aidanfindlater.com

Hot on the heels of a nerd victory involving Clone High, subliminal messages, and mplayer, I faced another challenge: ozone, smoke, and danger.

Wake up, check email. Smell burning electronics; it passes. Shower, check email. Smell burning electronics; see smoke coming from the power plug. Quickly disconnect power.

Order new power supply: $125 and won’t arrive until Monday at best. A whole weekend laptopless? Could I survive?

Find a repair tutorial before the battery dies. Buy soldering iron, solder, and heat-shrink tubing. Am now the very proud owner of a working, albeit sketchified, power cord.

Summary: Every time I upgrade Wordpress, the site is broken until the WPG2 options are edited.
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I turned down one job for the possibility of another. If it comes through, I’ll be in Toronto for the summer. I hope it works out.

Five years done, and so many people I may never see again. I don’t think that it’s sunk in, yet.

Is fresh, home-made bread. I bought a used breadmaker recently, and the “shiny new toy” effect hasn’t worn off yet. I love waking up to the smell of baking bread.

Jake Young summarizes research on learning from the journal Science. The conclusion: if you’re cramming for a test, time is better spent on practice tests than on study. The results suggest that learning happens more when you remember a thing, and less when you read it.

That’s your study tip for the month. Go out and amaze.

Original article: Karpicke, J. and Roediger, H.L. III (2008) “The Critical Importance of Retrieval for Learning” Science 319, 966-968.