Month: February 2024
I am convinced that a huge amount of the enthusiasm for AI in education (and for teaching machines historically) is simply the wish for a cheat code, a wish to press āāāāāāāāBA, enter god mode, and escape our current condition where itās hard to understand how to select, train, and support the people most essential to the education of our children. Iām suggesting that if youāre serious about this work, you canāt cheat code your way around teachers. If your work doesnāt account for teachersāthe way they work, the way they move through a class, the tools they use, the way they think about their students, their aspirations for their work, the outcomes for which theyāre accountable, the vastness of their experiences prior to teachingāyou will make a meaningful impact on student learning only by accident. One possibility is that great teachers are born but that good teachers can be made.
Source: Are Great Teachers Born or Made? by Dan Meyer
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Dan, I really like your point about artificial intelligence and a dream of a ‘cheat code’. This feels like an extension of ‘
‘. I am also reminded of my discussions of .I donāt create or publish in the hopes of influencing others. I create things because I have an urge to create. But it sure is great to help others along the way, however small my contribution might be. I donāt care about being found online and I am certainly not actively pushing my stuff down othersā throats (Kleonās rule #7: Donāt turn into human spam). I love reading about the creation process of others. I love sharing my creation process. Itās almost second nature: it feels like a wasted opportunity to do something good in this world if I didnāt.
Source: Publish Your Work by Wouter Groeneveld
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Wouter, your argument about the wasted opportunity missed by not sharing ideas in public reminds me of
.Just as we now live in public, so do we think in public. And that is accelerating the creation of new ideas and the advancement of global knowledge.
Source: Why Even the Worst Bloggers Are Making Us Smarter ā How successful networks nurture good ideas by Clive Thompson
I personally find the benefit of working through solutions and often find myself refining things as a part of the process.
Iāve heard Doctorow speak, and heās incredibly persuasive: he has that rare talent of making everything he says sound like itās completely obvious, and each successive piece of logic as inexorable as Lego pieces joining. Also: Iāve no idea how he produces so much, day after day, and finds time to sleep and eat.
Source: Start Up No.2158: Senate yells at tech leaders, want an āeverything readerā?, US zaps infected routers, Vision Pro?, and more by @charlesarthur
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I often wonder the same thing Charles. I struggle to keep up with all of Cory’s work, let alone to consider the amount of time and effort that must go into it. I think he clearly must have well honed habits. Just wonder if there is any downtime in his life?
Come Back, All is ForgivenĀ is the sixth album by Australian bandĀ Custard](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custard(band))Ā “Custard (band)”), and their first new material in 16 years. It was released on 6 November 2015 throughĀ ABC MusicĀ “ABC Music”)Ā on CD, vinyl, and digital.[1])Ā The album features the classic line-up ofĀ David McCormackĀ “David McCormack”),Ā Glenn Thompson](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlennThompson_(musician))Ā “Glenn Thompson (musician)”), Paul Medew and Matthew Strong. The songs were tracked at Horses Of Australia Studio on a weekend in February 2015. Overdubs were later added by David at Sonar Studio and Glenn at Horses Of Australia Studio. Glenn mixed it over the following couple of months.[2])
Source: Come Back, All Is Forgiven by Wikipedia
I was recently listening to the All Songs Considered podcast in which Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton and Daoud Tyler-Ameen reflect on Green Day and their legacy. The question that they grappled with throughout is how does pop-punk grow up? I was left thinking about the same question thinking about Custard and what it means to come back after a hiatus. This is something that Andrew Stafford addresses in his review of Come Back, All is Forgiven:
A comeback record was always going to be a more difficult proposition for Custard than most. Thatās because a key part of the bandās appeal was an innocence that often tripped over into a playful sense of anarchy. Their early recordings, especially, are full of the exuberance and abandon that marks oneās late teens and early 20s. And anyone whoās ever grown up knows how difficult that feeling is to recapture.
Source: CUSTARD: COME BACK, ALL IS FORGIVEN -Notes from Pig City by Andrew Stafford
In a conversation with Jamie Lidell, Jon Hopkins said that he wishes that he could ‘choose’ the music he writes. Instead, he argues that we have no choice over what we do, the choice is about what our body gives energy for. All we can do is appreciate the outcome. I thought this was pertinent listening to Custard. Their music often feels a little random, however maybe it is simply the music that their collective bodies gave energy for. Interestingly, this collective energy was actually recorded quickly and managed by Glenn Thompson.
“Glenn is too modest to tell you this, but Glenn recorded, produced and mixed this album,” McCormack says. “All Matthew, Paul and I did was go to his studio for one and a half days to record and then he sweated on it for weeks and months.”
Source: Dave McCormack’s Custard comes back (and all is forgiven)) by Craig Mathieson
Although the various musicians have done various things since Loverama, coming together again it feels that they have a particular sound. As Stafford suggests, things have changed.
Come Back, All Is Forgiven sounds exactly like what it is: four guys in their mid-40s, casually knocking out a bunch of songs most bands half their age would kill for. Just donāt expect to do the Wahooti Fandango to it.
Source: CUSTARD: COME BACK, ALL IS FORGIVEN -Notes from Pig City by Andrew Stafford
Come Back, All is Forgiven begins with a more laidback country rock feel, maybe it is country or western or Custard Goes Country. As is Custard’s way though, they often lull you in before throwing a spanner into the mix, that being the up tempo ‘If You Would Like To’. This stretch allows the album to pivot to ‘1990’s’, a track whose bass and drums groove makes way for a chorus that reminded me of Sonic Youth’s ‘Sunday’. The rest of the album then bounces around. Offering up Thompson’s ode to ‘Contemporary Art’ (“You want something new for your hall? Dude, I only do stuff that’s like 10 metres tall”), the stream of consciousness associated with ‘Queensland University’, and ‘Factual’ which sounds like Jarvis Cocker listening to the Carpenters. (For a different perspective, Leon Bambrick has written a lengthy commentary breaking down each track.)
I like how Craig Mathieson captures the album. Gone is the dream of world conquering success or a big record deal, instead we are left with a ‘welcome visit’:
Despite the title, for Custard the new album isn’t so much a career comeback as a welcome visit
Source: Dave McCormack’s Custard comes back (and all is forgiven)) by Craig Mathieson
Place between Bob Evans and Pulp
Tracklist:
- “Orchids in Water” 2:59
- “We Are the Parents (Our Parents Warned Us About)” 3:52
- “Warren Rd” 2:48
- “Record Machine” 3:03
- “If You Would Like To” 1:03
- “1990’s” 4:52 – Sonic Youth’s ‘Sunday’
- “Contemporary Art” 2:27 – Lou Reed / Jonathan Richman
- “Queensland University” 2:12
- “Rice & Beans” 4:11
- “Factual” 5:10 – Jarvis Cocker listening to The Carpenters.
- “Get in Your Car” 7:54
The story of the astonishing voyage of Captain James Cook and the Endeavour, to mark the 250th anniversary of that voyage, and Cook’s claim to sovereignty.
Blainey’s book provides a glimpse into the miracle of the journey, as well as the luck involved, especially regarding scurvy and fresh food. He manages to tie various voices together, whether it be different diaries and the snippets of stories that had been picked up through journeys. What was intriguing was the way in which information that we take for granted these days was often kept secret, such as Torres Strait, due to the strategic benefits.
In the conclusion, Blainey discusses the theory that the Chinese actually discovered Australia prior to Europeans. He argues that whether this is true or not, ‘discovery’ is more that finding a place, it is actually doing something with the place.