Synesthesia

The Bouba and Kiki effect, 95 to 98 percent of people will identify these two shapes by the correct name.

One is called Bouba and the other is Kiki.

Which is which according to you? After you are done research this topic and how it relates to Synesthesia, It is an interesting area of study.  Consider it Survivology101 homework, ENJOY!

Just an update....

Well there has not been alot going on lately so I thought that I would toss up an update.

 For the past couple of weeks I have had a Mountain Sniper course on deck.  Today I was interviewed along with some of my students by CNN so look for that in the comming week.  I have not spent much time on projects except a couple of leather knife sheaths and a plaque for the course high shooter.  The little chat with the Sierria Club went well and they seemed to be pleased with my delivery.  I shot video of the presentation and ill let it out after it is cleared with the Marine Public Affaiars liason.   I don't run everything throught them unless I mention the Marine Corps then I do it as a courtesy, so look for that soon.  Other than that just shooting and skiing having a good time and spending time on the mountain is all that I have been up too.  I have taken all my boys skiing at June Mountain Ski Resort and Ill tell you that it is wonderfull to ski down the mountain with four sons joking around and just enjoyong the wonderful playground that is the Sierra Nevada mountain range.  I just thought that you deserve an update because friends stay in touch when times are exciting or boring.  Im sure that ill get something useful up here for you soon but lately the workload is high and the motovation for extracurricular activity is realitively low.

Survival Quarterly issue 4 is out and once again I have an article in there so order a subscription and enjoy a good mag with lots of useful information just for you from some of the top experts in their fields.

Stay focused and practice your skills often, so they will be there when you need them. 

Norseman

Tickle your noodle.

Since I started this blog I have shown you some projects and introduced a little psychology into the mix.  I have added a coupe of rants and a few comparisons but I havn't put out anything fun, so I thought that I would tickle your noodle a little bit with some thinking and a Survivology 101 lesson at the same time.

The other day when I put my son down to sleep and turned off the light he asked how that worked.  How what worked? I replied!  The light; he said.  After thinking for about a second, I said well thats magic, if you flip it up the light goes on and if you flip it down the light goes off.  Well being that I always look back and anayize everthing that I can remember, I had an apiffany.  Although I explained the mechanical operation of the actual light switch I didn't actually tell him how it worked.  But then, thry this on a five year old;

There is a constant electrical current traveling through the walls in the wiring, this wiring passes the switch which creates a break in the current, when you throw the swith, that is to close it you allow the current to pass through the circut and travel to the light fixture.  At the fixture the negative and positive currents follow separate paths that meet in the middle at the filiment.  When they meet the elecrons rub together on a microscopic level creating a friction that generates two energies.  The first is heat and the remainder is photons,  the energy is too great to be contained by the vaccume of the bulb and the energy passes through it and is dipearsed around the room.  The heat is small and dissapates quickly but it keeps the bulb hot.  The photons are not as afected by the resistace of the air so they bounce around the room creating the illusion of light.  The photons bounce off the surface of the objects in the room  and shatter into the various colors of the rainbow.  Depending on the properties of the surface some of the colors are reflected and some are absorbed, the reflected colors blend and that is what creates the images and the colors that you can see.  If you flip the switch down it breaks or opens the circut so the current can't reach the light fixture and the room  goes dark.  This is actuallly way to simplified but you get the point on how hard that would be to explain it to a five year old in a manner that he could really understand it.  I dont even think that it is possible.

Now grranted that is too much information for a child but he can understand that its magic.  Better than that he can understand how to use that magic when he needs it and the outcome is predictable even for a child with limited knowledge and experience.  In time, given a new situation and a new environment he can understand how to use that magic perfectly to accomplish a task that is totally new.  He may even learn to recognize different light switches and even dimmer switches.  He may even learn to use a clapper effectively by discovering that sound is the on and off switch. Now that is magic, wait no its not, its just technology, there is nothing magical about technology.

With that said look back at my post about analyzing patterns and predicting the outcomes or manuplating them to your advantage.  It is magic.  We, like the child do not need to understand all the complicated processes that make it work in order to use it to our advantage.  We only need to know that it is there and know how to initiate it and what the likely outcome will be.  So I guess that in that line of thinking, Magic is the technology of the gods, and we are not even capable of understaning all of its complexities but we can sure as hell use it if we know what to look for.  Now trouble shooting why it didn't work that time is not quite as easy as changing a light bulb but it will be learned in time and increases the effectivness of the magic for future uses.

I hope that was fun for you to think about,  remember that the cornerstones of survivology are doing, recognizing, anayzing, and cataloging the outcome.

If you go through the day and learn nothing at all then you did it wrong, that in itself is a lesson.

Finally, a good example to follow! In politics?

Yesterday the balance of power shifted in the House and Republican John Boehner became the speaker.  His first act was to have the entire house read the Constitution of the United States of America.  I do not recall in recent history when another professional politician made such a common sense decision.  The next thing you know he will have them reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before each meeting.  Wouldn't that be revolutionary?  They still may not make good decisions in the spirit of the Constitution that affect US, but at least we know that they have read it and we can hold them accountable.

I, David Williams, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

I have taken the above oath 11 times during my career even though it never expires.  If you have taken that oath or a similar one EVER, you might want to brush up on the constitution as well.  Might as well follow a good example.  If you have not taken the oath, you do not need to join the service...read the Constitution, take an oath, and take some action.  As Jack Spearco put it "the revolution is you"!
 
It might not hurt to brush up on the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, You might be surprised but a lot of Americans couldn't tell you the difference.