Ways to Improve Human Intelligence This briefing is intended to pull into one convenient, single frame of reference a body of key information which currently is scattered across a great many different contexts. Until recently, even the possibility of any such information existing was, for essentially political reasons and funding reasons, denied by most of our institutions, together with most of our educators and psychologists, so that such findings as were made in various contexts and circumstances never got discussed across a broader context. Now that it is evident that the brain, and one's intelligence, are highly changeable and that a wide variety of conditions, arrangements and techniques may be employed to improve both brain functioning and intelligence to even a profound degree, we need to make a start on getting a lot of this key information organized to where you and other inquirers can more readily get at it, understand it, and use it. Menu of Methods Quick Interjection 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Color Wheels are wrong? How color vision actually works. Color theory is a little obsession of mine. You’re here for startup advice, but this week I’m taking an indulgence. Leave a comment if you want to see more or fewer of these little distractions. Why are artists special? Ask any artist to explain how color works, and they’ll launch into a treatise about how the Three Primary Colors: red, blue, and yellow form a color “wheel:” Why “wheel?” Continuing this process produces the infamous color wheel you probably learned in school; a pretty, symmetrical, satisfying device in which each hue melds seamlessly and linearly into the next: Unfortunately, none of this stands up to even minor scrutiny. For example, open up your desktop printer and you’ll see something quite different: Three colors of ink which, when combined, produce all others: cyan, magenta, and yellow. But wait! Also it’s not as simple as saying “any three colors can produce all the others” because that’s clearly not true (by experiment). TVs and computers are different yet again.
5 Great Alternative To Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a great product. I have been using it since 2003 and I simply love its functionality and ease of use. If there is anything to complaint about, then it has to be the high cost (US$649) involved in buying the software. For those who can’t afford Photoshop, here is a list of the 5 great free alternative to Photoshop. There is no doubt that GIMP is the closest alternative to Photoshop. Using GIMP as the backend, GIMPshop added an extra interface to make it looks and functions more like Photoshop. Krita is a painting and image editing application for Koffice and is part of the KDE package. Paint.NET is more than the default Paint application in Windows. CinePaint is a deep paint image retouching tool that supports higher color fidelity than ordinary painting tools.
beginning to see by sujata pen-art by julio lynch this book is dedicated to the 9 to 5ers and everybody else a collection of epigrams about the problem of living and the freedom to be gained through meditation much sufferingcomes into thelife of one whotries to be anywherebut herein this presentmoment are you content with where you are right now? because "right nows" are all you have there is nothingin this life that we canhave for very long things and peoplecome ... then leave us ... an immense amount of fear is created if we spend our lives dodging pain an immense amount of fear is created if we spend our lives dodging pain an immense amount of fear is created if we spend our lives dodging pain the world continually demands that we direct our attention outside ourselves meditation teaches us to revolt and turn that awareness toward our insides ... painful feelings * in the mind indicate wrong attitudes about lifemeditation can show us what we're doing wrong we live our lives fearfully yaw cificeps ego
Geometry of the Universe Can the Universe be finite in size? If so, what is ``outside'' the Universe? The answer to both these questions involves a discussion of the intrinsic geometry of the Universe. At this point it is important to remember the distinction between the curvature of space (negative, positive or flat) and the toplogy of the Universe (what is its shape = how is it connected). There are basically three possible shapes to the Universe; a flat Universe (Euclidean or zero curvature), a spherical or closed Universe (positive curvature) or a hyperbolic or open Universe (negative curvature). All three geometries are classes of what is called Riemannian geometry, based on three possible states for parallel lines always divergent (hyperbolic) or one can think of triangles where for a flat Universe the angles of a triangle sum to 180 degrees, in a closed Universe the sum must be greater than 180, in an open Universe the sum must be less than 180.
2-Step DVD-to-PC or iPod Video Conversion using Free Software I’ve spent a lot of time over the past years figuring out how to get my DVD collection onto my PC so I can use my Home Theater PC (HTPC) to play my library on my TV. The following is the two step process I’ve come up with to do this; all other programs I’ve used either are not free, install spyware, or desync the audio. Step 1: Install and use DVDFab HD Decrypter. The settings here are pretty straightforward. Select “Full Disk” and where you want to save the file. Step 2: Install and Launch Handbrake. Handbrake is a cross-platform (Win, Mac, Linux) program which is a collection of command line utilities that are used to convert DVD files to media files for use on your PC or iPod. Handbrake really can’t make things too much simpler. You can then select your options manually, or use some of the pre-built presets available on the right to automatically convert your DVD for several devices. Finally, select the “Destination” and file name for your converted file. Bonus: With Dr.
Procrastination: Ten Things To Know There are many ways to avoid success in life, but the most sure-fire just might be procrastination . Procrastinators sabotage themselves. They put obstacles in their own path. They actually choose paths that hurt their performance. Why would people do that? Twenty percent of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators. Tags: anxiety , associate professor , carleton university , christmas eve , christmas shopping , chronic depression , chronic procrastinators , delay , gift certificates , grandmother , income tax returns , milieu , ottawa canada , pay bills , personality , procrastinator , t pay , time , timothy pychyl , university in ottawa , weekly planner , work
Clocks Metric (or Decimalized) Time The day is divided into 100 parts (centidays), plus decimal fraction. Think of it as a percent of the day. The "Universal Metric Time" is based on the International Date Line. Hexadecimal Time The day is divided up into 65536 parts and written in hexadecimal (base-16) notation (A=10, B=11 ... Much more information about this can be found at Intuitor Hexadecimal Headquarters. Octal Time Octal Time uses a base-8 system (digits 0-7). Base64 Time Base-64 uses ASCII characters (in ascending order: A-Z, a-z, 0-1, +, and /). Binary Time Like hexadecimal time, the day is divided into 65536 parts, only we display it as a binary number using squares for bits, here using dark squares to represent 1 and white for 0. This can be viewed as a variation of hexadecimal time by dividing it into four 2x2 blocks of squares, each block corresponds to a digit of hexadecimal time. Mayan Time
Free Web Tools Audio / MP3 Software Audacity is free, cross-platform open source software for recording and editing sounds. download page CDex is a CD-Ripper, extracting digital audio data from an Audio CD. download page Mp3Splt is a cross-platform utility to split mp3 and ogg files selecting a begin and an end time position. download page Mixxx is an cross-platform, open source DJ tool designed for both professional and amateur DJs alike. download page Audiobook Cutter is an easy-to-use tool which splits large MP3 audiobook files into smaller ones without re-encoding. MP3Gain is open source cross-platform software to analyze MP3 files so that they have the same perceived volume. download page Tactile12000 is a 3-D, interactive simulation of a DJ setup - two turntables and a mixer. BonkEnc is a CD ripper, audio encoder and converter for various formats. CD-DA X-Tractor is a CD ripper for 32-bit Windows platforms. other
Correcting Creativity: The Struggle for Eminence | Guest Blog By the time he put the finishing touches on the Rite of Spring in November of 1912 in the Châtelard Hotel in Clarens, Switzerland, Stravinsky had spent three years studying Russian pagan rituals, Lithuanian folk songs and crafting the dissonant sacre chord, in which an F-flat major combines with an E-flat major with added minor seventh. The rehearsal process wasn’t easy either. Stravinsky fired the German pianist and the orchestra and performers only had a few opportunities to practice at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, where the Rite debuted in May 1913. But the Russian born composer pulled it off, and his composition now stands as a 20th century masterpiece. Stravinsky is one of seven eminent creators of the 20st century profiled by Harvard professor Howard Gardner in his 1993 book Creating Minds. The psychology of creativity–both empirical research and popular literature for the lay audience–misses this. This is the story of Gardner’s subjects. So my concern is twofold.
BELT DRIVE TURNTABLE Philips Thorens Verdier Melco Micro Mercure NOTES DIY Mr. Yamamura and the Melco Turntables A few years earlier, in 1981, I stumbled upon the Melco turntables which were for the first time on display in Paris. I had an interesting conversation with Mr. Yamamura. With his firm Belco in London he imported these heavy turntables which boasted of platters weighing which boasted of platters weighing up to 35 kg. Platter Damping and Constant Speed In the process Alexander and I had experienced all sorts of construction problems that needed specific solutions: damping, decoupling, mechanical and acoustical feedback, constant speed, etc.
Five Best Antivirus Applications I was a big fan of AVG7 because of it's real-time protection that ClamWin doesn't provide. Unfortunately, AVG8 has a feature, called Link Scanner, that drastically slows down browsing and slows google searches to a crawl(because they have to determine the maliciousness of each link). I don't really need the Link Scanner feature because I already use OpenDNS, [lifehacker.com] to protect me from phishing websites. Unfortunately, when you turn off that feature, your AVG systray icon gets an exclamation point over it. So I'll probably stop using AVG in the near future and moving on to a new product. 30 Challenges for 30 Days Did you know that it takes 30 days to form a new habit? The first few days are similar as to how you would imagine the birth of a new river. Full of enthusiasm it gushes forth, only to be met by strong obstacles. The path is not clear yet, and your surroundings don’t agree. Old habits urge you to stay the same. But you need to stay determined. So, take a moment to reflect on the question ‘Who do I want to be in 5 years?’ Check out this short TED talk first to get inspired: Now pick one or more challenges and stick with them! However, be cautioned, picking too many challenges at the same time can easily result in a failure of all of them. #1 Write a I-Like-This-About-You note/text/email each day for someone (Easy) This is the perfect way to let someone else know you care. #2 Talk to one stranger each day (Hard) This is a great one to cure approaching anxiety. #3 Take one picture each day (Hard) #4 Re-evaluate one long-held belief each day (Intermediate) Do you love yourself? We recommend: