraordinary, all-knowing powers. While many teachers have superhero-like qualities, omniscience is not one of them.2. The Symptom-Treatment Flaw:Another inadequacy of situational thinking is that it does not provide time for the consideration of root causes. Because teachers must react in the moment, the critical pause required to conduct an “act of search or investigation” is not possible (Dewey, 1910).3. The Recollection Flaw:Reflection on practice relies on the accuracy of memory. Educators must recall the details of prior lessons to maximize their diagnosis, but those details often fade in memory. Reflection is best when specific, yet memory can only deliver an adumbrated version of what happened in any given hour.

      Structured self-reflection play an important role in self reflection. The three common flaws in self-reflection allow instructors to analyze specific challenges. Using this method of analysis offers teachers the opportunity for self-reflection and correction. Rating: 8/10

    1. Preservice Teacher Experience with Technology Integration: How the Preservice Teacher’s Effica-cy in Technology Integration is Impactedby the Context of the Preservice Teacher Education Pro-gram

      This article discusses the need for teacher education to focus just as much on technology knowledge (regardless of grade level taught) as on educational theory and methods. It argues that teachers cannot be effective if they are not trained in not only current technologies, but also taught to be familiar with navigating new technologies as the emerge. 5/10 Very specific to K-12 teacher education.

    1. Andragogy and Self-Directed Learning:Pillars of Adult Learning Theory

      This chapter defines andragogy and reviews the early foundations of adult learning theory. Previous adult learning research performed with multiple constraints demonstrated that circumstance (education, training, health, speed of response) may have more of an impact in learning than age. Studies also revealed that age impacts the ability to perform some cognitive functions yet has little impact on others. While the characteristics of the adult learner have remained relatively consistent, perspectives in classifying the topic and its principles have varied. In discussion of self-directed learning, the authors address related objectives, ethos, self-directed attributes, and assessment methods. The authors report a decline in literature focused on self-directed learning within adult education and advocate for continued investigation and research. 8/10

    1. The educator’s role in self-directed learning

      Fostering self-directed learning through strategy is discussed by Bailey et al. (2019) in chapter 1 of “Self-Directed Learning for the 21st Century: Implications for Higher Education.” The authors review the changing role of the educator and the learner based on respective self-directed teaching strategies (problem-based learning, cooperative learning, process-oriented learning) and the learner’s propensity for self-directed learning. In addition to providing principles to promote self-directed learning, the Grow and Borich models for implementing said learning were briefly reviewed. 8/10

    1. Creativity, Self-Directed Learning and the Architecture of Technology Rich Environments

      (Click Download full-text PDF to read). In this article, the authors reflect on the need to cultivate creativity and self-directed learning through transition from conventional course design to a more comprehensive design, which includes technology, problem solving, and collaboration. Moreover, the authors contend that measures of success should not be limited to traditional assessment methods. Barriers to the success of a self-directed design within the typical learning environment are mentioned. Through case study review, the authors demonstrate that strategic course design (educator, setting, technology, expectations) fosters development of the self-directed learner. Dynamics supporting the success of the technology-rich, creative, self-directed design were included. With a methodological approach that incorporates technology, problem-solving, teamwork, and educator support, self-directed behaviors emerge.(8/10)

    1. Empowering older adults’ informal, self-directed learning: harnessing the potential of online personal learning networks

      Article discusses informal, personal learning networks as they relate to older, adult learners and self-directed study. Author questions how and why adults turn to internet and social media tools for knowledge acquisition. Concedes a lack of research in regard to adults' use of internet-based tools. Defines older adults as 60+. Rating 7/10

    1. Description: This article reflects on the impact of self-directed learning, technology readiness, and student motivation in blended and non-blended learning environments. These three categories were selected due to their importance in success as a student as well as an employee. It is clear that self-directed learning has a bigger effect on blended learning environments because of the independence students must exhibit during the online portion of the class. Similarly, students need more technology related skills to be successful in a blended environment. Yet, student motivation impacted both blended and non-blended learning nearly equally.

      Rating: 7/10

      Reason for the rating: There are plenty of citations throughout the text and the data is represented in an easy to understand fashion. Yet, the data sample size was small with only 200 students participating in the research. Therefore, more trials are needed to get a definitive answer.

    1. In order to coordinate these processes, an individual needs to be able to monitor and regulate his own learning. The ability to monitor and regulate learning changes over the life span and can be improved through interventions.

      Self-regulated learning--it can be improved

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    1. Description: The article discusses the use of social media in a blended learning environment. There were three groups. The control group was taught the material face-to-face without technology. The first experimental group was taught in a blended setting with some face-to-face interaction and limited internet classes. The second experimental group was blended, similarly to experimental group one, but also had access to the class through social media. All students took a pre and post test. Students in the control group stayed the same while students in the experimental groups grew. The researchers concluded that the blended environment helped while social media support did not.

      Rating: 6/10

      Reason for the rating: The researchers were thorough in their data collecting and interpretations. They described each method in detail and included charts with their data. Yet, only 74 people participated in this study therefore it may not be the best judge of social-medias ability to aid education.

    1. Why, though, do we not romanticize our preservation? The same matter of chance, of the fleeting nature of fate exists on the other side of the coin. What would have happened if we were better rested, if our energy was better preserved, if we managed our time and said what we really mean? Rarely do we approach whether we get eight hours of sleep with the same guilt as we do whether or not we attended a party, even when, according to sleep expert Matthew Walker, sleep deprivation prevents the brain from remembering information, creating new memories, and sustaining emotional well-being.

      A great observation!

    1. Second, I have a not-very-well supported theory that’s paired with the book Thinking, Fast and Slow. The behavior design implication of that book is that you need to speak to two systems of the brain. Speaking to the rational, Slow System is easy. Just lay out the facts.Speaking to the emotional Fast System is much harder, namely because it’s so hard to see or introspect on what’s going on in there. But if you accept that difficulty (and this is the part of my theory that feels like pop brain science), then you realize that you need to start looking for ways to rewire your emotional core.Then, having accepted that rewiring your emotions is part of most behavior design, I’ve started to notice things — like that most self-improvement advice is not very rational. That’s by design. A self-improvement book is mostly emotional rewiring. That is exactly why you need to read the entire book rather than cheating with a summarized version.

      This is an interesting sounding take. Worth thinking about further.

    1. If private-equity firms cannot be socially responsible stewards of capital, then Congress will need to act. One possible reform would involve fully taxing the advisory and other fees that private-equity investors extract from the companies they own. Another potential reform would impose restrictions on dividends paid out in the two years following a buyout. Since the current system allows private-equity firms to reap much of the positive gains from successful acquisitions, they could also be required to bear some of the liability for a company’s debt when the buyout ends in bankruptcy.
    1. He says that he sees the combination of long form pieces and Q&A as a new level of support. “We used to have level one, which was sending a ticket to the help desk, and it was something we could easily resolve for you. Level two was a more complex problem that maybe required an engineer or specialist from a certain team to figure out. I look at this new system as a level zero.” Before sending us a ticket, folks can search Teams. If they find a question that solves the problem, great. If they need more details, they can follow links to in-depth articles or collections that bring together Q&A and article with the same tags.“
  4. Sep 2020
    1. The appeal of social networks is partly because they let us create documents without thinking about web technology,

      mirrors strongly another comment i made, that our appetites & expectations for computing has outstripped the personal, that we now expect computing to be connective. we want the digital matter we create to exist not just locally, but widely. https://hypothes.is/a/11-k1v7pEeqJ1qdf5kJahQ

    2. There was a time when we could install applications, give some sort of explicit agreement that something would run on our computers and use our hardware. That time is ending,

      The end seems perilously close at hand for personal computing, but, imo, as much as anything that is because users now expect to compute to have impact & effect far beyond the beige box.

      Open source has many amazing things, but in terms of ways to get user's digital stuff online & available & circulating, there have been precious few compelling attempts. I'd call out in particular RemoteStorage spec, & the newer SOLID specs from MIT & TBL.

    1. my people

      Already I can sense the lack of self-awareness that Franklin has in his position/privilege in life...he doesn’t have the side notes/commentaries of our other two narrators, showing us that he doesn’t feel the need to prove himself because he takes his place in life for granted.

    2. thanks to my early training

      Miss Clack frustrates me already. On one hand, she seems to be aware of how prideful she is (“Christian humility conquered sinful pride”), but at the same time, she also seems prideful about being self-aware of her pride - “thanks to my early training” seems self-congratulatory and even “Christian humility” has an air of self-righteousness, as if she wants to remind herself/us that she’s superior because of her humility.

    3. as all serious people know

      Miss Clack seems to include a lot of these little (almost breaking the fourth wall type) commentaries…ultimately, they annoy me, but I think they’re probably important to show how she feels she must constantly justify herself and confirm her good intentions/character. Other examples include “in a tone of Christian interest” or this one “as all serious people know”, which I guess aren’t particularly intentionally objective, which is why they come across as her needing to prove herself in some way.

    1. Blokland, I. V. van, Lanting, P., Ori, A. P., Vonk, J. M., Warmerdam, R. C., Herkert, J. C., Boulogne, F., Claringbould, A., Lopera-Maya, E. A., Bartels, M., Hottenga, J.-J., Ganna, A., Karjalainen, J., Study, L. C.-19 cohort, Initiative, T. C.-19 H. G., Hayward, C., Fawns-Ritchie, C., Campbell, A., Porteous, D., … Franke, L. H. (2020). Using symptom-based case predictions to identify host genetic factors that contribute to COVID-19 susceptibility. MedRxiv, 2020.08.21.20177246. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.21.20177246

  5. Aug 2020
    1. Nguyen, L. H., Drew, D. A., Graham, M. S., Joshi, A. D., Guo, C.-G., Ma, W., Mehta, R. S., Warner, E. T., Sikavi, D. R., Lo, C.-H., Kwon, S., Song, M., Mucci, L. A., Stampfer, M. J., Willett, W. C., Eliassen, A. H., Hart, J. E., Chavarro, J. E., Rich-Edwards, J. W., … Zhang, F. (2020). Risk of COVID-19 among front-line health-care workers and the general community: A prospective cohort study. The Lancet Public Health, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30164-X

    1. Two, deciding whether or not your image (and, by exten-sion—since many Instagrammers post images of themselves—your body) has worth. You can base this purely on how many likes it gets, but if you don’t see how many likes other images get, you can’t compare your number of likes to anyone else’s. You can only compete with yourself. As we’ll learn in Chapter 4 when we discuss contrast effect, we avoid making decisions in a vacuum, so if you show us other people’s likes, we’ll be tempted to use them to rate our own value. Removing likes is a step away from making a bad decision about what to compare your image to.

      I like the thinking here and where it could subtly push us to.

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  6. Jul 2020
    1. I learned that I should never ever trust the feeling that I would understand my notes later.

      Your audience is you, but you from the future, so not really you. Write as if you were explaining it to someone else.

    1. The surprising truth about what motivates us

      MIT Study Mechanical skills: larger reward leads to better performance Cognitive skills: larger reward leads to poorer performance

      Pay people enough to not think about money, it is no longer a factor

      Autonomy/Mastery/Self-Actualization If want engagement, self-direction is better Atlassian, work on whatever you want for 24 hours Allow learners to guide their own learning

      Mastery--we want to get better at stuff because it's satisfying; people have jobs, and for free people do lots of hard work; challenge, mastery and making a contribution: purpose motive

      We are purpose motivated and want to be self-directed

    1. Dessa ingångar eller portar, som han kallar dem, kan alla användas för att ta oss tillbaka till nuet, där inga problem finns.

      Men här skriver de att han pekar på FLERA portar. Kanske utgår Eckhart Tolle från Jungs funktioner och säger att det finns fyra - tänkande, kännande, intuition och sinnesintryck. Bakom/under dessa finns den fullt ut levande människan som gör att vi upplever glädjen och kan omfamna vårt sanna jag.

      Exakt samma fyra mänskliga medvetande-funktioner som återfinns i indiankulturernas medicinhjul som de fyra väderstrecken och i den antika elementlärans vatten (känsla), eld (tänkande), luft (intuition) och jord (sinnesintryck)

  7. Jun 2020
    1. Personal learnings from this one for me. I can be a bit quick to criticize, particularly with customer support at work. How can I retrain myself to ask questions about what made the customer do what they did? As opposed to just trashing whatever they've said and assuming they don't know what they're doing?

  8. May 2020
    1. We value results, transparency, sharing, freedom, efficiency, self-learning, frugality, collaboration, directness, kindness, diversity and inclusion, boring solutions, and quirkiness. If these values match your personality, work ethic, and personal goals, we encourage you to visit our primer to learn more. Open source is our culture, our way of life, our story, and what makes us truly unique.
    1. This is it. I'm done with Page Translator, but you don't have to be. Fork the repo. Distribute the code yourself. This is now a cat-and-mouse game with Mozilla. Users will have to jump from one extension to another until language translation is a standard feature or the extension policy changes.
    1. Mozilla does not permit extensions distributed through https://addons.mozilla.org/ to load external scripts. Mozilla does allow extensions to be externally distributed, but https://addons.mozilla.org/ is how most people discover extensions. The are still concerns: Google and Microsoft do not grant permission for others to distribute their "widget" scripts. Google's and Microsoft's "widget" scripts are minified. This prevents Mozilla's reviewers from being able to easily evaluate the code that is being distributed. Mozilla can reject an extension for this. Even if an extension author self-distributes, Mozilla can request the source code for the extension and halt its distribution for the same reason.

      Maybe not technically a catch-22/chicken-and-egg problem, but what is a better name for this logical/dependency problem?

  9. Apr 2020
    1. However, as stated by Pourret [18], a majority of the journals in geochemistry also have a green colour according to the SHERPA/RoMEO grading system, indicating that preprint (and the peer-reviewed postprint version) articles submitted to these journals can be freely shared on a preprint server, without compromising authors’ abilities to publish in parallel in those journals. Moreover, Pourret et al. [17] highlighted that the majority of journals in geochemistry allow authors to share preprints of their articles (47/56; 84%).
      • Bahwa sebagian besar jurnal di bidang geokimia, membolehkan pengarsipan modus hijau (Green OA), atau pengarsipan dokumen riset, data, makalah versi preprint di repositori nirlaba (misal repositori kampus).

      • Di tahun 2020, fakta ini masih belum banyak diketahui oleh para dosen/peneliti. Mereka cenderung menerima untuk dikendalikan oleh jurnal dalam proses publikasi, tanpa keinginan berargumentasi untuk mempertahankan hak miliknya terhadap makalah (to retain copyrights).

    1. Keeping a goal in mind and using it to direct our actions requires constant willpower. During times when other parts of our lives deplete our supply of willpower, it can be easy to forget our goals. For example, the goal of saving money requires self-discipline each time we make a purchase. Meanwhile, the habit of putting $50 in a savings account every week requires little effort. Habits, not goals, make otherwise difficult things easy… While goals rely on extrinsic motivation, habits are automatic. They literally rewire our brains.

    1. The importance of self-compassion in tempering the brittleness of self-efficacy

      The main reason is that most people’s risk tolerance is very low, because self-efficacy (defined as “a person’s conviction or confidence about his or her abilities to mobilize the motivation, cognitive resources or courses of action needed to successfully execute a specific task within a given context”) is remarkably fragile. When it comes to trying and learning new things, people have difficulty transferring success in one arena to even highly related ones. Even small failures lead to learned helplessness so quickly, we learn to protect against that eventuality by not trying new things unless success is guaranteed.

      The primary risk of entrepreneurship and other free agent lifestyles is not financial or even social — it is the risk to a person’s very self-concept as someone who does what they set out to do.

      What we need if we want to change behavior at this fundamental level is to replace predictive models of behavior change—do this and you’ll get that —with exploratory models.

      Stories may actually be a more accurate way of describing how people think about and use mental models of behavior change. Stories, like emergent systems, only move in one direction. They cannot be rolled back and played again. This irreproducibility suggests the importance of another form of psychological capital that is also highly correlated with successful behavior change: self-compassion. They are two sides to the same coin — you need self-efficacy to believe you can do it, but you equally need self-compassion to be ok when you don’t. Self-compassion aids change by removing the veil of shame and pain that keeps you from examining the causes of your mistakes (and often, leads you to indulge in the very same bad habit as a way of forgetting the pain). Self-forgiveness is the first step in fostering an invitational attitude that is open to feedback and learning, from yourself and others.

      There is something about the turning of this coin — between efficacy and compassion — that I believe lies at the heart of the experimentation framework I’m envisioning. And the more I think about it, the more I suspect compassion is the far more radical and important side.

    1. Taken from a graduation address delivered at West Point, which is just so good and worth quoting many sections of at length

      That’s really the great mystery about bureaucracies. Why is it so often that the best people are stuck in the middle and the people who are running things—the leaders—are the mediocrities? Because excellence isn’t usually what gets you up the greasy pole. What gets you up is a talent for maneuvering. Kissing up to the people above you, kicking down to the people below you. Pleasing your teachers, pleasing your superiors, picking a powerful mentor and riding his coattails until it’s time to stab him in the back. Jumping through hoops. Getting along by going along. Being whatever other people want you to be, so that it finally comes to seem that, like the manager of the Central Station, you have nothing inside you at all. Not taking stupid risks like trying to change how things are done or question why they’re done. Just keeping the routine going.

      We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine going. Who can answer questions, but don’t know how to ask them. Who can fulfill goals, but don’t know how to set them. Who think about how to get things done, but not whether they’re worth doing in the first place. What we have now are the greatest technocrats the world has ever seen, people who have been trained to be incredibly good at one specific thing, but who have no interest in anything beyond their area of exper­tise. What we don’t have are leaders.

      What we don’t have, in other words, are thinkers. People who can think for themselves. People who can formulate a new direction: for the country, for a corporation or a college, for the Army—a new way of doing things, a new way of looking at things. People, in other words, with vision.

      That’s the first half of the lecture: the idea that true leadership means being able to think for yourself and act on your convictions. But how do you learn to do that? How do you learn to think? Let’s start with how you don’t learn to think. A study by a team of researchers at Stanford came out a couple of months ago. The investigators wanted to figure out how today’s college students were able to multitask so much more effectively than adults. How do they manage to do it, the researchers asked? The answer, they discovered—and this is by no means what they expected—is that they don’t. The enhanced cognitive abilities the investigators expected to find, the mental faculties that enable people to multitask effectively, were simply not there. In other words, people do not multitask effectively. And here’s the really surprising finding: the more people multitask, the worse they are, not just at other mental abilities, but at multitasking itself.

      One thing that made the study different from others is that the researchers didn’t test people’s cognitive functions while they were multitasking. They separated the subject group into high multitaskers and low multitaskers and used a different set of tests to measure the kinds of cognitive abilities involved in multitasking. They found that in every case the high multitaskers scored worse. They were worse at distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant information and ignoring the latter. In other words, they were more distractible. They were worse at what you might call “mental filing”: keeping information in the right conceptual boxes and being able to retrieve it quickly. In other words, their minds were more disorganized. And they were even worse at the very thing that defines multitasking itself: switching between tasks.

      Concentrating, focusing. You can just as easily consider this lecture to be about concentration as about solitude. Think about what the word means. It means gathering yourself together into a single point rather than letting yourself be dispersed everywhere into a cloud of electronic and social input. It seems to me that Facebook and Twitter and YouTube—and just so you don’t think this is a generational thing, TV and radio and magazines and even newspapers, too—are all ultimately just an elaborate excuse to run away from yourself. To avoid the difficult and troubling questions that being human throws in your way. Am I doing the right thing with my life? Do I believe the things I was taught as a child? What do the words I live by—words like duty, honor, and country—really mean? Am I happy?

      So it’s perfectly natural to have doubts, or questions, or even just difficulties. The question is, what do you do with them? Do you suppress them, do you distract yourself from them, do you pretend they don’t exist? Or do you confront them directly, honestly, courageously? If you decide to do so, you will find that the answers to these dilemmas are not to be found on Twitter or Comedy Central or even in The New York Times. They can only be found within—without distractions, without peer pressure, in solitude.

      “Your own reality—for yourself, not for others.” Thinking for yourself means finding yourself, finding your own reality. Here’s the other problem with Facebook and Twitter and even The New York Times. When you expose yourself to those things, especially in the constant way that people do now—older people as well as younger people—you are continuously bombarding yourself with a stream of other people’s thoughts. You are marinating yourself in the conventional wisdom. In other people’s reality: for others, not for yourself. You are creating a cacophony in which it is impossible to hear your own voice, whether it’s yourself you’re thinking about or anything else. That’s what Emerson meant when he said that “he who should inspire and lead his race must be defended from travelling with the souls of other men, from living, breathing, reading, and writing in the daily, time-worn yoke of their opinions.” Notice that he uses the word lead. Leadership means finding a new direction, not simply putting yourself at the front of the herd that’s heading toward the cliff.

      So solitude can mean introspection, it can mean the concentration of focused work, and it can mean sustained reading. All of these help you to know yourself better. But there’s one more thing I’m going to include as a form of solitude, and it will seem counterintuitive: friendship. Of course friendship is the opposite of solitude; it means being with other people. But I’m talking about one kind of friendship in particular, the deep friendship of intimate conversation. Long, uninterrupted talk with one other person. Not Skyping with three people and texting with two others at the same time while you hang out in a friend’s room listening to music and studying. That’s what Emerson meant when he said that “the soul environs itself with friends, that it may enter into a grander self-acquaintance or solitude.”

      Introspection means talking to yourself, and one of the best ways of talking to yourself is by talking to another person. One other person you can trust, one other person to whom you can unfold your soul. One other person you feel safe enough with to allow you to acknowledge things—to acknowledge things to yourself—that you otherwise can’t. Doubts you aren’t supposed to have, questions you aren’t supposed to ask. Feelings or opinions that would get you laughed at by the group or reprimanded by the authorities.

      This is what we call thinking out loud, discovering what you believe in the course of articulating it. But it takes just as much time and just as much patience as solitude in the strict sense. And our new electronic world has disrupted it just as violently. Instead of having one or two true friends that we can sit and talk to for three hours at a time, we have 968 “friends” that we never actually talk to; instead we just bounce one-line messages off them a hundred times a day. This is not friendship, this is distraction.

    1. I finally realized today why politics and religion yield such uniquely useless discussions.

      "the best plan is to let as few things into your identity as possible"

      I think what religion and politics have in common is that they become part of people's identity, and people can never have a fruitful argument about something that's part of their identity. By definition they're partisan.

      More generally, you can have a fruitful discussion about a topic only if it doesn't engage the identities of any of the participants.

      The most intriguing thing about this theory, if it's right, is that it explains not merely which kinds of discussions to avoid, but how to have better ideas. If people can't think clearly about anything that has become part of their identity, then all other things being equal, the best plan is to let as few things into your identity as possible.

  10. Mar 2020
    1. How do you leverage browser cache when Google’s very own Analytics.js has it’s expiry time set to 2 hours? How do you minimize DNS requests when Google advices you to copy their tracking code, linking to an externally hosted Javascript file?If that isn’t bad enough already, Google’s advice is to avoid hosting the JavaScript file locally. And why? To ensure you get access to new features and product updates.
    2. Why should I host analytics.js locally?The Complete Analytics Optimization Suite for WordPress gives you the best of both worlds. After activation it automagically downloads the latest version of analytics.js from Google’s servers, places the necessary tracking code in your WordPress theme’s header and keeps the local Javascript file up-to-date using an adjusted version of Matthew Horne’s update analytics script and wp_cron(). This way you can minimize DNS requests, leverage browser cache, track your visitors and still follow Google’s recommendation to use the latest features and product updates.
  11. Feb 2020
  12. Jan 2020
    1. Level 0 is no automation whatsoever. Level 1 is partial assistance with certain aspects of driving, like lane keep assist or adaptive cruise control. Level 2 is a step up to systems that can take control of the vehicle in certain situations, like Tesla's Autopilot or Cadillac's Super Cruise, while still requiring the driver to pay attention. Get past that and we enter the realm of speculation: Level 3 promises full computer control under defined conditions during a journey, Level 4 expands that to start-to-finish autonomous tech limited only by virtual safeguards like a geofence, and Level 5 is the total hands-off, go-anywhere-at-the-push-of-a-button experience.

      Description of 6 levels defining autonomous cars:

      1. Level 0 - no automation.
      2. Level 1 - partial assistance with certain aspects of driving, like lane keep assist or adaptive cruise control.
      3. Level 2 - step up to systems that can take control of the vehicle in certain situations, like Tesla's Autopilot or Cadillac's Super Cruise, while still requiring the driver to pay attention.
      4. Level 3 - promises full computer control under defined conditions during a journey.
      5. Level 4 - expands that to start-to-finish autonomous tech limited only by virtual safeguards like a geofence.
      6. Level 5 - total hands-off, go-anywhere-at-the-push-of-a-button experience.
    1. The substitution of l-T3 for l-T4 at equivalent doses (relative to the pituitary) reduced body weight and resulted in greater thyroid hormone action on the lipid metabolism, without detected differences in cardiovascular function or insulin sensitivity.

      This implies that T4 and T3 are not identical, but I want to check the study further to see if half-life comes into play. The T3 group could theoretically have higher daily thyroidergic exposure, but maintain TSH because they experience a daily dip. Multiple dosing at least partly solves this issue. Controlled release tablets would be ideal.

    1. In almost all cases the genetic basis of RTH lies in mutation of the carboxyl-terminus of the ß-thyroid hormone receptor. RTH is a dominant disorder, except in one family; most individuals are heterozygous for the mutant allele.

      So, given that thyroid hormone resistance does exist, the remaining question is whether it is common enough to explain some cases of CFS or similar conditions. Unfortunately this paper is not in english, but the abstract provides enough information to google more.

    1. “When people take these moments to explore their solitude, not only will they be forced to confront who they are, they just might learn a little bit about how to out-maneuver some of the toxicity that surrounds them in a social setting.”
    1. altered thyroid gland function affects vasopressin and oxytocin release from the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system in the state of equilibrated water metabolism

      I ought read the full study to see the proposed mechanism. The vasopressin effect is not surprising at all, but the oxytocin effect was unexpected for me. That may be because I know more about vasopressin than I do oxytocin.

  13. Dec 2019
  14. Nov 2019
    1. Integrating Technology with Bloom’s Taxonomy

      This article was published by a team member of the ASU Online Instructional Design and New Media (IDNM) team at Arizona State University. This team shares instructional design methods and resources on the TeachOnline site for online learning. "Integrating Technology with Bloom's Taxonomy" describes practices for implementing 6 principles of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy in online learning. These principles include Creating, Evaluating, Analyzing, Applying, Understanding, and Remembering. The purpose of implementing this model is to create more meaningful and effective experiences for online learners. The author guides instructors in the selection of digital tools that drive higher-order thinking, active engagmenent, and relevancy. Rating 9/10

    1. Empowering Education: A New Model for In-service Training of Nursing Staff

      This research article explores an andragogical method of learning for the in-service training of nurses. In a study of a training period for 35 nurses, research found an empowering model of education that was characterized by self-directed learning and practical learning. This model suggests active participation, motivation, and problem-solving as key indicators of effective training for nurses. Rating 8/10

    1. Advantages of Online Professional Development

      This chapter, "Advantages of Online Professional Development" describes the benefits of online teacher professional development (OTPD), which implements technology to deliver training and learning in an online environment. OTPD allows teachers to participate in a flexible, self-directed, and collaborative learning community. They can interact with other teachers synchronously and asynchronously, or take professional development courses at their own schedule.

    1. Section 1.5 Online Learner Characteristics, Technology and Skill Requirements

      This website outlines Section 1.5 of Angelo State University's guide to instructional design and online teaching. Section 1.5 describes key characteristics of online learners, as well as the technology and computer skills that research has identified as being important for online learners. Successful online learners are described as self-directed, motivated, well-organized, and dedicated to their education. The article also notes that online learners should understand how to use technology such as multimedia tools, email, internet browsers. and LMS systems. This resource serves as a guide to effective online teaching. Rating 10/10

    1. E-Learning Theory (Mayer, Sweller, Moreno)

      This website outlines key principles of the E-Learning Theory developed by Mayer, Sweller, and Moreno. E-Learning Theory describes how the implementation of educational technology can be combined with key principles of how we learn for better outcomes. This site describes those principles as a guide of more effective instructional design. Users can also find other learning theories under the "Categories" link at the top of the page. Examples include Constructivist theories, Media & Technology theories, and Social Learning theories. Rating: 8/10

    1. Tech Literacy Resources

      This website is the "Resources" archive for the IgniteED Labs at Arizona State University's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. The IgniteED Labs allow students, staff, and faculty to explore innovative and emerging learning technology such as virtual reality (VR), artifical intelligence (AI), 3-D printing, and robotics. The left side of this site provides several resources on understanding and effectively using various technologies available in the IgniteED labs. Each resources directs you to external websites, such as product tutorials on Youtube, setup guides, and the products' websites. The right column, "Tech Literacy Resources," contains a variety of guides on how students can effectively and strategically use different technologies. Resources include "how-to" user guides, online academic integrity policies, and technology support services. Rating: 9/10

    1. The article, "Keys to success: Self-directed learning,' authors Fellows, Culver, and Beston discuss the components of Grow's self-directed learning (SDL) model. Learners and instructors fit into a matrix which can be used to determine optimal instructional strategies to meet the readiness of the learner. The authors discuss how SDL is implemented in multiple institutions for higher education. Instructional methods are shared to address foundational SDL skills as well as issues that arose when learners were having difficulty transitioning from one stage of readiness to another. Overall, holistic learner skills were enhanced with SDL. Rating: 9/10