| The first. |
[Sep. 21st, 2006|02:35 pm] |
| [ | vibe |
| |  curious | ] |
| [ | audio |
| | Waiting Line, Zero 7 | ] |
Shirokanedai, Tokyo. (c) Sept 2006. The first photo I took of Tokyo.
I once met a Bedouin in the Sahara who had never seen a person of oriental extraction before. With my fragmented French we spoke about how bright the full moon was that evening, hanging over the silent sand dunes. He smelled of animal must, the scent of his livelihood clung to him as his camels watched over us.
I told him that man had walked on the moon.
Disbelief, denial, shock and finally wonder and pure unadulterated joy flushed his face.
Imagine that, walking on the moon!
The epiphany of The First is unique - as sharp as a clear, cold winter's day. It classes as one my favourite emotions.
And there so many things I'd like to experience again for The First Time.
The taste of lemon. Play in rain. Swim. Thunder across the sky. Read. Fall in love.
Lately I hadn't been doing a lot of Firsts. Stuff gets in the way. Details.
But these two weeks have been like fresh water.
I watch as people pass me by in Meguro, and I remember what it is like to live with curiosity, to live a life of vigour. To breathe a different air everyday.
To have thousands of Firsts a day. |
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| Hanoi |
[Sep. 10th, 2006|08:31 am] |
Temple of Literature, Hanoi, Vietnam. (c) August 2006
Hello from Tokyo by the way. |
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| Are you good at things? |
[Jul. 20th, 2006|02:10 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | the fragrant east | ] |
| [ | vibe |
| |  nerdy | ] |
| [ | audio |
| | Tainted Love, Palast Orchester | ] |
A Star Is Made: Where Does Talent Really Come From
When someone is very good at a given thing, what is it that actually makes him good?
Interesting article which asserts that you're good at something because you 1) have the desire to be good at it 2) practice deliberately to obtain those skills - rather than to obtain results.
"... the trait we commonly call talent is highly overrated. Or, put another way, expert performers — whether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer programming — are nearly always made, not born. And yes, practice does make perfect. These may be the sort of clichés that parents are fond of whispering to their children. But these particular clichés just happen to be true.
Ericsson's research suggests a third cliché as well: when it comes to choosing a life path, you should do what you love — because if you don't love it, you are unlikely to work hard enough to get very good."
(italics my own)
Other interesting papers on the site include the enigma of financial expertise, dart kings and chess masters.
This is very positive in many senses. The upshot that you are very much the master of your own destiny, with the power to pick and choose what you are good at - to the extent that you can control your desires. This perks me up.
Incidentally it also reminded me of something I've been told by someone rather wise - self esteem is not simply about self confidence, it is 1) knowing what you do well and 2) knowing how you do it well.
Something to smile about on a Thursday afternoon, which is about as rare and precious as it gets. |
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| ... is love |
[Jul. 11th, 2006|03:02 pm] |
... how charming. An LJ meme that is actually appropriate. |
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| Oscar |
[Jul. 10th, 2006|04:43 am] |
Oscar, our black Labrador has an EU passport which gives him the privilege of travelling through and living in any member state of the EU.
He sleeps 12 hours a day, has a special doggy diet and sleeps on Conrad sheets.
He loves tennis balls and does not like dogs.
He will also be living in a villa in Tuscany for six months come August.
Life's tough. |
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| Tasty |
[Jun. 30th, 2006|09:49 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Canary Wharf | ] |
| [ | vibe |
| |  rejuvenated | ] |
| [ | audio |
| | Keyboards | ] |
Nose Job - The Truth About Police Dogs
"Pigs are actually very similar to humans in their fat and protein constitution so we use dead pigs in training. And we tried using this American chemical which would approximate the smell of corpses, but is odourless for humans. But our dogs didn’t react to it very well. They weren’t able to find actual bodies if trained only with that. So we had to use corpse juices [“Leichenflüssigkeit”] in training..." |
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| Slingshot Tokyo |
[Jun. 19th, 2006|11:55 pm] |
| [ | vibe |
| | accomplished | ] |
| [ | audio |
| | Lotus Eaters, Moloko | ] |
Sometimes if you play fair, work and bid hard you get what you want.
For six months from September these entries will come to you from Tokyo.
Bring it on. |
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| Ask not for and you shall recieve |
[Jun. 8th, 2006|07:54 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Islington, London | ] |
| [ | vibe |
| |  weird | ] |
| [ | audio |
| | Stare at the Sky, Ani DiFranco | ] |
Hampstead Heath, Nikon FM2, Fuji ISO 400
The curve balls you get in life throw you.
But when you get the knack of it, you begin to see them coming.
My healthy sense of cynicism makes me particularly good at this.
But this, this I did not see.
It is the strangest feeling, having dreamt, visualised and almost tasted it, for it to come up one bleary eyed morning, unexpected, unannounced... but also unarmed.
Which is disarming. |
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| The Reason Why |
[Jun. 7th, 2006|06:19 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Opik | ] |
| [ | vibe |
| |  pensive | ] |
| [ | audio |
| | Tapping of keyboards | ] |
"In 'Why?' the Columbia University scholar Charles Tilly sets out to make sense of our reasons for giving reasons.
In Tilly's view, we rely on four general categories of reasons. The first is what we called conventions - conventionally accepted explanations... the second is stories, and what distinguishes a story is a very specific account of cause and effect.... then there are codes, which are high-level conventions, formulas that invoke sometimes recondite procedural rules and categories... finally, there are technical accounts: stories informed by specialised knowledge and authority.
Tilly argues that we make two common errors when it comes to understanding reasons. The first is to assume that some kinds of reasons are always better than others - that there is a hierarchy of reasons, with conventions (the least sophisticated) at the bottom and technical accounts at the top. That's wrong, Tilly says: each type of reason has its own role.
Tilly's second point flows from the first, and it's that the reasons people give aren't a function of their character - that is, there aren't people who always favour technical accounts and people who always favour stories. Rather, reasons arise out of situations and roles. Imagine, he says, the following possible responses to one person's knocking some books off the desk of another:
1. Sorry, buddy. I'm just plain awkward.
2. I'm sorry. I didn't see your book.
3. Nuts! I did it again.
4. Why did you put that book there?
5. I told you to stack up your books neatly.
The lesson is not that the kind of person who uses reason No. 1 or No. 2 is polite and the kind of person who uses reason No. 4 or No. 5 is a jerk. The point is that any of us might use any of those five reasons depending on our relation to the person whose books we knocked over. Reason-giving, Tilly says, reflects, establishes, repairs, and negotiates relationships...
When we say that two parties in a conflict are "talking past each other," this is what we mean: that both sides have a legitimate attachment to mutually exclusive reasons. Proponents of abortion often rely on a convention (choice) and a technical account (concerning the viability of a fetus in the first trimester). Opponents of abortion turn the fate of each individual fetus into a story: a life created and then abruptly terminated. Is it any surprise that the issue has proved to be so intractable? If you believe that stories are the most appropriate form of reason-giving, then those who use conventions and technical accounts will seem morally indifferent—regardless of whether you agree with them. And, if you believe that a problem is best adjudicated through conventions or technical accounts, it is hard not to look upon storytellers as sensationalistic and intellectually unserious...
Tilly argues that these conflicts are endemic to the legal system. Laws are established in opposition to stories. In a criminal trial, we take a complicated narrative of cause and effect and match it to a simple, impersonal code: first-degree murder, or second-degree murder, or manslaughter. The impersonality of codes is what makes the law fair. But it is also what can make the legal system so painful for victims, who find no room for their voices and their anger and their experiences. Codes punish, but they cannot heal."
From Here's Why, Malcom Gladwell in The New Yorker.
*
On reflection the people with whom I've felt great affinity to share similar choice of reasons in any given situation.
Or perhaps not so much affinity as greater willingness to trust. Sometimes in error.
Query a possible correlation between the preferred category of reasons to political leaning - as above on the topic of abortion - a liberal pro-choice stance on convention and technical account, opponents on the other hand with the story account.
I wonder how a matrix of the patterns of reasoning would look when mapped out onto political and social axis - how all these lines in the environment would chart your prejudices, your virtues your whims and your follies, touching and parting at star-mapped points to create the constellation that is uniquely you. |
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| Closing |
[Jun. 7th, 2006|04:34 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | opik | ] |
| [ | vibe |
| |  sick | ] |
| [ | audio |
| | phone ring tones | ] |
Closings are similar to the Sahara.
Vast stretches of dust punctuated by the frantic blossoming of activity.
As I wait for pieces of paper to be stained with ink I watch the sun slice shadows on glass and metal towers.
Lazy June afternoons roll past my desk. |
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oyster_pearls's journal
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