Have a look at part 4 of a series I've been reading.
The data are tough to argue with, especially if you don't do the research or know the statistics. For my own happiness, the conclusions inferred from the data (more money is correlated with more happiness) have next to no meaning. (I'm in the lowest income bracket and the highest happiness division...)
However, the correlation is quite revealing, and could be quite helpful for me in determining my "path". Summarily, when earning less income, for whatever reasons, most people tend to be less happy. Under the assumption that there will always be a sliding scale for income in any given population, there will always be less happy countries/groups of people. In a society that depends on differential incomes to operate, it's impossible to eradicate the gap between rich and less rich completely (without breaking the system). So, having everyone make more money is probably not the solution.
Another option then, is to free the people (especially those on the "losing end") of the correlation between income and happiness. For the individual, that may actually be more difficult than trying harder and finding a higher paying job, since what I suggest would be lengthy introspection and deconstruction/recreation of one's "axis of happiness" - to base one's happiness on something other than money or what can be purchased with it. *
Of course, this is idealistic to the point of ridiculousness, but it's the type of thing I'd like to consider as one possibility for an overly-ambitious social project. A challenge is always fun....
*I'm making the assumption that happiness for the individual and the group is a key (if not THE key) goal in life. I think it's true.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Sunday? Just another workday
So much work to do, it's crazy....
Code:
.substring(start, [opt] end)
helpful article:
http://arstechnica.com/journals/linux.ars/2007/08/27/javascript-for-all-ages
great beginner's video
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/111593
truthy - "0", "false"
&& <- "guarding"
|| <- "defaults"
Interesting news/bbs thing for crazy programmers
http://news.ycombinator.com/news
Debugging IE
http://www.berniecode.com/blog/2007/03/08/how-to-debug-javascript-with-visual-web-developer-express/
Vocab:
Acolyte - devoted follower or attendant
Code:
.substring(start, [opt] end)
helpful article:
http://arstechnica.com/journals/linux.ars/2007/08/27/javascript-for-all-ages
great beginner's video
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/111593
truthy - "0", "false"
&& <- "guarding"
|| <- "defaults"
Interesting news/bbs thing for crazy programmers
http://news.ycombinator.com/news
Debugging IE
http://www.berniecode.com/blog/2007/03/08/how-to-debug-javascript-with-visual-web-developer-express/
Vocab:
Acolyte - devoted follower or attendant
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Another busy day
Obviously it can't be that busy, or I wouldn't be making this post in the first place.
However, yesterday really was "that busy". I'm still in the process of figuring out what I should consider worthwhile and what I should consider to be a waste of time. It's hard to say when the objective is very clear (completing the current project to get it up and running), but doing tasks which might not contribute directly to that goal could have a positive impact indirectly.
Concretely, do I read about happenings in the industry (what social network is doing what), study proper code design, read blogs by entrepreneurs etc., or should I just put my head down and push the code through?
I think in the end, those kind of decisions need to be made on a case by case basis.
Learnings
First, coding:
Regex stuff (syntax in js: match(/exp/); )
- cheesy site http://www.regular-expressions.info/javascriptexample.html
Mootools custom events -- not well documented
mootools fun stuff - http://labs.iamkoa.net/2008/01/23/21-must-have-scripts-for-your-favorite-javascript-library-jquery-mootools-prototype/
japanese form validator - http://blog.masuidrive.jp/articles/2006/01/05/validation
(from a couple days ago)
Inheritance vs. composition
Interface / API
Geography:
Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea
Japanese:
春一番：その年に初めて吹く南寄り（東南東から西南西）の強風の事である
JA - Japan Agriculture Cooperatives. A very large organization, key businesses including distribution/sales of produce (especially rice), banking, insurance (共済). Apparently used to have a very strong position with the government, but the agriculture ministry has distanced itself lately, resulting in a decline of influence. Often criticized as being a direct/reporting subsection of the ministry of agriculture.
錯綜- intricate, complex
たてまえ- (in) principle, (in) theory
Other:
G8 - informal (sort of) meeting of 8 of the world's more powerful countries' leaders. Home country rotates each year.
Reflections:
Yesterday was the third extremely frustrating day in a row for JS coding. I've been working on trying to control my emotions, and I feel as though I've been making progress. However, in retrospect, it's quite silly that I even got that worked up about the problems. As obvious as it seems, I need to step back and look at the bigger picture, and in general just take a deep breath. The difficulty is that I get very objective-oriented, so when something which seems trivial is preventing me from perfecting my work, I get really flustered.
I was thinking about it today, and unless there really is a true, absolute deadline looming in one hour, it's best to step back and let it be broken for a little while I go work on something else, since there isn't necessarily a need to complete things "in order". The key is to make sure that the error doesn't affect other places though.
Music
I'm really appreciating track 7 of the Henryk C / Bach cd Julia gave me. It's so fast, no wonder he repeats the entire section - there's no way a listener could pick up the intricacies the first time listening (or the 2nd, 3rd or 45th....). The smaller repeating sections inside are really wonderful. Seems to follow a 2 step pattern (climbing or descending), then the third time becomes a transition into a completely new pattern (of different length).
However, yesterday really was "that busy". I'm still in the process of figuring out what I should consider worthwhile and what I should consider to be a waste of time. It's hard to say when the objective is very clear (completing the current project to get it up and running), but doing tasks which might not contribute directly to that goal could have a positive impact indirectly.
Concretely, do I read about happenings in the industry (what social network is doing what), study proper code design, read blogs by entrepreneurs etc., or should I just put my head down and push the code through?
I think in the end, those kind of decisions need to be made on a case by case basis.
Learnings
First, coding:
Regex stuff (syntax in js: match(/exp/); )
- cheesy site http://www.regular-expressions.info/javascriptexample.html
Mootools custom events -- not well documented
mootools fun stuff - http://labs.iamkoa.net/2008/01/23/21-must-have-scripts-for-your-favorite-javascript-library-jquery-mootools-prototype/
japanese form validator - http://blog.masuidrive.jp/articles/2006/01/05/validation
(from a couple days ago)
Inheritance vs. composition
Interface / API
Geography:
Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea
Japanese:
春一番：その年に初めて吹く南寄り（東南東から西南西）の強風の事である
JA - Japan Agriculture Cooperatives. A very large organization, key businesses including distribution/sales of produce (especially rice), banking, insurance (共済). Apparently used to have a very strong position with the government, but the agriculture ministry has distanced itself lately, resulting in a decline of influence. Often criticized as being a direct/reporting subsection of the ministry of agriculture.
錯綜- intricate, complex
たてまえ- (in) principle, (in) theory
Other:
G8 - informal (sort of) meeting of 8 of the world's more powerful countries' leaders. Home country rotates each year.
Reflections:
Yesterday was the third extremely frustrating day in a row for JS coding. I've been working on trying to control my emotions, and I feel as though I've been making progress. However, in retrospect, it's quite silly that I even got that worked up about the problems. As obvious as it seems, I need to step back and look at the bigger picture, and in general just take a deep breath. The difficulty is that I get very objective-oriented, so when something which seems trivial is preventing me from perfecting my work, I get really flustered.
I was thinking about it today, and unless there really is a true, absolute deadline looming in one hour, it's best to step back and let it be broken for a little while I go work on something else, since there isn't necessarily a need to complete things "in order". The key is to make sure that the error doesn't affect other places though.
Music
I'm really appreciating track 7 of the Henryk C / Bach cd Julia gave me. It's so fast, no wonder he repeats the entire section - there's no way a listener could pick up the intricacies the first time listening (or the 2nd, 3rd or 45th....). The smaller repeating sections inside are really wonderful. Seems to follow a 2 step pattern (climbing or descending), then the third time becomes a transition into a completely new pattern (of different length).
Sunday, April 13, 2008
To start
Well, it's late at night, and I'm still working. Pretty typical as of late.
My objective today though, is to start this new blog, and give it a direction of sorts. I may very well come back to this post to make corrections after rereading tomorrow.
Essentially, I want to use this blog for a few purposes:
1) A log of things that I've learned, and what I think about them
2) A spot to write down creative ideas
3) A place for introspection
4) A venue for improving my writing
5) A holder for an occasional "diary" post
(I was running out of synonyms anyway)
I think that's a pretty good start. Here we go.
Learned:
What exactly are mushrooms? I started thinking about it because someone asked me how my relatives in Hiroshima grow shiitake on logs.
It was explained to me that they just take the cut log, inject it with the "spores" and then let it sit. The next time the right season comes around (apparently spring), the mushrooms just grow right out of the log. One log yields for about 5 years until it's spent.
wikipedia says:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basidiomycota
Notes for recent themes -
Classical music - focusing on each note while listening to the music (rather than just having it on in the background) seems to have sharpened my perception of pitch, as well as my ability to remember music. Pretty amazing for only 3 weeks of trying. On top of that, all music has become much more enjoyable. I'm really liking this trend.
My objective today though, is to start this new blog, and give it a direction of sorts. I may very well come back to this post to make corrections after rereading tomorrow.
Essentially, I want to use this blog for a few purposes:
1) A log of things that I've learned, and what I think about them
2) A spot to write down creative ideas
3) A place for introspection
4) A venue for improving my writing
5) A holder for an occasional "diary" post
(I was running out of synonyms anyway)
I think that's a pretty good start. Here we go.
Learned:
What exactly are mushrooms? I started thinking about it because someone asked me how my relatives in Hiroshima grow shiitake on logs.
It was explained to me that they just take the cut log, inject it with the "spores" and then let it sit. The next time the right season comes around (apparently spring), the mushrooms just grow right out of the log. One log yields for about 5 years until it's spent.
wikipedia says:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basidiomycota
Notes for recent themes -
Classical music - focusing on each note while listening to the music (rather than just having it on in the background) seems to have sharpened my perception of pitch, as well as my ability to remember music. Pretty amazing for only 3 weeks of trying. On top of that, all music has become much more enjoyable. I'm really liking this trend.
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