That doesn’t mean the opposite ideas are automatically true: You can’t escape the madness of crowds by dogmatically rejecting them. Instead ask yourself: How much of what you know about business is shaped by mistaken reactions to past mistakes? The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself.
~ Peter Thiel
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In this situation, before committing to a three year PhD, you better make sure you spend three months trying out research in an internship. And before that, it seems a wise use of your time to allocate three days to try out research on your own. And you better spend three minutes beforehand thinking about whether you like research.
~ ‘jsevillamol’ from, Spend twice as much effort every time you attempt to solve a problem
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This one caught my eye because the vague heuristic of spending increasing amounts of effort at each attempt to solve a problem felt true. But I was thinking of it from the point of view of fixing some process— Like a broken software system that occasionally catches fire. Putting the fire out is trivial, but the second time I start trying to prevent that little fire. The third time I find I’m more curious as to why does it catch fire, and why didn’t my first fix make a difference. The fourth time I’m taking off the kid gloves and bringing in industrial lighting, and power tools. The fifth time I’m roping in mathematicians and textbooks and wondering if I’m trying to solve the Halting Problem.
Turns out the context of the problem doesn’t matter. The answer is, “2.” Every time you attempt to solve a problem—any sort of problem, any context, any challenge, any unknown—the most efficient application of your effort is to expend just a bit less than twice the effort of your last attempt.
Not, “it feels like twice would be good,” but rather: Doubling your efforts each time is literally the best course of action.
…and now that I’ve written this. My brain dredges up the Exponential Backoff algorithm. That’s been packed in the back of my brain for 30 years. I’ve always known that was the chosen solution to a very hard problem. (“Hard,” as in proven to be impossible to solve generally, so one needs a heuristic and some hope.) They didn’t just pick that algorithm; Turns out it’s the actual best solution.
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Caballero found what appears to fit the bill—a star that is very nearly a mirror image of the sun—and is located in the part of the sky where the Wow! signal originated. He notes that there are other possible candidates in the area but suggests his candidate might provide the best launching point for a new research effort by astronomers who have the tools to look for exoplanets.
~ Bob Yirka from, Amateur astronomer Alberto Caballero finds possible source of Wow! signal
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The original Wow! Signal was recorded in 1977. It makes me happy to think that the human race has progressed so far as to be able to detect extrasolar planets, in the right place… well, “wow” indeed.
What would it be like to be alive when, (not if, I say,) we find our first neighbor?
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The infinity of past and future gapes before us—a chasm whose depths we cannot see. So it would take an idiot to feel self-importance or distress. Or any indignation, either. As if the things that irritate us lasted.
~ Marcus Aurelius
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If you’re holding back and looking for a reason why, and that reason is replaced by another reason, then… you might be stalling.
~ Seth Godin from, Are you stalling?
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I’m sure I must have been stalling at some point in my life, but ain’t nobody got time for that now. Sometimes my stalling manifested as frenetic deck-chair arranging when I was actually stalling on the rudder improvement project. Sometimes it manifested as deep, pensive stretches of prodigious cogitation. Now I’m all like: Manifest destiny!
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This book is complicated and ambitious. But there’s one thread in particular that I think is worth underscoring. Crawford notes that the real problem with the current distracted state of our culture is not the prevalence of new distracting technologies. These are simply a reaction to a more fundamental reality: “[W]e are agnostic on the question of what is worth paying attention to — that is, what to value.” In the absence of strongly-held answers to this question our attention remains adrift and unclaimed — we cannot, therefore, be surprised that app-peddlers and sticky websites swooped in to aggressively feast on this abundant resource.
~ Cal Newport, from From Descartes to Pokemon: Matthew Crawford’s Quest to Reclaim our Attention
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Turns out Crawford was interviewed by Brett McKay, another person I’ve often quoted here. I’ve not yet listened but the episode is Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction.
Originally I thought “social media” itself was the problem. Eventually it became clear to me that social media is the symptom. People want to be fed saccharine lives through their phones because they’ve never been taught that they need to consciously make decisions about what’s important to them.
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From pure sensation to the intuition of beauty, from pleasure and pain to love and the mystical ecstasy and death—all the things that are fundamental, all the things that, to the human spirit, are most profoundly significant, can only be experienced, not expressed. The rest is always and everywhere silence. After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.
~ Aldous Huxley
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I’ve a system of daily reminders; of course it’s complicated.
For years now, a few of my reminders have simply been questions. I recently started writing something to go with those questions making them feel more at home with some of my other reminders and prompts which had some exposition with them when I found them. I thought it would be interesting to share what I added to this question today:
WHAT HAVE I BEEN READING? — I’ve performed this experiment countless times. Read less: nothing happens. Read more: ideas, new connections, inspiration, questions, motivation, short-cuts, wonder.
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It is increasingly clear that neither of these assumptions is correct. Despite the claims of epidemiologists, our best efforts have never been able to reduce the number of newly reported COVID-19 cases for the world as a whole for any significant period of time. In fact, the latest week seems to be the highest week so far.
~ Gail Tverberg from, Reaching the End of Early Stimulus – What’s Ahead?
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It’s not meant as a doom-and-gloom quote. The article goes on to talk about how our economies really work and what’s really going on.
I’ve a tag for Tverberg for a reason. You should read everything she’s ever written—which would be hard because you’d have to also wade through the amazing, museum-piece that is The Oil Drum. I use that site as a litmus test for anyone who ever mentions “energy”—”Have you heard of The Oil Drum site?” If they have, then I’m really listening.
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What roles do culture, community, and personal experience play in shaping the art and teaching of street dance?
Some things go beyond a passion to become a way of life… For Kyle ‘Just Sole’ and Dinita ‘Queen Di’ Clark that way of life is street dance. They share their story; how they started dancing, their backgrounds, and their work as choreographers and professors. Just Sole and Queen Di describe their experiences with dance, from clubbing to teaching, and explain the culture and community of street dance. They discuss family, home and travel, and how dance weaves through everything in their lives.
It’s actually a surrendering to music. That’s what dance says, it’s a surrendering, it’s a commitment, it’s a letting go of your preconceived notion to accept it, to express your conceived notion with it.
~ Kyle ‘Just Sole’ Clark (45:40)
Kyle ‘Just Sole’ and Dinita ‘Queen Di’ Clark are dancers, choreographers, educators, and parents. Currently college professors, they have competed, taught, traveled, and performed together around the world for the last decade. Just Sole and Queen Di founded the “Just Sole! Street Dance Theater” company, and educational program “Funky Sole Fundamentals” to preserve the culture and styles of hip hop, funk, and house dance.
The beautiful thing about hip hop and street dance culture is, you are allowed to be yourself within the culture.
~ Dinita ‘Queen Di’ Clark (36:00)
The conversation centers on the deep cultural, spiritual, and personal significance of street dance. Kyle and Dinita discuss how street dance is more than movement; it’s a form of expression and a way of life, intricately tied to music, history, and community. They highlight the role of personal upbringing and exposure to music and movement in shaping their artistic journeys, describing dance as a universal language that everyone can connect with, but only those who actively participate truly understand.
Queen Di and Just Sole also emphasize the responsibility of teaching street dance, including preserving its cultural roots and passing on its history. They address misconceptions about the art form, such as the lack of perceived technique, and stress the importance of engaging directly with the culture through clubs, ciphers, and shared experiences. The discussion also touches on themes of appropriation, education, and the universal appeal of dance as a means of connection and spiritual release.
Takeaways
Participation in culture — True understanding and belonging in street dance require active participation, not just learning moves or theory.
Teaching with responsibility — Educators have a duty to preserve and respect the cultural roots of street dance while guiding students in their personal expression.
Dance as spiritual expression — Beyond movement, street dance connects deeply to music, offering a spiritual and emotional release.
Universal accessibility — While everyone can dance in theory, achieving a profound connection requires dedication and openness.
Cultural preservation — Maintaining the history and essence of street dance ensures its authenticity and relevance for future generations.
Resources
Funky Sole Fundamentals @funkysolefundamentals
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
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