New Year's Eve Dog-Blogging!

December 30, 2013.

Our 2013 Top Eleven!

The top* ten-plus-one NeuroCooking posts of 2013:

1. Bucky is not like other dogs. But he is like a motorcycle, or Gerald Ford, or Harry Potter... ("Visually similar images" from Google's "search by image")
2. Title of the Week!
3. Don’t bring a data set to a food fight!
4. Edward I. Koch, 1924-2013
5. Mid-Winter Dog-Blogging!
6. Cooking with NeuroCooking!
7. "Bucky is not like other dogs. But he is like ..." Part III. ("Visually similar images" from Google's "search by image")
8. Your functional neuroimaging update (with study questions).
9. Brains are different like bikes are different.
10. Two Views of Christmas Afternoon
11. O Lucky Man!

Bucky, from "Mid-Winter Dog-Blogging!", February 12.

Self-strangling morning glory, from "O Lucky Man!", October 17.

Bucky, from "Two Views of Christmas Afternoon," December 25.

________
*As ranked by number of pageviews.

Two Views of Christmas Afternoon.

"The matter of the dog."

In the novel Watt, by Samuel Beckett, Mr. Watt works in the home of Mr. Knott. Mr. Knott is served lunch and dinner daily, and whatever is left over from those meals is eaten every night by a dog. Mr. Watt considers, at length, how such an arrangement might have been arrived at, reviewing and rejecting various possibilities. He then presents his understanding of the current arrangement, in a single sentence (found on pages 78 through 80 of the Grove Press edition):

"Passing on then to the solution that seemed to have prevailed, Watt found it to be roughly this, that a suitable local dogowner, that is to say a needy man with a famished dog, should be sought out, and on him settled a handsome annuity of fifty pounds payable monthly, in consideration of his calling at Mr. Knott's house every evening between eight and ten, accompanied by his dog in a famished condition, and on those days on which there was food for his dog of his standing over his dog, with a stick, before witnesses, until the dog had eaten all the food until not an atom remained, and of his then taking himself and his dog off the premises without delay; and that a younger famished dog should by this man at Mr. Knott's expense be acquired and held in reserve, against the day when the first famished dog should die, and that then again another famished dog should in the same way be procured and held in readiness, against the inevitable hour when the second famished dog should pay nature's debt, and so on indefinitely, there being thus two famished dogs always available, the one to eat the food left over by Mr. Knott in the manner described until it died, and the other then for as long as it lived to do the same, and so on indefinitely; and further that a similar young local but dogless man should be sought out, against the day when the first local man should die, to take over and exploit, in the same way and on the same terms, the two surviving famished dogs thus left without a master, and without a home; and that then again another young local dogless man should in the same way be secured, against the dread hour of the second local man's dissolution, and so on indefinitely, there being thus two famished dogs and two needy local men for ever available, the first needy local man to own and exploit the two famished dogs in the manner described as long as he lived, and the other then, as long as he drew breath, to do the same, and so on indefinitely; and that lest, as might very well happen, one of the two famished dogs, or both the famished dogs, should fail to survive their master, and follow him at once to the grave, a third, a fourth, a fifth and even a sixth famished dog should be acquired and suitably maintained at Mr. Knott's expense in some convenient place in a famished condition, or that better still there should be at Mr. Knott's expense on some favorable site established a kennel or colony of famished dogs from which at any time a well-bred well-trained famished dog could be withdrawn and set to work, in the manner described; and that on the off chance of the second poor young local man's passing over, into the beyond, at the same time as the first poor local man, or even before, and stranger things are of hourly occurrence, a third, a fourth, a fifth and even a sixth poor young local dogless man or even woman should be sought out and by fair words and occasional gifts of money and old clothes as far as possible be secured to Mr. Knott's service eventually in the manner described, or better still that a suitable large needy local family of say the two parents and from ten to fifteen children and grandchildren passionately attached to their birth-place should be sought out, and by a handsome small initial lump sum to be paid down and by a liberal annual pension of fifty pounds to be paid monthly and by occasional seasonable gifts of loose change and tight clothes and by untiring well-timed affectionate words of advice and encouragement and consolation, attached firmly tor good and all in block, their children and their children's children, to Mr. Knott's service, in all matters touching this matter of the dog required to eat the food that Mr. Knott left, and exclusively in these, and that to their care the kennel or colony of famished dogs set up by Mr. Knott in order that there should never be wanting a famished dog to eat his food on those days that he did not eat it himself should be once and for all handed over, for the matter of the kennel was one that touched the matter of the dog."

(It's no wonder that camera sales are falling.)

On a recent visit to south Florida, I took some iPhone snapshots of waterbirds (and their reflections):

White Ibis.

Limpkin.

Tricolored Heron.

(Click any image for full-screen.)

Perhaps something.

"To be together again, after so long, who love the sunny wind, the windy sun, in the sun, in the wind, that is perhaps something, perhaps something."

-From Watt by Samuel Beckett (p. 133 of the Grove Press edition).

"... greyen, redden, greyen, redden…"

"Watt saw, in the grate, of the range, the ashes grey. But they turned pale red, when he covered the lamp, with his hat. The range was almost out, but not quite. A handful of dry chips and the flames would spring merry in appearance, up the chimney, with an organ note. So Watt busied himself a little while, covering the lamp, less and less, more and more, with his hat, watching the ashes greyen, redden, greyen, redden, in the grate, of the range."

-From Watt by Samuel Beckett (p. 30 of the Grove Press edition).

On-The-Move Dog-Blogging! (or, 77 milliseconds in the park)

(Two days ago, in Rock Creek Hills Park.)

Monochrome Dog-Blogging!

(click image for full-screen)

Chunking & Curating

Whether you read my articles and posts, attend a program I deliver, or engage in executive coaching with me, I have the same goal: that you will have a moment (if not moments) of epiphany as well as validation. In other words, I am working toward your having both an Aha! of great and practical insight, and a self congratulatory, Yup, I am so right in my approach.

Seventeen years ago, I was a Fellow in Leadership NewJersey. It required a monthly overnight commitment, and whenever I went away, my friend Betty would say, “Oh, you’re going to camp for the gifted and talented.” Betty helped me to truly appreciate my participation in the program, and to take the time to reflect on the lessons I was fortunate enough to learn each month. Her words continue to resonate, and I now apply that respect to all of my clients:

If you are investing time with me, I want you to be rewarded.

If you are doing something right, I want you to recognize that, and do more of it.

Last week, for the first time in a long time, I got to be a camper again instead of a counselor. Coming off a year of non-stop work, I attended the Neuroleadership Summit in Washington, DC. Here are some select notes of what I learned:

Josh Davis, Term Assistant Professor of Psychology, Barnard College, Columbia University presented the AGES model for learning, saying that Attention, Generation, Emotion, and Spacing “must all be high for our brain to encode information optimally.” Davis said, “We grow our memories. We don’t just put them in a file box. There are structural changes that have to occur. That is why spacing helps in learning.” He also noted that, “a little bit of emotion is good for learning. It can be good or bad. There are, however, more benefits to positive emotion: easier collaboration, more creativity, better focus.”

Things must be learned in chunks. This was validating, as it is the adult learning method we use at Thaler Pekar & Partners: introduce the concept, enable participants to explore and work with the concept, facilitate reflection, then move on to a new concept.  As a result of Davis’ session, we will now be asking ourselves, How can we raise attention, generation and emotion in each chunk?

Tony Bingham, CEO of the American Society for Training andDevelopment (ASTD), said that “The majority of learning that occurs within an organization is through social tools, and they are not being dealt with by training leaders! The majority of learning is informal, yet not being optimized.” Bingham said it is time for trainers to “move from Sage on a Stage to more of a curator and facilitator. The analogy that hits home is museum curator: a curator takes what is hidden in the basement and brings it out for all to appreciate. This is what brings about curatorial success.”

Curator was an interesting way to think about the work we do helping smart leaders and organizations find and share stories. We facilitate the uncovering of memories and experiences and we are thoughtful about which ones are shared and in what ways. There are high ethical considerations and standards to our work, and we think deeply about both the person sharing the story and the people who will be reading/watching/listening to the story. Respect for both is paramount.

In summary, I offer this Edmund Burke quote that I saw at the conference: “To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.”