Reconfigurable Expert

Dec
2nd

Wed

The message of their research is clear. Putting off a task to control immediate mood results in problems later. They demonstrate this across a number of domains as I noted earlier, including eating, drinking, smoking, gambling, shopping and procrastination. When we give primacy to addressing our emotional distress, we usually do so at the cost of self-regulatory failure.

[…]

The message to each of us should be clear as well. If we focus on our feelings in the short term, we’ll undermine ourselves in the long run.

—

Giving in to feel good: Why self-regulation fails | Psychology Today

(I note that this could be spun as a variation on: delay of gratification, personal discount rate, RET [your feelings follow your thoughts], or behavioural therapy [your feelings follow your behaviors]).

Every day is a god, each day is a god, and holiness holds forth in time. I worship each god, I praise each day splintered down, splintered down and wrapped in time like a husk, a husk of many colors spreading, at dawn fast over the mountains split.

— Annie Dillard, Holy the Firm

Dec
1st

Tue

A Passionate Life

Nov
23rd

Mon

If you name your emotions, you can tame them, according to new research that suggests why meditation works. Brain scans show that putting negative emotions into words calms the brain’s emotion center. That could explain meditation’s purported emotional benefits, because people who meditate often label their negative emotions in an effort to “let them go.

— Brain Scans Reveal Why Meditation Works

Nov
22nd

Sun

Isn’t that the whole _idea_ behind Chrome? :) (via jluster)

Nov
12th

Thu

Just because you know a statement and proof of Fundamental Lemma X, you shouldn’t take that lemma for granted; instead, you should dig deeper until you really understand what the lemma is all about: Can you find alternate proofs?
If you know two proofs of the lemma, do you know to what extent the proofs are equivalent? Do they generalise in different ways? What themes do the proofs have in common? What are the other relative strengths and weaknesses of the two proofs?
Do you know why each of the hypotheses are necessary?
What kind of generalizations are known/conjectured/heuristic?
Are there weaker and simpler versions which can suffice for some applications?
What are some model examples demonstrating that lemma in action?
When is it a good idea to use the lemma, and when isn’t it?
What kind of problems can it solve, and what kind of problems are beyond its ability to assist with?
Are there analogues of that lemma in other areas of mathematics?
Does the lemma fit into a wider paradigm or program?

— Learn and relearn your field

In Japan, Even the Barcodes Are Well Designed

Nov
10th

Tue

A romantic is a person who seeks sublime moments, those rare experiences that are at the limits of human emotion, endurance, and understanding.

— Greg Robbins via Simon Funk

Nov
5th

Thu

Stunned farmer Zheng Dexun dug up a crop of fleeceflower, or Chinese knotweed, and found one shaped like a person, in Langzhong, China. The eerie-looking plant, measuring 62 centimetres tall, has clearly defined arms, legs, and head. Zheng said: “I don’t know whether it is good or bad to dig out a Chinese knotweed that looks like a human. I’d better put it back in the earth!”

Nov
4th

Wed

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