Just for fun, post #100

Shugo Tokumaru "Katachi" from Kijek / Adamski on Vimeo.

Google Calendar

I've been trying out Google Calendar for awhile now, and am really liking some of its features. It's fast, easy, and syncs with my iPhone. It sends me daily emails with my agenda for that day, and automatically sets alarms. It's easy to schedule repeating events or multiple days for work on the same assignment. I'm still working to figure out how to organize it by course, and I wish it had a wake-up alarm!

New research on studying: what works, and what doesn't

If you're serious about studying, you need to read this new TIME magazine article Highlighting Is a Waste of Time: The Best and Worst Learning Techniques

Here's an excerpt:

"In contrast to familiar practices like highlighting and rereading, the learning strategies with the most evidence to support them aren’t well known outside the psych lab. Take distributed practice, for example. This tactic involves spreading out your study sessions, rather than engaging in one marathon. Cramming information at the last minute may allow you to get through that test or meeting, but the material will quickly disappear from memory. It’s much more effective to dip into the material at intervals over time. And the longer you want to remember the information, whether it’s two weeks or two years, the longer the intervals should be.

The second learning strategy that is highly recommended by the report’s authors is practice testing. Yes, more tests — but these are not for a grade. Research shows that the mere act of calling information to mind strengthens that knowledge and aids in future retrieval. While practice testing is not a common strategy — despite the robust evidence supporting it — there is one familiar approach that captures its benefits: using flash cards. And now flash cards can be presented in digital form, via apps like Quizlet, StudyBlue and FlashCardMachine. Both spaced-out learning, or distributed practice, and practice tests were rated as having “high utility” by the authors."

Books for your new year

If you can locate the newest version of The Elements of Style (illustrated) by Strunk / White / Kalman, you can re-read the best book about writing ever published and see for yourself how much better it is with 57 illustrations of sample sentences from the text. It's actually kind of fun to read.

Also worth a look:

The Revenge of Anguished English, More Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language, by Richard Lederer

Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds Ingenious, Tales of Words and Their Origins, by Michael Quinion

The New York Times Dictionary of Misunderstood, Misused & Mispronounced Words, Words We Know (until someone asks us what they mean), edited by Laurence Urdang

Good times!

The freezer method

Passing along something to try when you've got a deadline, especially for writing.

First, mentally move your work deadline back 48 hours. Complete the final draft and "put it in the freezer" by putting it aside completely.

Then, 24 hours later (note that this should also be 24 hours before you'd normally be completing it) sit down with it again and read it as if seeing it for the first time. Missing words that your spell check program didn't catch? Punctuation? Proper formatting? And so on.

All good?

Why educate yourself in the sciences?

Science silliness