Sunday, October 12, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
WOAH WOAH...what?
So today snuck up on me like a bad case of hemorrhoids. I thought I'd have enough time to get my final project up and going but alas that did not happen. But fear not I will be posting a video shortly on here (hopefully 2 more days at the most).
From the Sidways book...
I was torn between a couple different areas in the book so I'll give a run down of them along with some quotes.
Dreams: I think most people are fascinated by what pops into their heads at night. This chapter gives examples of the various kinds of dreams we have.
The one example that struck me as interesting was a story of a particular lucid dream. Three people undergoing a dream study agreed to rendezvous in the dream world. They picked out a specific bench in a particular park at a certain time. Two of them "met" in the dream world while the third never showed up. Later he said he had forgotten to remind himself of the meeting place before going to bed. Now this story sounds all nice and neat, but we never learn how long it took for the two to actually find each other in their dreams (how many nights of sleep), nor do most people have complete control on what and when they dream. But I would not be the least bit surprised if it actually happened. Imagine the possibilities dreams would offer if we could willfully shape them and "meet" with anyone from around the world.
Fact - We spend about 25 years sleeping (some even more, like yours truly) and 7 % of that dreaming.
Synchronicity: This "chapter" is just fun to read. It deals with behaviors that are carried throughout a species using brain powers from the 10th DIMENSION! *wooooeeeeeooooooo*
The example the book gives (and what I've seen on a PBS program) is an instance where an isolated island off of Japan is introduced to sweet potatoes. The native wild monkeys in this area are unable to successfully eat these new vegetables without getting sand and dirt on them. Well one super smart simian decides to wash one off in the water and viola, now has an edible potato. Naturally the other monkeys learn from this and follow suit. However, monkeys on the mainland and in other isolated islands begin to do the same behavior (washing the potatoes) without ever being shown how. Without any sort of concrete evidence on why this happened, we are brought to the possibility of being linked together within the same species (mind wise). Although this could be written off as a coincidence. Which leads me to...
a similar example of the above mentioned situation on pg. 82 that deals with human behavior (I suggest checking it out).
Paradigms: Basically how you see the world through your lens.
One quote sums up this chapter:
'How delightfully the fishes are enjoying themselves', exclaimed Soshi.
'You are not a fish', commented his friend, 'how do you know that the fishes are enjoying themselves?'
'You are not myself', answered Soshi; 'how do you know, that I do not know, that the fishes are enjoying themselves?'
- Taoist dialogue
And something I stumbled across that deals with paradigms: http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/
Yes it's real. Am I the only one that feels like a genius right about now?
Dreams: I think most people are fascinated by what pops into their heads at night. This chapter gives examples of the various kinds of dreams we have.
The one example that struck me as interesting was a story of a particular lucid dream. Three people undergoing a dream study agreed to rendezvous in the dream world. They picked out a specific bench in a particular park at a certain time. Two of them "met" in the dream world while the third never showed up. Later he said he had forgotten to remind himself of the meeting place before going to bed. Now this story sounds all nice and neat, but we never learn how long it took for the two to actually find each other in their dreams (how many nights of sleep), nor do most people have complete control on what and when they dream. But I would not be the least bit surprised if it actually happened. Imagine the possibilities dreams would offer if we could willfully shape them and "meet" with anyone from around the world.
Fact - We spend about 25 years sleeping (some even more, like yours truly) and 7 % of that dreaming.
Synchronicity: This "chapter" is just fun to read. It deals with behaviors that are carried throughout a species using brain powers from the 10th DIMENSION! *wooooeeeeeooooooo*
The example the book gives (and what I've seen on a PBS program) is an instance where an isolated island off of Japan is introduced to sweet potatoes. The native wild monkeys in this area are unable to successfully eat these new vegetables without getting sand and dirt on them. Well one super smart simian decides to wash one off in the water and viola, now has an edible potato. Naturally the other monkeys learn from this and follow suit. However, monkeys on the mainland and in other isolated islands begin to do the same behavior (washing the potatoes) without ever being shown how. Without any sort of concrete evidence on why this happened, we are brought to the possibility of being linked together within the same species (mind wise). Although this could be written off as a coincidence. Which leads me to...
a similar example of the above mentioned situation on pg. 82 that deals with human behavior (I suggest checking it out).
Paradigms: Basically how you see the world through your lens.
One quote sums up this chapter:
'How delightfully the fishes are enjoying themselves', exclaimed Soshi.
'You are not a fish', commented his friend, 'how do you know that the fishes are enjoying themselves?'
'You are not myself', answered Soshi; 'how do you know, that I do not know, that the fishes are enjoying themselves?'
- Taoist dialogue
And something I stumbled across that deals with paradigms: http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/
Yes it's real. Am I the only one that feels like a genius right about now?
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Connections
My friend code for Super Smash Bros. Brawl is: 4768-7860-7658 Hit me up anytime in the evening, usually on the weekends!
This is a way of connecting right?
Senseless Senses
I decided to give up on my sense of sight for 10 minutes today. To me, losing my sight would be one of the scariest and toughest things to encounter. Therefore I decided to give up this sense. Safe to say that I was totally thrown off and it was extremely difficult to navigate even my own house. I've heard that when sight is lost, hearing will naturally improve in order to pick up the "slack". I think that this is true to some extent but I think that it has more to do with the visually impared consciously picking up on subtle sounds that everyone can hear but don't take the time to actually "hear" or decipher. Ten minutes is obviously not enough time to give my hearing enough time to adjust to a new way of seeing, nor did I know what to listen for. So yea...I think the below picture explains what happened.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Midterm Questions
- What has been the single best aspect of this class thus far?
I'm not going to lie. The single best aspect of this class is that I don't feel like I NEED to attend class every week, nor does it count against my grade, i.e. missing 3 classes is a letter grade off. Seriously wtf is that bullshit? I pay to go to class. If I can't/don't want to attend a class then that is MY business. Not showing up to a class already has implied consequences: Essentially I'm wasting my own money and the fact that I missed that days materials, I am that much more at a disadvantage when it comes to getting a good grade. Why should I get slapped with another penalty of having my final letter grade lowered at the end of the semester? Did I just take a jump back to High School, for shits sake...
So thanks for treating us like adults, it is a nice feeling for once. I also like the flexible due dates for assignments. Sometimes things just don't come to me. I work a lot more efficiently under pressure :P.
- What is the single most important thing you want to walk away with from this class?
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