My son has a math test today. He was up till 3 a.m. studying for it.
In my experience, a positive mindset is essential to successful test-taking, so on the drive to school, I give him a piece of advice.
“Walk into the classroom,” I say, “look at the teacher and lay down a challenge, like ‘Let’s do it.'”
“It’s not her test,” the boy says.
“What does that mean?”
“It means every class takes the same test — Schneider, D’Antonio . . .”
“THAT DOESN’T MATTER,” I say. “The important thing is to lay down the challenge. ‘Stop bitin’ on my styles.’ Granted, that one doesn’t make any sense, but it gives you the positive mental framework that you need for mathematical success.”
It has to be about your readers, who will, it’s hoped, become your customers. It has to be about making them awesome.
So, for example, if you’re selling a clever attachment to a camera that diffuses harsh flash light, don’t talk about the technical features or about your holiday sale (10 percent off!). Make a list of 10 tips for being a better photographer.
If you’re opening a restaurant, don’t blog about your menu. Blog about great food. You’ll attract foodies who don’t care about your restaurant yet.
If you make superior, single-source chocolate, don’t write about that great trip you took to the Dominican Republic to source cocoa beans. That’s all about you. Instead, write the definitive article about making chocolate-covered strawberries. For the next 10 years, whenever a gourmand or a baker searches Google for a recipe on how to make chocolate-covered strawberries, he or she will find your post. Helping your users make awesome chocolate-based confections is likely to attract readers who might buy fancy chocolate . . .
Authorities say a motorist has driven off a cliff, plunging about 200 feet down a steep canyon near Calabasas, after swerving to avoid an animal on the road.
Ouch — was he a PETA member?
I like animals. I ran over a squirrel once and I felt terrible about it but the little critter just dashed right out in front of my car.
However — in the event of having to make a split-second decision between clobbering an animal and driving off a cliff, well, the animal is going to get it.
On a side note, kudos to the headline writer for the alliteration: “Careens Off Calabasas Cliff.” Who says a liberal arts education isn’t good for anything?
- You watch Saw 1-8 for 36 hours straight.
- You think you are in the Saw movies.
- You buy a saw.
The well-known law of cybernetics — “Only variety can absorb variety” — states that a system cannot meet increasing variety in its environment unless it increases the range of its response repertoire (Ashby’s law of requisite variety, 1956). In lay terms it means one has to be just as messy as the surrounding situation.
Experts say the belief that sexual activities can lead to a second heart attack consists of a little bit of truth, but research suggests that it is largely exaggerated. People can have sex after their heart attacks. In fact, the more you exercise — including having sex — the better your odds.
As a safety precaution, “You sort of have to test yourself on the sidewalk before you test yourself in the bedroom,” says Dr. Gerald W. Neuberg, cardiologist and director of the intensive care unit at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Imagine and identify the few properties of your product or service that will gratify the customer’s need. Visualize the properties, desire them yourself, and everywhere ensure and intensify their presence.
The goal on a project is not to have the correct plan in advance but to make the right decisions every day as things that were unknown become known.
I’ve heard that dogs can count up to 4 or 5. I’ve never tried to go that high but I know I can count up to 2 because every morning my owner gives me 2 vitamin tablets and when he gives me the first one I wait for the second one and when he gives me the second one I run off and do something else.
Oh this is unexpected! He just dropped a vitamin tablet on the floor so I ate it!
Now he’s giving me the first vitamin tablet . . .
(Waiting . . . waiting . . .)
I’m getting a bad feeling about this. DON’T TELL ME THE DROPPED ONE COUNTS AGAINST MY DAILY ALLOTMENT!
— Lightning 
of one hundred movies there’s one that’s fair, one that’s good
and ninety-eight that are very bad. . . .. . . millions of dollars spent to create
something more terrible than the actual lives of
most living things; one should never have to pay an
admission to hell.
He is a bad dog . . . a pit bull mix. Last night he attacked Kumba the Shih Tzu, who is my neighbor across the street, and Kumba’s owner.
My owner heard screaming and ran outside. The pit bull owner was holding his dog back and Kumba’s owner was down on the sidewalk bleeding and screaming. She was very scared. She held her hand up to my owner like a drowning person.
Kumba was hiding in some bushes behind a tree so my owner went in and carried him out. Then the police came and the firemen came.
Kumba had a bite on his back and one of his back legs was hurt but he’s going to be okay and his owner is going to be okay.
I told Kumba he was very brave, even though he wasn’t. But it made him feel better and there was no harm in it.
Shih Tzus aren’t fighting dogs like pit bulls and pugs . . .
— Lightning
Looking over my notes from an Edward Tufte course . . .
Looking over my notes from an Edward Tufte course . . .
The Bay Area just had its foggiest May in 50 years. And thanks to global warming, it’s about to get even foggier.
The sight of Golden Gate Bridge towering above the fog will become increasing rare as climate change warms San Francisco bay, scientists have found.
As a member of the Trojan Network and a graduate of the School of Engineering, I make myself available to answer questions from current USC engineering students about what life might have in store for them.
I got an email today from a young man who included this priceless bit of information: “When you got your master’s degree, I was one year old.”
Really?! It seems like just last week but thanks for reminding me that 20 years have gone by.
Look kids — if you want to do a computation like that, go ahead, but keep the results to yourself . . .
