Few random things, completely unrelated...

[conuly]

Anybody heard of this book? The comic artist keeps reccommending books I'd already read (and liked), but this one is new to me. Should I devote part of my weekend to it?

From the Times:

In an effort to motivate our 7½-year-old grandson, Nathan, to call us, I decided on a monetary incentive: $1 for calling me in my office after school, $2 for calling us at home in the evening.

Recently, as I emerged from the Columbus Circle subway, my cellphone rang. It was Nathan.

He asked me where I was.

I replied that I had just left my office on 20th street and was a couple of blocks from our 60th Street apartment.

He paused for a moment, then asked, "Is this a $1 or $2 call?"

So, let me get this straight. In an effort to get more calls from her grandson, they've turned an action of love, or at least obligation, into a mercenary affair? And they clearly don't see anything wrong with it - it was sent it in as a cute comment that his very first question was "where are you?" and the second was "well, how much is this call worth, then?"

They'd like to have calls at any cost, I guess - even a cost greater than a subway fare, because it sounds like the cost is that he won't call unless he knows how much he's getting. Great plan. This, my friends, is a good example of the trouble with rewards.

An article on the "expectation of homophobia"

One on a German hip-hop band which uses Latin....

There is a demand to adopt children with Downs Syndrome (according to this article). Well, that's good.

On a group of people who are going electricity-free for a month to show solidarity with Iraqis.

And, for good measure, we've got the link on the Girl too Beautiful for Anti-Psychotics.

Comments

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

hahaha. i love my husband bunches, but i damn sure ain't going a month with no hot baths and Cbale tv, to show any type of solidarity. screw that. :)

I will however, eat af much Afghani food as i can get my fingers on.

[conuly]

It's not about solidarity to the soldiers, as far as I can tell, but to the civilians. Just so you know.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

yes i figured that. but they are doing it for people they "care" about right??

i just don't care that much...

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

i *am* careful around what i say around you. and throwing bubble is my eyes was an accident...right. It was on purpose, but you weren't thinking straight maybe. :) nope, didn;t see zubbles... i shall look when i am done uplaoding pics of chris with his weapon before he deployed friday.

[conuly]

*grins* I know. I was half-joking. I didn't know you were careful around me... and actually, the thought makes me a bit scared, since you're one of the least-careful-when-speaking people I know. It's rather like the impression people get when I say that I really *do* have an internal censor - you wouldn't know it if you weren't me :)

[conuly]

*coughs*

Forgotten entirely what the conversation was!

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

sure...*cough*bullshit*cough*

ah, fun times at Pathmark. Good old days, huh?



Damn now i miss hometown buffet, which leads me to missing eating there every weekend, which leadds to missing Chris. *cry*

[conuly]

I'm going to sleep. *huggles* Let's talk on AIM tomorrow, 'k?

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

sure. will be here, most of the day, i *do* have to go pick some stuff up at the commisary to mail to the hubby. but i'll have my away message up, ok? night!


Happy February 14th!

[leora.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wish parents/grandparents had to run their plans past psychologists. This has been well studied and the child is responding exactly as expected. If you over reward for a behavior, you make the person like the behavior less and less likely to do it if/when the reward is removed. This counts for things the person actively wanted to do initially. For things that the person doesn't want to do, you need to use the minimum amount of encouragement that will achieve the effect. Praise is a lot more effective for manipulating emotions. Yes, rewards affect behavior. It's easy to get behavior you want while the action is monitored using rewards and punishments. But it goes well against getting the behavior through intrinsic motivation of the child.

[conuly]

Forget psychologists, what about plain common sense? What person wants to think that they have to *pay* people to call them? Didn't that *ever* cross this woman's mind? (Apparently not, so don't answer the question)

[carlanime.livejournal.com]

Great, so this person's now managed to teach a child that people will pay for affection, and that when someone needs basic human affection from you you can charge them for it.

That last link, btw, was fascinating. I'm amazed at the level of discomfort the psychiatrists felt over the patient's weight gain, even though the patient wasn't experiencing any concern or distress about this.

[conuly]

And I agree with you, of course :)

What this woman *should* have done to encourage phone calls is twofold: start calling them more often and, additionally, talk to the parents about setting up a weekly phone call to her, that's made no matter what.

Which would set up a habit that'd be hard for the kid to break later.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Oh, and it looks like it's a man, not a woman. It looks to be signed by Ray, which I think is more often a man's name. I can't get a clear bit of info on the sex from the text.

[conuly]

Edited.

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

My dad, who is a living encyclopedia of everything Science Fiction, says that it's one of the best books he's ever read. He also says that if you do read it, there are a couple more books you're going to have to read in order to have the first book resolved. I kinda want to read it now after his summary...

[conuly]

Well, I'll read it, but ask him what those books are!

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

Brightness Reef, Infinity Shore, and Heaven's Reach is the books that are directly resolving. He also says there are a few books set in the same universe, called Uplift War, Earth, and Sundiver.

*got a hold of a falling apart copy of Startide Rising* =D

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

And we will all ignore my use of is instead of are, while I go and find the burlap bag and the reeds.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that Earth was in the same universe as the Uplift books, but I've read it, Sundiver, Startide Rising, and the Uplift War. I think I read the first of the second trilogy as well, but was annoyed by the lack of a proper ending.

Yeah, but Startide Rising is good. I enjoyed it without knowing there was a sequel at all – it's got a nice coherent plot, a fun premise, and good action scenes. The Uplift War and Sundiver are good as well – I think the chronological order is Sundiver, Startide Rising, Uplift War, but they don't depend heavily on each other.

[ancarett]

I second the recommendation for "Startide Rising" -- I've yet to be disappointed in David Brin. And the whole dolphins in space aspect is very, very cool!

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

I have a story in response to the part about the boy and the phone calls -- but I decided to post it in my own journal so I could tag it, so please read it there (http://sunnydale47.livejournal.com/777937.html).

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

hahaha. i love my husband bunches, but i damn sure ain't going a month with no hot baths and Cbale tv, to show any type of solidarity. screw that. :)

I will however, eat af much Afghani food as i can get my fingers on.

[conuly]

It's not about solidarity to the soldiers, as far as I can tell, but to the civilians. Just so you know.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

yes i figured that. but they are doing it for people they "care" about right??

i just don't care that much...

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

i *am* careful around what i say around you. and throwing bubble is my eyes was an accident...right. It was on purpose, but you weren't thinking straight maybe. :) nope, didn;t see zubbles... i shall look when i am done uplaoding pics of chris with his weapon before he deployed friday.

[conuly]

*grins* I know. I was half-joking. I didn't know you were careful around me... and actually, the thought makes me a bit scared, since you're one of the least-careful-when-speaking people I know. It's rather like the impression people get when I say that I really *do* have an internal censor - you wouldn't know it if you weren't me :)

[conuly]

*coughs*

Forgotten entirely what the conversation was!

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

sure...*cough*bullshit*cough*

ah, fun times at Pathmark. Good old days, huh?



Damn now i miss hometown buffet, which leads me to missing eating there every weekend, which leadds to missing Chris. *cry*

[conuly]

I'm going to sleep. *huggles* Let's talk on AIM tomorrow, 'k?

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

sure. will be here, most of the day, i *do* have to go pick some stuff up at the commisary to mail to the hubby. but i'll have my away message up, ok? night!


Happy February 14th!

[leora.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wish parents/grandparents had to run their plans past psychologists. This has been well studied and the child is responding exactly as expected. If you over reward for a behavior, you make the person like the behavior less and less likely to do it if/when the reward is removed. This counts for things the person actively wanted to do initially. For things that the person doesn't want to do, you need to use the minimum amount of encouragement that will achieve the effect. Praise is a lot more effective for manipulating emotions. Yes, rewards affect behavior. It's easy to get behavior you want while the action is monitored using rewards and punishments. But it goes well against getting the behavior through intrinsic motivation of the child.

[conuly]

Forget psychologists, what about plain common sense? What person wants to think that they have to *pay* people to call them? Didn't that *ever* cross this woman's mind? (Apparently not, so don't answer the question)

[carlanime.livejournal.com]

Great, so this person's now managed to teach a child that people will pay for affection, and that when someone needs basic human affection from you you can charge them for it.

That last link, btw, was fascinating. I'm amazed at the level of discomfort the psychiatrists felt over the patient's weight gain, even though the patient wasn't experiencing any concern or distress about this.

[conuly]

And I agree with you, of course :)

What this woman *should* have done to encourage phone calls is twofold: start calling them more often and, additionally, talk to the parents about setting up a weekly phone call to her, that's made no matter what.

Which would set up a habit that'd be hard for the kid to break later.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Oh, and it looks like it's a man, not a woman. It looks to be signed by Ray, which I think is more often a man's name. I can't get a clear bit of info on the sex from the text.

[conuly]

Edited.

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

My dad, who is a living encyclopedia of everything Science Fiction, says that it's one of the best books he's ever read. He also says that if you do read it, there are a couple more books you're going to have to read in order to have the first book resolved. I kinda want to read it now after his summary...

[conuly]

Well, I'll read it, but ask him what those books are!

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

Brightness Reef, Infinity Shore, and Heaven's Reach is the books that are directly resolving. He also says there are a few books set in the same universe, called Uplift War, Earth, and Sundiver.

*got a hold of a falling apart copy of Startide Rising* =D

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

And we will all ignore my use of is instead of are, while I go and find the burlap bag and the reeds.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that Earth was in the same universe as the Uplift books, but I've read it, Sundiver, Startide Rising, and the Uplift War. I think I read the first of the second trilogy as well, but was annoyed by the lack of a proper ending.

Yeah, but Startide Rising is good. I enjoyed it without knowing there was a sequel at all – it's got a nice coherent plot, a fun premise, and good action scenes. The Uplift War and Sundiver are good as well – I think the chronological order is Sundiver, Startide Rising, Uplift War, but they don't depend heavily on each other.

[ancarett]

I second the recommendation for "Startide Rising" -- I've yet to be disappointed in David Brin. And the whole dolphins in space aspect is very, very cool!

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

I have a story in response to the part about the boy and the phone calls -- but I decided to post it in my own journal so I could tag it, so please read it there (http://sunnydale47.livejournal.com/777937.html).