21 JUN 2014 by ideonexus
Why hard work others ask us to do doesn't inspire us
In our real lives,
hard work is too often something we do because we have to do it—to make a
living, to get ahead, to meet someone else’s expectations, or simply because
someone else gave us a job to do. We resent that kind of work. It stresses us
out. It takes time away from our friends and family. It comes with too much
criticism. We’re afraid of failing. We often don’t get to see the direct impact
of our efforts, so we rarely feel satisfied.
Or, worse, our real-world work isn’t hard enoug...Folksonomies: gamification
Folksonomies: gamification
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notes
notes09 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
The Life of a Horticulturist
I have always liked horticulturists, people who make their living from orchards and gardens, whose hands are familiar with the feel of the bark, whose eyes are trained to distinguish the different varieties, who have a form memory. Their brains are not forever dealing with vague abstractions; they are satisfied with the romance which the seasons bring with them, and have the patience and fortitude to gamble their lives and fortunes in an industry which requires infinite patience, which raise ...Folksonomies: botany horticulture
Folksonomies: botany horticulture
A wonderful quote from David Fairchild. Reference unknown.
25 APR 2012 by ideonexus
Science is More Than Lone Geniuses
The progress of science depends less than is usually believed on the efforts and performance of the individual genius ... many important discoveries have been made by men of ordinary talents, simply because chance had made them, at the proper time and in the proper place and circumstances, recipients of a body of doctrines, facts and techniques that rendered almost inevitable the recognition of an important phenomenon. It is surprising that some historian has not taken malicious pleasure in w... 1 notes
notesIt is mostly individuals in the right place at the right time and happy accidents.
15 DEC 2011 by ideonexus
Newton Was At The Right Time to Discover Calculus
Foreshadowings of the principles and even of the language of [the infinitesimal] calculus can be found in the writings of Napier, Kepler, Cavalieri, Pascal, Fermat, Wallis, and Barrow. It was Newton's good luck to come at a time when everything was ripe for the discovery, and his ability enabled him to construct almost at once a complete calculus. Folksonomies: discovery
Folksonomies: discovery
1 notes
notesJust as Darwin came at the right time to discover Evolution through Natural Selection.
21 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Practicing Motor Skills
In fact, babies do improve their motor skills much as adults do—as a result of diligent practice. New skills, such as walking independently, don't suddenly emerge out of nowhere but gradually build out of prior, simpler abilities—kicking, standing, and walking with support—after weeks or months of trying. The only difference between infant and adult motor learning (aside from the fact that infants seem to crave the exercise more than most of us) is that babies can train themselves in a partic... 1 notes
notesBy practicing a motor skill, adults and infants allow their brain to find the most efficient neurological pathways for performing the task.
08 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Teaching Babies Science
But we also have some more direct evidence for the idea that children learn like scientists. Alison and Virginia Slaughter, one of her students, looked at three-year-old children who didn't yet fully understand belief—children who still said they had always thought that there were pencils in the candy box. Then, over the course of a few weeks, Virginia gave the children systematic evidence that their predictions were false. She told them firmly that they hadn't said pencils at all, they had s... 1 notes
notesHaving children predict something and then systematically demonstrating how their prediction is false makes them more capable of understanding how beliefs work.
21 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
Animal Instinct and Child Birth
What, then, is the difference between human and other animals?
Are their bodies made differently? As a matter of fact they are remarkably similar. Cat and dog bodies are used in premedical anatomy studies due to the similarity of structures with identical name and function. Is it that they just can't experience pain? Following a natural-childbirth newspaper article, an indignant letter to the editor asserted cats can have kittens without pain because they cannot feel pain as human beings do...
1 Humans don't have instincts when it comes to childbirth, but they can train for it.
