Everyday Junglist
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About me. You know how everyone says to be a successful writer you should focus in one or two areas. I continue to prove them correct.
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A Brush With Greatness
Every once in a while I come across something truly great. I see something, or hear something, or read something, in other words experience something so awesome, so unique, so powerful that I must stop and acknowledge that thing’s greatness. Mostly this acknowledgement is done only with myself in my own mind, like a silent applause, an imagined bow, or a mental gasp. I usually take a note of the thing and perhaps later mention it to a friend, or do a quick Google search when I have the time. Almost never does it go beyond that. Recently (many years ago now) however I came across something so great that I cannot remain silent. I must acknowledge in public the utter and complete awesomeness of it.
By Everyday Junglist5 years ago in 01
The Sexual Repression Hypothesis
Author's preface: I will admit this one is going to be a tough call for the censors..oops...I mean moderators to judge. On the one hand it is full of graphic material, on the other hand it really isn't all that graphic. More importantly, it is intended and I believe does make a very salient point which is that the "theory" espoused by Umair Haque in the linked article is absurd and ridiculous just like my made up "sexual repression hypothesis" in this article. The fact that it can be made to sound so appealing and so sensical is a tribute to the ease with which words that play into our preconceived prejudices and biases lull us into agreement with them even when they are outrageous, unjustified, and just plain stupid. Umair is a master at that game. That is why he is so popular. Playing into people's prejudices, biases, and fears is a sure fire winner when it comes to popularity contests. Intellectually challenging satirical rebuttals of such material are massive losers in those contests which is why I continue to linger in obscurity while Umair enjoys massive online readership. But you know what, Frack him. I don't play the fear and prejudice game and I never will, but I will call out those who do, every single time I get a chance.
By Everyday Junglist5 years ago in Filthy
The 7-Day Workweek
How to Pitch a 4-Day Workweek to Your BossAnd how to make the most of that extra dayforge.medium.com I have seen several articles like the one linked above describing how one can go about bargaining with their workplace for a shortened workweek. While I take no issue with the desire to “work” less, I dislike the dichotomy it implies between “work” and everything else in one’s life. For myself, and no doubt for a great many others the differentiation between work and home has become so blurred as to be almost meaningless. I do have an office at my workplace and I also have a lab. I also have an office at home. As a research scientist I don’t believe I could ever fully abandon a workspace because of this need for a laboratory. Despite what so called “biohackers” might have to say about it, building a lab in your garage or basement will never approach the level of sophistication of anything you will see in a fully stocked corporate or academic research laboratory. So, for me at least, there will likely never come a time when I could disconnect entirely from a physical workspace.
By Everyday Junglist5 years ago in Journal
Science Retires
Author's preface: Because this story did not meet Vocal's ludicrous 600 word count minimum I am forced to add yet another annoying author's preface. This is in addition to the author's postscript at the end of the story which contains my anti-censorship statement and which I intend to attach to every story I publish on Vocal until such time as those policies are eliminated. Vocal refers to these policies as "community standards" but please let's call a chicken a chicken, or is it let's call a duck a duck? I actually don't think it is either of those but whatever, it is censorship plain and simple. See my article here which defines four of my biggest problems with them, but there are many more. In any event the big question now is exactly how many words am I at? Have I made it to the magic number of 600? If only Vocal's editor provided a word count for me so I did not have to waste 2 minutes cutting and pasting into Microsoft word to check. But alas, they do not. I am going to cross my fingers on this one, roll the dice and say, yes, I have now hit at least 600 words. Here's hoping! By the way the post is a humor classic from my vast library of The Onion style satirical news articles.
By Everyday Junglist5 years ago in Futurism
Quit Trying to Remember Stuff
Recently a friend mentioned that she was frustrated at work by her inability to remember some important details about a key aspect of a project she had been working on for months. She described how she had spent the past few days hunkered down with textbooks and on the computer, but the right connections needed to form a lasting memory of the material had still not materialized. After hearing her out I gave her some (non asked for) advice and said “memorizing stuff is a waste of time.” I quit trying to memorize or even remember most things soon after I got out of the hospital almost three years ago now, and my overall cognitive abilities have never been better (in my estimation). Moreover, my scientific pursuits have not suffered in the least, nor have any personal relationships been strained as a result. In many ways I consider my decision to stop trying to remember or memorize things one of the best decisions I have ever made. It feels as if a huge weight has been lifted off my mind and I am able to focus on the parts of my job and life that are important. Things like problem solving, abstract thinking, creative pursuits, and building and improving interpersonal relationships. I can do these things without the fear of forgetting a name or not remembering any particular equation or procedure because I now consider the concomitant tradeoff in efficiency one I am willing to make. In the end no matter how painful or time consuming it might be to have to look something up, the overall benefits far outweigh the negatives.
By Everyday Junglist5 years ago in Psyche
Mathematical Modeling of the Written Universe
The Friedmann equation and the expanding universe Alexander Friedmann of Russia is credited with developing a dynamic equation for the expanding universe in the 1920s. At the same time Einstein, Willem de Sitter of the Netherlands, and Georges Lemaitre of Belgium were also working on equations to model the universe. Friedmann developed his version as a relativistic equation in the framework of general relativity, but the description used here, and (in our theoretical model presented below) applied to the written universe will be limited to a simplified, non-relativistic version based on Newton’s laws. Convenient forms of Friedmann’s equation with which to examine the expansion time and temperature for a big bang model of the actual universe are
By Everyday Junglist5 years ago in Futurism
On Fear and Suffering
Author's preface: Special thanks to writing colleague Samantha Drobac for inspiring this post with some questions she posed in response to two recent articles addressing the twin topics of fear and suffering. You can find more of her writings at my former home on Medium.com here. Also check out her fantastic publication on Medium No Echo which can be found here. She is credited with the "Q's" and "A-SD's" in the below. Sam's full piece where these questions and her answers first appeared can be found here.
By Everyday Junglist5 years ago in Psyche
The Long Sleep of Harold Brown
Harold Brown couldn’t sleep. He could never sleep. Year after year he struggled but sleep refused to come. He had tried all of the conventional treatments; soothing music, counting sheep, self-hypnosis, drugs. All proved futile. He had visited every sleep clinic and sleep researcher in the world and still he found no relief. “It’s all in your mind” the therapists told him. “Just relax, breathe deep, think calming thoughts, and sleep will come,” but it never did.
By Everyday Junglist5 years ago in Fiction
When Everyone Analyzes Data Who is Left to Create It
In my own workplace the spreadsheet jockeys outnumber the scientists by at least a 10 to 1 margin. I have little doubt that other technical businesses have similar or even much larger ratios. What I call spreadsheet jockeys they call business analysts, data “scientists”, financial analysts, economists, and business managers. Throughout my career, across multiple companies and businesses I have seen this ratio continue to grow ever larger, and there seems no end in site. The compensation paid to persons in these positions has also grown apace with the expansion in numbers. Meanwhile I have seen the ranks of my fellow scientists continue to decline and our compensation remain stagnant or decline. Those facts are depressing enough but the fact that the spreadsheet jocks typically spend 4–10 years less time in college/graduate school angers and worries me in equal measure.
By Everyday Junglist5 years ago in Journal
Love in The Time of Post Apocalyptic Moulds
Author's preface: Below find the (almost) original version of the story published as (almost) intended with the artwork intact and in the correct position in the story. Apologies for the first version which omitted the arts for reasons partly of idiocy on the author's part, but mostly due to the poor functioning of Vocal's editor. He was too stupid and impatient to take the time to figure out how to include images in the body of the text and Vocal's editor still refuses to display the "+" sign needed to embed something no matter what I do. I have found if I type some text then highlight it then hit backspace (but not delete) it will appear about 50% of the time. I tried just copy pasting the images in but they were distorted badly. In the original they were smaller and positioned next to each other in grouping of four. Yet another frustrating limitation of Vocal's wonky editor. I mean come on? Resizing images? That is basic stuff. Gheesh. The text also still does not have the exact formatting of the original story as I cannot figure out how to center or change the spacing or even if it is possible. In any event. Enjoy!
By Everyday Junglist5 years ago in Fiction
