#Twisted Education Workload

Workload is we all end up complaining about, the students are in tango to this. Why not dissect this topic like a mouse, which a science student always ends up doing it. My remained always a dream, that’s the reason dissection with words is where I found my peace.

Workload, teaching methods and learning outcomes are clearly related to each other. However, there are other relevant elements. In achieving the desired learning outcomes a large number of interrelated factors play a role. These are not limited to the number of working hours, workload and brightness of the student. Also methods of teaching and learning have to be taken into account. It makes quite a difference whether teaching is organised in large groups or more individually: in other words, whether the majority of course units a student has to take are lectures or seminars, exercise courses and practical exercises. Furthermore the number of students in a working group might have its effect on the result of teaching, as probably the use of a tutorial system has. Also the kind of assessment will play a role, as will the design and coherence of the curriculum (is it focused on gradual progression in performance or does it make excessive or insufficient demands in some phases?) as well as the availability of advanced teaching aids like computers. Furthermore, national and regional traditions have to be taken into consideration. For example, in some countries most students will live at home and need time to travel, while in others they live on their own and have to look after themselves. In others again they will be housed on campuses. All these factors bear, in some measure, on the results of the teaching/learning experience as measured in time and in performance (in terms of level of achievement). In an ideal situation the aims and objectives set will be fully reached in the notional learning time. As said before, notional learning time is not the actual time that any particular learner needs to spend in order to achieve the learning outcomes. The actual time will differ from student to student.

In many cases the ideal situation will never exist.

#Twisted Education

Three characters from literature who are known all over the world: Hamlet, Alice, and Sherlock Holmes. The irony, of course, is that no one reads what Doyle regarded as his best work, but everybody reads about Holmes.

My ideas have been largely ignored, mostly on the grounds that readers believed they were included as an attempt of humor. Where I always wanted they take me as less humorous & more logical, maybe someday it will happen. I still have a big grin while sharing this, some people can never change one is definitely me.

You may judge for yourself. Here is one of the ideas. We could improve the quality of teaching, as it were, if math teachers were assigned to teach art, art teacher’s science, science teachers English. My reasoning is as follows: Most teachers, especially high school and college teachers, teach subjects they were good at in school. They found the subject both easy and pleasurable. As a result, they are not likely to understand how the subject appears to those who are not good at it, or don't care about it, or both. If, let us say, for a semester, each teacher were assigned a subject that he or she hated or always had trouble with, the teacher would be forced to see the situation as most students do, would see things more as a new learner than as an old teacher. Perhaps he or she would discover how boring the textbooks are, would learn how nerve-racking the fear of making mistakes is, might discover that a question that has unsuspectingly aroused his or her interest must be ignored because it is not covered by the syllabus, might even discover that there are students who know the subject better than he or she could ever hope to. Then what?

All in all, I believe the experience would be chastening and even eye-opening. When teachers returned to their specialties, it is possible they would bring with them refreshing ideas about how to communicate about their subject, and with an increased empathy for their students.

Here is another idea, not meant to be funny: We can improve the quality of teaching and learning overnight by getting rid of all textbooks. Most textbooks are badly written and, therefore, give the impression that the subject is boring. Most textbooks are also impersonally written. They have no "voice,'' reveal no human personality. Their relationship to the reader is not unlike the telephone message that says, "If you want further assistance, press two now.'' I have found the recipes on the backs of cereal boxes to be written with more style and conviction than most textbook descriptions of the causes of the Civil War. Of the language of grammar texts, I will not even speak.

But worse than this, textbooks are concerned with presenting the facts of the case as if there can be no disputing them, as if they are fixed and immutable. And still worse, there is usually no clue given as to who claimed these are the facts of the case, or how "it'' discovered these facts.

There is no sense of the frailty or ambiguity of human judgment, no hint of the possibilities of error. Knowledge is presented as a commodity to be acquired, never as a human struggle to understand, to overcome falsity, to stumble toward the truth.

In one line I sum up my write-up “Genius are not born, but are made”. 

#Twisted Water

The article on “Water Pollution” in TOI was easy to ignition me into writing of this article. TOI alias Newspaper, "Times of India". I’m sure very soon we will be having a dictionary only for short forms. Do we already have one?...I guess I’m always late on catching things.

Pollution is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it is older than most people realize. In ancient times river-water was already contaminated by dead bodies of men and animals, wash-water - sometime industrial - , human excrement's, and waste water from baths or mines. So drinking or tapping river-water was always problematic.

Aqueducts are man-made conduits constructed to carry water. In ancient time roman's were the first to find this solution then later ancient India also saw light in it. The term aqueduct comes from words meaning "to lead water".

Aqueducts remain an important and efficient means of delivering clean water to cities. Today’s aqueducts are longer and able to carry more water than ancient aqueducts. Pumps and pressurized water flow permit aqueducts to flow up a slope. Improved pipe materials allows today’s aqueducts to be completely hidden deep underground. Aqueduct is designed to provide rapid recovery from existing water management problems & also aid in solving dry area problem.

Why are we not using this system?…I’m still looking for an answer on the same……

#Twisted Data

“Wild card entry”, I’m acquainted of thanks to the various soaps on my television set. Wild goose chase does it mean different, anyways few days before I had an agenda to short list all the NGOs existing in Delhi. My search engine was not given any choice, but to fulfill my demand. My query gave me a result of various pages, making the page one to be the latest & the best. This is what I always feel & believe.

Scrutinizing through my result, I settled for a search sequenced third or fourth on my first page. They had a list of addresses, which I noted down as per my requirement. Only to later realize the phone numbers don’t exist, one of the NGO has been closed down 10yrs back & some have been shifted to a different location.

All this chase made me realize, the search engine does not only finish of by giving the information asked for. But has to make sure the data given out is updated one too. To act on this data is necessary as finally we may end up with false data everywhere.

One of the challenge for the search engine faced on today’s date is updated data. Which can easily be tackled by synchronizing with phone/address directories all over the world with deleting the non-existent & giving out the latest crisp one in turn. 

#Twisted Freebie

Freebie has never been dearer to me, may be taken for granted attitude rules me more. Till the time one final day one of the big branded outlet asked me, “If I required a bag to carry out my stuff”. I was as surprised as when someone suddenly hits you without you being aware. Catching on my expressions, the sale guy at the counter completed his sentence by saying, “It’s chargeable, if you want one”. That was enough to make me get folds on my forehead. Shopping in unchartered territory was far, as the chartered territory was enough to make me think. Which ends up in me, sharing my twisted byte to make it untwisted.

After the sweetness of my shopping, the sourness is sprinkled with just letting me know that the carry bag is chargeable. No matter how many zeroes are added to my bill the concession is far to be thought about. I & I’m sure any one of us can pay, but the question is not of paying. Makes me wonder why big brands, without getting into the name game would like the experience of a customer end in a sour note. As I’m sure it leaves everybody thinking on this new policy.

In nutshell when we as in customers are not asked while designing the bag, why are we asked to shell out extra grands for the same? Even If it has to be paid by the customer make it invisible to them & visible in your costing per garment. Which will positively make your customer loyalty more polished. 

#Twisted Search

Is search engine faster than my brain?

Have you ever looked for something you really need to find—quickly? The classic example is when someone loses a set of keys. This frustrating situation is the perfect example in performing a visual search.  During a visual search, an observer (the person who is searching for the keys, for example) looks for a target (the keys) in the midst of distracters (all the other stuff in a home). By making the target easier to see, such as by putting the keys on a big, bright red key chain, the observer could improve on their visual search and improve its chances of success.

Coming back to the start of the discussion is search engine faster than the brain. When we compare both they both are dedicated to a process of search. But the way we are weighing it is not right. Researchers have given more brownies to search engine, which is half the truth. If broken down into steps the difference in weighing the both will make more sense…

Search Engine

Type Keys with red key chain

The search will give you end number results

The actual search is not over here, you need to still get to your one answer. When we do a search for our answers do we do it for one or uncountable. The weighing of brain & search engine is wrongly done. Till the time you have not reached to your right solution your search cannot be said to be complete. When you are looking for your lost keys you are not looking for all the keys, but for one out of the many.

In fact they both can never be compared as this is dependent not on one parameter but many like situational, placement & your mind focus. When I say situational it means you can be surrounded by many people, which diverts & breaks your link to your search. Making it same the other way too, where a crowded house & solitude-ness can again be a major factor of search on your keys.

When I say placement it’s the sequencing of a thing, sequence we find in a search engine & our brain too. They both scan on a given set of information, when we compare the both one can find an answer in the first step where the other can find it may be in the last step. This pattern is not fixed it can be vice-versa or may be a different thing all together.

When I say mind focus this is your stress, anxiety & excitement comes in play. It’s just a bit of it which I have mentioned, it is more deeper as it gets linked to a persons’ behavioural aspect. How a person with stands stress, urgency of a situation cannot be put as same as will always vary person to person. I can be cool like a cucumber or can be sitting on a rocket of fire while searching it. Which can play towards me or against me. Mental balance is one of the key ingredients in doing any task which has been given always less focus, which if not measured in any research can make it sound completely nullified.

#Twisted Laws

If you get involved with the police - perhaps as a witness or victim of crime or you are detained, arrested and/or taken to a police station. The police may question you about the crime you’re suspected of - this will be recorded. Have we thought about all the victims & suspects in the right light, while making our laws for our flawless system.

The legal system often has difficulty in dealing with people who have disabilities, particularly where those disabilities involve some form of mental impairment. If a person with a mental illness or intellectual disability has been charged with a crime, specific laws and procedures still seem short in valuing them in the right way.

Do we have any different set of rules while making arrest for the handicaps? Did you realize the laws which are made are short in making the end meets in the right way. I have come across several brutal instances all over the world, where without any prior information a deaf or a blind person has not been understood with his weakness to understand or see the called action asked by the police. Which in turn without wait & watch have been proactive in gunning down a suspect. Leading to a never ending gap between the police & public, which seems to be growing with time instead of mending & melting. The police nor the public nobody is wrong, only laws which are made are being followed blindly even when we see flaws in it.

Did you realize if a person has headsets on his ears & dark glasses on his eyes, comes under your radar of suspect with incomplete information you after some loud announcements keeping you proximity far could end up gunning him down. Only to regret later that he was a blind, or blind & deaf or could be a normal person not on the wavelength of your understanding. The laws followed does not only have gaps but wide gaps. Instead of following a protocol with no eyes give it eyes of an eagle. Which can see as far & beneath like the bird. When a person is a suspect & has no ammunition, make changes in your protocol by making thumb impression as a rule, which gives out instant details with in a click of a second. Giving a chance to save lot of face & with lot of grace in the whole situation.

The challenges which we face in our system are many. Some solutions which are visible should be activated at lightning speed, rest will surely come along too.

#Twisted Sale

Anyone who throws acid on someone's face intends to scar them for life…

Acid which rolls down from 1740, which by 1830's could see its use as a weapon, where its high usage in the wrong way was weighed as a stain on the national character of the country.

Throwing acid leaves a person with a disfigured face forever with surgeries costing them even dearer, for their whole lifetime. We have cases of acid throw all over the world. Where women are the victims mostly in all, due to denying advances by male towards them. Some countries have been proactive in placing laws in the right way making it curb down to minimal, where in many it’s still a far cry.

Non-industrial sale of acid should be banned altogether. And even the industrial use needs to be fully accounted for. It is a harmful chemical and there is no reason it should be lying around in people's homes. Vendors should have a license to sell acid. That way the government can start monitoring its sale and purchase.

Acid attack is a cruel and inhumane crime, which calls for immediate medical treatment to the victim, irrespective of court's decisions. But, the present laws do not stand sufficient, as many victims are exhausted with running around courts for years together after having to brave a life-long health complication because of the chemical injuries they sustain. Along with specific laws to deal with acid attack cases, there must be a provision for fast track courts too, where cases are solved within three months or earlier to this.

For, industrial, commercial and all other purposes, it must be sold under licensed dealers and its procurement be made possible against production of suitable identity proof. The physical and psychological trauma following an acid attack makes life very difficult for the victims. The government must take steps to rehabilitate acid attack survivors with counselling and other provisions too.

#Twisted Communication

One of the most frequently quoted statistics on nonverbal communication is that 93% of all daily communication is nonverbal. Popular science magazines, students and media outlets frequently quote this specific number.

So where does the number come from?

When we go to the broader aspect we may end up losing ourselves. Everyone has a different categorization on the whole, but fairly to match to the most they have split it into two…

Verbal

Non-Verbal

Verbal as defined by the name has the usage of our Voice, Written Communication in which our Emails / Social Networking Interactions are all placed.

Non-Verbal gets segregated as Body Language, Sign Language, Emotions, Silence, Violence, Dance, Touch. In short where the voice has no role to play.

The current stats of 93% of Non-Verbal makes me wonder in amazement to its authenticity. Where we have our ever growing cyber world social platforms visibility to be placed as Verbal Communication refuses to show any increase in its stats. Which earlier was 23- 27%...has slided to 7%.

Further search I realized, the bifurcation done of Verbal & Non-Verbal seems to be not done in the right light. Before going deeper in it, One thing at the onset of it was crystal that no way can we compartmentalize the system into Verbal & Non-Verbal as you will always find them overlapping with each other. A speech, a conversation will always be ruled with silence in between where they both are placed in opposites. Emotions can never be part of any category but only a part of human which are in both category. Humans don’t exist without emotions Verbal & Non-Verbal both will see it. Interestingly a serious person also is showing his emotions. A person dancing can be talking & a person who is violent can be also doing the same. A person may be cajoled while talking, blending the voice & touch together. One without other & the other without the prior is incomplete. When the parameters seem to be all shaken, where does the stats authenticity stand.

I strongly feel the way things are routed in Verbal & Non-Verbal has not been done in the right way. Where I feel Non-Verbal should simply be part of our written communication without making it more complex, as the word also rhymes & states the same. Verbal should have things ruled by voice, sight where body language is visible, sign language & dance. As where even voice is not a part through signs also a person is being verbal, which holds same for a dancers postures. Let emotions not be a part of any as while writing also a person is sharing his side, but see it as a balance in both.

#Twisted CyberSecurity

On the web, personal information can be as valuable a currency as cash. Citizen’s attitudes towards the privacy of their personal information are evolving and as a result unwittingly making the challenge greater. Increasingly, the definition of privacy is changing. Where once privacy meant not revealing information unless to a trusted third party, in the social media world information is willingly shared, but privacy concerns relate to how that information is used once shared.

Much cybercrime relies on the fact software is bug-ridden or contains flaws in its design. There is a clear need and opportunity for greater industry cooperation, standardisation and testing of software products to reduce the opportunity for hackers.

We have already seen examples of alleged international cyber-attacks, such as that on Estonia, and UK security services warning businesses of rampant cyber espionage originating in the Far East. We all know that, at some level, everybody is prying and spying on everybody else’s cyber presence. Many experts see a future cyber war to be inevitable – so why don’t we try to prevent it before it happens?

 An agreement of an international cyber peace treaty whereby signatories would agree that their infrastructure would not be used, or allow it to be used, for cyber-attacks. This proposal requires discussion at the highest forums. On the internet a state is not defined by its weapons or politics, but by its laws and regulations. Without a common base level of data protection and computer misuse legislation, there will always be territories that provide a safe haven for cyber criminals and hackers. Involvement in key global trade bodies should be dependent on an acceptance of such regulation.

Organised cyber criminals have realized that it is easier to steal $1 from a million people, than to steal $1m from one person. But in many cases, the response from law enforcement does not reflect the problem. One person complaining to the police about losing $100 through cyber-crime, or the theft of personal identity information, is rarely sufficient to elicit a response. In the UK, for example, police have delegated responsibility for small-scale cyber-crime reporting to the banks. How well are co-ordinated attacks spotted? Are trends and patterns sufficiently analysed? If one person loses $1m, the police response would be broad and well-co-ordinated. If a cyber-crook made a million from a million individuals, would they ever be caught?

Banks and law enforcers need to co-ordinate better, and reporting of crimes by individuals affected needs to be simpler and better policed. Too many individuals don’t bother because they don’t believe they will be helped. Perhaps social media techniques could be used to “crowd source” reports of theft or fraud? But in general, there needs to be a better relationship between individual and law enforcement to ensure adequate protection and detection of organised, widespread but individually low-level cyber-crime.

#Twisted Politics

Whenever I decide to make a list of words, which are not being used in the right way. Politics always tops the list. We can all decide for ourselves, once we are towards the end of this. One is we have a profession line named As “Politics” & where on the other side, we end up using it where we find mean ends fighting its way out. Reflect & Relate don’t we hear often “office politics”, “I don’t like playing politics”. We have always given a negative meaning to this word. But the mockery is the decision makers of our country are all bracketed in the same field. Often heard few politicians also quoting of not playing politics, which can be out of wavelength for many.

We in all this rush & gush of things also like to hear positive words a ‘Yes’ for a ‘No’, a ‘Good Morning’ instead of a ‘Bad Morning’. Makes me think, we often denote politics to be negative is that the reason marking politicians & this field to be grey. We have various professions, options for the youth, but still I have never heard any parent telling me I am going to make my child a politician why? Makes me only wonder….

This field requires Youth & Women both, as that is the only freshness which can change things to be more positive. Being a male dominant we miss out on the other ratio of ours as both sexes are beautifully wired differently.

Before I want to end this hoping to make a change in the thought process, I strongly feel the Profession Politics should be renamed as Public Servants & let the other meaning of Politics take its shape….

#Twisted Hands

Handedness origin in humankind, it's clearly been around a long time. Cave paintings have shown the occasional lefty ancestor clutching a spear. The relative scarcity of left-handedness, has provoked cultural superstition and discrimination. 

«Handedness» is a vague term, and can mean many things to many people. Most people in our society define handedness as the hand you use for writing. Within the scientific community, the vagueness of this term has led to much debate. Researchers define handedness based on different theoretical assumptions. For instance, some define handedness as (a) the hand that performs faster or more precisely on manual tests, while others define it as (b) the hand that one prefers to use, regardless of performance. Some think that there are handedness as: (a) either left or right, or (b) should be three categories to include ambidexterity.

I find the whole concept of handedness fascinating, decided to unleash the theory, research, opinions and fictions, in order to better understand the reality of the phenomenon, and try to separate facts from fiction, research from opinion, and truth from myth.

In the whole process it made me an ambidextrous, where I can use both hands with ease for everything. The reason of sharing is not to flaunt it as a medal, but a learning which made me appreciate things in deeper level. Handedness has its roots in the brain—right-handed people have left-hemisphere-dominant and vice-versa for the left handed people. By bending the unbending was not easy but surely worthwhile. I will never be able to agree to all the myths which surround left & right handed people, making one superior to the other. Successful people are not measured by their left & right hand, but are made by their undying spirits. I agree on the opposite parts of our brain being used more to the other half due to preference of our hand. But the story ends there, if you reflect most of the time we are using both our hands. We are making both sides of our brain function but one gets little more chance than the other. Which can in no way decide your life span or your intelligence. In fact if you make fists of your hands you will realize one of them has more strength than the other which again shows you’re opposite to the hand brain side is stronger. This all again gets linked to being a right or a left handed person.

We are during the day using our complete brain where one is more & the other is less. I decided to make my entire brain more active being a right handed struggled to make left as superior as right. Realizing after my entire project my fists had equal strength. I see no reason for others not making there non active hand more active. The journey ask for endless patience, as writing with your left where you have always done with your right is not a cake walk. But I can guarantee you it’s not impossible.

I want all these research work, which are always trying to make one handed people sound superior to the other to be ignored as they are baseless.

Twisted Alphabets

I had an alphabet wallpaper in the room that I slept in as a little kid, and I was completely fascinated by it. It only had majuscules, the capital letters, and my mother told me that all the words in the English language could be made out of those twenty-six letters. I just didn't believe her and I would lie there at night trying to think of words that couldn't be spelled with those letters. I would put myself to sleep thinking it just isn't possible that the infinity of language could be contained within this set of twenty-six letters.

There are only two writing systems in existence today, Chinese characters and the alphabet. People often say, well what do you mean by that? There’s Arabic letters, there’s Indian scripts, there’s Ethiopic letters, there’s all of these various kinds of letter-forms. Most people don’t understand that the alphabet is actually a synthesis of two early writing systems.

I actually put my interest in the alphabet down to that early history. I also think I was just fascinated by the visual forms. I've always loved the visual shape of the letters. Well, I think there are two histories when we talk about the history of the alphabet.  There’s the history of letter-forms and how they came into being.

The other history is the history of ideas about the way we think about the alphabet, and all of the properties that we project onto these letters, whether for magical or religious or interpretive purposes. So that’s another entire history, and I think that the history of literacy, reading, and of spelling reform and of shorthand notation, and of phonetic systems, and all of these various variants on the alphabet are also a part of that history of ideas. 

There are really two parallel histories. But, more and more the other history, which is the history of ideas about the alphabet got forgotten.

In fact, if you look at it at a micro level, the range of periods of which these writing systems come into being stretches over almost 2000 years back - which is not trivial when you think about it. The inception of writings is traced down from Egypt than evolved slowly by making everybody a part of it, in a way could never fit as one person’s legacy. It started with pictorial writings where they took A to be an ox…if u rotate it you can actually catch an image of an ox with horns, than similarly the B was taken to be a house where if twisted from the right can make you see through. The alphabets always had a deeper reflection than was made to see, creativity has always been a part of us not apart of us.

I reflected to the current 26 Alphabets still could draw the same learning, which we all have forgotten or refuse to realize. Rotate…Twist…See it upright & discover it in the below list…

A...Arms
B...Bridge
C...Crescent Moon
D...Door Handle
E...Emergency
F...Fishing Rod
G...Gun Trigger
H...Hammock
I...Injection
J...Jump
K...Kiss
L...Link
M...Mirror
N...Neck to Neck
O...Orange
P...Pond
Q...Quantify
R...Rays
S...Snake
T...Tree
U...Upside Down Rainbow
V...Vessel
W...Waves
X...Xerox
Y...Yawn
Z...ZigZag 

My thought on the whole thing is telling a child A means Apple which cannot be found in the image is better or A means Arms where the upright view of it makes u see slanting lines as arms stretched of a person. I strongly feel a change is required the way teaching is done, creativity needs to be injected in the right way from the grass root level.

Intelligence Quotient

Intelligence is something which I feel is never static it keeps growing, varying. Than circumstances add a lot in the whole play making a person sound justified or an unheard story to all. I could never seal a person with a tag of being intelligent or unintelligent. As I know the same person can be the wisest of the lot on another topic.

The term IQ, or Intelligence Quotient, generally describes a score on a test that rates the subject's cognitive ability as compared to the general population. Most people perform better on one type of question than on others, but experts have determined that for the most part people who excel in one category do similarly well in the other categories, and if someone does poorly in any one category, he also does poorly in the others. Based on this, these experts theorize there is one general element of intellectual ability that determines other specific cognitive abilities.

Because IQ tests measure your ability to understand ideas and not the quantity of your knowledge, learning new information does not automatically increase your IQ as per them. Learning may exercise your mind, however, which could help you to develop greater cognitive skills, but scientists do not fully understand this relationship. The connection between learning and mental ability is still largely unknown. Intellectual ability does seem to depend more on genetic factors than on environmental factors, but most experts agree that environment plays some significant role in its development too.

Dictionary defines IQ: a number representing a person's reasoning ability (measured using problem-solving tests) as compared to the statistical norm or average for their age, taken as 100.

One's IQ score can vary—either decrease or increase—as one grows.
So, it comes to innuendo that it is not reliably the best method. It changes by factors of social surrounding, education system or aging process?

Success is today realized to be reached by determination, not by one's level of IQ. It also involves the play of EQ (Emotional Quotient) and for some cases, SQ (Spiritual Quotient) too.

There are many people who never went to high school nor college that have wonderful intelligence levels. The testing for I.Q. levels seems out dated, due in part to having people learn throughout their lives. Does it make a person better then the next person just because they have a high I.Q.? No! It's what you do with your knowledge & common sense that stands you out from the crowd.

Old habits die hard

This blog may initially tickle, but later you may realize it was all the way worth. Staring at gods creations realized the behavior of dogs with lot of aah moment to myself. Where dangling from one thought to another was left with gamut of knowledge on the same.

First of all, dogs urinate far beyond the boundaries or limits of their so-called territory. Secondly, males aren't the only ones who lift their legs; some females (usually the anxious type) do this as well. Thirdly, dogs don't just urinate on large objects, but on vertical objects (trees, posts), unfamiliar or inorganic objects (tires, plastic bags, fire hydrants), and on anything carrying a scent that the dog wants to cover (such as another animal's urine).

Of course if a biologist who witnessed the African wild dogs madly scrabbling up the tree trunks did so with the belief that dogs urinate to send a message to other dogs, their behavior would, no doubt, confirm this hypothesis.  But if we approach this behavior with a clearer mind we might ask, how could these dogs possibly know the "nose height" of another, purely hypothetical dog who might (or might not) come along at some undetermined point in the future? 

Offhand re-telling of it, as if it were a scientific certainty, merely highlights a general tendency in science: in attempting to dissect how an animal's behavior might serve an adaptive purpose -- in this case marking would be a hypothetical means of limiting competition within a niche or habitat -- most scientists blur the line between what makes sense in terms of the grand arc of evolution, and what an individual animal is capable of in terms of its cognitive abilities.

Roger Caras, whose voice used to be heard each year at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York, was fond of saying that when a dog sniffs a fire hydrant he's "reading his mail". This is highly anthropomorphic, yet it's hard to dispute that a dog does get information from the scent of other dogs this way. The only question is, did the dog who left the scent do so with the intention of "sending a message" to the one who comes along later?

Territory is defined by biologists as an area which an animal will defend against intruders of the same species. But how is such an area delineated in the animal's mind? Are its boundaries visible and concrete or imaginary and abstract? Is a dog capable of forming a mental image of where his territory begins and ends? And if animals have no sense of self and other, how could they think of a territory as "mine" or "belonging to me?"

So it seems far more likely that when one dog detects the scent of another dog, (particularly an unknown), it could cause a perhaps low-level stress reaction, which would then increase his need to urinate. As he does he would feel the pleasure of releasing some of the tension and pressure in his body? And thus, over time, his body would self-reinforce the behavior of peeing on top of another dog's scent. It would be a purely emotional and perhaps Pavlovian response, not based on intellect or other mental faculties.

This explanation is simple, whole, and complete. It requires no complicated thinking on the dog's part. It obeys the rules of parsimony and logic. And it only requires that a dog have the ability to experience tension and pleasure, and to form simple physical and emotional associations.

Light - Darkness

Speed of Light 299792.458 km/se

Frankly speaking I had to look back in the records to be accurate & I’m sure you would have done the same. As this was always more of a theoretical learning, where did we actually use it in our life, in instances I can fail to see? The mockery is we keep looking for light, still feel this quantified figure could never be a help. I’m on the same page with you & will still not make an extra effort in learning through.

This definition only fits right for scientific theories & evidences. Which was further described by Einstein's theory of General Relativity in the presence of gravity. If I am at a different location than yours then I could measure the speed of light at your location to be any value smaller than or greater than 299792.458 km/sec. So in the presence of gravity the speed of light becomes relative.

In my quest I realized that not only the Speed of Light, but the Speed of Darkness has also to be searched. The one with which we can connect, don’t have to fall back for references. If we have do that, than that defeats the purpose makes us stand from where we had started.

After scratching & straining my head the best was my blink defined it to me. A real blink of an eye takes 300 to 400 milliseconds. Since there’s 1000 milliseconds in each second, a blink of an eye takes around 1/3 of a second. Irrespective of the outer condition you sitting in a dark or a lighted place. The Speed of Light & Speed of Darkness is measured as per your blink. Which equally divides the dark & light time.

 Speed of Darkness = Speed of Light = One Blink

Finally with the blinks your vision is formed towards what you are trying to perceive. A definition which a lay man can also understand. Broadening the word Vision not just to the ability to see but also the power to sense it more deeply to your understandings.

If mathematically we want to be more precise, the availability of records with the number of blinks taken in a minute/hour can be calculated it to the time taken by an individual to reach to his vision. On a serious note would like to leave it on the former, as we are again directing ourselves to another numerical figure making us lost to another game.

“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is - infinite.” ― William Blake 

Amend to Mend

Why do we hope people will change their goals, habits, and values to better align with ours when they haven’t given us any indication they’d be happier for doing it?

Sometimes we think we know what’s best for others, but if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll likely realize we want people to change when we simply don’t feel satisfied being in a relationship with them as they are.

We all want to be loved and accepted, just as we are. We want people to honor our interests, value our needs, and respect our choices in life.

People don’t want to be changed & we can’t force them to change. This causes no end of frustration, for us and the person who we’re trying to change. The people we want to change, there are others out there who’d accept and even value them, just as they are. 

If it’s not easy for you to change, why should we expect everyone else to change, and get frustrated when they don’t? Why not change to adapt to the reality of the world around you, instead of expecting the world to bend to your desires?

To change other people, you must change yourself. It is the only thing we have power over. If the flaws appear to be a big part of you that others also dislike, then change this part about you to the best of your ability.

Everything that we see outside of ourselves is a reflection of what is inside of us. The environment, the people, the economy, everything because we, as a collective whole, see these things jumbled into our world. If we did not have these qualities present within ourselves somewhere, we would not recognize them in our world.

If you want to change a mirror’s reflection, you must change. Once you have adjusted your emotions and beliefs, you will find that the reflection in your environment will have adjusted to match your new inner reality.

Rubik Cube

No one’s childhood would have passed without being fancied to the Rubik Cube. I would not be surprised that the generation who did not see its inception during their childhood, ended up playing in their adulthood. For whatever reason, nobody reads instruction manuals. If you buy a new Rubik’s Cube, there’s usually a set of instructions that come with it, explaining the algorithms that you need to use to solve the cube.

What do we do when we encounter something- be it a personal, business or academic struggle- that seems completely over our current level of competence? How do we evolve as a person, learn new skills and accomplish increasingly harder goals without losing confidence in ourselves.

I think the answer is in learning ‘What’ & ‘How’ to learn.

In the context of the Rubik’s cube, this began with me researching how the cube was constructed and learning that it wasn't just a random combination of colored squares. There are actually ‘Algorithms’ which help to solve the maze.

Self-coaching to give yourself immediate feedback is just as effective. The first step to the process is having an end result in mind, then using deliberate practice to get there. For me this meant learning all the 8 sequential algorithms to the Rubik’s cube one-by-one and repeating them individually until I was proficient at solving that specific piece of the cube. My focus at this point was not solving the cube, but mastering the one specific algorithm I was working on which was, incidentally, a step in the overall big picture.

It’s all about filling in the gaps, the first stage is about figuring out what you don’t know. But once you know what you don’t know…then you need a specific strategy for filling in these gaps. Most people would make the mistake of trying to do more generalized study or practice harder here. The main way to fill in gaps is to attempt to actually teach what you've learned to someone else and see if you’re able to transmit the information in a logical pattern. You’ll usually find that the things you think you understand by grasping in the dark, guessing and checking, assuming the whole time. While communicating they are much harder to explain & transmit to others.

For me, this really broke down to trying to teach someone else how to solve the cube. Once I learned how to actually teach and transmit the information, I became much more competent in the skill. There’s a big difference between knowing how to do something yourself and knowing how to teach somebody else the same thing.

Motor Skills

‘Motor Skills’ I have been ambushed with this term several times. Yes & I vividly remember has no connection with my pristine car driving skills. A recap only makes me feel guilty as always thought was wise on the whole thing. Abandoning it to best of my ability with starting & closing it to body movements. Where deep & vast as an ocean it has still to give you more.

A fine motor skill is any skill that involves the use of the small muscles in the hands, in accordance with what the eyes see. Which requires the strength, coordination and precise movements of the hand muscles. Every fine motor skill requires that you are able to interpret your visual perceptions into corresponding physical movements. With practice, it’s possible to increase the ability of the fine motor muscles to work more efficiently together in a singular task. 

The research work I ended up doing in this only led me to a point where kids or old age were given the focus. Believe prior is balancing to the new & the latter is losing the balance to it. Where the age group of middle disappeared made me also disappear to it.

Gross motor skills generally refer to movements involving larger muscles, like those in the arms, legs, feet or the entire body (used for walking, jumping and so on). Furthermore Fine motor skills generally refer to movements involving smaller muscles, like those in hands, wrists and fingers (such as those used for holding a crayon or toy). However, as one thinks about these two groups of skills, it is easy to see how they overlap.

Our brain is not fully developed at birth. The brain grows very rapidly during the first several years of life. We, being highly conscious of our motor skills--our potential and abilities-- are greatly influenced by them. Our language betrays our need for motor excellence.  From birth, we judge the development of a child by whether he is rolling over yet, sitting up. But what if they can't "DO" like someone else?  What if the natural ability isn't there, or the skill hasn't been developed?  How does this child feel?  How is he seen by others in his world? What kind of feedback does he receive?

Our initial perception of self is an interpretation of how we think others perceive us.  So what can we do, to enhance the self-esteem? The point here is - this thing does not finish till the child level it goes on throughout our life. We are throughout our journey only busy magnifying our motor skills at no age do I see we have left it behind.

“I rate enthusiasm even above professional skill”

The Hare & The Tortoise Story

You learn something every day, if you pay attention to all your folds. It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts. Children have to be educated, but they also have to be left to educate themselves. As a child we all read many stories, In-fact we forget all except few. Somehow believe the story of Hare vs the Tortoise still holds strength in all. May be the reason being on various context throughout we kept listening to it as examples here & there.We can still spell magic with this story in a new light making it worthwhile for all of us.

The Hare & Tortoise story is one of Aesop's Fables, a collection of stories credited to Aesop, a slave from Ancient Greece. The hare blind to over confidence thought that he’ll win taking a nap or break was his right & the tortoise’s diligent regular, plodding pace allowed him, in-spite of being  slower competitor, to cross the finish line first.

Are you a tortoise or a hare when you approach a large task?

There’s no right or wrong way, but just whatever system works better for you.If the story is dissected to the given living conditions in which we nurture can be forked into two ways…

A Tortoise prefers to work more days, for fewer hours–three hours a day for seven days - Slow and steady.

A Hare prefers to work fewer days, for more hours–seven hours a day for three days - Bursts of effort.

I am a Tortoise. I like working every day, but I don’t like feeling that I have to get a huge amount done in any one session. I like having distant deadlines that I approach slowly and steadily.

A friend of mine is a Hare. She allows herself to take a day off here and there, but she makes up that work. She doesn't mind the pressure of needing to accomplish a lot over a short period. She feels energized by deadlines.

One problem with being a Hare is that to be effective, you really do need to catch up. You can’t sleep through the entire race. I see quasi-hares fall into the trap of the “tomorrow problem”. “I didn't work today, but I’ll work seven hours tomorrow”–but when tomorrow becomes today, they don’t feel like working the seven hours. If that’s a challenge you face, you might try a tortoise approach. Don’t try to do too much on any one day, but push yourself to be very, very consistent.

Interestingly this story scores on many morals, where we had earlier one…

·        Slow & Steady Wins the Race

·        Consistency can beat Over Confidence

·        First identify your competence & then change the playing field to suit your core competence

·        When we stop competing against a rival & instead compete with the situation we perform better

·        Never give up

·        Never under estimate the weakest opponent