Sunday Post

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he Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly or for a monthly wrap up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

 

LOOKING FORWARD to December

Happy Holidays everyone! This week it snowed a lot in Minnesota. It seemed like every day I was scraping off the car, or driving slow on the highway. At one point, I had to avoid an exit ramp because it hadn't been plowed.  

Fortunately with all the snow, it gave me a lot of time to stay indoors and read.

I also taught a sketch comedy class on ZOOM. We did an exercise where you answer these prompts

I hate… I love… I’m annoyed by… The best is when… I’m proud that… I’m terrified of… I’m embarrassed by… I’m obsessed with…

After you answer these questions, go back and validate your reason by stating "because" and write something absurd. This will bring out the funny in a future comedy skit.

  A few students told me about their favorite comedians including Eric Andre and Hannibal Buress. I also learned what animatronics are. This is something brought up often in improv so I was happy to learn. The characters at Chucky Cheese helped me understand this better.

Eric Andre-Comedian

This was my week, how was yours?  Let me know in the comments below.

 

ON THE BLOG

Reading

Nexus follows the protagonist Kaden Lane, a scientist who works on an experimental nano-drug, Nexus, which allows the brain to be programmed and networked, connecting human minds together.

The book discusses the strain in thought in Buddhism and neuroscience. It discusses whole brain emulation and uploading, and the War on Drugs and Terror.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively forward or backward through time. 

The book gives the example of how a cube exists with width and depth, but how it also exists with time-this is something we generally don't think about.

Klara and the Sun.  Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?

The Elephant in the Brain by Kevin Simler The main thesis of the book is that we are very often not aware of our real reasons for most of our behaviors. Our behaviors are optimized for living in a social group and very often, from the point of view of natural selection, it is useful if we are not consciously aware of our real motivations.

In this book Simler discusses behavior a lot.  Simler gives the example of how men will cut into one another to show how they're close, and how friends will do something extra to stand out from acquaintances.