wrp

One example of benefiting creatively from working with constraints. Back in the 1980s, I read a comment from a newspaper sports editor that went something like this -- "Back when sports photographers used the big 4x5 Graflex camera, a guy would go out to a game with 5 plates and come back with 5 usable shots. Now guys use motorized 35 mm cameras, shoot several rolls, and often come back without a single good shot."

I feel odd reading a good description of my parents' social evolution in the 1970s-90s, realizing that what I thought was a very personal change was actually part of a popular trend. The proposed explanations don't seem to apply, though. My observation of the change was that my parents seemed to give up on it all due to lack of personal reward. Maybe they lacked the external influences that would have prompted them to keep up old social habits.

When Costco came to Korea, it was a great source of American products at reasonable prices. They have gradually shifted to more Korean brands over the years. Even if you are only buying local products, my Korean friends tell me they prefer Costco for the produce, with greater variety and turnover than domestic supermarket chains.

This comment or something like it should be at the top, because it's the main point about polygraphing. It's the process, not the answers that matter.

I knew a guy who did security clearance checking for the Three Letter Agencies for many years. He told be that if I ever had to do these interviews, I just need to pick good sounding lies and stick to them. He said it's the ones who try to be honest and introspective who get failed out.

Thank you

> Sam Neil writes hilariously about the filming.

That piqued my interest, so I searched for it but Google AI told me to give up. :-/

Sam Neill has not written about the filming of The Hunt for Red October; he was not in the cast of that film, which starred actors like Alec Baldwin, Sean Connery, and Scott Glenn. He is, however, known for his role in Jurassic Park, and there are interviews where he discusses that experience and his work with Steven Spielberg.

I recently watched the whole season of UFO, wanting so badly to like it because of its music and set design, but episodes were soooooo dull. The plot premises seemed promising, but the development was poor.

I recently attended someone in the hospital. The constant beeping and alarms round the clock prevented any deep sleep for days, and seemed to hinder recovery.

Support for part of this from another source. I've read through the collected letters of many famous intellectuals (just for hobby), and I've noticed a common dramatic shift in personality starting around age 28-30. People become more attentive to the needs of others and their own role in a network of social responsibilities. It's no longer "me, me, me".

I was in Hokkaido many years ago for work and loved it. Compared to the rest of Japan, indoor/outdoor spaces are wider, food is better, and people are friendlier. I never could swing another work visit, so I dream about spending time there in retirement.

I could imagine, though, that companies might have trouble attracting quality talent to Hokkaido, because people see more opportunities in the big cities down south. I suppose it's like if you were trying to build a tech hub in Montana.

What would be the plot of a movie equivalent to Blade Runner for this scenario?

As a teacher, I have closely watched the effect of LLM use on student writing and attempts by colleagues to use automated detection. I plead with you, DO NOT USE AUTOMATED DETECTION.

I hate AI slop and I fight against it in my work, but as that style of writing becomes increasingly prevalent, students are unconsciously adopting it for their base writing style. Automated detection of LLM writing never worked well, and now LLM and human writing have converged so much in style that machine detectors are worthless.

Our response should be to refuse to accept slop, whether produced by human or machine. I strive to point out the stylistic details of slop and how to avoid or edit them away.

Problem solving is a well-explored field in experimental psychology. TFA is a bit unfocused, making both some generally supported speculations and some traditional ideas that haven't been supported. A very good survey is the edited volume, The Psychology of Problem Solving (Davidson 2003).

Although TFA doesn't refer to it by name, "insight" problem solving is when you are stuck on something and then suddenly realize the solution. The common explanation for being stuck is "fixation" on the wrong things. In agreement with TFA, there is indication that verbalization supports fixation more than visualization.