vital functions
Nov. 28th, 2021 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaberettReading. Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman. Having enthused about this last week, I then stalled but hard over the section that introduced the general concept of The Marshmallow Test. The Marshmallow Test, as we know, Is A Bit More Complicated Than That -- so when it was being presented uncritically, alongside concepts like "intelligence" and "laziness" and how ridiculous it is that an adult might choose to receive $3400 now rather than $3800 next month... I had to stop and take some very deep breaths about how the thesis of the book, right, is that you want to believe things that feel true, and if things Feel Sufficiently Truthy you're unlikely to subject them to as much scrutiny as they might, perhaps, warrant.
Anyway, this was the moment I realised that all of the studies under discussion were being vaguely referenced with no footnotes and maybe one name and perhaps a handwave in the direction of a decade -- when they weren't simply introduced as "experiments have shown that" -- and as such I couldn't trust any of the information as presented, which is deeply frustrating because a lot of it feels ~*~true~*~...
... at which point a book I'd put a hold on a long time previously showed up on my phone -- thank you the library -- Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education, which was mostly delightful.
I am now half-heartedly attempting to skim Wagemans et al. (2010) because the Kahneman presented a paragraph that (i) made no sense and (ii) had a strong whiff of Bullshit All The Way Down, but I want to actually give it a bit of a chance and that... means hunting down some primary, or at least less tertiary, sources. With no guidance within the book itself, sigh.
Watching. Farscape S01E05, Back and Back and Back to the Future. This... is the point at which I would give up, left entirely to my own devices, but the show comes strongly recommended and I could actually use some brainless TV, so. I will... keep going. But wow this episode was-- I can sort of see some of what they were going for? I can even believe that some of it was interesting and novel in the nineties? but watching it now... y i k e s.
Listening. Orphan Black: The Next Chapter! First season; first two episodes. It is more of an audiobook than I was expecting (i.e. lots of narration), and I'm exasperated by some of the Clunky Exposition For New Listeners, and I am also delighted by all the Domestic Bliss Fanservice we're getting -- & by how vividly everyone is still characterised. Very very glad that A has nudged me into getting around to this.
Cooking. Mostly I have been DRYING APPLES. (So many apples.)
Eating. Home-made pizza, where all I had to do was apply toppings and stick it in thefridgeoven :) V pleased! Apfelstrudel! So many dried apples.
Exploring. I have been reminding myself of the geology of Coverack Cove.
Growing. The basil cutting grew a proper set of roots and now has its feet back in the soil! It seems to have a bit more leaf than its root system can currently readily support, but that's okay, we'll just eat some of them.
Saffron: still not flowering at home; nowhere to be seen at the allotment. The oca have been frosted, though, and will need digging up sooner or later...
Observing. Topshells! Lots of them, in lots of colours! And also a tiny rockpool fish, a wide variety of anemones (several of them unfurled), a black-backed gull at rest up close, and some Good Pigs.
Anyway, this was the moment I realised that all of the studies under discussion were being vaguely referenced with no footnotes and maybe one name and perhaps a handwave in the direction of a decade -- when they weren't simply introduced as "experiments have shown that" -- and as such I couldn't trust any of the information as presented, which is deeply frustrating because a lot of it feels ~*~true~*~...
... at which point a book I'd put a hold on a long time previously showed up on my phone -- thank you the library -- Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education, which was mostly delightful.
I am now half-heartedly attempting to skim Wagemans et al. (2010) because the Kahneman presented a paragraph that (i) made no sense and (ii) had a strong whiff of Bullshit All The Way Down, but I want to actually give it a bit of a chance and that... means hunting down some primary, or at least less tertiary, sources. With no guidance within the book itself, sigh.
Watching. Farscape S01E05, Back and Back and Back to the Future. This... is the point at which I would give up, left entirely to my own devices, but the show comes strongly recommended and I could actually use some brainless TV, so. I will... keep going. But wow this episode was-- I can sort of see some of what they were going for? I can even believe that some of it was interesting and novel in the nineties? but watching it now... y i k e s.
Listening. Orphan Black: The Next Chapter! First season; first two episodes. It is more of an audiobook than I was expecting (i.e. lots of narration), and I'm exasperated by some of the Clunky Exposition For New Listeners, and I am also delighted by all the Domestic Bliss Fanservice we're getting -- & by how vividly everyone is still characterised. Very very glad that A has nudged me into getting around to this.
Cooking. Mostly I have been DRYING APPLES. (So many apples.)
Eating. Home-made pizza, where all I had to do was apply toppings and stick it in the
Exploring. I have been reminding myself of the geology of Coverack Cove.
Growing. The basil cutting grew a proper set of roots and now has its feet back in the soil! It seems to have a bit more leaf than its root system can currently readily support, but that's okay, we'll just eat some of them.
Saffron: still not flowering at home; nowhere to be seen at the allotment. The oca have been frosted, though, and will need digging up sooner or later...
Observing. Topshells! Lots of them, in lots of colours! And also a tiny rockpool fish, a wide variety of anemones (several of them unfurled), a black-backed gull at rest up close, and some Good Pigs.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-11-28 11:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-11-29 12:24 am (UTC)Also: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41613425
(no subject)
Date: 2021-11-29 07:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-11-29 11:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-11-29 05:01 pm (UTC)1x06 is a classic and likely to tell you a lot about how much you can get out of Farscape though. I still quote a line from it sometimes and won't be totally surprised if you find yourself quoting the same one for the same reasons.