matt trent

Armed And Deadly: Shoulder, Weapons Key To Hunt

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:00:28 -0700

Armed And Deadly: Shoulder, Weapons Key To Hunt:

Of all the things that make human beings unique, one that gets overlooked — literally — is the shoulder. It turns out that the shoulder altered the course of human evolution by giving us survival skills we never could have imagined without it.

"Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame."

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:00:58 -0700

“Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame.”

- G.K. Chesterton — Writer

Photo

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:00:46 -0700

"The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary."

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:00:45 -0700

“The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.”

- [Nassim Taleb]: — Author, Distinguished Professor

The pursuit of creativity, in five stages

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:00:44 -0700

The pursuit of creativity, in five stages:

At times, when pressure mounts and you have to meet impossible deadlines, you set creativity aside and take the easy way out; you revert to cliches, breeziness, and other cheap tricks. After awhile, it becomes a habit and your integrity as a writer wavers. You become a hack. While the exact formula for creativity remains elusive, learning when, where, and how you are in the various stages of the creative process will help you get “in the zone” when you need to, and with practice, bring inspiration within your reach to get you out of that dreaded mediocre rut (or rot).

There are generally five stages in the creative process: First Insight, Saturation, Incubation, Illumination, and Verification. The duration for each phase may vary, depending on the person, the idea, or the material.

3 qualities of successful Ph.D. students: Perseverance, tenacity and cogency

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 10:00:44 -0700

3 qualities of successful Ph.D. students: Perseverance, tenacity and cogency:

There’s a ruinous misconception that a Ph.D. must be smart.

This can’t be true.

A smart person would know better than to get a Ph.D.

“Smart” qualities like brilliance and quick-thinking are irrelevant in Ph.D. school. Students that have made it through so far on brilliance and quick-thinking alone wash out of Ph.D. programs with nagging predictability. Let there be no doubt: brilliance and quick-thinking are valuable in other pursuits. But, they’re neither sufficient nor necessary in science.

P.S. Not just good advice for people in grad school.

How To Recover From 10 Types of Demotivation

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:00:45 -0700

How To Recover From 10 Types of Demotivation:

Goal-setting, planning, organizing and accountability structures are often touted as the big solution to demotivation and the silver bullet that will get you creative and productive again, but notice that it’s only a useful strategy for dealing with some types of demotivation. With many other types of demotivation, goal-setting, planning, organizing and accountability structures will only make your demotivation problem worse.

Where does our best work come from?

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:00:44 -0700

Where does our best work come from?:

I think four factors explain most kinds of performance.

You are motivated

You’re assigned a task you’re both confident in and challenged by

You are well led and working for someone who respects you

You are working with people you trust

The surprise is how rare in most people’s working lives are all four at the same time. Or even three of the four.

4 Amino Acids That Improve Energy and Mood

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:00:44 -0700

4 Amino Acids That Improve Energy and Mood:

Here are four amino acids that particularly work to improve energy and mood:

(All the dosages below are based on Julia Ross’s recommendations in her books, which I highly suggest reading before embarking on an amino acid therapy program. Remember it is always best to start with a small dose and increase as needed.)

Beyond the 10,000 Hour Rule: Richard Hamming and the Messy Art of Becoming Great

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:00:44 -0700

Beyond the 10,000 Hour Rule: Richard Hamming and the Messy Art of Becoming Great:

“Great scientists tolerate ambiguity very well,” Hamming says. “They believe the theory enough to go ahead; [but] they doubt it enough to notice the errors and faults so they can step forward and create the new replacement theory.”

This is perhaps the most important advice from among Hamming’s many suggestions. The path to excellence requires this balance between confidence and doubt, and though this balance is challenging, it’s tractable so long as your recognize what you’re facing.

Productivity hints, tips, hacks and tricks for graduate students and professors

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:00:44 -0700

Productivity hints, tips, hacks and tricks for graduate students and professors:

A random collection of time-saving tips, targeted at people in academia.

The illustrated guide to a Ph.D.

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 10:03:45 -0700

The illustrated guide to a Ph.D.:

Keeping things in perspective.

Effectiveness Is All About Managing Your Time, Energy, and Attention

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 10:22:45 -0700

Effectiveness Is All About Managing Your Time, Energy, and Attention:

I bet you think you’d be able to do a lot more if you had more time. If so, you’re probably wrong. Having more time is only a piece of the puzzle.

It’s not so much just the quantity of time that we should consider, but the quality of time, too.

Your Brain on Computers - Studying the Brain Off the Grid, Professors Find Clarity

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:01:44 -0700

Your Brain on Computers - Studying the Brain Off the Grid, Professors Find Clarity:

The quest to understand the impact on the brain of heavy technology use — at a time when such use is exploding — is still in its early stages. To Mr. Strayer, it is no less significant than when scientists investigated the effects of consuming too much meat or alcohol.

How I Ended my 6-Year Relationship with my Blackberry

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:09:43 -0700

How I Ended my 6-Year Relationship with my Blackberry:

While people always cite “emergencies,” more often than not the singular reason that a cell phone exists in their lives is to give them a crutch to prevent them from being alone with themselves, their thoughts, and their fellow human beings. Going to the gym? Call a friend. Running an errand? Send a text. Eating something interesting? Take a picture and show the world on Facebook. We are incapable of living outside the virtual cloud that surrounds us. We can only fully live if we are constantly connected.

Photo

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:04:45 -0700

Four Burners and Balance: The Follow-Up

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:01:43 -0700

Four Burners and Balance: The Follow-Up:

I like this quote from a David Sedaris article. Sort of an adapted ‘carpenter’s triangle’:

“One burner represents your family, one is your friends, the third is your health, and the fourth is your work.”

The gist is that in order to be successful you have to cut off one of your burners. And in order to be really successful you have to cut off two.

Like Chris, I don’t particularly aspire to a balanced life in any conventional sense, and think I’m more productive and more fulfilled when I do one thing obsessively, whether that’s my job, side projects, or slacking. Giving myself only one real task at certain times really lets me delve into the nuances and push ahead.

What follows is his collection of the best comments from the ensuing discussion.

The Unconventional Backpacker: Interview with Jodi Ettenberg

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:47:06 -0700

The Unconventional Backpacker: Interview with Jodi Ettenberg:

Jodi isn’t a typical backpacker—she was a corporate lawyer, trained in Quebec and working for a big firm in New York. The whole time she was working, she was also saving for a new life.

How long were you planning your escape from your corporate job?

As counterintuitive as it sounds, I was planning my escape well before I even took the job. I had no aching desire to be a lawyer, I was just stubborn as hell and when someone bet me I couldn’t get into law school straight from CEGEP (in Quebec, CEGEP is the equivalent of Grades 12 and 13), I took them up on the challenge. As a Quebec resident, law school tuition was extremely reasonable and when I was accepted, I decided to attend. It seemed like a huge act of hubris to turn the offer down, and as there was nothing else I was more interested in doing (outside my dreams of travel, that is), it was an excellent opportunity to train my brain in a new way of thinking.

Hangover Cures

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:03:00 -0700

Hangover Cures:

I try to keep the paleo/primal/whatever links I rummage through to a minimum, but this is actually a really good read. I’d add b-complex to the list, before going out and before going to bed.

Percolator Need I say more?

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:57:00 -0700

Percolator

Need I say more?