Not to be annoying but generally another example of why consumer protections in this country stinks

    Many years ago, likely as one could imagine as were at that time when once upon a time having a Facebook account and having profile information over there likely sold off to the Zoosk inc.  Nonetheless, that I would up until a month or so ago generally ignore this social dating site, but out of innocent curiosity I decided to, and apparently unwittingly signed up for repeat monthly subscriptions which at least as I recalled in the advertising seemed to suggest strongly a one time fee and not a reoccurring charge.  As you can see in the screen shots below, one link to cancel the account seems to lead to message stating that in order to deactivate the account, having chosen the 'deactivate' link, one should deactivate or handle the subscription on such account first, but going to the subscription tab implies that while there is an active credit card on the account, there appears to be messaging on this profile stating that the account neither has a subscription, contradicting the statement on the other tab.  Not sure if this is apparently glitch/hack or a problem with Zoosk in general.  Fortuantely, there are other ways of dealing with this problem, sadly though, I think the dating site indicates something of a larger more inherent problem, and this is the existence of yet another predatory commercial vendor site, generally that I have seen unscrupulously featured on mainstream cable television stations, not unlike another commercial vendor/scam mainstream shark scam that I've seen on the likes of stations like Fox and others, which manage to grab facebook profile information to tout site popularity, coupling this with a predatory video game like coining system (worse than one time item mall purchases since there is a re occurrence in use a given item purchase more applicable in the order of the site itself...note mmo, for example, charge one time account items that generally aren't applicable to in game or related to monthly subscription use, or at least in some cases, are to provide some minor but neither significant account gains, or at least ethically it seems monetary displacements should not be put at such a high price...is love really worth this sort of monetary/material cost?)  that charges users for things like promoting one's profile...I should mention sadly, for example, how bad these systems operate in terms of these sorts of scams one as unwitting parents have notably putting credit card information on smart phones, leads to the supposedly accidentally monthly purchase of game coins amounting to thousands and in some more rare and notable instances tens of thousands of dollars...these sorts of site coin features purchase really should be outright banned period, as likely no game or dating site is ever worth such a cost!  Of course, we tend to ignore these things since they are supposedly a bay area silicon valley upstart.

How Do I Deactivate My Profile

Perhaps on a bit of non sequitur...but again possibly related to consumer protections, sadly, Whole Foods market shares have been down, not sure what likely given unstated bad news on that end were the cause, although it seems there could be abounding suggestions at times.

Out loud thoughts and inspiration on how we learn, teach and relate to math

5 Ways To Help Your Kid Not Stink At Math

Inspired on the point of mathematical pitfalls...

        Unless you have a photographic memory, I find that the most common mistakes and errors are missed assumptions in algorithm processing, or thinking to apply a step wise solution with a number of sequential steps but losing track of things like carrying signs.  Write out the problem as completely as needed from step to step, and generally with a little added work rewards less overall work in re checking works when errors result.  In fact, sadly enough while having some informal experience in dealing with order of math operations, I couldn't recall this explicitly in the formal sense introduced until I were underway in college level math.  Most of this practical sense and experience in math operations handling in lower levels of education were likely due to the process of instilling order of operations through memorization, or repetitive problem solving, instilling a sense about the order of operations...or maybe I weren't paying attention personally so closely back in those days as a kid which could be another likely answer here.  

     Generally the larger an expression or solution becomes, the more sequential steps required in solving a problem, means the greater likelihood of errors being made in solution work.  Thus it should be priority to really write steps out, and paying attention closely to signs and proper operations (including operation order) when solving problems.    I've seen some use accounting type practices in writing steps, meaning that you don't write things out to erase them, but instead by way of mathematical accounting (this must be something of business/accounting hand me down practice to mathematics), leaving negated/removed elements with something of sign indicators which say in effect what has occurred.  Thus if a mistake is made, for instance, in a given cancellation, the step is clearly shown in logic...I've likely resorted to this sort of error of omitting the logic demonstrating this step, and I've seen others do it I don't know how many times, and it may not be very good practice if you want to have a thorough handling in shown of logic.  The more clearly you can see where a mistake has occurred means that all steps in logic are ledger ed, likely leads to the best outcome in determination of where mistakes have occurred.  Generally I see this as standard practice in any event usually in teaching methods so I wouldn't worry about so much the educators, as much the co educators potentially in home.  Then as I am not sure kids learn these days as once were common practice, for instance, cursive handwriting, you know where this form of calligraphy instruction originates right?!  :)  Well actually at one time back in the days of yor, before businesses had automated print machines they relied upon legible handwriting for business, accounting, and so forth reasons, hence the necessity of instruction in school, that I imagine these days is something of an art losing ground, enough of that for an aside.

Personally, I think it could be a lacking error in mathematics education, and this relates to applied mathematics, practical application and math projects.  Often times, while our educational systems set about teaching math in rote ways, through memory instillation, through limited task handling, often times this could involve for any problem, less than 20 or so steps, anything relating to longer work could be delegated as project work, and often times is not given...one because of the time investment that could be considered for a teacher assigning, I imagine, and guiding students in their work for a given problem, and two because it seems more likely that text books should follow the standard methods for applied teaching.  On the other hand, maybe it is that students could find greater self motivation if having, under instructor/course guidance, projects demonstrating any learned method.  If not readily to underscore real world application to learned principles.  Really I think this is true at various levels of math...laughing...I don't know how many times, I hear people say 'yeah, I learned that in school but I never use it...' often times never used in my mind is equivalent to...never taught to relate world experience to mathematical models and creating structured framework.  Sure in construction/carpentry, for instance, you might get by as I think could be common, through some manner empirical methodology...often times, instead of resorting to equations, or mathematical models/geometry/trigonometry, master carpenters may actually use tools which judge real world geometric space (for instance a tool that literally measures the angles between corners that one can fix, and project/duplicate onto another surface for templating purposes), and then having recorded these values, apply these results in determining things like lengths of cuts and relationships otherwise, it makes sense this way, but then as to the mathematical sides of things, when given a clean slate to imagine work, mathematics can provide a framework for creating incredibly complex structures that could be hard to construct without some degree of literacy, or at least a fluency in speaking and thinking about a world with such language (according to one's profession).  Of course, sometimes one should be left with mock up models when the math for some odd reason fails, and likely failure I imagine could have occurred for the central big errors mentioned above leading to enough anomaly.  At least one could offer even if while the model works in the theory, but never is applied quite exactly as in real world application as one should hope, at least you were in proximity to your results?!

     

Take time to learn something new.  If you are an adult and co educator, I actually enjoyed the experience, with some patience, in puzzling over a bit of differed mathematical logic that I hadn't encountered before.  For instance, a base 10 geometric table, that I hadn't seen which provided a relation to additive and multiplicative operators, but using a visual geometric spatial algorithms in applying operator algorithms.  Of course, this particular method, weren't stressed above any other computational algorithm, or at least a given central algorithm were stressed first and foremost...and in this other case, a lot of this means having the willingness and patience and learn what someone is learning that you hadn't learned as an adult co educator being educated.  As in teaching these steps by the way, I avoided the mathematics legalese manner of speaking with base 10 and the use of operator in teaching here...Likely it seems as we age, maybe our tolerance to new ideas diminishes, and especially resistance to change in learning is through the common culture practice that changes to culture legacies could be seen as threatening, and the interpretation is that a given practice is more likely as seen as pointless...of course, if we thought to pay for some monthly subscription to a web site like luminosity, and thought differently of the mental gymnastics that we might be demanded of us, if we thought this were somehow increasing our potential IQ, we might see these sorts of learning processes differently, as potentially beneficial?!   I think unfortunately, also, it is that while some professions make use of continuing education as common practice, there must be a general cultural sense that once we've left school in a way, we've left another life behind in so far as experience and practice are concerned.  The other reason why it might not be as difficult for the students of new educational systems as we suspect but really for the parents, or this is merely to say that the adults neither help in reinforcing through self fulfilling ways the likelihood social outcomes in a given educational context.  As it turns out, as in the above puzzling visual algorithm mentioned above, while initially there were resistance met, instead a group of adults including myself would turn their attention in attempting to understand the puzzle, and once the system were understood, there were really an enjoyable success in teaching something that everyone seemed to learn something from.  Think of it this way, adults in past times may be as willing, if given the right context to learn with their kids new things, take for instance that board game that nobody knew how to play?!   I couldn't write this likewise, without saying personally there weren't times in having been frustrated and so forth, it happens, and then likely it seems taking a breather and gaining a little bit of space from problem work can help where a little bit of re group pays off.   I think I am projecting my biases here, and my apologies if others had did exactly the things they thought were right and hadn't accomplished on this end.

I think unfortunately, and I must confess to a bit of possession on this subject matter, that our cultural ownership, a place of meritocracy is such that, I am to wonder with some level of suspicion and bias that weren't outright at time authoritarian in our degree of ownership on subject matter, or at least the belief that a greater authority resides by way of the lens that we possess on the matter of education...hence, the engineer that writes about his outrage and misgivings in understanding a given mathematical framework...although I'd admit I tend to be more shameless on the subject matter of not knowing (or actually having these sorts of misgivings, the rise of territorial ism!)  , or sitting there listening to the math instructions from peers at such an age, and having gone through so much countless instruction otherwise.  Again, my apologies for expressing these thought out projections and biases, or mere suspicions....  :)

And to think for the voyager 1 or whatever satellite spacecraft out there having exited the solar system, being reduced to a series of pictographs which indicate not only using things stable galactic celestial bodies (I believe pulsars or something or other for honing in or something like triangulating our solar's systems galactic position), but also the stability of radioactive decay(?...I think for the deduction of the records angular velocity...don't quote me on that) I think it is this of some common isotope or something or other.  There's a lot of reasoning to be done for interpreting that puzzle for some civilization out there...sorry digression...at least surpassing common core architecture?! 

Thoughts on present and future education...

    I am thinking through what generally, I am sort of laughing saying this now, mathematics addicting.  I think if the same psychological arts could be applied to gaming as applied to mathematics, we'd likely have a lot more mathematically inclined people, and I don't mean making cheesy mathematics shoot em up type games, but at least translating the addiction/stimulus hooks to mathematics in education might prove to be an aid?!

Anyways, where more individually tailored educational systems I suspect may prove greater relative to larger scale education systems, are that metrics can be made of a students progress in terms of proficiency/deficiencies, and then education can be tailored to target specific areas while maintaining a students interest in terms of success/reward stimulation, or whatever reward system applicable to maintaining a student's more long term interests and drive.  Obviously not making problem solving too easy, nor making them too hard, but appropriately structuring learning where a student's achievement level happens to be centered at.  Anyways I've already heard of educational systems now arising that are structured exactly in this way, which are more 1 to 1 focus oriented in terms of academics instead of being scaled large relative to any larger 20 or 30 to 1 student to teach ratios.  The more ideal ratio possibility is a very small student to teacher ratio system, and generally where the teacher/instructor can constantly monitor a students progress and then re calibrate teaching according to the rate of achievement at a given progression.  Artificial intelligence systems will likely be able to actively handle and aid progression metrics likely in the future, so that more often I would suspect we are likely to see in the future, students that could be taught (as horrifying as this could be to some) generally by the aid of computing systems alone...although even so, human instructors could see positive benefits in terms of measuring aids to something like performance and so forth.  I would expect as technology progresses likely in our future, our children may be much better educated not less relative to us, and not only better educated, but also living better.

As to education, nowadays, I am seeing a lot of stuff out there that provides generally not only the equivalent of free k-12 education (at this point I am not sure if its comprehensive as a substitute to primary education), but also college level education likewise, or basically without formally having a paper diploma, you could likely achieve the academic merits of such.  I also see that online education could serve a role in filling preparatory gaps where those in more disadvantaged situations could have increased likelihood of closing these gaps to be on par with other students at a given academic institution, or  hopefully as digital divisions between wealthier and poorer potentially close rank, the information access being similar means that online education possibilities could change educational culture for the have nots that hadn't the skills or level of education to get into higher ranked institutions, or merely getting into higher level institutions period.  

As to a form of liberalization theory on this bit, this is actually a boon to a democracy in my opinion from a sociological standpoint, one because if you want to tap the potential power of your civilization, it means you provide more people with better quality education not less, because that in turn translates into much greater synergistic power potential for a given civilization which has more people educated to handle higher skilled labor and higher level technology work that are hopefully more likely to be critical thinking and articulate enough so as not to be easily socially controlled especially on the point of lies, distortions, and so forth (a bit of sermonizing I know)...of course, I am not sure on the later point this always turns out to be true, but at least one should hope the better educated are neither so ignorant, and especially on the matters of liberal arts education, that there is at least something of better rounded ness in one's living conditions and personal choice making?!  Its not just about the job and money...but well being too!

I am not so certain that drastic changes need be made to a given educational system, just because it appears to be failing, that is, in terms of overhauls to teaching many different conceptual viewpoints, although I am not so certain that is problematic to teaching either.  While some might complain by the presence in remedial education, in higher level mathematics, it seems that re working a problem using alternate methods/models could be a possible practice...for instance, in checking work, if you obviously hadn't had an answer key, you were working through new concepts, but wanting to verify a problem's solution that could alternately be worked under older concepts that you were more familiar with...of course, maybe it is something of American thing as the aphorism goes, 'If it ain't broke don't fix it!'  Or whatever method that works is the right way, and hence any other way of going about doing the same thing over again could be considered as obfuscating the problem at hand.  The problem is that when we are set in thinking about the same sets of problems in the same ways, and handling them in that way in some repetitive way over and over again.  Immediately I couldn't offer that at times, I weren't much the same in terms of personality, that is, if having solved a problem I might ignore a problem that involved more unfamiliar territories of geometric relations over familiar relations that I were already acquainted.  Admittedly, I am suspect most of America would fail horribly at someone attempting to teach classical geometry owing to the Greeks in its entirety, that is where much relations that we could be familiar with in modern physics/engineering are heavily inclined to principles of trigonometry, and yes, we might have some versing on things like the relation of angles between parallel lines, and intersecting non parallel lines, but I scarcely recalled in high school math much of what I might have learned beyond this.  Admittedly, when I peruse modern geometry books, which at times recalls geometry of antiquity, looks at times very foreign in principle with heavy and extensive use of length ratios which certainly relate sine, cosine, and so forth ratios, but without in principle using them in the same ways.  As it turns out theory of relativity were owing heavy in inspiration I believe to something like Minkowski spaces, or Klein geometries, or being able to at least in theory consider space in a different way relative to the Euclidean notions that we might have, and of course, in terms of problem modeling...if you could think differently about a problem so that you weren't thinking rectangles even translating in motion to solve these sorts of problems, you might consider alternately about a space where two intersecting straight lines in such space have not one but two points of intersection, can you visualize what sort of space that is?!  In order for a civilization to assert itself, of course, it needs thinkers that can diverge from a given group in appreciating different modes or ways of thinking about a particular problem, that is, being able to conceptually re visualize problems, or being willing to embrace alternative structures, that aren't merely ignored because we think one way of doing things is the best way and only way end of story!  Of course, then one should ask are we trying to gear the next generation of students in the manner of being theoretical scientists?!  No, but then there may be some emotional practicality to this, and this relates to being able to work through situations while truly listening to other feedback while neither being insistent on solely applying solutions in rigid ways.  At least from a psychological standpoint if we are more likely to listen and work to see that alternate means of solving problems can be done, we may be more likely to be not only possibly better problem solvers but also more diplomatic in our approach to handling problem solving.

Does it matter in saying?!

Exploitative industrial systems generally don't go about the process of hiding or concealing much at any given time...at least something of my own personal theory.  If only to portray if ever so briefly there are signs at increased hesitance in the perpetuation of a given system's role, but often it seems these could be nothing more then versed orchestrations that came from within their own ranks...consider the operative sent in the case of the movie ('Promised Land') sent actually by a given gas production industry to orchestrate and direct the voice of an opposition only to sabotage it for the purpose of winning over contract rights, or if ever there were a phrase about winning and losing, the industrialist plays with whomever is winning regardless, and that means if they have lost, that they simply buy out the winners for the right price likewise.  Pretty insidious isn't it?!  These sorts of exploitative industrialists, pretend often times one should wonder, or scarcely seem to acknowledge what they do know if they happen to know what is there, as in the case of something like coltan production, maybe industrialists on one side of the pond have some understanding, but they don't care, only if they hadn't all the information at their disposal concerning materials/resource exploitation, they don't care, because agreements and negotiations were reached on the basis of a system that were put in place by an entire system as complexly arranged for the purposes of simply providing a marketplace (no questions asked) for resources, could they exactly be the operators that were systematically killing as in genocide millions of people over time to gain access in the clearest sense of the word?

Were it the responsibility of others, for instance, some securities group that aided the training and operations of neighboring countries in sabotaging things like security, leading to a civil war, the sorts of societal disruptions that makes indigenous governance over resources difficult enough so that the outcomes were moving more towards the circumstance of pillaging and looting?!  Obviously, the art of a pillaging economy is such that if the work done for the effort gains much more relative to a traded monetary exchange, means that pillaging and looting potentially does pay off dividends, and especially in the way that lesser checks on accountability are provided for in terms of diplomacy or anything else, one should wonder why it weren't more prolific in another way?!  Obviously it seems harder to imagine, taking so many steps backwards, for a given population that in effect were enjoying something of fruits itself should subject itself to the sort of lawlessness that it would have of its neighbors.  Here you are thinking surely that we have prided ourselves when the nominal and token gestures of tears are given, a man cries and weeps about the state of the world, and then in another photo is seated alongside the equivalent of Hitler and praising him no doubt, speaks volumes doesn't it?!

I don't see defenders these days speaking so much of counter propaganda, but only seem to resolve themselves at times alluding to bygone eras when 'Monroe Doctrine' applications were in full sway...of course, the parents were right to send their children of these places likely to the hands of an enemy indirectly responsible for orchestrating the sorts of high levels of crime and problems found back in that home.  Here, at least, for most of American's likely one should imagine in the dark with respect to the recesses of problems created abroad, they'd shed some visibly sympathetic eye?!

America is probably right to be influentially in decline in South America (and good that it is that way), and hopefully it stays that way, and continues on the same path of decline in sickly bullying and exploiting the rest of the world.

   Humorous thoughts of the day:
"People of Italy, the French army is here to break your chains," Napoleon proclaimed, "our only quarrel is with the tyrants who have enslaved you."  -Napolean Bonaparte     

Console gaming reflects and highlights the great mass social conditioning experiment that active in world culture (but particularly pronounced here in North America), reflecting the aims of making high levels of industrialized violence palatable through simulation.Which also leads to the sociological status of the Western view of conflict resolution being handled by violent means, could be a growing consensus by future generations?  Or this is to say that future generations involved in simulated violent gaming, might see more often that potentially violent impasses are best resolved strategically through violent outcomes as given to the conditions of a simulation which suggests that these are the only solutions provided...as they are patently designed integrally into the system that in most circumstances forbids any other outcome. 

 Could we potentially expect to see a more violently driven society in the future?!...keep in mind with right to carry laws that we now have infamous examples of conflict resolution in movie theaters culminating with a man shooting another man to death not that it should but unfortunately if I hadn't stated it some minds would revolve around these sorts of suspicions...both perpetrator and victim were white.



Watch out for Cosplay!  :)  

Sadly you may laugh but watch the documentary The Act of Killing...notice how former death squad leaders like to disassociate themselves to the reality of their own actions by having felt an accomplice that there were a given reality to any of these roles.  That is the feeling that they might have an alibi for their violent behavior.  Sickos running around pretending they are slaying vampires?!  Dehumanization is actively used as part of the obvious equation in severing empathetic link between victim and victimizer, generally doesn't work out over the long haul so well.  It seems for now potentially something of fiction in a way doesn't it?!  

     Seems it takes just a few people to engage in social communication when you are out about traveling, or really a few to do any number of things, relative to a much larger picture.  Hmm, pretty disturbing in another way, since it takes potentially just a few in some manner trying to exert a measure of control over behavior, socially or at least in the arena of things like psychological warfare.  Old news really one should suppose, although one has to wonder why it all persists in the way that it does?!  For a clear reason, aim, or objective, pronouncements of any daily objective seem to wash in and out of another much overly exerted theory, that is, if you looked a little funny the other day when a 'key' word were spoken, the theory runs the lines...ah yes, there must have been something 'nasty in the wood shed'.  Of course, you are suggested the high order proclivities coming from elsewhere are way out of sync with your own existence, or to say that generally you likely live the life of a saint by comparison, certainly apparent white wash is probably more obvious to most, especially given that a place such as this could sound more like a hellish human role played endeavor given to the dictum's of Hollywood screenplay writer imagining him/her self the social psychologist.  To this extent, it is to be said, that 'see no evil' is tantamount to a man that is something of a 'platonist', while on the opposite of spectrum, if you hadn't belonged to some accepted violent social order, or weren't a reflection of that order, a given disturbed mind were more then worth investigations but more so going beyond this scope...you estimate in this range predictably Alcatraz eventually closes, social political boondoggles meet their ends in time.

If led to believe there is something of oblivious social winds out there, it seems you are to up to this point, engage either in a form of self deluding hypnosis, to say that you imagined everything up to this point, or that this were one's having lied, or anything else, it strikes of anything obvious.  Here a choice path, is to lead one into a much greater lie it should seem, that is, to imagine everything as others would have you imagine, as they had not shared your experience, but to believe in something of an image that were pertaining to the experiences that on the exterior were not shared.  Obviously you couldn't not deny any manner of the sequences of events that would accumulate to the position that one were in...and yet, one were to imagine that some were drowning themselves in medicated delusions, into a system that tells them that their own sufferings (as imposed and shaped by others) were self created, self manufactured.  How insidious is that?!

Wanderings are seldom it seems, and then you figured you used a few hundred dollars to buy you comfort purchase for a small journey that were riddled with one test hypothesis after another.  Certainly that sort of provocation from the other end, neither provided warranted results and never did, it backed off certain elements estimating certain levels of social comfort for some added contingency later, the money that you lost were likely to be lost in time anyways...you figure, decisions weren't exactly for naught, and those interested in laying stronger claim remained reserved well enough, you provided all the indicators of doing exactly the opposite of your planning in the first place.

Annoying! Changing problem parameters?!

Rolling on the floor laughing!  It seems selective interference has even less boundaries, or where online educational systems are not what they seem!

hmm, okay.  One since this class I am taking seems to stress and emphasis problem solving while yielding on solutions little to nothing at times in the way of solving derivations...I am a bit annoyed at the changing parameters of a problem (for any answer submission) bit here.  One it seems there could be a little more information yield on the part of derivations for solutions, including models and all else.  On the other hand, I know its a free course, and appreciate all the work and effort yielded compiling the course...hmm, I have like 30 pages of notes on solutions compiled so far I think.  :)

There are hardly any feedback resources for problems that I've seen (worked examples seem to be small in number)...sure in the beginning of the course some, but later in the course so little feedback just multiple choice checks and then a final solution.  Forum help is okay, but not that great since often times one is awaiting for deadlines to pass, so that spoilers for other testers aren't given away.  My biggest hang up though right now to testing of this type is lack of partial credit grading, alongside submission of solutions not including just final answers but work on a given problem.