All right, my first blog post!
So I just finished watching the Missing Basics video for the third time, and obviously in that video, Goldberg stresses "labeling" as a very important basic concept that everyone uses. He refers to "labeling" as giving a "descriptive" and "memorable" name to something, and notes that some labels are "less than neutral."
For me, the key word here is "neutral." If a label doesn't have to be neutral in order for it to be considered as a label, then aren't certain nicknames also considered as labels? For example, if one were to call an overweight person, "Fatty," (I advise against this.) then that could be considered as a label because it describes that person and is a memorable name, albeit a very negative one.
He next talked about abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms. This part is pretty straight-forward. An abbreviation is the shortening of a longer term or phrase, like "U of I" for "the University of Illinois," and an initialism is an abbreviation made up of the beginning letters of the words that make up the name, like "ISR" for "Illinois Street Residences." An acronym is an initialism that can be pronounced as a word.
Finally, he makes a major point, saying that as engineers, we like to think about the physical aspects of life, like the materials we use or the products we help manufacture. However, he says that "all engineered objects are social." I thought that statement was odd because one really doesn't think about non-living things as being social. Then again, that could just be the engineering way of thinking, not representative of everyone in society.
He says that they are social because they interact with a human user. I wasn't sure if "social" is the right term for this context, so I looked it up. Actually, one of the definitions of "social" on dictionary.com is: "living or disposed to live in companionship with others or in a community, rather than in isolation." Engineered objects aren't living things, but in a personified view, they do (or eventually do) live with humans. They are like hospital patients, and engineers are like doctors. As the doctors, we try to improve the patients so that they can go home and happily live with (and be used by) their loved ones.
Okay, now for my mini-action plan:
This semester I want to be able to write clearly and comfortably with my left hand (I'm right-handed.). If I write the letters of the alphabet five times a day for four weeks, I should be comfortable enough to start using my left hand for general use. If I continue to use my left hand to take notes at lectures, I should be ambidextrous at the end of October.
I also want to train my hearing so that I can hear and understand two people talking at the same time. I have a program that's designed for that purpose; it takes the recordings of two people saying two different words, and plays both recordings at the same time. After I hear the recordings, I need to input into the system what two words I think the voices said. If I use the program at least once a day everyday for the next month, I should reach my goal by the end of September.
Finally, I want to be able to play several challenging songs on the piano blindfolded. I already have them memorized, so I just need to get a feel for the piano without the use of sight. If I start off by taking hands seperately while practicing blindfolded or with my eyes shut for the first three days of practice, I should be able to attempt playing the pieces blindfolded with both hands. If I practice at least one hour a day every other day after that for the next three weeks, I should have them all ready for blindfolded performance by September 18.
