Alexandre R.J. Francois

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!

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. "

"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.

"...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.

"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

"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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

A whole flock. Today's stair number: 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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.

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

"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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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)

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

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

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

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

The Chrysler Building. Today's stair number: 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fluffy white. Today's stair number: 2

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

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

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

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

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

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