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Monthly Archives: June 2012
Altered States
I have never been particularly interested in seeking out altered states of consciousness: generally I like being as sober as possible – knurd, even. But sometimes, an altered state finds you. I was messing around in the back yard, trying … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
15 Comments
IJA
Everyone has heard of famous last stands, such as Thermopylae, the Alamo, or the French Foreign Legion at Camerone. They are memorable partly because they are rare – generally, soldiers surrender when all is lost, assuming that their enemies give … Continue reading
Posted in World War Two
138 Comments
Wizard War
Partly because it has some interesting examples of thick and thin problems, but mostly because it’s so damn much fun, I’m going to talk about The Wizard War, by R. V. Jones. Reginald Jones (Ph.D. Oxford, 1934)was one of the … Continue reading
Posted in World War Two
13 Comments
Thick and thin
There is a spectrum of problem-solving, ranging from, at one extreme, simplicity and clear chains of logical reasoning (sometimes long chains) and, at the other, building a picture by sifting through a vast mass of evidence of varying quality. I … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
54 Comments
Reading
Reading speed and comprehension interest me, but I don’t have as much information as I would like. I would like to see the distribution of reading speeds ( in the general population, and also in college graduates). I have looked … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
43 Comments
Ethnographic Surprises I: The Child Bride
Ethnography can be full of surprises My first fieldwork was in the northern Kalahari with Bushmen, foragers living hand-to-mouth lives. Their ecology was certainly unfamiliar but otherwise their ways were as comfortable as those of my neighbors at home in … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
12 Comments
