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 #7
Who can guess the song reference in this one?

BTW, it’s possible this one is fake but I am looking into it.

What Is Intelligence, Anyway?

By Isaac Asimov

What is intelligence, anyway?

When I was in the army, I received the kind of aptitude test that all soldiers took and, against a normal of 100, scored 160. No one at the base had ever seen a figure like that, and for two hours they made a big fuss over me.

(It didn’t mean anything. The next day I was still a buck private with KP - kitchen police - as my highest duty.)

All my life I’ve been registering scores like that, so that I have the complacent feeling that I’m highly intelligent, and I expect other people to think so too.

Actually, though, don’t such scores simply mean that I am very good at answering the type of academic questions that are considered worthy of answers by people who make up the intelligence tests - people with intellectual bents similar to mine?

For instance, I had an auto-repair man once, who, on these intelligence tests, could not possibly have scored more than 80, by my estimate. I always took it for granted that I was far more intelligent than he was.

Yet, when anything went wrong with my car I hastened to him with it, watched him anxiously as he explored its vitals, and listened to his pronouncements as though they were divine oracles - and he always fixed my car.

Well, then, suppose my auto-repair man devised questions for an intelligence test.

Or suppose a carpenter did, or a farmer, or, indeed, almost anyone but an academician. By every one of those tests, I’d prove myself a moron, and I’d be a moron, too.

In a world where I could not use my academic training and my verbal talents but had to do something intricate or hard, working with my hands, I would do poorly.

My intelligence, then, is not absolute but is a function of the society I live in and of the fact that a small subsection of that society has managed to foist itself on the rest as an arbiter of such matters.

Consider my auto-repair man, again.

He had a habit of telling me jokes whenever he saw me.

One time he raised his head from under the automobile hood to say: “Doc, a deaf-and-mute guy went into a hardware store to ask for some nails. He put two fingers together on the counter and made hammering motions with the other hand.

“The clerk brought him a hammer. He shook his head and pointed to the two fingers he was hammering. The clerk brought him nails. He picked out the sizes he wanted, and left. Well, doc, the next guy who came in was a blind man. He wanted scissors. How do you suppose he asked for them?”

Indulgently, I lifted by right hand and made scissoring motions with my first two fingers.

Whereupon my auto-repair man laughed raucously and said, “Why, you dumb jerk, He used his voice and asked for them.”

Then he said smugly, “I’ve been trying that on all my customers today.” “Did you catch many?” I asked. “Quite a few,” he said, “but I knew for sure I’d catch you.”

“Why is that?” I asked. “Because you’re so goddamned educated, doc, I knew you couldn’t be very smart.”

~ ~ ~

Autobiography by Dr. Isaac Asimov (1920–1992):

It’s Been a Good Life

~ ~ ~

I have a bad habit of setting down my cellphone without charging it and then having to deal with an entire day at work with only one bar of power left.

And with the jumble of USB cables at the base of my computer it’s a common occurrence to forget to plug in the old Ipod. With both of these mental slips I am left music-less and unable to use my phone for longer than a minute. And I don’t want to go into how many batteries I go through on my digital camera.

A tablet device that can charge up to five devices at once by simply setting them on the surface. No tangles wires or multiple outlets. Looks like you might need to buy additional adapters but still…it would be so much sweeter to just pick up and go or drop off when I get home.

For someone like me who is a gadget collector, I should probably hold out until they come in coffee table sized tablets but for now I suppose this thing could be a hassle savior.

Surs

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It is for her personal work in the field of fine art photography that UK-based Julia Fullerton-Batten is getting a reputation. In particular, the series entitled: Teen Stories.
This series was developed out of Julia’s adoration for miniature
villages. The photographs are hypnotic, slightly unnerving, juxtaposing
teenage girls at the moment of facing maturity, many of which are
involved in everyday leisure activities, at home, in the garden, at the
swimming pool, or at the beach. Many of her concepts in this series,
are in part: fairy tale (Alice in wonderland) with unique surreal
twists. What’s more, they exemplify the real art of photography; making
the ordinary into the extraordinary by seeing it in a completely unique
way. See more examples from this extraordinary series after the jump.

Broken Eggs, 2005

Red Dress In City, 2005

Floating In Harbour, 2005

Milk Bottle, 2005

Pond, 2005

Girl Under Motorway, 2005

Chewing Gum, 2005

Airport, 2005

Marbles, 2005

P&0, 2005

Book, 2005

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Sasha Larner, 29, is a model and
mother of two boys, Crawford, six, and Presley, three. She lives in
Kent with her partner Matthew, 36, a carpenter. She has been a size
zero (UK size four) for the past two years.

Mikyla Dodd, 29, played Chloe Bruce in
Channel 4’s Hollyoaks. The actress, who is single and lives in London,
is 6ft, size 18 and weighs 15st 7lb. When she joined ITV’s Celebrity
Fit Club in January last year, she weighed 19st 2lb but lost 44lb
through healthy eating and exercise.

Daily Mail

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A wall made of LitraCon has the strength of traditional
concrete but thanks to an embedded array of optical glass
fibers, view of the outside world, such as the silhouette of
trees, houses and passersby, are transmitted inside the
building.

The wall can be quite thick as the fibers work without any loss
in light up to 20 m.

He even created a lamp
Three years ago, Hungarian architect ron Losonczi invented
LiTraCon, the first light transmitting concrete.

A wall made of LitraCon has the strength of traditional
concrete but thanks to an embedded array of optical glass
fibers, view of the outside world, such as the silhouette of
trees, houses and passersby, are transmitted inside the
building.

The wall can be quite thick as the fibers work without any loss
in light up to 20 m.

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1. The lace is run straight across the bottom and emerges through both bottom eyelets 2. The laces then go straight up and are fed into the next set of eyelets up the shoe 3.
The ends are crossed over and are fed under the vertical lace section
on the opposite sides of the shoe before going straight up and into the
next set of eyelets up the shoe 4. At the top set of
eyelets, the laces can once again cross over and pass under the
straight section as shown. This not only looks consistent with the rest
of the lacing but also forms a High Lace Lock, which tightens the
lacing even more firmly.

1. The lace is run straight across the bottom and emerges through both bottom eyelets 2. The ends are looped back under the lace where it feeds under the side of the shoe 3. The ends are then crossed over each other, then they go under and out through the next set of eyelets up the shoe 4. Steps 2 and 3 are repeated until both ends reach the top eyelets.

1. The lace runs straight across the second set of eyelets from the top of the shoe 2. Cross the ends over and feed into the fourth set of eyelets, skipping the third set 3. Continue down the shoe, two sets of eyelets at a time 4. At the bottom, run the laces vertically between the bottom and second from bottom eyelets 5. Double back and work your way back up the shoe through the vacant sets of eyelets.

1. The lace is run straight across the bottom and emerges through both bottom eyelets 2. The left (red) end is spiralled up the left side of the shoe, with the end fed under and emerging from each eyelet 3.
The right (orange) lace is spiralled up the right side of the shoe, at
each eyelet looping through the left (blue) lace in the middle of the
shoe before feeding under and emerging from the next eyelet.

1. The lace is run straight across the bottom and emerges through both bottom eyelets 2.
One end of the lace (orange end) runs straight up the right side, is
fed into and runs straight across the second set of eyelets 3. Both ends now run straight up the left side, each skipping one eyelet before feeding in two eyelets higher up 4. Continue running both ends across the shoe, then straight up two eyelets at a time 5. At the top of the shoe, the laces end up on the same side and the shoelace knot is tied at that point.

1. The lace runs straight across the bottom and the ends are fed into both bottom eyelets 2.
One end of the lace (orange end) runs straight up the right side,
emerges from and runs straight across the second set of eyelets 3.
The other end (red end) runs diagonally underneath and, skipping the
2nd set of eyelets, emerges from and runs straight across the 3rd set
of eyelets 4. Continue running each lace diagonally
across and up 2 sets of eyelets until one end (orange in my example)
reaches the top right eyelet 5. The other end (red in my example) then runs straight up the left side to emerge from the top left eyelet.

1. The lace runs straight across and emerges from the third set of eyelets from the bottom 2. Both ends run straight down and are fed into the second set of eyelets from the bottom 3. Both ends again run straight down and emerge from the bottom set of eyelets 4. Both ends now run straight up along the outside and are fed into the fourth set of eyelets (the first vacant pair) 5. The ends are crossed over each other, then they go under and out through the next set of eyelets up the shoe 6. Repeat step (5) until both ends reach the top.

1. The lace is run straight across the bottom and is fed into rather than emerging from both bottom eyelets 2. The ends are crossed over, then inserted into the next set of eyelets up the shoe 3. This process is repeated until both ends reach the top eyelets and end up inside.

1. The lace runs straight across the bottom and emerges through both bottom eyelets 2. Skipping two sets of eyelets, cross the ends over and feed into the fourth set of eyelets 3. Both ends now run straight down one eyelet and emerge from the third set of eyelets 4.
Continue up the shoe, each time crossing over and going up three sets
of eyelets, then straight down to emerge from the next set of eyelets
below.

1. The lace is run straight across the bottom and emerges through both bottom eyelets 2. The ends are twisted together with one complete twist in the middle of the shoe 3. The ends then continue across to the opposite sides, where they go under and out through the next set of eyelets up the shoe 4. This process is repeated until both ends reach the top eyelets.

1. The lace runs straight across the bottom and emerges from both bottom eyelets 2. Cross the ends over and feed into the 4th set of eyelets up the shoe (skip past 2 sets of eyelets) 3. Both ends now run straight up and emerge from the 5th set of eyelets 4. Cross the ends over and feed into the 2nd set of eyelets up the shoe (skip past 2 sets of eyelets) 5. Both ends now run straight up and emerge from the 3rd set of eyelets 6. Cross the ends over, feed under and emerge from the top set of eyelets (skip past 2 sets of eyelets).

1. The lace is run diagonally and emerges from the bottom left and the top right eyelets 2.
The top (red) end of the lace is zig-zagged from the top set of eyelets
down to the middle eyelets in a similar manner to the Shoe Shop Lacing 3. The bottom (orange) end of the lace is similarly zig-zagged from the bottom set of eyelets up to the middle eyelets.

1. Start
with two pairs of different colour laces, preferably the wide, flat
variety (I was lucky to receive two such pairs with my last runners!) 2. With one colour (orange in my example), lace the shoe using either Straight (Fashion) or Straight (Lazy) Lacing 3.
With the other colour (red in my example), start at the bottom of the
shoe and weave the lace in and out of the other lace until you reach
the top 4. Fold around the top lace and head back down, weaving out and in until you reach the bottom 5. Continue across the shoe until you’re out of room or out of lace, whichever comes first 6. Tuck all the loose ends of the laces into the shoe.

1. The lace runs straight across the bottom and emerges from both bottom eyelets 2. Cross the ends over and feed into the 4th set of eyelets up the shoe (skip past 2 sets of eyelets) 3. Both ends now run straight up and emerge from the 5th set of eyelets 4. Cross the ends over and feed into the 2nd set of eyelets up the shoe (skip past 2 sets of eyelets) 5. Both ends now run straight up and emerge from the 3rd set of eyelets 6. Cross the ends over, feed under and emerge from the top set of eyelets (skip past 2 sets of eyelets).

1. Take two different colour laces, each a tiny bit longer than the correct length for the shoes 2.
Cut them not quite in half, but offset by two or three centimetres. See
below for how to calculate the difference in length between the two
halves 3. Tie one shorter piece of one colour (orange
in my example) and one longer piece of the other colour (red in my
example) firmly together and trim off the excess. For extra security,
add a dab of glue. Use the remaining pieces to make the bi-colour lace
for the other shoe 4. Pull the longer (red) end out
through the bottom right eyelet, feeding from inside the shoe, until
you reach the joining knot 5. Now lace the rest of the shoe as per
Straight (Fashion) Lacing.

Ian’s Shoe Lacing

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Books on Shoe Lacing

Red Lace, Yellow Lace (by Mark Casey, Judith Herbst, Jenny Stanley). This board book has a bottom section laced with an actual two-coloured shoelace and a 24-page spiral-bound top section containing the instructions. Using rhyming verses and colourful illustrations, this book teaches the Two Loop Shoelace Knot (also known as the “Bunny Ears” method). It’s currently Amazon’s most popular book for teaching children how to tie shoelaces. Go to Amazon.com to read more or to buy this book. Approximate price: $9.56 (USD) 20% Off

Sneaker Freaker (by Simon Wood). The original Sneaker Freaker Magazine (”Snkr Frkr”) is a twice-yearly mag devoted to the global footwear craze. A funky style, with heaps of great pictures of some really trendy footwear plus interviews with some of the hottest names in the footwear industry. MTV called it: “The most definitive sneaker culture mag on the planet”. This 320 page book compiles the first six issues of the magazine, the originals of which have become hot collector’s items. Go to Amazon.com to read more or to buy this book. Approximate price: $13.00 (USD) 35% Off

From the site:

My Productivity Blog

So I was about to start a productivity blog, but that’s kind of oxymoronic isn’t it? How productive will you be while reading a blog?

Want a productivity tip? Go away and do it f*cking now.

Seriously, get outa here. k thx.

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