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Sunday November 12, 2006 6:25 am Lethbridge Sunrise 7:38 Sunset 17:53 Hours of daylight: 9:15
A. Morning Musings
6:25 am It is -4 C at the moment with a high of +6 C forecast.
My first sip of coffee for the day. A good way to begin.
Yesterday's goals were a bit on the optimistic side. It takes time to nail down track and even more time to assemble a kit such as for the 100 ton quad hoppers. I was pleased to finish nailing down the track for The Channon. But I still have about half of the Coaldale yard to complete. That will be my goal for today.
While getting my copy of GO++ software working on the Mac, I happened to find the following web site: http://senseis.xmp.net/ . It is superb and reading some of the pages is a relaxing way to begin the morning. This site has an excellent section on how to teach yourself GO: http://senseis.xmp.net/?TeachYourselfGo . Many of the underlying principles here apply to any subject area or topic. Here is another useful page from the same site: http://senseis.xmp.net/?StudyTechniques .
Variety and diversity are important meta-principles. There are many ways to Learn. In general, the more experience one has with an approach, the stronger that approach will be for that person. But the more approaches one has, the more flexible one is, and the more likely one is to continue to Learn. Whether one is Learning GO, or a traditional school subject such as mathematics or a foreign language or drawing the bottom line is time on task. If one spends a lot of time on trying to Learn more about something, and if that individual has a variety of strategies, then one should make substantial progress.
A critical feature of all strategies is that of feedback: one must be able to monitor the situation and determine what should be done next. Such feedback requires, as a necessary component, some form of signal that indicates how well one is doing, as well as a method for selecting what one should do next. If one approach does not seem to be helping, try another approach. The creation of the website is one such approach. It seems to be working for me, but it may seem to be too cumbersome for someone else. The website allows me to monitor my use of time as well providing an environment for note making. It also allows me to share my Learning with others, who may then provide feedback and comments.
No one is an island: look for assistance, be it a book, the Web or another person. Ask questions. Do not always expect answers. Probe your own understanding: do I really understand this? If not, what should I do next? Sometimes one needs a clear explanation, on other occasions one needs to practice a particular skill. But underlying the skill is an understanding of why the skill is worthwhile.
At the moment I am Learning about the mathematics that is useful for understanding more about symmetry. I am Learning new ideas such as Legendre symbols, quadratic reciprocity, Galois groups, as well as re-acquainting myself with ideas (groups, fields, modular arithmetic) I once saw in undergraduate courses 40 years ago. The idea that such ideas are related to solutions of equations is a totally new idea for me. I am loving this. So far, the book "Fearless Symmetry" is working well, but I can sense that I will need some additional resources in the future as I try to Learn more about the topics. This may be the Web, or a few more books (I really need to browse the university library) but it may also be a cup of coffee with someone in the math department. However at the moment I will continue to read "Fearless Symmetry".
I am also Learning more about model trains, history (French Revolution), technology (Mac, digital photography), philosophy, science, and now GO - a game of strategy that I think is incredibly fascinating. At one level each topic is being handled by this same web site. However, once I focus on a topic the strategy becomes more specific. In all cases I may want additional sources of information (e.g. a book, a Web site) but the balance of reading and practice will always be in a state of flux.
B. Plan
Immediate Health Walk & exercise 1 hr Model Trains Continue assembly of 6 quad hopper cars 1 hr Continue nailing track for the Coaldale yard 1 hr Mathematics Read "Fearless Symmetry" chap 8: Galois groups 1 hr History Continue reading & making notes for "Citizens" 2 hr GO Begin playing GO++ on a 9x9 board 1 hr Literature Begin reading "Empire of the Sun" by J. G. Ballard 1 hr Later Chores Investigate water softeners for home Technology Read manual for cell phone Make notes for chap. 4 of "Switching to the Mac" Begin reading "iPhoto" digital photography - learn about using the various manual settings
Philosophy Read "The Art of Living" by Epictetus Mathematics Larson "Calculus" Read "The Computational Beauty of Nature" Chap 3 Gardner "The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles" History Watson "Ideas" Model Trains Build oil refinery diorama: add ground cover Assemble second oil platform kit Assembly of CN 5930, an SD40-2 with a NAFTA logo Puzzles The Orange Puzzle Cube: puzzle #9
C. Actual/Notes
8:00 am I downloaded a Macintosh GO software program called Goban (free) ( http://www.sente.ch/software/goban/ ) and played a 19x19 game. I lost by 27.5 points. The software worked fine and it looks like I have some Learning to do before I can handle it although my initial impression was that it was playing very conservatively.What is clear to me is that I must find a balance between reading about the various ideas such as shape and territory as well as practice solving problems, and the experience of playing games, both against software as well as against people.
D. Reflection