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Questions and Intelligence
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Link of the day
- Hits: 1986
Today an apocryphal quote, which I'll attribute to my father (who in turn attributes it to Piaget)
The circumstances, always relevant, are thus: Piaget, one of the founders & pioneers of the modern IQ test, on his deathbed said:
"I have gotten it wrong. It is not the answers man has that determines his intelligence, but rather the questions that he asks."
Perhaps it's true, perhaps it's not. I like it, and that's enough. The attribution to Piaget simply lends it authority.
On that note, a few links related to intelligence today (note the juxtaposition of opposite ideas: Politics:Intelligence)
First: www.queendom.com, which offers a variety of brain teasers & IQ tests. As well try: www.mindhacks.com/ for an interesting blog on various aspects of mind. Then, if you're feeling bad following your test(s), let this article console you: http://discovermagazine.com/2008/oct/01-20-things-you-didnt-know-about-genius. And if you want to work on developing your mind, you may find this curious: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/123484.php- the article links savant behaviours to an inhibition center in the left brain, I think. . .I forget. I wouldn't have if I were a savant. . .time to reread the article. . .
A new boxspring
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Dreams
- Hits: 1775
I've been having more dreams as of late, just nothing worth noting. Dissatisfied dreams, one dream of a familar place (the intersection of 14st and 17ave SW) - autumn, walking across the street to find they've redone it entirely, paved it with cobblestones, no cars allowed, colored leaves scattered over the stones, crossing from south to north to find myself completely lost in a new/old neighborhood. File this one under 'lost in familiar places'.
But, good news, I've a new boxspring. Recalling that for the past 2 months I've been sleeping in my kids beds this is an improvement, at first it wouldn't fit, but bouncing upon it made it fall finally into place. Which is good, as I was worried about falling through. And so I've begun to clean the house, which for 2 months has been stalled, the lack of box-spring my final excuse against cleaning, now to move the heaps of linen from the living room floor into the bedroom, remove the quilt from the floor, pick up the pillows, maybe even sweep the floor and vacuum. . .arrange my neckties, hang my clothes. . .
I'm running out of excuses.
I've set up a pen and paper beside my bed, to jot down those dreams of relevance, as I've noted I've begun to remember them more. Credit the boxspring.
The Candidates Debate
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 2097
It almost got lost, with the US election and banking crisis and all the other stirring news events, but Canada's due for an election.
And in the spirit of an interested voter I tuned in to the Candidates Debate on the radio. We're nowhere near as big as the US, and our politics are comparatively quite boring, and there's no doubt that results of the US election will have a far greater impact on our lives than the Canadian counterpart, still, it's our election, our little bit of control over our government, and it's important to hear what the Candidates have to say.
Now I should note that I'm somewhat prejudiced, I'm not, nor likely ever will be, a "Conservative". That said, I'm not entirely convinced that, despite their abundant protestations, that the NDP, the Liberals, the Green Party, could or would do a better job. Not that I wouldn't like them to, but this election is the greyest of any within memory. And so I'm listening, and what do I hear but our 4 aspiring leaders doing nothing but tearing apart Mr. Stephen Harper? And I began to feel bad for him, at first, this isn't fair, this isn't why they're here. . .
And then I began to get angry. None of them were offering reasonable alternatives or solutions to the accusations they were heaping upon them. Not one of them, interviewer included, at any point stepped in to refocus the group on discussing their own solutions or plans for government, rather instead hoping that by tearing down Mr. Harper and the Conservatives, by implication their own parties would look better.
And again, not one of them stepped forward to take the heat off of Mr. Harper. It was not an intelligent debate, it was not even a debate, it was a debacle, an absurdist attack on Democracy. And in good conscience now I'm stricken, because not one of the candidates had enough class or intelligence to realize that by the sole gesture of focusing the debate on the matters at hand they would have won. They were unprofessional, incompetent, and displayed nothing by way of leadership. Nothing. Cheap and impassioned attacks on Mr. Harper, without proposed alternatives, without clear and concrete strategies to bring to government, hoping to win votes by kicking at the underdog.
Not mine, in any event. They've had a fair chance, they've blown it, there will be in all likelihood a Conservative majority. But what has happened, I wonder, to our democracy, when we choose the likes of Stéphane Dion, Ms. Elizabeth May, and Jack Layton, to represent us in our reasonable alternatives? It's as if we are being asked to choose between death by hanging, firing squad, or electrocution, when none of us wanted to die, what kind of choice is this? It's not just our government that needs change. . .
Auditory Illusions
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Link of the day
- Hits: 1260
We're all familiar with "Optical Illusions", in which we're tricked by clever images into seeing things that aren't really there, or static images which appear to waver, and a host of other tricks played upon our notably visual sense. But fewer of us are familiar with "Auditory Illusions", (by which I don't mean the 1st date post-mortem in which one partner tries to recall if he/she heard "I love you". . .). For a quick introduction try this link:
http://deutsch.ucsd.edu/psychology/deutsch_research1.php#Introduction.php
Note: Laptop speakers won't suffice. Use proper speakers or headphones.
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