31 July 2006

You can multi-task, but don't expect to learn anything

I love the title of this article on the associated wetware processing that happens when you multitask. Moral of the story: FOCUS on one thing at one time if you want to learn effectively.

As though we don't know that. But it's always cool to have scientific evidence (wooooooo!) to back up the hypothesis.

Go, scientific method!

27 July 2006

Never Surrender Dreams: Faith Manages

Ah, look's like my favourite TV show of all time Babylon 5 is coming back (directly to the DVD), if only for a short while.

I love Babylon 5. It has mystery, intrigue, heroes and heroines, too much grey in the fight between black and white, sacrifice, love, friendship, death, betrayal, spiritual growth. It has the mythical heroic arc. It has a story line that took 4, nay, 5 years to tell, episode by episode on the silver screen. Season 3's "Messages from Earth", "Point of No Return" and "Severed Dreams" remain, till this day, my favourite three-parter story (or according to JMs the writer and master of the B5 universe, one mega-wham episode). Lord of the Rings doesn't count because it's really SIX books in all -- or ONE book, depending on how you look at it, and the two Star Wars prequels both have their ups and downs... again SIX movies, or one.

I remember watching Messages from Earth at 1am on the day of my A-Levels Chemistry Prelim exams... and I was so utterly blown away by the storyline I could not even sleep properly that morning. The story pulled together in one stroke the elements that heralded the whirlwind: our first serious encounter with the Shadows, the deteriorating situation on Earth, tension between Delenn and Sheridan, tension between Ivanova and Marcus, and plain old almost-state-of-the-art CGI back in the mid-nineties... Woot! It was, it felt like you were standing on the edge of a sharp precipice looking down into a void. The shadow is behind you, but you cannot turn. You have to look forward. The Shadow is near.

As they say, Faith Manages. And I'm not doing B5 justice by this excited rant. Take some time out to look through the midwinter.com/lurk site. It's a fantastic resource for the story.

And while we wait with baited breath for the Lost Tales, here's some cube goodies to drool over.

17 July 2006

The Cult of Leia's Metal Bikini

Ah. Leia Costumers! Wired.com has a write up on this costume. The 501st equivalent is here at Leia's Metal Bikini.

And ohmigosh.... Belly Dancing!!!!!

14 July 2006

Unskilled and unaware of it

A great research paper that I encountered some years ago. Good to find it again after so long. Read this. Very good reading, especially if you are in any sort of management or leadership role.