In chapter 5 of How to Take Smart Notes, 2 of my favorite ideas from Sönke Ahrens are: Truth results from the scientific exchange of written ideas. Do everything as if nothing counts other than writing. See also Judging truth Stop collecting, and start producing Elaborate by thinking, writing and connecting
In Judging Truth (Annual Review of Psychology), the authors make the claim that truth judgments are constructed and reflect inferences drawn from 3 types of information: Base rates Feelings Consistency with information retrieved from memory Each of the three inferences usually increases accuracy. However, specific kinds of errors can result from each class of inference. People tend to accept incoming information from the environment as true. People tend to interpret feelings as evidence of truth. People tend to favor consistency with facts and memory. See also Information-action fallacy The constitution of knowledge Wanna bet? Writing is the only thing that matters How disinformation hacks your brain
The 5 key insights I got from Brett Beasley’s How Disinformation Hacks Your Brain (Scientific American) are: Illusory truth effect says repeated claims are more believable. We often accept claims as true when they fit with our memories. Search algorithms return results based on keywords not truth. We will soon consume more false media than truth. Become a fact checker or rely on crowdsourced fact checkers. See also Wanna bet? Judging truth External links Illusory truth effect - Wikipedia
Coming up with a partial solution can be a great way to breakdown a complex problem. Sometimes the partial solution becomes part of your final solution. Sometimes a partial solution helps you explore the more complex problem so that you can apply other problem-solving strategies. Sometimes the partial solution is enough. The original problem still exists, but now you can live with it. A partial solution is usually better than no solution. ...
To breakdown a complex problem, you can try solving an extreme example of the problem. The solution for the extreme case will likely be part of your final solution. It will also help to set the bounds of your final solution. So find some aspect of your complex problem that’s bugging you and getting in your way. Solve it. If you want to push this strategy further, exaggerate that aspect of the problem. ...
Solving a concrete example of your problem helps you to explore the problem and breakdown a complex problem. This strategy will often get you much closer to the more general solution. Try out a few concrete examples to see if there’s a pattern in the solutions. If you see a pattern, that’s perfect! If there’s no clear pattern, that works, too. You’ve learned a ton about the problem. See also Breakdown the problem
When you’re having trouble breaking down a complex problem, coming up with an incorrect solution can help. So start with a solution that you know is incorrect. Now… How would you correct the solution? Correcting the incorrect solution is a new problem, and that’s exactly what you want! See also Breakdown the problem
I’ve been using a variation of the budgeting system described in StackBacks Automated Budget System (Wayback Machine) for many years now. It’s super simple to setup. Here’s a summary of the 3 key points from the PDF: Budgeting should be automated. The 2 types of expenses are planned and unplanned. To setup the system, figure out your expenses, setup your account and then setup the flow. See also Is inequality inevitable? Better schools won’t fix America
K: The Overlooked Variable That’s Driving the Pandemic (The Atlantic) is a fascinating approach to addressing a key spreader of the pandemic: super-spreading events. Here are 6 key takeaways from Zeynep Tufekci’s article: The overlooked variable is K, and it measures whether a virus spreads steadily or in bursts. We should be targeting clusters (a.k.a. super-spreading events) to reduce transmission numbers. Use backward tracing to trace 2-3X more cases than traditional forward tracing. Use fast, cheap, low-sensitivity tests to identify clusters. Sweden didn’t lockdown but instead targeted super-spreading. Japan committed to cluster-busting. See also The plan that could give us our lives back External links K number: what is the coronavirus metric that could be crucial as lockdown eases? (The Guardian)
I was awarded runner-up at the Long Island Software Awards (LISA) for a Java desktop application. I led the migration to AJAX for Marine Biology JSP web application. I learned how to use Java-based DWR AJAX technology for integration into a JSP application. I built Debian-based Linux web server from scratch on a VPS hosted VM. I was selected from group of approximately 100 to develop Chemistry student-learning system (LUCID). ...