First Blog

The Latest on Study, Sleep, Sickness and Success   The recent wisdom on learning using technology tells us that we should all get with it, get laptops, get tablets, learn more and better.     We are just an iPAD from true success - some educators would have us believe.   But this is now disproven.   It just doesn’t happen.   Your grandmother could have told you to get plenty of rest, particularly when you are sick.   Grandma’s folk-wisdom/folk- medicine is now confirmed!   Finally, when you tell your students to study hard for the big exam, and that their success and even future depend on it.   Just a little scare to get them motivated to hit the books, you think.    Indeed, don’t depend on the veracity of your good advice.   It’s just plain wrong! ·          SLEEP AWAY YOUR ILLS .   A good night's sleep really CAN make you feel better: Researchers say long naps can boost immune system and help fight infection – if you are a fruit fly anyway.   Two researchers, led by Ju

Plato’s Cave – an allegory for all time The allegory of Plato’s cave has a remarkable permanence in the philosophies of knowledge and of life.   In it we see a collection of prisoners who can only see the shadows of reality as projected by a fire between the truth and the shadows.   They cannot turn around seeing the object so projected.   This is what they know; this is what they see; this is what they believe.   A given prisoner is rescued from the cave and brought into the light of truth.   The prisoner is then returned to the cave to help and instruct the others on what the shadows really depict.   He is rejected by all other prisoners preferring the shadows and consequent conjectures.   This encapsulates the Plato’s allegory, though not in complete detail.   Our intent here is to reveal or theorize on how we lift shadows to our current versions of truth.    On the physical face of things, what the shadows represent include ·          A reduction of spatial dimension

An equation for life.   This is a very important relation.  Let A = (your) attitude, P = (your) persistence, and I = (your) intelligence.  In terms of your quantified versions of these In words, your attitude quotient plus your persistence quotient exceeds your intelligence quotient. This simple  inequality demonstrates your attitude and persistence applied to your life can have more effect than your native intelligence.  Indeed, look around you.  Note how some people, idiots in your mind, have achieved what you desire. Now look at their attitude and persistence. That's how they did it.  Indeed I believe in many cases The lesson here is not to give up because you think you don't have the smarts.  Keep at it with a strong and positive attitude and with a relentless spirit for achievement. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- On Power.   Some people crave power far more than fame or wealth, the other two base needs of hum

Models .   The deep skinny on model building based on the application of analysis is this:   Make it as simple as possible, but make it as complex as necessary .     Tall order and a laudable goal, though achieving both simplicity and complexity is a challenge.   We have a min-max problem, difficult to solve.   Nonetheless, it is attempted by all. Each suffers at the expense of the other.   The question I pose here is whether this is possible?   Both goals are vague and meeting either is virtually impossible to measure.     So, depending on the interpreter, the model will be seriously affected.   This is the case even with the most scientific of problems.   When the solution goal is unclear, the situation vague, the problem is wicked, or the course of action is fuzzy, there arise conflicts on what model to build.   Deformed models are produced.     Once a model is in place, it has a systemic existence.   It has invested adherents.   It doesn’t die easily no matter how wrong it

Problem solving with rational and emotional choice theories. The heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of. - Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) French mathematician, physicist and religious philosopher We all need to solve problems, daily and constantly. There are the more-or-less clinical methods of applying beliefs, programs, instinct, intuition, emotion, analysis, and just plain random choice. (See, Allen, 2013.) However, it is not as though one can simply turn on or off any of these methods. We want to believe we use appropriate methods at appropriate times. However, there must be some underlying guidance a person uses to select the methods used to construct solutions. Naturally, we are not discussing simple problems that demand a particular method. Math and science problems are among them. Note, it is not that such problems are simple to solve, but rather are simple to state with unambiguous clarity. Use accepted methods or you lose marks. Yet, man made climate change is. W

Problem Solving – the pathway to the impossible Life is problem solving.   From work to school to religion; in love in pleasure, in strife, we are always solving something.  Some problems are simple, some tricky, some poorly defined, some complex.  Many are impossible. We have not set about to discuss school math problems.  In a sense, these are the simplest of all because much of the toolkit needed for solving them have been presented in the course.  These problems are those with the greatest clarity, a unique solution, and for them there is always a final resolution.  You get it or you don’t.  We have an array of problem solving methods, from logic to emotion, from instinct to intuition, from random to programmed, and more.  These methods are applied individually or in combination, often generating intrinsic conflicts, resulting is partials solutions, no solution, personal solutions, new problems, new situation, and impossible situations.  Results can be satisfying or frustrating,

We all talk about ideas, and how much we need a good one.  But an idea basically amounts to a direction change. Put this way, we pose whether a change in direction is needed, and moreover really wanted.  Thus...  It may be unproductive to seek for a new idea when none is needed. Indeed, such a search may point one in the wrong direction. Can it be a folly to innovate when such is unrequired? Different does not imply better. A little weird.  The other day I was watching a movie on NetFlix.  My settings showed the subtitles in English. I have become accustomed to reading them. But for some reason, the subtitles were a about two minutes delayed.   So, while I watched, the titles were two minutes or so behind, making them useless.  Interesting and unusual though it was, but after a couple of minutes I stopped watching them.   It occurred to me that suppose the subtitles were two minutes in advance.  This implies having a look on the subtitle channel into the future (of the movie).  T

IDEA SPACE – PART II, THE IDEA OF IDEAS The is the second part of our blog on ideas but stands independently.  See http://used-ideas.blogspot.com/2014/07/idea-space-part-i.html What is the “idea of ideas?”   It is the conceptual framework through which problems are solved.   Prior to solving any problem whatever, it is key to have an approach to solving the problem.   This is the idea!   It could be routine, an idea applied previously.   It could be a variation on other successful ideas.   It could be complex requiring some approach beyond the norms of normal problem solving.   It could be dictated by belief or better put fit within the constraints of faith.   Yet, prior to any solution offered, there must be an idea that proceeds the solution.   This is the firmament upon which solutions are formed.   We have problem →idea → solution.   The idea is the forms the first steps on the pathway toward the solution.     The idea is a “proto-solution.”   It is a first glimmer.   I