Just do it!

Thanks Natalie Dee!

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. A book review.

Last night I visited the Ward homestead in Belleville, ON. As usual, there were many new and interesting books around the house. Ching Bee had recently purchased some new cookbooks and I hadn't been by since well before Christmas, so all sorts of new things were around.

I found a book that I had been looking to read for awhileAnimal, Vegetable, Miracle A year of food life by Barbara Kingsolver. Kindly, the Wards told me to borrow it for as long as I would like. I took this book to bed with me in the pink and green room. However, before I got into bed I took a quick look at the bookshelf, one of my favourite in the household, in my room. I came across Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. Before Christmas I was considering picking up his latest work, Outliers, but had passed on beginning a new book since I had so many on the go. Luckily, before I had left Guelph I had removed all of the hardcovers from my overnight bag since they were "too heavy". So, I decided to take a look at the first few sentences. I ended up reading the introduction and most of the first chapter before I fell asleep last night. I had to force myself to put the book down because I knew we had a big day ahead of ourselves on the road to Ottawa for vacation roadtrip.

Blink is a study of the most subtle, critical, infinitely small aspects of human judgement. Gladwell attempts to explain how we make split decisions and understand human intuition. I find these to be very fascinating concepts because so much of this relates to body language and the way we communicate with one another. This book describes Malcolm's journey to achieving greater understanding of these nuances that play such a vital role in every single choice we make. He interviews professionals, researchers, people who work with people and don't even realize that their everyday life relies on these facets of the human condition. I really enjoy nonfiction science-y type books that are written in such a way that the general public can easily understand the process of science. I'm only a short way into this book, but I am completely engaged and will be back with much more. Not only on this topic, but many other topics that Blink has inspired me to think about and consider.

Happy Darwin Day!

Earlier today the webmaster at school sent everyone an e-mail that contained an emoticon wink and a recommended link. Of course, I clicked on the link and it connected to today's press release. Every day they (the webmaster and friends) feature an interesting article about the latest goingons at the U of G on the main page. Today's article started out with the line:

"Hoping for a little romance this Valentine's Day? Then avoid logging onto Facebook."

And it continues on to explain a pretty funny study by two Guelph PhD students. I didn't totally relate to their findings; the study cohort was from a younger age group than I and I think that I've worked through some of the issues that these people are currently dealing with. That being said it sort of made me feel better about disconnecting for awhile. Doug always teases me about being from the plugged-in generation and to be honest, I'm starting to feel the pressure. Looking at my computer makes me feel a bit nauseated and as I click along my regular websites I'm starting to feel a little bit bored :( These are bad ways to feel when you need to write about 100 more pages on your thesis.

Anyway, I'm constantly amazed by the opportunities for this sort of study to be carried out. If you can find a gap in the literature or notice some sort of controversy you'll be able to work out a project. I'm glad this type of social phenomenon (facebook) is gaining so much attention because it really lets us look inside the collective psyche and understand how society is shaping up these days.

Later, Cass

p.s. Andrew just told me that he is quitting school to focus on his rap career (sorta like Joaquin Phoenix).

Freakishly beautiful knit animation.

I just found this on one of my chatty places to go on the internet.

I don't know much about this short film, but I'm going to keep researching a bit. The BBC site says that is was shown at the Encounters Film Festival in Bristol. I really love the little song.

Okay, so I'm taking an e-break for a bit, but I might still come around here once in awhile. See how I'm feeling. I think I actually just need to take a break from certain websites that are gettin' me down. Like Facebook and the aforementioned chatty places.

One other thing.

This has been a good afternoon. I've been cruising along on the statistical analysis section of my thesis, had a good lunch, and a good chat with Doug and Uta.

I read over the entries I posted in January and I added some pictures. Good blogs have good pictures. (As a great example I'd like to direct your attention to 1001 rules for my unborn son. I've been following this blog since he started, can't remember how I came across it, but I love seeing updates. His tastes in music, art, and whatever, are similar to mine. I admire his sense of tradition, quirky ideas, and simple style. Also, he's just cool.) As I went about adding the pictures I had a chance to think back on what I had written.

I've learned a good lesson over the past few weeks. It goes a long way to explaining for myself why I started this blog. I have always been self-consious, critical of my own work, and determined to understand how exactly I fit in to all of the situations I come across. I think all of this is necessary on the way to becoming a content, aware, enlightened person (I mean, I guess that's what I'm aiming for). However, it's very easy to take this all too far and put a lot of unneeded and exhausting pressure on myself (same goes for most people, I suppose). When I started this blog I wasn't so intent on figuring things out completely, but more on sorting out the clutter and defining my problem and I'm identifying this as a very insightful concept. I'm starting to realize that you can't ever figure everything out completely. No matter how you try and how many hours you spend puzzling over everything in your life, figuring it all out would require more energy than one person has to spare. I mean, follow your heart, sure, but who the hell knows where their heart is going to lead them next? Why put so much effort into trying to guess what the next thing you want will be?

So, the idea behind this blog, I suppose, remains as an attempt to focus the chaotic creative energy around me. Staying positive in the place I am. Doing good work and being good to myself. Truly appreciating the people around me, but not trying at all to figure them out. Spending time with good music and activities that enrich all of my hours.

Yep. I like to write here, so I should be back soon.
Cass

Here I go again.

I'm doing what I've done all too many times: abandoning a blog on the internet. I've been thinking about this place for awhile. I come up with interesting ideas for posts, plan them out, and then I don't post them.

This is ridiculous. When the mood strikes, I need to come here and type.

So, to get back on track, here's an easy-peasy post, with knitting and evolution.

Generally, I avoid conversations about evolution and associated topics unless there is some sort of scientific evidence or interesting historical information involved. However, from an historical perspective, this is a particularly exciting year to talk evolution. In a few short days, scientists around the world will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. On this particular 12 February, I will be heading to Ottawa for a bit of a roadtrip with my dear friend Emily. I'm sure that we will take a few moments to appreciate the work of naturalists that came before us. Perhaps Emily will bake another endangered hummingbird cake in honour of Darwin's own extravagant tastes.

Later this year, we will mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's most wellknown work. On the Origin of Species was released on 24 November 1859. This theory and collection of data has been one of the most formative works in shaping the way we understand evolution today. Most importantly to me, Darwin set an example for how to conduct good science in a time when the opinions of rich white religious men were really all that mattered.

This important year has started a lot of chatter around the web among many different groups of people. One of my favourite groups, Scientific Knitters, over on Ravelry have mentioned a bit of a knit-a-long (KAL) in honour of Darwin and his work. I really like this little guy: Evolving Punk by Anna Hrachovec.



So you might see my version in the near future....roadtrip knitting, perhaps?

Talk to you later, Cass