Good Google Talk

Google recently had Noam Chomsky take questions.
For those outside the fields of AI, Linguistics, Psych, etc., he is a very influential and highly quoted theorist. The talk begins on the topic of universal grammar (which I think is a misleading and utterly useless premise), but quickly(about 16min in) opens to politics, history, culture, and current events (on which, his insights are more useful).

If you can spare an hour, it's worth a watch.
Heres the link so you can go watch it full screen, and it's also embedded below.

I have a confession...

I knew I didn't buy into the media's portrayal of Rev. Wright, but my reasons were naive. I figured that the media's attempts to project a clergyman's words onto a member of the church, political or not, were ridiculous. I figured that it was no coincidence that these videos surfaced just as Hillary was at her most desperate point in the campaign. The fact that the media was looping the same 5 seconds of his sermon was an indicator that his controversial statements were more sparse than they would have the public believe.

My intuition told me that this "scandal" was an overblown, convenient, load of garbage with a purely political effect(and it worked).

I am ashamed to say, however, that I never bothered to hear Rev. Wright's side of the story or simply watch one of the sermons in its entirety to put the media's sound byte in context. Nor did I consider the collateral damage of this political stunt; the effect on the church. The fact that they've had to defend themselves against undeserved public scrutiny and threats of violence.

So I saw Rev. Wright's interview on PBS (both parts) tonight and I was compelled to share it. Not only do I identify with many of his views, I admire his character, and after seeing his message in context, I think it would be good if he has influenced Barack (not that Barack's principles aren't already sound)

If you saw that looped clip the media has been parading and it affected your views on race, on Barack, or even if you shrugged it off without questioning it's consistency, you should really consider watching the interview. You might realize how effective a manufactured, misrepresentation of one's message can be in politics. Or you might realize how little regard the media has for objective, balanced conveyance of facts. Rather, they act more readily on political views, or dramatic appeal("hey, the more shocking we make this, the more people will watch!")

Bottom line; I'm recommending you watch it.
Take your own lessons from it...

Cheers,


UPDATE: Added link to part II of the video.

Brain farts aren't as productive as real ones.

haha, I'm proud of that title.

Anyway, I thought I'd post a link to an interesting article:
Mind-Reading Hat Could Prevent Brain Farts

The fact that there was observable abnormal brain activity was kind of a "duh" to me, but 30 seconds before? It must take people a while to start daydreaming (i.e. a very gradual transition).

Worth a Read

I got this link from my Google Alert for "Cognitive Architecture."
http://www.gvnews.com/articles/2008/04/11/news/news04.txt
Not quite what I was looking for, but still worth a read.

It follows what I've been preaching since I read my first neuroscientific text. (waaaay back in October 2007).
The brain is extremely plastic and the worst thing you can do for it is to overindulge in passive activities (both mental AND physical).

Even YouTube (generally passive) is better than traditional media because at least you are more likely to actively search for interesting content. Even THAT will engage more of your brain than letting whatever content is on the tube come to you.

Even better, do some (re)searching, reading, or a hands-on activity.

This Is My Jam

This is pretty cool.
You can go to this site and make your own jam.
Just create an account, search for some songs, order them, and have it generate the jam. You can use custom settings to control the transitions, or let the app do it automatically.

Here's one I just slapped together:



It's a bit clunky right now. And if I'm right, the music not extracted from each song on the fly, but is taken from the previews at Amazon.com. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon was behind the development of this.
Still, I think it's a cool concept.

Fresh from the front lines

So it's been a while. I figured I would post a couple thoughts.

I must have allergies I wasn't aware of, since I'm noticing that this time every year (or at least the last few years) I feel like crap. I've had a headache, poor mental clarity, and irritated eyes for 2 weeks now. bleh.

Wednesday, just as I began to think that I might be making a mistake in quitting my job, I was brought back to reality so quick it made my head spin. I won't go into detail (since this is a public blog), but suffice to say I was reminded of one of the primary reasons why I applied to grad school. I can't WAIT to move on.

Also Wednesday, I went to a talk by Steve Grossberg. He presents a very compelling argument for his model of laminar cortical dynamics and his push for a unified theory of the cortex. And while many of the PhD students will likely be quick to dismiss his arguments (I'm not sure why they ALWAYS do this, pride?, a greater understanding of the issues than my own?) I thought he was brilliant. Although I had some questions about the fundamentals of his models, I don't doubt that most of the details are as well-formed as his main theories.... btw. I don't expect this section to appeal to the majority of my audience, but the point is that one of the most satisfying experiences is to hear someone talk (on or slightly above your level) and having it make you think so heavily that you walk out of the talk feeling fried. (like after studying for finals)

Thursday was the last day of my class. I enjoyed this particular class so much, I wish the semester was longer. As usual, of the 2 classes this semester, I did very well in the class I really enjoyed and it's iffy how I did in the one I didn't enjoy.

I will be doing research this summer on Self Organizing Maps. The project doesn't sound like anything ground-breaking (so far), but I hear that it's a typical first summer project. Regardless, I will have the opportunity to research with a couple very talented people, SOMs are closely related to some of my bigger research interests, and I might even get published. So, it doesn't get much better than that!


Aaaannnnd, lets finish with a laugh. Watch the first half of this.

Beyond the Superficial Post

I have a minute tonight to myself and I decided to use it to organize my thoughts and explain myself on a deeper level that my usual, "check this out" post...


I tend to immerse myself in things. Call it lack of will power, poor self control, an unquenchable thirst for exhaustively exploring every aspect of whatever task, hobby, job, person, or idea for which I have a current fascination; I can't help it.

When I first went to college, I got a taste for REAL academics (not that high school junk). Class was life. Then there were some boring classes; partying was life. Then classes became interesting again; class was life. I would have spent every waking hour on class and work if it were always up to me. (luckily I had some great friends that would force me to have fun on occasion) When I graduated, I accepted my first career-like job(I had lots of other jobs but they always took a back seat to academics), and that was my sole focus. Last year, that job lost its luster (for reasons that will go unmentioned here), so, after some massive deliberation, I applied for graduate school.

Present day; I'm in graduate school, still working the job until August, doing extensive future-planning (from summer, to next year, to 10 years), and trying to maintain SOME basic contact with family and friends. School is way harder than I expected, and some of my biggest projects are culminating this year at work. I've never been so overwhelmed, yet I still get angry that I'm not able to balance them better.

It's that character flaw I alluded to at the beginning of this post. When I'm at school, I want nothing to do with work. When I'm at work, I wish I didn't have school to worry about, so I could get more done. And when I hang out with family and friends, I don't feel like going back to work or school. And it's difficult to give any of them the attention they deserve while thoughts of the other two are lurking overhead. This is especially true because they (school, work, f&f) clash so vividly(while I'm in one of the situations, those people don't care about or don't understand me when I talk about the other two). So, it's a conundrum, and my current coping mechanism is to consolidate my focus by ignoring whatever I can (usually family & friends).

Firstly, I apologize. Some of you think I'm mad at you, ignoring you, or don't care. But you're wrong. I'm just acting on my current priorities (which are probably misguided). Second, I'm looking to reduce my load and achieve a better balance, so hang in there. In the meantime, give me a nudge now and then.

So there it is, my self explanation. For you worriers out there, this isn't a "break down" or a "cry for help," just a moment of honesty. An attempt to explain myself so that you may better understand why (at times) I may seem distant, or dismissive, or whatever.

I wouldn't expect this kind of post regularly. It takes some self reflection, it's time-consuming, and I personally don't think I'm all that interesting.

Cheers,