Archive for the ‘Learning’ Category

Disagreement: The path to real learning. (Life is tough, brother. Get a helmet.)

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Another comment from another blog that I wanted to keep where I could find it.

Many years ago I bought a new computer — a 386SX-16running MS-Dos5, with a user interface called GeoWorks that had client software for this upstart on-line service that thought some day it could challenge the big-boys (Compuserve and GEnie) called America On-line.  It had a free trial number of hours, and I looked around and around (it was a long-distance call to the only access number in my area, and things didn’t move fast on my 2400 baud modem), and, at the very end, I found a listing for Hatrack River Town Meeting, which rung bells from a book I had just bought by Orson Scott Card — there was a little blurb at the end of the book.  So I went there, and met Scott and a bunch of people.  After a while I was invited to come to a private area called Nauvoo, and there I met Robert Woolley.  He was one of the more insightful folks in that space, but it was pretty low-key and happy for the most part.   (more…)

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There are a lot of countries in the world.

Sunday, June 8th, 2008

I just did a flashcard set with my good friend, Teach2000.8 which claimed to be the capitals of all the countries in the world.  I had to hand-add Kosovo, and it didn’t have St. Helena, but it was pretty thorough.  It took me about three hours to go through it on a training mode.  At the end, I have a passing familiarity with the names of all of those capitals, but it’s really hard to keep track of N’djamena, Sanaa, Yaounde, Mbabane, and a few of the other ones that I have little idea of how to pronounce.

Although I’m doing pretty good with Kinshasa, Dodoma, and, well, Mbabane is starting to grow on me (kinda focusing on Africa right now — it’s got the most countries of any continent). 

Now I’m doing an Africa-only flashcard set, and then I’m going to try the Sporcle game about African capitals again (I got 21 out of 49 last time).  I think my brain is smoking.  I’ve got a Millionaire going in the background — looking kinda easy right now.  Can’t believe it took a lifeline and a leap of faith to figure out that BYU was rated the most “stone cold sober” college campus nine years running, but it was college week.  Let’s see if she’s going to get that Dido was in the Aenied.  She might get it with a guess (she thinks it might be in the Antigone).  She’s lurching toward it.  She got it.  $50k for that?  That’s what drives me crazy about that show.  She’s from Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville, which happens to be the campus that Dr. Pamela Gay teaches at (she’s one of the hosts of Astronomycast).  And she just made 100k on an astronomy question with a mostly guess.  And she walks at the 250k question — I would have gotten the last two wrong. 

Back to capitals.

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Got the Veeps.

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

I did the Vice Presidents “game” on Sporcle, getting all the vice presidents correct (not in the same order) for the first time.  It took me just under four minutes (out of 10 allotted).  This one took a while to get.  Now I need to get Presidents and their Vice Presidents by number — I have a flashcard set that does those that I started working on a week or so ago. 

I’m getting one or more additional answers right on each Jeopardy now that I can attribute to the training I’ve been doing.  I still need to get a handle on the arts categories, and I’m finding a fair number of categories about chemistry and physicists that are biting me.  Part of what’s biting me in those categories is guessing at high-valued answers and getting them wrong. 

I get to go to the Teacher Learner Academy Awards thing tonight.  Mostly I’m going because I really like the teacher, and to see what it was that I did to get nominated for this award.  Emily is going with me. 

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All 118

Monday, April 28th, 2008

I just got all 118 elements on the periodic table.  I don’t have them quite all in strict order, but it’s pretty close.  I can get up into the 40s without a problem, and I can get the actinide series in order and about half the lanthanide series in order, and I’m good with everything that comes after the actinide series including the ununs.  Now /. today had an article about unbibium being found in nature (the first transuranic found in nature), and I don’t even know if there are elements 119-121 that have been discovered yet to fill in the table up to then.

I also got all the NFL teams today.  This is good.  And I’ve seen utility to these things (not all of them) in the Millionaires I’ve been watching.  Nothing that I didn’t already know, but the answers come more quickly thus far.

Oh, and it looks like I will get a response from OSC — he asked for the uri to the entry.  Not sure how that’ll come.

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Sporcle is cool.

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

StumbleUpon has brought me to a wonderful site that’s helped me with my Jeopardy training called sporcle.com.  It’s got a growing list of “games” that are quite useful in memorizing the things the games are about.  Thus far, I’ve solidified US Presidents, States, State Capitals, European Countries and European Capitals, and I’m coming along with the elements of the periodic table (I’m getting over 100 of them now).  Also working on NFL Teams by conference and division, and plan to start working on US Vice Presidents (much tougher than presidents).

The Rick Astley game was quite cute.

And it’s helping.  I picked up a Final Jeopardy in seconds that I wouldn’t have gotten had I not been working on State Capitals recently.

Last week I got my best score on a single show and my best weekly average since I started.  Progress is good.

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