[Tinu.]

Good luck to your folks, Lady! ^__^

Tonight I found a possum on our back porch eating the cat's food. Our kitten was, luckily, smart enough to leave well enough alone and beg entry by the front door. The critter was scared off, the cat moved to the front porch and confined for the night, and all kitten meals will now take place indoors.

Today I saw a possum up close for the first time. They're pretty ugly. And also oddly fluffy looking.

Today, judging from the thumps hitting our windows, the european hornets are back. Joy.

Today I am done with my summer classes! Woo!
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Keeper of Gaia and all the books on Earthsong

"If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing it is stupid."
~Einstein

[Tyris]

Today we witnessed a migration of teeny-tiny frogs, and captured one for close-up "d'aww"ing. It was about the size of a fingernail, unless you have ham hands, in which case it was considerably smaller.

Today we also contemplated metathinking, which is to say "thinking about thinking" (well, that's not all it means, but for the purposes of this paragraph...). According to a book we read some years ago titled Consciousness, you can get up to five layers of recursive thinking - thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking - before your brain can't handle the stack and it collapses. Except: we can't get past two layers. Thinking about thinking is as high as it goes. We just can't see the difference between thinking about thinking, and thinking about thinking about thinking. Thinking about thinking about thinking is still thinking about thinking, it's just a specific kind of thinking about thinking.

Does anyone else's stack go higher? Was the book wrong, or is it just us personsally? Have we traded complex thinking for each other's constant presence?
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You can't look dignified when you're having fun.
Dubbed "Tetris" by Asa... apparently.
Keeper of Nanashi's ghostly blue visage and Felucca's hypothetical ejecting nose-cone.

"It's a sad thing when a man loses his cookie." - Nem

[Nem]

There was something very similar when a prof and Nem were talking about truth.

Nem said, "True just means the pattern you have in your head accurately describes reality."

To which the prof said, "Yes... presumably you want to say that's true though."

At the time Nem was rather stumped by this argument. Even if Nem came up with a higher level language in which he could make statements about this lower level language the prof would just be able to use that higher level language to recur the problem.

All the way out to infinity, since we could always create another set of terms.

Of course Nem now sees that the prof's position was true only if Nem's position was true, and not the other way around. So this recursion problem wouldn't really be a particular bother anymore. It's just so happens to be a function of this sort of language that you're always going to be able to map new terms on and go to a slightly higher level of abstraction - just as you can nest sets one on top of the other without really adding anything to the stuff in the original set.

Nem would imagine roughly the same thing is going on when people talk about thinking about thinking. That they're not actually thinking about thinking - they're just thinking 'I'm thinking1, and I'm thinking2 about thinking1 - and now I'm thinking3 about thinking2 about thinking1.' But they're not actually thinking about cognitive biases or anything like that, their sets are empty and the point at which the stack collapses is just how many terms they can nest in their head.

@ LY: I asked Tinman, I was just posting before he got around to it and on the offchance his PM folder was full ^^; Thanks! ^_^

#

Today I play around with C. They've integrated project managers into the compilers, it's really awful. I keep wanting to jump back and forth between a file I keep for compiling little bits of stuff I do to test and the file I use as the program - and you can't do it without changing to a different project and it's just >_<

WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?

I just wanted something I could point at a file and tell it to compile. Why do you build these horrible features into your programs?

Today I have burst of extreme lethargy followed by this horrible nervous energy I don't quite know how to get rid off. -drums fingers on desk-
_________________
Never forget,
We stroll along the roof of hell
Gazing at flowers.
- Issa

[Asa]

Well, I think about thinking about thinking - I actually do quite a bit of conscious metacognition. By which I mean deliberately thinking about my thought processes, and how I approach problems, and how I should handle things in the future. I also think a lot about the concept of metacognition - how it helps me clarify my thoughts, how it helps me identify issues and problems and helps me feel more in control. The key for me, I think, is that I don't 'think about thinking about thinking'. I CAN hold that transparent nest in my head for a limited amount of time, but it does seem to break down. The key is that I 'think about metacognition'. The sets are opaque, I don't consciously identify the core 'thinking'. So if I were to build it out, and think about conscious metacognition (or 'thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking'), it's still only two actual sets.

Does that make sense?


And now for something completely different. My dog, when he's sleeping, sometimes makes this noise that sounds remarkably like Curly from the Three Stooges (not the nyuk nyuk). A little bit later, his feet start to twitch, and a little bit after that, his jaw sort of masticates. I think it means he's dreaming about scenting, chasing, and then eating a nice tasty rabbit... even thought he's never done that before. Anyway, the Curly noise is hilarious.


Today I spent the morning planting bushes with my brother, then I "worked on my paper", and mailed a letter. On the way home from the post office it started to rain and we had a downpour for an hour or so. When it stopped I convinced my brother to come back out and finish planting with me. So now it's done! Still have to do the papers, though.
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Self-styled Forum Grandmother, because I hand out nicknames and hugs whether you want them or not. ^_^

Keeper of the Library and the Gateway to Haven

Nem: "It's the sort of face you just know is getting ready to poke you with something sharp."
BS: "...then insist you eat a brownie."
__________________
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this and all is mended...
Give me your hands if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

[Tinu.]

Today I had an unpleasant person come into work. I mean, we get a few less-than-pleasant people on a daily basis, but this lady was just outright rude and borderline threatening. She took an affront to one of our policies. "You tell your supervisor that I said it was stupid." Pffft. No. I'm not going to do that. Not until you take your ego down a notch anyways. -_-

Today my new laptop came in. Yay for a computer that works properly again!
_________________
Keeper of Gaia and all the books on Earthsong

"If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing it is stupid."
~Einstein

[Tyris]

[Asa]

Yesterday my mother and drove down to visit my step-grandmother and took her and my brother out to lunch. It was really nice to see her again, as she doesn't travel and all my natural grandparents have passed on. We drove past the house where my mother grew up and the one where my grandmother lived with my grandfather after they got married. Then we went to visit my aunt and uncle, who just moved into a new house (huge ranch style) and did some major renovations. "Oh, but we're not going to put ceiling lights in because that's not consistent with the original feel of the house."

Today I am actually getting some work done on my paper that's due in a week - the paper I was assigned at the beginning of the year... Halfway to the page limit and fewer than half the sections written, which means I don't have to worry about being too short.


Today I went to the doctor. Had a routine checkup, got an immunization shot, listened to my heart... found a lump in the left side of my chest. I'm going in for an ultrasound on Wednesday. Wish me luck.

It's actually pretty scary.
_________________
Self-styled Forum Grandmother, because I hand out nicknames and hugs whether you want them or not. ^_^

Keeper of the Library and the Gateway to Haven

Nem: "It's the sort of face you just know is getting ready to poke you with something sharp."
BS: "...then insist you eat a brownie."
__________________
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this and all is mended...
Give me your hands if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

[TheBritishInvasion]

Good luck Asa. *hug*
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Britland as dubbed by AsA
Avatar courtesy of Footloose
Keeper of Tengu's electricity and Willow's 'what did you just say' eyes.

[Tenshi]

Good luck, Asa. *hugs* I'll pray for you.
_________________
. Dubbed "Usagi" by AsA .
Keeper of the Siderean Swords

"If by chance some day you're not feeling well, and you should remember some silly thing I've said or done, and it brings back a smile to your face or a chuckle to your heart, then my purpose as your clown has been fulfilled."
Red Skelton

[Tinu.]

*hugs* Best of luck, dearie.
_________________
Keeper of Gaia and all the books on Earthsong

"If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing it is stupid."
~Einstein

[Nem]

Hope it turns out to be nothing. *squish*
_________________
Never forget,
We stroll along the roof of hell
Gazing at flowers.
- Issa

[Asa]

Thank you for your well wishes and hugs, everyone, especially the hugs. They helped a lot.

On a better note, I finished about five pages on my paper. I might even scrap one section if I can get it to twenty pages tomorrow. Yay!


UPDATE: Absolutely nothing is wrong or abnormal, it was a completely natural occurrence and was solved neatly. Thank you again for your thoughts and support, it meant a lot.
_________________
Self-styled Forum Grandmother, because I hand out nicknames and hugs whether you want them or not. ^_^

Keeper of the Library and the Gateway to Haven

Nem: "It's the sort of face you just know is getting ready to poke you with something sharp."
BS: "...then insist you eat a brownie."
__________________
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this and all is mended...
Give me your hands if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

[Tinu.]

That's wonderful to hear, Asa! ^________^


Yesterday I joined a gym.

Today was day two. So far so good. But I think I need new shoes--I'm not sure my feet are supposed to hurt this much.
_________________
Keeper of Gaia and all the books on Earthsong

"If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing it is stupid."
~Einstein

[Nem]

Thanks goodness for that, Asa ^___^

#

Today is hot. I probably oughta be doing stuff but.... Effort.

Also there are explosions going off outside. Which is a bit odd considering it's not firework season and it's still light. Wonder what all that's about. Confuzzling.
_________________
Never forget,
We stroll along the roof of hell
Gazing at flowers.
- Issa

[Tinu.]

Today is the first day of my family's annual reunion at the beach.

<3 Ocean.
_________________
Keeper of Gaia and all the books on Earthsong

"If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing it is stupid."
~Einstein