Britt's Blog

IMHO, people often spend too much time weighing their options. Eliezer at Overcoming Bias agrees. It seems like an awful waste of time and energy to agonize over two choices, especially as neither is likely to significantly change your overall happiness in the long run, according to Dan Gilbert. (Citation: Check out his book, Stumbling On Happiness, my previous blog post on same, or his excellent TED lecture.)

Be sure to also read Eliezer’s previous post on how rapidly we actually arrive at a final answer, even for significant decisions.

If I don’t stop reading this stuff, I’m going to morph into a hardcore nihilist instead of a cheerful existentialist.

My grandpa taught me to be polite, fair, and kind.

He taught me how to play a mean game of Slapjack, Crazy Eights, and Gin Rummy.

He taught me how to read from the Dick & Jane reader, starting a love affair with the printed word. When there was something new to learn, he always placed a book about it in my hands.

He taught me to be satisfied with what I have, and to be moderate in my habits.

There is a growing body of research that suggests that it does a gifted child more harm than good to praise them for being intelligent. If something does not come naturally to them, they are often afraid to keep trying, because having to work hard at something implies that you are not smart.

My grandpa’s values and wisdom led him to always praise the difficulty, not the ease, with which success is achieved.

My grandpa taught me to be patriotic, to love the ideals for which my country stands, even though we do not always live up to them. He taught me to admire those who sacrifice for their country and for their families.

My grandpa taught me that the measure of a man is not in his bank account or even in the diplomas on his wall, but his decency toward his fellow man.

My grandpa put my on a path to the stars. One of my few regrets it that this path sometimes took me far away from him. But no matter how far apart we are, he will always be a part of me.

He died at 4:20 PM on Saturday, August 23, 2008, surrounded by his children and his grandchildren, who are some of the best, kindest, most decent people I have ever known.

J rarely remembers his dreams, and he figures it’s just as well.

I remember my dreams, and it’s my impression that I have a lot more bad dreams than good dreams. Turns out that my impression is probably right.

I rarely have violent dreams where I’m being chased by monsters or something. Mostly, in my nightmares, I am completely enraged with someone and they remain infuriatingly oblivious to the fact, or else someone I care about is very angry with me and I’m upset about it.

I also have the “Oh, no, I’m back in school!” dream (ranging anywhere from junior high to ABD status in grad school). And I dream a lot that I’ve forgotten something important: a key piece of paperwork I was supposed to fill out, a set of homework I didn’t grade, an exam I was supposed to have photocopied, or what have you.

Often, when I wake up, it takes me quite a while to figure out that it was just a dream, nobody’s angry, I didn’t forget the important thing, etc. And of course the bad dreams are much, much worse and more frequent when I’m stressed out.

My good dreams aren’t really that awesome. It might be tempting to give up the good along with the bad dreams.

A thoughtful take on goofing off and internet addiction. I think there’s an important point lingering here that the author doesn’t quite hammer home about the difference between being a passive consumer of the net, and actually engaging with what you’re consuming in order to produce some kind of not-necessarily-earth-shattering but tangible output.

You need to let yourself practice with blogging, journals, or throwaway poems and work under less than perfect circumstances, the same way a guitarist noodles around with chords while watching TV, or an artist scribbles on a sketchpad while riding the bus.

This is a thought I will return to as I’m making the decision to surf or work—am I just using the web to escape to a place where I don’t really have to think very hard, or am using it to actively engage with the broader world?

p.s. I was apprehensive when it went to a multi-author model (and posts by The Merlin are still my favorites) but 43 Folders remains a high-signal spike in a sea of throwaway “lifehack” blogs.

This ad at the New York Times online had me scratching my head:

Dolt for your baby? Does that make any sense at all? And why does that baby look so startled? Because its parents have just given it a dolt? What does that mean?

Tip: If there might be an issue with I’s, l’s and 1′s, go for a serif font, or don’t do mixed case.

I found the following list, in what is clearly my own handwriting, on a piece of paper in my scratch paper pile:

• Prime Minister Brown
• The Olympics
• Greenhouse gasses
• A six foot alligator
• J K Rowling
• Biting

I do not have any recollection of writing this, nor do I have the foggiest notion what any of it means.

“Things I Am Afraid Of?” The plot for the next blockbuster “ripped from the headlines” thriller movie? The keys to a diabolical conspiracy theory?

Your guess is as good as mine.

Even Google Sets is at a loss.

It’s a little bit disturbing that I took the time to write the list, but have no memory of doing it. I hope your day was either more, or less, surreal, because the uncanny mundanity of this discovery is quite disconcerting.

I’ve be wrestling with this for a while, and I think I’ve finally come to some kind of a provisional understanding—or maybe my sense of crisis has just faded to a tolerable background uneasiness.

I freaked out at the beginning of this summer when I realized that I was attacking all the things about my life that I am unhappy about by developing systems and strategies, but holy crap, what am I going to do when things don’t work? I mean that on the individual level: what if I try five different strategies for getting my grading done in a timely manner, and none of them work? What then? HUH? And I also mean that on a collective level: I have improved several things about myself and my life by being disciplined and systematic. I have taken up exercise, and I feel healthier. I have lost weight, and my blood pressure is lower. I have become more organized, and I spend less time panicking because I can’t find things. I manage my time better and don’t flake and accidentally blow off meetings or important tasks as often. All good things. But what floored me is that I am improving my life in many small, practical ways… but I am really growing in a larger sense?

There was a panicky moment there when I wondered if I was going to have to Get Religion or sell all of my possessions and buy a goat farm or maybe just run away and hitchhike though South America. (Luckily, no rash decisions were made.)

Having pondered for a while, I think the real question I’m grappling with is: What do I want or expect to be the ultimate outcome of all these strategies and systems?

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