What have you learned lately?

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:18 pm

I guess some background is in order.

I'm a geology major about halfway through my degree at a university with a hard-ass geology program. When I get my degree, I will be very, very employable.

I guess the big, life-changing insight I've gotten from the past two years is that there is no isolated knowledge--everything connects with everything else; this makes a pretty good case for research into *anything*.

Today in Petrology, I got a marvelous lecture on the formation of rocks at plate boundaries. This contained several other interesting facts:

1) North America has several aborted rifts from where the continent started to split apart, but the process didn't progress past a certain point.

2) An actual rift is happening, right now, in north-east Africa. And pretty soon (in geologic terms), it's going to peel off a piece of Africa

3) The Earth's magnetic field reverses itself with remarkable swiftness once it decides it's going to do so, but as far as anyone knows, there's never been an extinction caused by a magnetic reversal. As the professor put it, maybe some pigeons or other birds with internal compasses (read: small crystals of magnetite that serve as, yes, internal compasses) got some migraines for a while.

So, anyone learn anything interesting lately?

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:22 pm

Well last night I learned that the Swedish Chef had his own cereal from 1989-1990.

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 9:52 pm

I'm still on my winter break, but working on my senior thesis during it sadly. I've been learning all about 3D agent-based simulations, how much everything on the market totally blows chunks for it, and how there's no documentation on getting anything to work. Which ends up meaning I'm not doing much research and more learning how to work somebody's stupid program.

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:35 pm

I have recently learnt more than I ever wanted to know about the inner workings of the travel industry.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:42 pm

Maxus wrote:2) An actual rift is happening, right now, in north-east Africa. And pretty soon (in geologic terms), it's going to peel off a piece of Africa

Been there. Kicks ass. You should go.

Being a new parent, I'm learning a lot about babies. Namely, how much our society retards them between our psychological projections about their intelligence and modern problems that have to be compensated for (like SIDS). You can teach a kid to read the same way they learn to speak, and you can teach a baby to crawl before four months of age.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:54 pm

Maj: they also did a study recently, with results suggesting that if the baby faces away from you in the pram, they won't end up as smart/happy/social as if they face you. This is based on a survey of TWENTY WHOLE WOMEN. With such a group as that, you can't go wrong! That's like, two tens.

I enrolled at an adult campus for a tertiary college, so that I can go into Uni next year. I'll be studying Bio and Chem (at a grade 12 level), so I imagine I'll be learning a whole heap over the next 12 months.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 12:01 am

Heh, just reminded me of the Mineralogy professor's story about a deep mine in Australia.

He said it was two miles down, and so hot, they actually make you strip and put on a unisex pair of light cloth coveralls and have water dispensers *everywhere*.

He also said that as a young college student at the time, he was able to appreciate those those coveralls are unisex *in theory*, but they're actually aimed towards the average male height, that being just about the height of the average miner. Which meant that the 5'3" young women on the tour had their hands actually full keeping their modesty intact.

------------------

Anyway,

Australia's loaded with mineral wealth. I may try my luck there someday.

Neeeek · Post by **Neeeek** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 12:13 am

Maj wrote:you can teach a baby to crawl before four months of age.

Why would you want to?

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 12:23 am

Neeek wrote:Why would you want to?

Why wouldn't you want to?

The book I'm reading right now goes into the fact that, evolutionarily speaking, having a human being that develops mobility as late as children seem to these days is a disadvantage. And there really hasn't been enough time for our mobility to devolve.

Apparently, though I didn't do it with my son because I didn't know until now, babies' first movements enable them to creep around from day one. Yeah, they suck at it, and yeah, it takes a couple months' practice before they can aim for a location and make it there. But they don't have the time to unlearn that their flailing can actually be productive.

Mobile development goes hand in hand with the development of general intelligence and coordination. The last thing I want to do to my kid is stunt his natural potential - even through ignorance.

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 12:49 am

Surgo wrote:I'm still on my winter break, but working on my senior thesis during it sadly. I've been learning all about 3D agent-based simulations, how much everything on the market totally blows chunks for it, and how there's no documentation on getting anything to work. Which ends up meaning I'm not doing much research and more learning how to work somebody's stupid program.

Are you trying to build a simulation program or use existing software?

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 1:23 am

I'm trying to build a physical simulation to test some computer vision ideas I have. I don't want to build new simulation libraries, because that's a graduate school thesis all by itself. I just want to use something out there to test computer vision ideas I have.

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 1:26 am

Surgo wrote:I'm trying to build a physical simulation to test some computer vision ideas I have. I don't want to build new simulation libraries, because that's a graduate school thesis all by itself. I just want to use something out there to test computer vision ideas I have.

I see. Please forgive my ignorance, but what does "3D agent-based" mean?

Neeeek · Post by **Neeeek** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:31 am

Maj wrote: Why wouldn't you want to?

Every parent I've ever spoken to has said their life goes to hell as soon as the kid can get about on their own. So, basically, delaying the walking time is a defense mechanism for the parents' sanity. And there is no practical reason that being able to walk or crawl earlier is going to benefit the child. Where the hell are they going to go?

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 3:08 am

Neeek wrote:Every parent I've ever spoken to has said their life goes to hell as soon as the kid can get about on their own. So, basically, delaying the walking time is a defense mechanism for the parents' sanity. And there is no practical reason that being able to walk or crawl earlier is going to benefit the child. Where the hell are they going to go?

Well, I'll let you know what happens when Giovanni can get around. So far, I've wanted him to be mobile because it means things like potty training can start. Unlike a lot of parents, there is no way on God's green earth that I'm going to change diapers until he's three. I also, unlike a lot of people, want my kid to get into stuff. Yeah, it's gonna be a pain, but curiosity is how children turn into smart adults. Killing curiosity by limiting mobility is why parents should have had a philodendron rather than a child.

TarkisFlux · Post by **TarkisFlux** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 3:13 am

What Maj said. Plus, mobility teaches balance, depth perception, motor control, and how to deal with the pain of falling down. If my kids don't get a head start on those things, how can I expect them to pilot giant robots and hold the world hostage when they get older?

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 3:14 am

The funny this is, last I checked research indicates that no matter what you do for your kids development, as long as you actively participate and make a serious effort you'll succeed.

Bigode · Post by **Bigode** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 3:19 am

cthulhu wrote:The funny this is, last I checked research indicates that no matter what you do for your kids development, as long as you actively participate and make a serious effort you'll succeed.

That's ... almost definitionally wrong. I mean, it's gotta be possible to screw it up just by being stupid enough. I think it then follows that it's gotta be possible to ace it by doing stuff exceptionally right ...

ubernoob · Post by **ubernoob** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 3:28 am

Maj, you have my sincere admiration for that approach to parenting.

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 3:51 am

I just learned this:

wikipedia wrote:There is even a katar displayed at the City Palace Museum in Jaipur, with two single-shot pistols built into either side of the weapon.

I've previously seen a similar boar-spear in a British museum.

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:07 am

CatharzGodfoot wrote:
Surgo wrote:I'm trying to build a physical simulation to test some computer vision ideas I have. I don't want to build new simulation libraries, because that's a graduate school thesis all by itself. I just want to use something out there to test computer vision ideas I have.
I see. Please forgive my ignorance, but what does "3D agent-based" mean?

There's a bunch of agents (which are arbitrary objects, really, they just respond to commands on each timestep), and they live in a 3-dimensional simulated world. So they have 3 coordinates to describe their position, and their positions can be described relative to each other.

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:37 am

Bigode wrote:
cthulhu wrote:The funny this is, last I checked research indicates that no matter what you do for your kids development, as long as you actively participate and make a serious effort you'll succeed.
That's ... almost definitionally wrong. I mean, it's gotta be possible to screw it up just by being stupid enough. I think it then follows that it's gotta be possible to ace it by doing stuff exceptionally right ...

You'd think, but it doesn't actually seem to make a difference in a statistically relevant population kind of way. It seems to boils down to stupid people don't care and smart people do.

An alternative theory is that what you need to do to get the best outcomes is actually fairly basic and stuff you'll achieve completely co-indicentially no matter what you do. No-one is sure (obviously), but maybe for example it is really high levels of interaction with the kid, and providing a good role model.

The people making an active effort (thus generating higher interaction) also tend to be 'good role models' (and by 'good' I mean richer and better educated) for purely socioeconomic reasons.

Freakonomics touches on this which is what sparked my intrest, but its quite engaging reading overall.

JonSetanta · Post by **JonSetanta** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:59 am

http://www.livescience.com/animals/cass ... 41222.html

Maj:
http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

And I agree with the encouragement of mobility. That's bull to assume a child has no where to go; you'd essentially be making a judgement call on an innocent mind's interests, and that ain't right (although it's done worldwide, every day..)

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 5:22 am

What did I learn today? I learned that Damascus steel was actually originally made in South India. Who knew?

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 5:52 am

Nice article, Sigma. It relates back to one of my favorite books (The Lucifer Principle {worksafe}). My mom was always sure to emphasize to us that in school it wasn't important to be the best; it was most important to try your best. Most people on the outside didn't get that distinction, though.

cthulhu wrote:Freakonomics touches on this which is what sparked my intrest, but its quite engaging reading overall.

Freakonomics was a good book, but the kind of stuff they talked about in there was more Baby Einstein kind of stuff. While I'm not hoping for a huge IQ in my child - it would be nice, though - the true goal is to give my child the ability to discern his own world sooner.

It's the dog trainer method: If you teach your dog to heel and obey you, then whenever you open your front door, he's not going to go running wildly off and require that you chase him all over the neighborhood. Likewise, if I give Giovanni the ability to read, do math, and investigate things for himself, then (in theory), rather than being pestered by him getting into things and wanting to know the answers to interminable quantities of questions, he can go look things up himself. It's more about self-reliance and independence than gaining raw IQ.

TarkisFlux wrote:What Maj said. Plus, mobility teaches balance, depth perception, motor control, and how to deal with the pain of falling down. If my kids don't get a head start on those things, how can I expect them to pilot giant robots and hold the world hostage when they get older?

Damn straight! We're working on the evil laugh this week.

Mwahahahahaha!

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 5:59 am

Maj wrote:
Freakonomics was a good book, but the kind of stuff they talked about in there was more Baby Einstein kind of stuff.

<snip>

It's more about self-reliance and independence than gaining raw IQ.

Freaknomics mentions something else too - that while IQ is strongly genetic, studies of adopted babies shows that it' completely irrelevant when determining final outcomes (you have to only pick measurable outcomes, so I'm taking about incomes here) and those outcomes boil down to the parents trying or not.