Making noise while eating.

I have a pet lovebird in my house. We are very close and sometimes I let him sit on my shoulder when I eat. And sometimes I tease him by making chewing/biting noise. Because it fascinates me to see that he immediately recognizes the food chewing noise and tries to reach my mouth for the food.

Which made me wonder how "making food noise" became labelled as a barbarian act amongst humans.(Surely there are cultures in which making food noise is considered a norm, but those cultures are CHANGING as the globalization takes hold of the world.)

And I came to the conclusion that it possibly came from the breach between the ones that have food and the ones that don't.

Possibly there were people who owned food, and the ones who didn't. The people who owned food (rich, ruling class) did not want to provoke others'(without food, "subordinate class")hunger, as that would lead the subordinate class to be taken over by their animal urgy to SATISFY THEIR HUNGER by destroying the ruling class (OR, just out of courtsey). So they started eating food quietly and stealthily.

And eventually this became an aristocratic culture all around the world.

My most important point in all this is that I do not think making food noise was ever intended to be thought as a repulsive act. (It's NATURAL, even) And that people do so many things without realizing why the fuck they are doing what they are doing.

Fascist numbnuts.

Four modes of energy transfer

1. The Hot sun (radiative exchange)
-The heat content of a substance is proportional to the random kinetic energy of its molecules.
-Temperature is a measure of the average random kinetic energy of the moleculers in a substance.

2. The Cold floor tile (conduction)
-If 2 substances at different temperatures are in contact with others. Heat is transferred from the high-temperature substance to the low by conduction.
-Conduction = a direct molecular interaction.

3. The "chilling" wind (convection)-Convection = heat transport by a moving fluid. following the similar rule as the mass/momentum transport. ex) The force of wind or water on an organism is a manifestation of the transport of momentum.

4. The "stifling" humidity (reduced latent heat loss)
-To change from a liquid to a gaseous state at 20" C, water must absorb about 2450 joules per gram (the latent heat of vaporization), almost 600 times the energy required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree. Evaporation of water from an organism, which involves the latent heat required to convert the liquid water to vapor and convection of this vapor away from the organism, can therefore be a very effective mode of energy transfer. Almost everyone has had the experience of stepping out of a swimming pool on a hot day and feeling quite cold until the water dries from their skin.

-An introduction to environmental biophysics, Gaylon S.Campbell, John M Norman

Humanistic relationship between teachers and students

According to Dan Ariely's book, predictably irrational, when social norms are mixed with market norms, people tend to lose their motivation. If that's the case, is the humanistic relationship between teachers and students possible at all? How can you truly balance between the professional and humanistic(social) relationship?

"You are at your mother-in-law's house for Thanksgiving dinner, and what a sumptuous spread she has put on the table for you! The turkey is roasted to a golden brown; the stuffing is homemade and exactly the way you like it. Your kids are delighted: the sweet potatoes are crowned with marshmallows. And your wife is flattered: her favorite recipe for pumpkin pie has been chosen for dessert.
The festivities continue into the late afternoon. You loosen your belt and sip a glass of wine. Gazing fondly across the table at your mother-in-law, you rise to your feet and pull out your wallet. "Mom, for all the love you've put into this, how much do I owe you?" you say sincerely. As silence descends on the gathering, you wave a handful of bills. "Do you think three hundred dollars will do it? No, wait, I should give you four hundred!"
This is not a picture that Norman Rockwell would have painted. A glass of wine falls over; your mother-in-law stands up red-faced; your sister-in-law shoots you an angry look; and your niece bursts into tears. Next year's Thanksgiving celebration, it seems, may be a frozen dinner in front of the television set."

- Predictably irrational.

Andragogy(wikipedia)

Andragogy consists of learning strategies focused on adults. It is often interpreted as the process of engaging adult learners with the structure of learning experience. Originally used by Alexander Kapp (a German educator) in 1833, andragogy was developed into a theory of adult education by the American educator Malcolm Knowles. - wikipedia

1.Adults need to know the reason(motivaton) for learning something (Need to Know)
Experience (including error) provides the basis for learning activities (Foundation).

Children too need motivators for learning something, the motivation being that they don't want to be licked. Hohoho. No in all seriousness, besides the reward and punishment as motivators. Their role models can be motivators(intrinsic motivation) for learning. Especially when children try to be like them by adapting their values, behaviors, etc.

Choice of challenge is another characteristic of motivation. Children who experience success in meeting one challenge will become motivated, welcoming another. These motivated learners will choose an activity that is slightly difficult for them, but provides an appropriate challenge. When they successfully complete such a task, children gain a high level of satisfaction. Unmotivated children (those who have not experienced early success) will pick something that is very easy and ensures an instant success. With such easy success, children feel only a very low level of satisfaction, because they know that the task offered little challenge. The challenge for parents is helping their child find an appropriate challenge while still allowing the choice to be the child's.

Newborn infants are born with a tremendous amount of intrinsic motivation. This motivation is aimed toward having some visible effect on the environment. When infants can actually see the results of their actions as a reward, they are motivated to continue those actions. These attempts toward control are limited within the young child, and include crying, vocalizations, facial expressions and small body movements. Toys that change or make sound as the child moves them are therefore strong motivators.

http://www.nasponline.org/resources/home_school/earlychildmotiv_ho.aspx

2.Adults need to be responsible for their decisions on education; involvement in the planning and evaluation of their instruction (Self-concept).
Again, no lickin for the adults!
3.Adults are most interested in learning subjects having immediate relevance to their work and/or personal lives (Readiness).
4.Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented (Orientation). children -> goal-orientated (even, there's such thing as a work-avoidant goal orientation where the child does not wish to engage in any types of academic activities)
5.Adults respond better to internal versus external motivators (Motivation). ->This is shown in children also.

Carl Rogers (1979) Essential principles for successful learning

Principles essential for successful learning

1. There must be a natural potential for learning

Well, my sir, do I hear "eugenism"? Hohoho.

O.K. Back to seriousness,

A natural potential for learning huh? Potential being that you are not constantly disturbed by evil voices in your head? Or that you are docile enough not to discriminate against knowledge? Hohoho.

2. Learning is more likely to be successful if the learner sees that the material is relevant.

I agree. Relevancy plays the most important role in one's choice of interests - whether it's his favorite subject, music, movies, etc. A lot of times, people realize this and broadcast their forged interests to the world in order to project the image of a sane man. But so often these phony AND bird-brained fuckas fail to hide the feet of their dead victims under their beds. Why being something you are not in the first place if you are only going to end up in prison? Hohoho.

3. If the learning involves changing oneself. The person can find the learning threatening. (if the threatening learning is essential, it should be reduced to its minimum.)

That's right. Who likes changes? especially if it's a change that can have an impact on WHO YOU ARE? NO NO NO and NO!

For instance, why would I want to learn that I'm getting old, when I can actually remain 16 in my head for the rest of my life? You can yappidy-yap all you want. I will simply close my ears and sing "oh happy day." -> Of course, this right here is just an example, I'm not afraid of aging and watching my tits and ass sag.. or am I?

4. A lot of significant learning is acquired through doing something.

Does this mean that I need to go and have sex with French hookers to understand what the hell Henry Miller was talking about? Hohoho.

5. The learner must respond in a responsible manner to the learning experience.

Take control. Dominate.

6. The most successful and long lasting comes from self-initiated learning.

7. If internal evaluation is used rather than external evaluation, there will be more independence, creativity and self-reliance.

The question is why do we look for others' opinions in the first place? to gain more data? to see things from different angles? But how dangerous is this game? How easily can you lose focus and get trapped into the "the majority wins" rule?

8. It is essential that learners learn about the process to cope with the impact of the changes.
.. I imagine this is a continuing principle from the principle 3.

So again on about the sagging tits and ass..

9. The role of the teacher to provide an environment in which individuals can set their own learning goals.
What about you, teacher? what about your goals?

If any of my students asked me this, I would break down and cry on her shoulders. Of course, not because I feel frustrated about being an unstable vagabond in life but simply because I have "something" in my eyes. Hohohohoho.

Learning styles - Honey and Mumford (1986)

Above is a picture of KOLB cycle, similar to that of Honey and Mumford. You just gotta MINUS the arrows. Hohohoho.

1. Activists
2. Reflectors
3. Theorists
4. Pragmatists

1. Activists - These people supposedly enjoy "living for the moment". They enjoy new experiences. They are open-minded and enthusiastic about anything that is new. Bored with implementaion.

2. Reflectors - They like to stand back and think about experiences and observe them from a number of different angles. They are cautious in thier approach, and tend to adopt a low profile, thoughtful.

3. Theorists - They think through problems in a careful and logical way. They tend to be detached and analytical rather than subjective and ambiguous.

4. Pragmatists - They are enthusiastic to put the ideas/theories and techniques into practice. They like to get on with things and get impatient with lengthy discussions instead of actions.

I think It's cowdung to label someone one learning style or another, as people are always "a little bit" of everything. FLUID CONCEPT, if you will. For instance, if you are lacking in visual/spatial ability(like I am), it's probably due to the fact you are not used to visualizing things in your mind. Give yourself 5 years of practice, and you will turn into the master of visualization. Kind of like talent, the only talent that exists in this world is to be born in the society that worships your type of people. You could be fat, skinny, purple, green, etc. If you are born in the right place at the right time, they will cultivate your "talent" by rubbing olive lotion on your skin and put you on the cover of people's magazine. If not, they will shoot you in the head for having 8 tentacles. Which is the reason why I have bullet holes all over my body. What a fucking joke.

Now if I were to apply the KOLB cycle in my life, I would switch the place of active experimentation to abstract conceptualisation and vise versa. How can you possibly develope a "logically sound" theory without trying it out the basic outline first? To develope a theory, you have to have the idea that works. And in order to do that you have to REFLECT AND APPLY it in life first.

Even after the "active experimentation", your theory can not be concrete. You will need to keep "experimenting" to update your theories.

Robert M. Gagné - Nine Events of Instruction

Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction

(He argued that learning can fail at any of these eight stages.)

1. Gain attention(This I think is the most important stage)

I've noticed that the best way to gain people's attention is to appeal to people's emotions(arouse their emotions-> either negative or positive.) Auditory and visual stimuli do not necessary work if they are not connected to people's sensitive side. So the best way to grab the attention of audience is to know who they are first.
Example 1: Using pictures of poor Asian children to collect donation will only inspire/move people are who interested in such subject (especially parents, people who have had disturbingly poor childhood, etc)
Example 2: Models with big buttocks in advertisements are more likely to attract customers in African or South American community than they are in Europe or Asia.

2. Inform learners of objectives
It's more effective and relieving to learn with clear objectives than doing so accidently and sponteneously.
Example: Looking for answers with questions(objectives)in mind > Looking for answers
3. Stimulate recall of prior learning
It's easier/quicker to learn with prior knowledge than learning it from scratch. Even if it's completely new knowledge, you can always try to familiarize it.

Example: The word "actually" in Russian is фактически(Faktichesky). To try to remember it dry like that it's difficult but if I familiarize the word by remembering the English word "fact" based on its relation to "actuality", remembering фактически becomes easier.
4. Present the content.

5. Provide "learning guidance"
Use examples, analogies, case studies to help them remember better.

6. Elicit performance (practice? NOT! PERFORMANCE)
This is the stage of learning that is usually being assessed by assignments and examinations.

I think this should be called "motivation", as so many students begin their studies just to get to this stage and after this, what they've "learned" goes into the sewage.

7. Provide feedback
Feedback for encoding purposes.

8. Assess performance
Final evaluation.

9. Enhance retention and transfer to the job
Learned skill to the new situation.


What is the point of doing "final evaluation"? other than to follow some conventional structure built to make comparisons and provoke competitions (which is necessary in this society, I assume.)

If it's real learning, you can just as easily apply your learned skill to the new situations without some type of final evaluation as you would with it.

*Success as a student is about more than being 'clever' - good marks, as well as other kinds of succesful outcome, are possibilities for ANY STUDENT.

Tropic of cancer - Henry Miller 3

To be food starved.


"Dropped in at the Cronstadts’ and they were eating too.
A young chicken with wild rice. Pretended that I had eaten
already, but I could have torn the chicken from the baby’s
hands. This is not just false modesty – it’s a kind of
perversion, I’m thinking. Twice they asked me if I wouldn’t
join them. No! No! Wouldn’t even accept a cup of coffee
after the meal. I’m delicat, I am! On the way out I cast a
lingering glance at the bones lying on the baby’s plate –
there was still meat on them."

"High noon and here I am standing on an empty belly at
the confluence of all these crooked lanes that reek with the
odor of food."

Macropsia - wikipedia

Macropsia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Macropsia is a neurological condition affecting human visual perception, in which objects appear larger than normal, and the subject smaller. It is the reverse of micropsia.

Causes of macropsia include migraines and (rarely) complex partial epilepsy. Temporary macropsia can be also caused by the actions of various psychoactive drugs, notably cannabis and magic mushrooms. Drug-induced changes in perception subside as the chemical leaves the body.

My photography

Vulnerability.

Painting by Jose Castillo/Tropic of cancer - Henry Miller 2

"She rises up out of a sea of faces and
embraces me, embraces me passionately – a thousand eyes,
noses, fingers, legs, bottles, windows, purses, saucers all
glaring at us and we in each other’s arms oblivious. I sit
down beside her and she talks – a flood of talk. Wild
consumptive notes of hysteria, perversion, leprosy. I hear
not a word because she is beautiful and I love her and now I
am happy and willing to die."

Tropic of cancer - Henry Miller

I recall distinctly how I enjoyed my suffering. It was like taking a cub to bed with you. Once in a while he clawed you – and then you really were frightened. Ordinarily you had no fear – you could always turn him loose, or chop his head off.

It seems like it's over, my life in Costa Rica. Well, I will destroy all the pictures/connections and move on. Things will happen elsewhere. Things are always happening. - Henry Miller + Me.

“You artists need to grow up and learn the difference between an installation piece and a hole in the ground,” the man sneered. Surely Stevick’s age or younger, yet dressed like Stevick’s grandfather, he added, “Slack-ass.”

Stevick was incensed. “There’s a man in this hole!”

“Don’t bore me with your disgusting personal situation!”

“It’s not a personal situation, you fucker!”

“Roll up and die, grubbie!”

“Yaaaaarrrr!” They charged with umbrellas outheld.

New hair color.

How to end the impasse...

Aristotle

... We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.

Is it only complete when it's out in public?(which I think Aristotle meant by "acts"), what about one's private thoughts/feelings? are they not part of who you are? or,
"thinking temperate things", "imagining brave things" should be considered acts as well? If that's the case, what would happen if you can't control what you think and what you imagine, or simply fail to recognize all your thoughts(which is commonly the case.) Who are you, then?

Kropotkin

"those animals which acquire habits of mutual aid are undoubtedly the fittest to survive"

"mutual aid was the chief factor of progressive evolution."

How Tongues Taste the Carbonation in a Fizzy Beverage

This is from New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/science/20obfizz.html?ref=science

This suggested that taste receptors were responsible. But there are receptors for five tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami (sometimes termed savory). They repeated the experiment using mice that had been genetically engineered without one type of receptor. Those without sour receptors showed no response to the carbonation, indicating that those receptors were responsible.

The researchers also looked at the genes in sour taste receptors, and identified one, called Car4, that encodes an enzyme that is known to be involved in sensing carbon dioxide in the body. The enzyme helps convert CO2 into bicarbonate ions and free protons. Since bicarbonate does not stimulate taste receptors, the researchers said, it is probably the protons that are responsible.

But the researchers note that carbon dioxide doesn’t really taste sour. So the ultimate perception of carbonation may involve other senses as well, including the mechanical stimulus of all those popping bubbles.

Ethinic Chinese in Russia

Things that crack me up.

Additionally, the expanding Chinese presence in the area began to lead to yellow peril-style fears of Chinese irredentism by the Russians.[9] Russian newspapers began to publish speculation that between two and five million Chinese migrants actually resided in the Russian Far East, and predicted that half of the population of Russia would be Chinese by 2050.[26][36] Russians typically believe that Chinese come to Russia with the aim of permanent settlement, and even former president Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying "If we do not take practical steps to advance the Far East soon, after a few decades, the Russian population will be speaking Chinese, Japanese, and Korean."[37]

Some Russians perceive hostile intent in the Chinese practise of using different names for local cities, such as Hǎishēnwǎi for Vladivostok, and a widespread folk belief states that the Chinese migrants remember the exact locations of their ancestors' ginseng patches, and seek to reclaim them.[9] According to some journalists, like David Hall of The Japan Times, all Chinese leaders up through Hu Jintao promise that China will reclaim all these territories one day as it did Hong Kong and Macau, and Chinese schools teach children that the Russian provinces on the other side of the 4300-km border, or Outer Manchuria, belong to China.[35] One unnamed Western analyst, speaking to Asia Times Online journalist Bertil Lintner on the subject of underpopulation in Russia's Far Eastern Federal District, claimed that "If the Russians continue to move out, the Chinese are ready to fill the resultant population vacuum in the area."[29]

The xenophobia against Chinese and exaggerated concerns over the Chinese influx are described as less prevalent in the east, where most of the Chinese shuttle trade is actually occurring, than in European Russia.[25]

- wikipedia

For more hillarious information, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_people_in_Russia

Klimpt by Floriana Barbu

A cup of Klimpt tea, anyone?

I am vertical - Sylvia Plath

Tonight, in the infinitesimal light of the stars,
The trees and flowers have been strewing their cool odors.
I walk among them, but none of them are noticing.
Sometimes I think that when I am sleeping
I must most perfectly resemble them—
Thoughts gone dim.
It is more natural to me, lying down.
Then the sky and I are in open conversation,
And I shall be useful when I lie down finally:
Then the trees may touch me for once, and the flowers have time for me.

You should have consulted what tormented her. But instead, to gather her cheap attention, you esteemed her passive strength, of which she didn't need any more support. You don't understand why she died over and over and over. Neither should you ever feign comprehension/loving of which your bovine mind is not capable.

Let me go easy on your mind and throw a 100 bill over there, go catch. See? I know what you are good at.

Ardi, oh Ardi

It's not my thing to write a documentary film review. (let alone sharing it) But last night I watched something I think is worth mentioning/remembering - "Discovering Ardi (2009)".

It was filmed a little too melodramatically for my taste, with its theatrical music and other sensational crap I find gross. But it was fascinating to see the process of people digging up the fossils and attaching them together to create something that may(or may not, it could well be a fabrication)resemble our oldest (4-million-something- year old)ancestor.

It took scientists/researchers/local Ethiopians 17 years to come up with this illustration of our supposed ancestor,



Her name is Ardi, and she was both bipedal and quadrupedal. The documentary suggests that our ancestors became bipedal primates because of their increased need to carry things(food) in their arms, to later share them with their lovers, family and what have you. And thus, compassion and sharing is what made the human species survive.

I'm getting a vibe that Karl Marx would have tremendously enjoyed this documentary film, if he didnt die of bronchitis and pleurisy approximately 100 years ago.

Baudelaire

or maybe I'm just allergic?

Hymn to beauty - Baudelaire

Thy look containeth both the dawn and sunset stars,
Thy perfumes, as upon a sultry night exhale,
Thy kiss a philter, and thy mouth a Grecian vase,
That renders heroes cowardly and infants hale.

Drifting Crane By Hamlin Garland

I would like to "celebrate" Columbus day with Hamlin Garland's drifting crane.


http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=GarCran.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1

DRIFTING CRANE. BY HAMLIN GARLAND

Women in Russian History

http://www.cozy-corner.com/history_eng/link_books_women.htm

If they don't listen, whip them!

First Leaf - Lia Purpura

First Leaf
by Lia Purpura from the new yorker

That yellow
was a falling off,
a fall
for once I saw
coming—
it could
in its stillness
still be turned from,
it was not
yet ferocious,
its hold drew me,
was a shiny switchplate
in the otherwise dark,
rash, ongoing green,
a green so hungry
for light and air that
part gave up,
went alone,
chose to leave,
and by choosing
embellishment
got seen.

When I read this poem, the first thing that came to my mind was a schizoid personality disorder which I wouldn't call a disorder but a life style choice/adjustment. (sometimes forced)Life style choice of ongoing green people who were so hungry for light and air that they give up, go alone and choose to leave. But they somehow end up managing to believe that they have an emotional illness called a schizoid personality disorder. Only if I could make them see that it's the accumulation of their unmet emotional needs that eventually leave them wary and sour "cold and indifferent", not some illness perfunctory people like to use to label anything that they prefer not to understand to save their brain space for whatever petty things they like to worry about.

After reading youtube comments on this video, I feel retarded for thinking(ok not true, I think the rest are retarded.)that this guy(the singer) is referring the word "liar" to the mainstream culture, smiling, lying ass business, social norm, politically correctness.

Confucianism

Something to think about... Wife(superior)..husband(suborninate) hmm. Of course Confucius meant the other way around but I don't really care about his misogynistic ass. The one thing that interests me about his social hierarchy theory is that in his theory, he says, there are two main roles in every relationship - one that is superior and the other that is suborninate.

Direct Democracy

How the CARAJO can you call this democracy if it was participated by men only? It should be called the way it really is - world's first chauvinistic something.

Social developments

What the CARAJO are the social developments? and what do human really need?

What do human need?

Safe environment to live in (this is probably where the centralization of political, religious authority came in-> usually manipulative and power grabbing)
Food with surpluses (specialization of labor)
Freedom (to be creative -> development of technology, arts -> however, restricted by taboos, authority, etc)

So my conclusion is this,
Social development : repression of animalistic urgies for the great expansion of the human race.

* I love how liberating it makes me feel to look at the human race with an objective eye, which means I no longer need to ignore my urgy to go and eat the potato chips I've been eyeing on since this morning. Who cares if I die from stroke (high blood pressure is what I mean), it's all just cycles of life. *Crunch crunch

Good for the Fertile Brain

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/10/finding-the-fear-and-love-of-god-inside-the-brain.ars

The sum total of their results suggests that religious belief may have arisen as a natural extension of evolutionary advances in social cognition and behavior. Over time, the changes in brain volume that enabled humans to show empathy towards others may have also made it possible for some to develop intimate personal relationships with a supernatural entity, thus laying the foundation for the emergence of religion.

The ultimate proof

The purpose of life
:people(as carnivorous species we are), should bring physically/emotionally healthy children into this world to help the human race survive until the earth decides that it doesn't want us here anymore.