I have answered this question, but: No. We couldn't. We are thousands of years from being able to make a forest or a coral reef, and maybe forever from being able to produce something so mysterious and wonderful that it brings involuntary smiles to everyone.

Recall that I do not value "productive" much at all, and you see how different our views are. Cut us back to early indutrial revolution technology and I don't think life gets much worse (though it's not what I'd prefer). And I can live with bronze age — before that we spend too much energyu scrambling for food and shelter to be comfortably happy.

I don't understand, you don't think the Bodhisattva's are right about what, exactly? They approach the relief of suffering by eradicating their own and enlightening other beings.

I was just saying to myself earlier this week, "gee, we havent had any wells in a long time, we need to have more of em." And look what I woke up to!

Lots of fascinating ground covered. (And not just because it turns out atak and I have a fair bit more in common than just bridge -- and for the record that DOES include the comments about women's faces and about why they shouldn't dye their hair.)

Farthest North Sectional is the 2nd weekend of August, and the sandhill crane migration peaks around the 3rd weekend. Cmon up

Questions - when/how did you learn bridge?
Have you had as much trouble keeping bridge partners as keeping girlfriends? (I find blind bridge dates are usually disastrous, but it's easier to keep a good partnership going than a relationship.... I played successfully with my ex-wife both before and after our divorce.)
Youve touched on it a bit re your work experience, but given your taste for wildnerness, why are you living in a big city in Texas?

Why do you think I keep bringing it up?

Also, I want to re-ask the "SAT or ACT?" question. Not just "which one is more in a driven-to-succeed student's best interest," but which one actually tells us the most about what a person knows. Perhaps you could comment more generally on whether you feel the other tests you teach are of much use in identifying people well equipped to go into particular fields.

Unfortunately, a bad book is not a lot better than none at all, so I'd recommend a real book (this one, $13.57 at Amazon; western birds only). Using it will be nontrivial at first, but anything less and you get into terrible habits.

An interesting sidelight to that: form what I have seen, people can learn to ID birds pretty easily at any age — if we mean visual identification. I know lost of people who are really good birders who started late. However, I have met no one who was good at identifying birds by sound and who started after is or her teen years. I think it's more like learning musical skill or foreign language than book learning — the brain changes as you learn it, and there's insufficient neural plasticity in adults to accommodate that. Adults can sort of get it, but never quite.

This is entirely my theory; I've never seen anything written about that.

For that, I can't really answer (and I learned when teaching MCATers that one way to lose people's respect quickly is to answer without knowing. I don't know the ACT well enough — I've never even seen one. i believe I recall other teachers saying it was somewhat more an achievement test, the SAT more an aptitude test, but that's all I know.

I'll comment a little later on the other tests - what I think they measure and how good I think they are at it. I'm feeling guilty about being behind here.

amp.

No one has yet asked which POGgers I would invite to a dinner party, which is too bad because I was going to say that you are the first invitee and you get to choose the others. (TL gets to come ldo, and I have some other suggestions too, but you can at least bring one guest for sure.)

Oh, totally missed that.

Basically, I don't think life is inherently fraught with suffering by any means; that was all I meant.

I played a tiny bit of bridge with my parents when I was a kid, once sitting in on their weekly bridge night, and sometimes playing with my parents and grandparents. I didn't really learn until I was in California. A friend of a friend with whom I played poker some had a school buddy — the two of them had each put himself through Cal Tech playing poker — who had a weekly bridge night. I decided what the hell. So about once a week I'd go and play with them.

It was a great crew. Most played a simplified strong club system, and they were totally friendly and easygoing t=so it WA sno big deal that we usually had both experienced players and total novices, and that partnerships rotated every couple of hands.

Later, when I was living in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, and pretty much everyone around wasn't into much but killing large mammals for fun, I looked up whether there were bridge games around... and soon found myself playing a couple nights a week.

One of the people I played with suggested I should look into directing; I did and soon was working occasional ACBL tournaments, and studying bridge law; meanwhile I was spending about thrity hours a week reading about and studying the game (there wasn't a lot else to do).

Then when I found myself in Texas, I wound up in a bridge-oriented crowd, and got even more involved it.

Given the right partner, it's much easier to keep a bridge partnership than a life partnership (though harder than any non-player can imagine). I held onto a solid partnership for about two years despite our being personally somewhat incompatible, so I know it's possible.


Also, I'm living in Chicago now. It's a pragmatic decision — but also, I do like having people around. Or rather, I need it. In the wilderness I am happy but lonely, and loneliness crushes me.

That, sir, is not a book.

im blushing yeah, it was a bunch of fun.

Obviously I'm bringing alice.

I have my boy in the summers, so unfortunately that won't be happening. My summers, the past couple years anyway (and I intend to continue) are about him, not me.

I get quite amotivated during certain times in my life, and am currently in one such phase. After taking 3 credits in the spring, I'll graduate with a BS in math and econ. I think there is a good chance I will decide to go to grad school for something (maybe after working for a bit and deciding it sucks - I actually like going to school and taking classes quite a bit), but there is no way I get my **** together before this December to be ready to apply for the next Fall. I've been given advice to take the GRE while I am still in school while the material is still "fresh" from being in school, as I can use my scores for a number of years after taking the test. If I decide to do this, I'd be taking the test in the Spring. Because I don't know where I would be applying to or even what field (probably some sort of applied math), I wouldn't know what score to shoot for or how much study to put in. I consider myself a pretty good standardized test taker (but not as good as you, I'd assume). Should I just take the test once cold and figure I can retake it in a year if I need a higher score to apply where I want to apply? Should I just wait until I know what I want to do?

Worth noting is that it is my dad who is recommending taking the test, and taking the test will subtly impart the illusion that I am "being productive." So even if it doesn't make a whole lot of sense from an academic standpoint I might take it anyway. Is there any irrevocable damage I could do by taking the test without studying?

lol. I fail at copy/paste.

Sibley's guide to western birds, here.

If you mean anything but the LSAT, no — schools consider only the highest score.

Historically, every LSAT counted and schools considered the average. I think that may have changed recently, which imo is a bad thing but makes people's decisions easier.

Sorry, got distracted: TL was insisting I enter her sheep (I suck at sheep).

But you finished 3rd out of 50 in mine

Knowing TL's purity score, I'm frightened that this might not be the game.

I entered yours because I had an idea how to approach it. Most of them, I have no clue.

I was not insisting!!!!!!

TL's purity score scared the hell out of me, I admit, particularly considering I know she has done no drugs.

We have worked it out.

Yes, dear.

What's this purity score?