You Are What You Say?

You are what you say! If what you would say if you were there was known, is your presence really required? Do words make the man? In the sci-fi novel Wyrms, Orson Scott Card took this what-you-say-is-who-you-are principle to its logical extreme: heads of people were preserved such that they could talk, even years after the bodies perished! Talk about just being all talk! ;-)

Well, here are some things that I would have talked to you about if you had me over the last few months. These are also blog-points, hopefully I will expand on these points, but who knows! Some random thoughts in here - some trivial and obvious, some profound. Some original, some inspired. Some fun, some boring. Some are lessons, some are observations/insights yeah and some are shit. C'est la vie.

1. GREEDY DOESN'T WORK...ALWAYS
Doing the best possible thing at every point will not yield you the best results. You might even be called spineless! Greedy algorithms don't always work.

2. ON THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE
Science should not be taught in historical order. Why force everybody to learn the mistakes and then unlearn? One of the reasons why quantum physics, relativity etc still have an aura of mystique and incomprehensibility.

3. LIVE FOR A BETTER TOMORROW
Hope is what keeps us ticking. Only if there is hope is there a will.

4. DEMOCRACY?
Everybody is Chinese when they are born, slowly we become others.

5. LAWS OF FRIENDSHIP
a) Only equals can be friends.
b) And there are limits to friendship no matter what you might claim. There's stuff you will and stuff you won't for a friend/relative. Remember King Lear.

6. PARTICLE METAPHYSICS
Modern physics is in many ways approaching the realm of religion. "There has to be a particle like this, so let's search for it... we didn't find it... let's think up a new particle or a new dimension!"

7. KEEP IT SHORT STUPID
Futility of writing long-winded reviews. If you like the thing or its maker and I say it's bad, you will check it out any way - how bad can it be?.

8. MOVIE CRITICISM FOR DUMMIES
Quick-and-dirty movie critique tips applicable to all movies regardless.
a) Do the characters explain some part of the story or a quirk of some other character in dialogue? If they state the really obvious, it's a very weak script.
b) Artificiality Litmus - Did the director achieve what he aimed for?
c) There were a few more... cannot recollect now

9. COMMON SYMBOLIC INSTRUMENTS IN MOVIES
a) Elements Technique - Rain/Thunder/Lightning to indicate helplessness of the characters
b) Call Of Reality technique. Phone ringing to interrupt a dream-like, unreal sequence.

X. SYSTEMATIC<=>REGULAR
Regular and systematic is best. Regularly systematic will also benefit you. Be systematic

Y. THE WILL-DO PRINCIPLE
Doesn't always have to be 100% before you try to do something, enter the fray, put yourself to the test etc. 80% should do. 80-20 rule. Can be applied in most scenarios. 20% is all you need 80% of the time. And 80% would suffice 80% of the time (wait a minute, that would be the 80-80 rule!)

Z. OH PEDANTIC ME!
The difference between continual and continuous.

A. PSEUDO-LINGUISTICS
Musings on the similarities between Kannada and Malayalam.
a) Malayalam being a somewhat recent language takes elements from both Kannada and Tamil, although the similarity with Tamil is what gets highlighted.
b) 50 is Ainpathu in North Kerala, Anpathu in South Kerala. Thantha (=father) derogatory in south.
c) The modifier for "do not" in Kannada is "baruthu", Malayalam ("aruthu").
d) Ho-Po, Va-Ba Sound Interchangeability principle
Maybe some of these "similarities" stem from my ignorance rather than knowledge of the languages in question. Take them as hypotheses!

B. THOUGHT-LOSS-ON-WRITE
Capture the thought when you can! It's the capturing that's important, improve it later. But the Heisenberg principle applies, you alter the thought when you catch it. But catch it anyway.

C. SLOW-AND-STEADY
The principle of differential change like differentiation/integration. It is suddenly that you realize that it has changed completely!

D. IMPORTANCE OF MINUTIAE
Near-complete knowledge of any activity/sphere of life/domain is beneficial. Could be anything but it is very difficult to get there. Are you there? Here's an easy way to check: have you bluffed about It, when asked about something specific about It?

Yeah that's what I would have talked about. That was TJ BrainDump 2007.

So that's all? Nothing missed? Parts make the whole, but there is always more to the whole. Or so we hope.

- Thomas Jay Cubb

Changelog
20071124 Added the cheesy titles, moved the background update to separate post