Letters Remain

  • Losing Your Sense of Balance

    After a hysterectomy, Cheryl contracted a post-operative infection and was given the antibiotic gentamicin; a known side effect of which is a loss of the sense of balance (equilibrioception). When it was overprescribed to her the inevitable happened.

    The Telegraph follows Cheryl’s story on losing her sense of balance and enlightens us on neuroplasticity in the process.

    For Cheryl there is no peace, even after she has fallen to the floor. I ask her, does the sense of falling go away once she has landed? ‘There have been times,’ Cheryl says, ‘when I literally lose the sense of the feeling of the floor… and an imaginary trapdoor opens up and swallows me.’ Even when she has fallen, she feels that she is still falling, perpetually, into an infinite abyss.

    But today all that is about to be challenged. She is wearing a construction hat with holes in the side and a device inside called an accelerometer. Cheryl licks a thin plastic strip with small electrodes on it, and places it on her tongue. The accelerometer and the tongue strip are connected to a computer. This machine, a bizarre-looking Bach-y-Rita prototype, will replace Cheryl’s vestibular apparatus by sending balance signals to her brain from her tongue. It could end her nightmare.

    via Mind Hacks

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    Lloyd Morgan

  • The World of Web Trolling

    The New York Times goes inside the world of online trolls, who “use the Internet to harass, humiliate and torment strangers”.

    […] Even if we had the resources to aggressively prosecute trolls, would we want to? Are we ready for an Internet where law enforcement keeps watch over every vituperative blog and backbiting comments section, ready to spring at the first hint of violence? Probably not. All vigorous debates shade into trolling at the perimeter; it is next to impossible to excise the trolling without snuffing out the debate.

    If we can’t prosecute the trolling out of online anonymity, might there be some way to mitigate it with technology? [One possible] answer is persistent pseudonymity, a system of nicknames that stay the same across multiple sites. This could reduce anonymity’s excesses while preserving its benefits for whistle-blowers and overseas dissenters. Ultimately, as Fortuny suggests, trolling will stop only when its audience stops taking trolls seriously. “People know to be deeply skeptical of what they read on the front of a supermarket tabloid,” says Dan Gillmor, who directs the Center for Citizen Media. “It should be even more so with anonymous comments. They shouldn’t start off with a credibility rating of, say, 0. It should be more like negative-30.”

    Of course, none of these methods will be fail-safe as long as individuals like Fortuny construe human welfare the way they do. As we discussed the epilepsy hack, I asked Fortuny whether a person is obliged to give food to a starving stranger. No, Fortuny argued; no one is entitled to our sympathy or empathy. We can choose to give or withhold them as we see fit. “I can’t push you into the fire,” he explained, “but I can look at you while you’re burning in the fire and not be required to help.” Weeks later, after talking to his friend Zach, Fortuny began considering the deeper emotional forces that drove him to troll. The theory of the green hair, he said, “allows me to find people who do stupid things and turn them around. Zach asked if I thought I could turn my parents around. I almost broke down. The idea of them learning from their mistakes and becoming people that I could actually be proud of… it was overwhelming.” He continued: “It’s not that I do this because I hate them. I do this because I’m trying to save them.”

    via Mind Hacks

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    Lloyd Morgan

  • Overcoming the Tip-of-the-Tongue Effect

    The hows and whys on helping overcome the Tip-of-the-Tongue effect (PDF):

    One of the most fascinating things about the tip-of-the-tongue state, is that it demonstrates how sometimes we know that we know something, without actually being able to recall it. This is part of what psychologists call ‘metacognition’, which allows us to realise when we should keep trying, despite the fact our memories might be failing us at a particular moment.

    […]

    When a tip-of-tongue state is encountered, it is common that people focus on the few relevant things that are easily remembered, in the hope that the elusive fact will pop into mind. A more successful technique is to try and recall as much information about the topic as possible, no matter how loosely it is related.

    Lloyd Morgan

  • Minimalist Workouts

    I haven’t had a thorough look through this list of minimalist workouts yet, but it looks like I’ll discover some complimentary exercises to my current regimen (PodRunner and 100 Push Ups). Go calisthenics!

    via Link Banana

    Lloyd Morgan

  • Cognition Nutrition

    The Economist has an interesting article on the science behind cognitive nutrition.

    Some foods […] are like pharmaceutical compounds; their effects are so profound that the mental health of entire countries may be linked to them.

    Last year, for example, the Lancet published research showing that folic-acid supplements—sometimes taken by pregnant women—can help those between 50 and 70 years old ward off the cognitive decline that accompanies ageing. In a study lasting three years, Jane Durga, of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and her colleagues found that people taking such supplements did better on measures of memory, information-processing speed and verbal fluency. That, plus evidence that folate deficiency is associated with clinical depression, suggests eating spinach, orange juice and Marmite, which are all rich in folic acid.

    via Mind Hacks

    Lloyd Morgan

  • Social Engineering 101

    Kevin Mitnick and Emmanuel Goldstein are undoubtedly the most widely known names in the black hat community*. In a series of videos from CNET News, they describe and demonstrate social engineering techniques.

    On the same subject, this video demonstrating how easy it is to social engineer you way into clubs by pretending you’re the DJ is worth your time.

    *I guess Kevin Poulsen should be on that list too… now the senior editor at Wired News and author of Threat Level.

    via Schneier on Security

    Lloyd Morgan

  • Brief Hiatus

    I’m moments away from starting a week-long vacation in Dijon, France.

    Posting will temporarily slow down while I’m away, and all comments will be kept for moderation ’til I’m back.

    Lloyd Morgan

  • Olympic Motivation

    Coming into the 400m semi-final at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Derek Redmond was the favourite to win the gold medal. However 150m into the race, Redmond’s hamstring snapped and his Olympic dream was shattered… but Redmond was determined to finish the race. The Guardian takes us through the emotional race, with commentary from Redmond.

    ‘Everything I had worked for was finished. I hated everybody. I hated the world. I hated hamstrings. I hated it all. I felt so bitter that I was injured again. I told myself I had to finish. I kept hopping round. Then, with 100 metres to go, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was my old man.’

    Read the article before watching this video of the race.

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    Lloyd Morgan

  • Commanding Heights

    I recently watched all six hours of Commanding Heights; a great documentary that attempts to trace the rise of free markets during the last century, as well as the process of globalization. It acts almost like a primer on 20th century economics.

    I have just re-discovered the PBS supplementary website for Commanding Heights and am suitably impressed with this information rich resource. It’s not without accolades:

    • BAFTA for Best Achievement in Online Education
    • One of Time Magazine’s Top 50 Websites of 2003
    • Two nominations for the 2003 Webby Awards from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (Best Practices and Best Broadband Site)
    • I.D. Magazine’s 2003 Interactive Media Design Review; Bronze Winner
    • 2002 Emmy Nomination (the only Web site nominated; interactive television)

    Lloyd Morgan

  • Code: Quantity vs. Quality

    Coding Horror on coding quantity vs. quality.

    It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories. […]

    • Stop theorizing.
    • Write lots of software.
    • Learn from your mistakes.

    From this you can plainly see that the rise of iterative/agile development methodologies is a natural evolution; improvements only come from practice and learning from your mistakes.

    It puts me in mind of something my company’s IT Director recently said: “If you got past the interview stage, you’ll never make a stupid mistake in this office. You’ll make mistakes—granted—but you’ll learn from them, and grow stronger.”

    Lloyd Morgan