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Showing posts from 2008

Holiday Recipe

My latest feel-good holiday recipe: Make a bowl of oatmeal Throw in a handful of dark cocoa-covered almonds Let the cocoa melt a bit, and give it a swirl Enjoy Happy Holidays!

Time <=> Space

In the preface to his book Time and the nervous system (Praeger Pub, 1988), the neurologist William Gooddy, cites an entry in an old notebook of his, dated 18 March 1959, as his first documented idea about time and the nervous system: " The brain is the place or mechanism or medium by which time is converted into space and space into time. "

"Advanced Studies"

"Occasionally the patient may use a set of space-time co-ordinates that suggest to him a linkage of points which for his physician are not clearly linked. The patient may then prove to be ill with an unknown disease, to be mad, or to be a genius; and we are sometimes willing to award him some of the four-dimensional world to prove himself, by providing protected circumstances in which he may test his theories of world-line linkage. Such a person may occupy the bed of a mental hospital or be a cherished member of an institute for "advanced studies"." William Gooddy, Time and the Nervous System , 1988, p.139.

Time In Mathematics

"...but he (the mathematician) is always speaking of a given moment -- a static moment, that is -- and not of flowing time. In short, the world the mathematician deals with dies and is reborn at every instant [...] To know a living being or natural system is to get at the very interval of duration, while the knowledge of an artificial or mathematical system applies only to the extremity." Bergson, Creative Evolution , 1914, cited by William Gooddy, Time and the Nervous System , 1988.

Two Computing Quotes

"The idea that you can know everything in the design stage is a fallacy that I think started with the mathematicians, who were the world's first programmers." George V. Neville-Neil, Kode Vicious, ACM Communications, 51(7), July 2007, p.25 "If you have programs that interact with the physical environment, time becomes very important. For these systems, verification is more complicated." Joseph Sifakis, Talking Model-Checking Technology, ACM Communications, 51(7), July 2007, p.111

The Mind Is Not (Only) A Computer

"As long as you ignore most of human life, the [mind-as-] computer metaphor is terrific. Computers are human artifacts designed to fulfill human needs, such as increasing the value of Microsoft stock. They are not autonomous entitied that evolved to survive and reproduce." Geoffrey Miller, The Mating Mind , 2000, p.153.

This Is It!

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Turned in the keys. Thank you Radcliffe for a wonderful 10 months! This is also the end of the One-Picture-Per-Day experiment. It was harder to keep up than I thought, but I am really glad I have this record. Today's stair number: 2

Bench Update

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One last look at the bench. Today's stair number: 2

A Bunch Of Lillies

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The hot and rainy weather definitly makes plants happy! Today's stair number: 2

Office Cleared

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Major move out day: the office is now almost empty! The end is near... Today's stair number: 12+ (stopped counting)

Business Chapel

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With hand-polished copper hull, to look less new. Today's stair number: 1

Goose Close-Up

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Does the human carry food? Today's stair number: 1

Geese Along The Charles

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A whole flock. Today's stair number: 2

Along The Charles

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Looking for cooler air (found some, along with mosquitos). Toaday's stair number: 5

Museum Of Fine Arts

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Sunday at the museum (free!!). Today's stair number: 2

Yet Another Storm

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I do miss the snow... Today's stair number: 1

For Posterity

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The Fellowship Program will soon be in a new home, and these doors will open to something else... Today's stair number: 4

Tiger Lilly?

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The flowers do enjoy the rain! Today's stair number: 2

Another Storm

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Wind, rain, thunder and lightnings! Today's stair number: 2

Stormy Weather

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Hot and humid... the rain is coming! Today's stair number: 2

Reunited

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The red rose heart was magnificent. Today's stair number: 3

Blue River

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Boston and Longfellow Bridge from the Charles River Reservation. Today's stair number: 1

Bench Update

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It's been a while... Today's stair number: 1

Geese Sighting

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A family of geese graze along the reiver (Charles River Reservation). Today's stair number: 5

Ralph Francois (5 Feb 1946 - 12 Jun 2008)

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Why Have A Mind?

"Experiments that investigate how minds process arbitrary visual and verbal information shed very little light on the fitness costs and benefits of the human abilities that demand evolutionary explanation, such as art and humor." Geoffrey Miller, The Mating Mind , p.52.

Byerly Hall

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Another side of Byerly. Today's stair number: 3

Why Did Humans Develop Culture?

"Those brains won't invent literature or television for another hundred thousand years. They don't need to. They have one another." Geoffrey Miller, The Mating Mind , p.21.

Behold Byerly

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The newly renovated Byerly Hall, new home of the Radcliffe Fellowship Program. Today's stair number: 1

Squirrels In The Yard

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The squirrels have already moved back in their newly re-decorated habitat, after almost a year of intense construction work. Today's stair number: 1

Radcliffe Yard

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A newly re-landscaped area in the Radcliffe Yard. Today's stair number: 1

The Red Shoes

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After over 18 months of loyal and faithful service, the Radcliffe Shoes (red/white/black New Balance) are calling it quits. They will be missed. Today's stair number: 3

The Mystery Deepens

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The bao is still here, so far undisturbed by human, squirrel, bird, or even insect... Today's stair number: 1

A Bao Mystery

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A lone bao on the stairs. Where did it come from? Today's stair number: 2

More Flowers!

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I still miss the snow a little... Today's stair number: 2

Coffee (Building 40)

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This is where the legend was born... Today's stair number: 8

Lilacs

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With lilacs, the olfactive almost overshadows the visual. Today's stair number: 2

White Is Out

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White flowers are gone; pinks and purples now dominate the landscape. Today's stair number: 2

Sweet Anticipation(*)

"Listening to Music is not a passive process but intensely active, involving a stream of inferences, hypotheses, expectations, and anticipations (as David Huron and others have explored)." Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia , 2007, p.211. (*) Sweet Anticipation is the title of the book by David Huron (MIT Press)

Financier

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Breakfast in Downtown, near Wall Street. Today's stair number: 2

Natural History

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Walked from NYU on W. 4th Street to the American Museum of Natural History (79th and Central Park West), then walked all over the Museum, and then walked all the way back! Very happy to sit down for dinner... Today's stair number: 0

NYU

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New York University at Washington Square. Today's stair number: 0

Central Park

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Looking to the East over the lake. Today's stair number: 0

NYC!

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The Chrysler Building. Today's stair number: 2

Blue Skies

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Tree, soft cloud and plane over the quad. The composition juxtaposes three dynamic elements that operate at very different time scales. Today's stair number: 3

A Milestone

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A full sheet of stair number records (both sides are full!). Today's stair number: 3

MuSA.RT on Asian Focus TV

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Taping at the Channel 7 studios in Boston. The show will air in Boston on December 7, 2008 at 6:30am. Today's stair number: 5

Vortex

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Sun and clouds and lots of wind: a storm is coming! Today's stair number: 2

See Food

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The Media Lab food bell: when food is available in the break room, a ring of the food bell (right) prompts users who subscribe to a networked notification service to take a look at the food from the comfort of their seat thanks to a networked overhead camera (upper left) and decide what to do about it. I sense a killer app port to the One Laptop Per Child. Today's stair number: 1

Graduated!

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Fellowship graduation today. We are now in the books for posterity. Today's stair number: 3

Field Trip!

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The Fellows visit the Media Lab. Today's stair number: 1

The Balanced Way

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Healthy eating program at MIT. Too bad the taste is often not part of the balance... Today's stair number: 1

Bunting Quad Blooming

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Fluffy white. Today's stair number: 2

Back Home

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A blooming tree in the Bunting Quad. Today's stair number: 3

Manhattan Beach

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Last morning at the beach. Today's stair number: 1

Beach Garden

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Rose and cactus garden on Manhattan Beach. Today's stair number: 0

After Sunset

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The last fiery oranges after sunset behind the Santa Monica Mountains. Today's stair number: 0

Early Morning

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Manhattan Beach, early in the morning. Today's stair number: 0

Late Afternoon

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Manhattan Beach in the late afternoon. Today's stair number: 0