Theodore Nordsieck

The Central Idea of Minimalism

Tue, 07 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Having been exposed a bit ot Minimalism, as well has Hoarding, it seem to me that the central idea of Minimalism is this:

Every object you own decreases the utility of every other object you own.

This is an injunction against owning things, but more an injunction against owning objects that have a net negative impact on your life.

Practical Persuasion

Sat, 31 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

It’s interesting to me that practical persuasion isn’t taken very seriously. There are dribs and drabs spread out all over the place. Books like Influence and The Culture Code have bits and pieces of the puzzle, but I haven’t seen a holistic treatment of the subject.

Some examples:

Rhyming. It used to be that poetry was a technology that empowered people’s memories. That mantle has since been taken up by rap. Regardless of who uses it well, it’s pretty clear that it’s an effective tool for convincing people of beliefs and making those beliefs memorable.
Graphic imagery. This, in part, is what poetry moved to from rhyming. Similar to rhyming it can be inconsistent; for those people upon whom it works well, graphic imagery is one of the most powerful ways to engage the imagination and cement a belief in that person’s mind.
The various logical fallacies. Too many to list individually, but they all work to one degree or another.
Value alignment. Telling people what they want to hear.

Respect for language

Thu, 29 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Rich Hickey is one of my favorite software development speakers. I think one of the things that makes him special, among a throng of other great speakers is his respect for language. Every talk he gives usually involves a number of definitions of words, and those definitions are sometimes deeply insightful (complect being my favorite).

The cycle of abuse

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

In The Psychopath Code, there is a description of what is commonly described as “the cycle of abuse”. It goes something like this:

Two people are in a relationship. The relationships is in a steady state.
The psychopath destabilizes the relationship.
At this point one of two things could happen: a. The victim fixes the relationship. This causes the victim to like the psychopath more. b. The victim refuses to fix the relationship. The psychopath then fixes the relationship in an effort to keep the relationship alive.

I’ve purposefully tried to keep out the how from this description, because the how changes. Sometimes it’s bullying and trying to get their way. Sometimes it’s just creating a problem. Sometimes it’s self harm.

The resource extraction part could be in either part of the cycle as well. It could be that the psychopath is a straight up theif. It could be that they practice self-harm and demand as part of you taking care of them to get them things they want.

The important thing to understand is that one side is actively doing the destabilizing and one side is doing all of the patching up. One side is doing the taking and the other side is doing all the giving.

The Most Important Book

Tue, 07 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I believe that the most important book in the world is The Psychopath Code . The book is written by someome without any credentials in social science, but nonetheless, I believe that what it describes is true.

The core thesis of the book is that there are two competing strategies in humans. The majority strategy is what might be called altruism. Altruistic humans try to form long lasting relationships with each other that are mutually beneficial. This typically involves a certain amount of screening with increasing trust as the relationships progresses.

The other type of relationship that people engage in is predatory. The author uses the term “psychopath”, not in the medical sense, but in the colloquial sense. Psychopaths attempt to psychologically dominate altruists in order to take their resources.

One of the key reasons the author believes that psychopaths (he lumps in a bunch of different diagnoses like bpd, narcissists, etc.) are predators rather than damaged people is how well adjusted they are. They don’t generally suffer psychological damage from their own behavior (e.g. depression). That is generally reserved for their victims.

Love Languages of Dance

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

There is a relatively well known book called [The 5 Love Languages]. It’s a relationships book about how people feel and express their love for other people. The basic idea is that people in relationships may be expressing their love for their partner in a way that the partner doesn’t like to receive.

Recently, The Dancing Grapevine posted an article called The Love Languages of Dance. The author makes an excellent analogy between relationships and dances, which sometimes feel like mini relationships anyhow.

In the same way that the love languages are: Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time and Physical Touch, the love languages of dance are: Energy, Playfulness, Deep Connection, Challenge, Expression and Creativity.

For the longest time, it’s really puzzled me why certain people like dancing with other people. There are many people who I can recognize as objectively good who I just don’t like dancing with. There are many people who are objectively good who don’t like dancing with me.

I am definitely a connection / musicality person; I’m probably most at home doing micro-fusion, but for practical reasons West Coast Swing is my main dance these days. I really like connection a lot and like to do interesting things with it and to test its limits. That also means that I don’t usually do much silly stuff, or big lifts and dips.

The love languages of dance list is probably not complete, but the underlying message is a great one: it’s worth trying to understand what the other person wants from a dance. It might even be worth it to try to give them what they want, even if it’s not directly apprealing to you.

Time

Sun, 19 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

It can be difficult to let go of things that were once great and wonderful and are now wan copies of their former glory, but sometimes old things need to die to create space for new things to grow and blossom.

RIP

Dance Instruction: a Taxonomy

Mon, 13 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Dance instruction is generally taught in one of 4 ways: series classes, workshops, private lessons and choreography.

series classes

Series classes are typically targeted towards beginners. They are typically the least expensive form of instruction on a $/hr basis, usually aimed at complete beginners. As the name implies, these classes are typically progressive in nature - one class builing on the material from the previous class. Many studios and instructors offer a set of series classes, often called something like “level 1”, “level 2”, etc. where each series builds on the previous series.

workshops

Workshops typically cost about the same or slightly more than series classes, and typically are targeted towards intermediate dancers. This is almost necessarily true due to the economics of the situation. The most common type of dancer is the complete beginner. As one goes higher in skill level, there are fewer and fewer people at that skill level. In order to get enough people in the class, instructors typically try to appeal to dancers who are just past the stage of taking series classes.

In some special circumstances (e.g. conventions) there are enough advanced dancers that it can make economic sense to do leveled workshops.

private lessons

All sorts of people take private lessons from instructors, but the impression I get is that private lessons have a reputation that they are for more advanced dancers. My experience is that people who take / teach private lessons tend to focus more on fundamentals and shy away from moves.

choreography

I haven’t done much so I can’t say much about this. There are broadly two types of choreography that people do: solo and group. Solo choreography is usually one or two people who do the choreography together. If it is a pair of people they will often substantially dance together. Often the people who create the choreography are not the same as the performers. Group choreography is usually done as part of a troupe, although it can also be done as a workshop. The instructors will often dance as part of the group.

Quotes I

Tue, 24 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

We all want to live. And in large part we make our logic according to what we like. But not having attained our aim and continuing to live is cowardice. This is a thin dangerous line. To die without gaining one’s aim IS a dog’s death and fanaticism. But there is no shame in this. This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai. If by setting one’s heart right every morning and evening, one is able to live as though his body were already dead, he gains freedom in the Way. His whole life will be without blame, and he will succeed in his calling. -Hagakure

You should hire me because I will work harder than anyone else you’re going to talk to. On Sunday evenings I process all of my email and write out my goals for the week. I show up an hour before everyone else each morning to make the coffee and get my most important task for the day done. I spend as many lunches and breakfasts as possible with prospective or current clients. And I take the local train instead of the express so I can write thank you cards or notes to clients. That’s why you should hire me. -a Marine as told by Sean Johnson

L’enfer est plein de bonnes volontés ou désirs -St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Awareness and Ability

Mon, 23 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve come to believe that there are two components to performace: awareness and ability. In general, they both have to improve before someone improves their performance.

It is possible to have a deep imbalance between the two. We call people with way more awareness than ability “critics” and people with way more ability than awareness “naturals”.

I suspect that it is difficult to improve with such an imbalance, though, and that many times people who have plateaus are actually in the process of growing their awareness faster than their ability.