Category Archives: Education

Killing Time Sinks

Posted on by
Reply

Just over a week ago, I started playing World of Warcraft(again) and I was have a great time getting back into the game.  Unfortunately, for you guys it completely knocked out my time for blogging and also some of my other things that I enjoy. My estimate for in-game time is over 40 hours for the week, that’s a full time job, what the hell could I have been thinking. So I’m going to write down a list of ways to seek and remove time sinks.

Do a Weekly Analysis for 1-2 Weeks

You don’t have to over thorough with you tracking, but every couple of hours write down what your doing. If you do something that could take a few hours write before you start and when you end, including the time for each. At the end of the week, compile all that information and look for stuff that appears rather excessive and see if you can cut it out; for me excessive would be anything above 6-8 hours for the week. Obviously, you can’t cut sleep, dining, or commuting out completely, but it is possible to cut back.

How to Cut Back

If say reading too much(though I don’t think that’s possible), you could cut the number of books available to you so that you read them more slowly and cherish them, or maybe it’s a social activity, you can cut your funding so that you have to stay home. Find a way to either make the time have more value, rather than desaturate it with over use, or put a flow valve on it so that you can constrict it. If it’s possible you could also just go cold turkey and cut it completely, this was my choice in canceling my subscription and removing the software from my system.

Find Something Productive to Fill the Time

This is the big one anytime you try to stop a habit, you need a distraction to prevent you from going back to your old ways.  You need something that you find interesting and will add value to your life. Here are a few, some that I plan on using

  • Blogging( I know I already am, I want to do it more frequently)
  • Freelancing
  • Programming
  • Reading
  • Focused Topical Learning
  • Get A Job
  • Head Back to School

Computer Issues & A Few Ideas

Posted on by
Reply

For everyone who waited for something Tuesday and Thursday I’ll apologize. I ended up doing a clean install trying to get my burner to work Sunday evening, because I wanted Windows 7. So, instead of doing anything productive I spent my time on my computer searching for everything to get it back into working condition and coming up with ideas for posts, improving some products, and just flat out re-evaluating my own purposes.

It’s sad to here that Steve Jobs is stepping down, but maybe whoever takes over while he’s gone will start making improvements to their fringe products like iTunes. Just the other day I was using it, as it is my default player, and I realized that Window’s Media Player had a better user interface, though slower and not as pretty. In WMP, if you want to listen to an album by itself all you have to do is double click on it’s art or right-click on it’s title and select play. iTunes doesn’t have this it takes at least 2-5 clicks and some search through different menu’s to get to play just an album, that’s quite a disrespectful use of the the user’s time.

In other news, people have started to look at the education bubble that we’ll be facing in the next few years. John Robb’s article “Industrial Education” has caused a stir, “There is reason to believe that costs of higher education (direct costs and lost income) are now nearly equal (in net present value) to the additional lifetime income derived from having a degree.” I like how he’s done this because his analysis comes toward the same view as my posts from early last year on Social Perception and Personal Economics of education where I discuss the topic, but he also comes up with some great ideas on replacing it.

That’s all I have to say this morning, I’ll be back in a few days with new posts, now that everything is back in working order.

Non-Linearity Of Education

Posted on by
Reply

I was re-reading through, “The Black Swan,” and came across this passage.

Your child does not seem to have a learning impediment, but he does not seem to want to speak. The schoolmaster pressures you to start considering “other options,” namely therapy. You argue with her to no avail (she is supposed to be the “expert”). Then, suddenly, the child starts composing elaborate sentences, perhaps a  bit too elaborate for his age group. I will repeat that linear progression, a Platonic idea, is not the norm.”

Now, the reason I mention this is that I know for a fact that this exact example is very true. I went through it when I was in  2nd grade, of the K-12 system, at age 7. I didn’t know how to tie my shoes, dress myself, but the big one where school comes in was my reading comprehension and verbal language.  However, by my 3rd grade year, age 8, I could tie my shoes and dress myself, but also my reading comprehension had jumped to that of an average 10th graders, verbal language was also on par with older students. Over time, they have both lost that advantage.

Education will never be a linear system, yet, that’s how our systems treats it. Our system focuses on the ones with the most promise to fill the position, the rest are left alone or sent to remediation to see if they can recover, most can’t. I was the exception to this case and even now I’m behind in my composition and verbal usage, I’m sure it shows.

I would be pleased to hear any stories that you may have to share on the subject.

Spreading The Idea Of Quantum Libraries

Posted on by
1

Zenpundit picked up my idea of quantum libraries and it is now starting to spread through his readers. I added my top ten as of this point in my life in a comment and would like to share them here, with the reasons why I chose them as quantum texts.

The Quantum-Library is the layer that co-exists as a member of both the Library and the Anti-Library. It is something you may have read, but when read again with a different perspective it exists in another form. These type’s of books are the ultimate for a bibliophile. It is the layer described above and contains the texts that you re-read.

My List

Think on These Things ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti A very interesting book that delves into multiple philisophical and spiritual topics. It is an insight into different aspects of one’s life that one should think about as one progresses through them. It is the most perfect example of a “quantum text” I have found, thus far.

Moby Dick ~ Herman Melville I can’t come up with anything better than the way Glenn described it another great example:

“You should read Moby Dick when you are 20, 40, and 60 because you take a different perspective of all three major characters from the story because of your own position in life.”

The Richest Man in Babylon ~ George S. Clason This is a book that is filled with multiple parables that not only deal with money but also humility. It is a remarkable reminder on how to live one’s richest life, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. I think this should be a mandatory read, it is filled with so much wisdom that still rings true after three quarters of a century.

The Last Lecture ~ Randy Pausch This book is about Randy Pausch and his attempt to leave a legacy for his children. If you ask me, he did a pretty damn good job describing aspects that we should all try and attain. Humility. Respect. Earnestness. Passion. Understanding. Lightheartedness.

The 48 Laws of Power ~ Robert Greene This is something I will be reading the rest of my life, though not in it’s entirety, once is enough for that. This book is filled with so much knowledge it took me 2 months to finish, I just couldn’t sustain reading it constantly day in and day out. This is one of the single greatest texts to learn the basic underlying of social-engineering.

The Silmarillion ~ J.R.R. Tolkien The Bible of Middle Earth, is the text that describes the origins of the world, evil, and the division between men, elves, and dwarfs that occur in the first and second age of the world. Anyone who has read the Lord of The Rings would be doing themselves a great service in reading this text. I find this much more enthralling than the Trilogy.

The Analects of Confucius ~ Lun Yu(Confucius) This filled with a lifetime of wisdom that will require a lifetime of thought and introspection. If you can bust one of these kernels apart so that you can understand it, you can come to some amazing ideas of life. I try to read and understand one a day, though i haven’t purchased the book, yet.

The Art of War ~ Sun Tsu Another I don’t actually own this one either and, merely read the kernels of strategic influence online.  Since, I haven’t finished I’m not going to post a review of it. If some else would like to feel free in the comments. I just find the tactics and strategy of what I’ve read extremely deep.

Tribes ~ Seth Godin (I can’t discuss this one, yet. Pre-order the book it’s well worth it.) Brief idea of it’s text: It’s about leading a community on any level of a network.

Fight Club ~ Chuck Palahniuk This story has so many levels it I’ve read it a dozen times and interpreted differently every time. You have the chaos aspect, non-conformity, anti-consumerism, and the list goes on and on. This one of the few books that remind me of a movie as I read it, with symbolism that entrenches the mind.

Another person who has already made a list is ubiwar. Hope you enjoyed reading about my quantum library and feel free to share your own, I’d love to find some more books to add to my library.

Learn While Working

Posted on by
Reply

Skimming through my library this afternoon, I came across Rich Dad, Poor Dad and it has maybe one section worth reading, ‘Work to Learn’. This is a great idea that I employed in my job search, over the last couple of months.This is one of approach that many people don’t think about though it’s one of the best ways to search for a job.

The work you do should rub off on you in positive ways that add to your value as a person, provides a skill or increases your abilities. In the formal education system we choose our education to help us get work when we’re done. Many  people don’t choose a job for what value it will add to their skills but for what it will add to their wallet. This principle is best suited for the younger job seekers, late teens-early 30’s. The older age groups may gain something from it but with far less potential for reinvesting those skills.

A great example is myself and how this principle has improved me. I’ve been socially inept all my life, except for close friends I didn’t enjoy dealing with people. Even in college I only interacted with the people I had to and friends from high school. However, just over a month ago, I got a job as a rental agent and have become a much more social person. I have to interact with people every day, settling complaints, providing them directions, and helping them find assistance if I can provide it. I have seen this skill improve as I’m more comfortable sharing with people than ever before. I went from a secluded introvert to a secluded extrovert(geographically secluded, for now).

I’m also working on several web projects. These projects have provided me a way to learn more languages and study them deeper, than I would if I was just doing it for fun, though it is. I have increased my knowledge in this area though it’s still inefficient and everything is in the red. Several hundred dollars versus several thousand for school though put’s it in perspective 40-60 hrs/week vs. 80-100 hrs/week. It seems like a fair trade; though, it punishes me if I want to go search for a job at a top Tech Company.

This is example of how successful it can be, I learned how to socialize and that wouldn’t have been taught to me in any school. If you wanted to learn skills through interaction; try and find a position, or create one, where you are forced to learn the valuable lessons, relating to that skill. Think about it your getting paid to increase your personal assets that you can take elsewhere, if you hate the job pick a new skill.

College Is Taxing the System

Posted on by
Reply

Something I’ve noticed the last week is that discussions on education have been popping up everywhere. Our economic system is facing collapse, and the main issues are all centrally connected to the way our secondary-education system is founded and unregulated. The payment of the tuition is resulting in the major collapse but no one wants to focus on it. You have parents taking out mortgages, the government heavily subsidizing tuition, and student lenders, all taking huge losses on college.

I mentioned this in an old post that was originally written in the middle of March, though it focused on only the government subsidization. The issue is not that government shouldn’t assist, but they are hurting themselves and the economy by not regulating school rates. Over a 30 year period they have wasted approximately $2.4 Trillion( with a T) on education. Meanwhile, college rates are rising doubly as fast that of interest rates.

The people who were taking out loans are hurting but if they claim bankruptcy that is only making it worse for everyone else. The students with 30 or 40 thousand dollars in loans are going to find it hard to pay back because of the weak job market, and the parents who took out mortgages are are probably hurting tremendously. Yet, today the NYT’s posted an article on how the lenders should be taking the brunt of this blow. By allowing the students to claim bankruptcy on these funds.

This article is fucking ridiculous( pardon my language) , this will allow for billions of dollars to be wiped from the slate. This leaves the lenders with no capital to provide for the future borrowers and no profit for their services. What needs to happen is a reformation of the collegiate system.

The problems of our current economic tumults are founded upon these 2 systems the collegiate and the lenders. They are the major issues that caused the collapse in the housing market collapse, outside of the pricing bubble. Colleges have been and will be taxing the lending system both private and federal, making it harder to produce revenues to reach the equilibrium needed. College is generally going to cost you more with less job security and lower standards of pay. Lenders are feeding on this fact for interest and fees.

So the point I’m trying to say, is that even if we find a way out of the housing bubble, we still have a huge problem. If we don’t do something to reform college funding we will see this strain the system to a point of another economic collapse. I can see this occuring anywhere from less than 5 years to 10-20 years from now, it will happen if we don’t do anything.

The Three Hierarchical Layers Of Books

Posted on by
5

My friend, Glenn, over at My Adventure to Enlightenment is studying-abroad this semester in Morocco. He’ll be leaving in a few weeks and realized he only has room for roughly 6 books in his luggage. He is looking for books that have re-readability, provoke deep, challenging thought, and he is seeking non-fiction. This made me think what determines re-readability in a non-fiction text.

The Personal Library
The Quantum-Library
The Anti-Library

The Personal Library is a the basic layer containing all of your possessed books and other literary works. It possesses those that you have read, re-read, and have yet to read. For the separation of the layers this is the only layer that contains books that you have read only once.

The Anti-Library is something that has become a bit of a buzz word after being mentioned in Nassim Taleb’s, The Black Swan. He quote’s Umberto Eco on his view of a library(quote provided below). It is the layer that holds text that you have yet to read.

‘”Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight read-estate market allows you to put there. You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older, and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at you menacingly. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection of unread books an anti-library.”‘

However, there is another layer that is not discussed as of yet. It contains the texts that you have read, but ultimate meaning still eludes it’s readers. A book that shifts meaning depending on the perspective used to percieve it’s words. A layer that contains the ultimate in re-readability. This layer is like a movie, you watch it once and you enjoy it, you watch it several more times and you notice several subtle nuances, and the longer you re-watch the more you notice. These are the text’s that he is wanting to pack.

The Quantum-Library is the layer that co-exists as a member of both the Library and the Anti-Library. It is something you may have read, but when read again with a different perspective it exists in another form. These type’s of books are the ultimate for a bibliophile. It is the layer described above and contains the texts that you re-read.

So if you know of any texts that exist in the Quantum layer leave a comment here or over at Glenn’s blog he’d really appreciate it.

Addendum:

Seeing people come in from Zenpundit, Jay@Soob, OZ Deichman, and Ace Hanna, I have added my own list with reasons for their selection.