Scott GK MacLeod's Blog, page 52

buttercup (R. californicus): What I've been reading - 8/2/20 week - Coronavirus - Black Lives Matter

What I've been reading this week through Sunday, 8/2/20


and also much from Twitter, and see, for example (esp. re-Tweets):


https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/
https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/
https://twitter.com/sgkmacleod/
https://twitter.com/WUaSPress/
https://twitter.com/HarbinBook/
https://twitter.com/TheOpenBand/





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Coronavirus Su 8/2/20 Black Lives Matter 
Massachusetts reports 11 new deaths, 353 new cases due to COVID-19Confirmed deaths and new cases due to the coronavirus in Massachusetts grew Sunday, the state reported.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/02/metro/mass-reports-11-new-deaths-353-new-cases-due-covid-19-sunday/


Can state’s disease-tracking system catch simmering coronavirus clusters?With cases rising again in some states and countries that had success in controlling the virus, local health leaders say it is critical Massachusetts improve its disease-tracking methods before the fall, when more businesses reopen and more people head back to work and school.https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/02/nation/can-states-disease-tracking-system-catch-simmering-coronavirus-clusters/



Colleges reverse course on reopening as pandemic continues
By Deirdre Fernandes Globe Staff,Updated August 2, 2020, 5:22 p.m.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/02/metro/pandemic-continues-some-colleges-reverse-course-reopening/



Here’s what coronavirus testing on college campuses in Massachusetts might look like this fall
By Kay Lazar and Laura Krantz Globe Staff,Updated July 16, 2020, 3:19 a.m.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/15/metro/corona-virus-testing-key-colleges-reopening/


A college-by-college look at what some schools in Mass. are planning for the fall
By Jaclyn Reiss, Deirdre Fernandes and Christina Prignano Globe Staff,Updated July 6, 2020, 11:02 a.m.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/22/metro/college-by-college-look-what-some-schools-mass-are-planning-fall/



SpaceX capsule and NASA crew make 1st splashdown in 45 years
By MARCIA DUNN The Associated Press,Updated August 2, 2020
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/02/nation/spacex-is-carrying-astronauts-nasas-first-splashdown-45-years/



Downtown’s surreal, empty scenes convey a haunting omen
By Tim Logan Globe Staff,Updated August 2, 2020
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/02/business/downtowns-surreal-scenes-pandemic-summer/



POLITICS ABROAD
CORONA CRISIS US ELECTIONS 2020 DONALD TRUMP EUROPEAN UNION
BIDEN IS LOOKING FOR A WIFE
Do we see the first American female president here?
https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/plus212655987/US-Wahl-Trump-Rivale-Joe-Biden-sucht-Vizepraesidentin.html



-- - Scott MacLeod - Founder, President & Professor
- World University and School- http://worlduniversityandschool.org 
- 415 480 4577- http://scottmacleod.com 
- CC World University and School - like CC Wikipedia with best STEM-centric CC OpenCourseWare - incorporated as a nonprofit university and school in California, and is a U.S. 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt educational organization. 






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Coronavirus Sa 8/1/20 Black Lives Matter
Twenty-five books to understand Switzerland RANKING SUBSCRIBER
Our literary journalists have concocted a list of 25 books to (re) discover in order to explore and attempt to capture this confederation of twenty-six cantons and half-cantons through literature. From “Heidi” by Johanna Spyri to “La Suisse de travers” by Daniel de Roulet, including Max Frisch and his “Guillaume Tell pour les écoles”
https://www.letemps.ch/culture/vingtcinq-livres-comprendre-suisse


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-- - Scott MacLeod - Founder, President & Professor
- World University and School- http://worlduniversityandschool.org 
- 415 480 4577- http://scottmacleod.com 
- CC World University and School - like CC Wikipedia with best STEM-centric CC OpenCourseWare - incorporated as a nonprofit university and school in California, and is a U.S. 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt educational organization. 



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Coronavirus W 7/29/20 Black Lives Matter


THE MEANINGS OF MASKS

A collective cry for justice | Anthropologist Graham Jones

Today's cloth masks to minimize virus transmission reflect traditions of masks used in sacred rituals.MIT Prof of Anthro Graham Jones (and Reed College alumnus too)https://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2020-pandemic-masks-anthropology-graham-jones
Graham Jones, associate professor of anthropology, reflects on the broader significance of masks. http://mitsha.re/zoDF30qZ1FR
@MIT_SHASS

https://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2020-pandemic-masks-anthropology-graham-jones
https://twitter.com/MIT/status/1284141493536591879?s=20


BPS nurses, teachers, bus drivers rally at City Hall against reopening schools without proper safety measures
Boston school nurses, teachers, and bus drivers demonstrated Wednesday at City Hall against reopening schools in the fall, saying conditions amid the pandemic would be too dangerous without massive investments in protective gear, new staff, rapid coronavirus testing, and buildings’ air ventilation systems.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/29/metro/bps-nurses-teachers-bus-drivers-rally-city-hall-against-reopening-schools-without-proper-safety-measures/



A new law allows Mass. residents to vote by mail. Here’s how that’s already changing things
A new law allowing every registered Massachusetts voter to cast an absentee ballot by mail promises to change not only how residents pick their preferred candidates, but when, upending the long-held political calendar that voters and campaigns have relied on for decades.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/29/metro/its-election-month-not-election-day-dawn-mail-in-voting-remixes-political-calendar/



ECONOMY BEFORE THE US CONGRESS
"Does Google want to lock up Muslims?" - The bizarre hearing of the tech bosses
For the first time, the heads of Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon testify together before the US Congress. The hearing, five hours and 29 minutes long, goes to the show - and shows that America has lost love for its tech companies.
Stefan Beutelsbacher
https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article212506887/Apple-Amazon-Google-Facebook-vor-US-Kongress-Die-bizarre-Anhoerung.html


Anders Tegnell.Photo: Magnus Andersson / TT
Tegnell: Workplaces can change forever
 The state epidemiologist in an interview with DN about the telework that is here to stay.

https://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/tegnell-har-ar-utmaningarna-sverige-star-infor-i-host/



-- - Scott MacLeod - Founder, President & Professor
- World University and School- http://worlduniversityandschool.org 
- 415 480 4577- http://scottmacleod.com 
- CC World University and School - like CC Wikipedia with best STEM-centric CC OpenCourseWare - incorporated as a nonprofit university and school in California, and is a U.S. 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt educational organization. 





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Coronavirus Tu 7/28/20 Black Lives Matter ...

Republicans, Democrats Move Even Further Apart in Coronavirus Concerns
Growing share of Republicans say ‘the worst is behind us’
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/06/25/republicans-democrats-move-even-further-apart-in-coronavirus-concerns/


Many Black and Asian Americans Say They Have Experienced Discrimination Amid the COVID-19 Outbreak
About four-in-ten U.S. adults say it has become more common for people to express racist views toward Asians since the pandemic began
https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2020/07/01/many-black-and-asian-americans-say-they-have-experienced-discrimination-amid-the-covid-19-outbreak/


Three Months In, Many Americans See Exaggeration, Conspiracy Theories and Partisanship in COVID-19 News
64% of U.S. adults say CDC mostly gets the facts about the outbreak right; 30% say the same about Trump and his administration
https://www.journalism.org/2020/06/29/three-months-in-many-americans-see-exaggeration-conspiracy-theories-and-partisanship-in-covid-19-news/



A look at the Americans who believe there is some truth to the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was planned
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/07/24/a-look-at-the-americans-who-believe-there-is-some-truth-to-the-conspiracy-theory-that-covid-19-was-planned/





-- - Scott MacLeod - Founder, President & Professor
- World University and School- http://worlduniversityandschool.org 
- 415 480 4577- http://scottmacleod.com 
- CC World University and School - like CC Wikipedia with best STEM-centric CC OpenCourseWare - incorporated as a nonprofit university and school in California, and is a U.S. 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt educational organization. 




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Coronavirus M 7/27/20 Black Lives Matter ...


For many Massachusetts districts, school year might start 2 weeks late
Massachusetts education officials and the state’s three largest teachers unions have reached a tentative deal that calls for delaying the reopening of school this fall by up two weeks so districts can have more time to prepare — and students would not have to make up the lost learning time, union officials confirmed on Monday.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/27/metro/many-massachusetts-districts-school-year-might-start-2-weeks-late/

Combat zone downtown
In several American cities, violence escalated over the weekend, and one person died. President Donald Trump uses the chaos to distract from his recent failures - and could succeed.
Daniel Friedrich Sturm
https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article212360665/Gewalt-bei-US-Protesten-Kampfzone-Innenstadt.html
"This is one of the main reasons why the problems in the US are so big"
Psychology professor Steven Taylor detailed the course of the corona crisis - two weeks before it broke out. He sees a new "existential drama" in the relationship between people. And he finds a cardinal error in crisis management.
Elke Bodderas
https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/plus212088681/Corona-In-Europa-und-den-USA-waren-widerspruechliche-Botschaften-der-groesste-Fehler.html?source=k240_control.sondergruppe-lage-1.1.212088681
WORLD: Why were we so poorly prepared?


Steven Taylor: Some countries were very well prepared. Taiwan for example, but also South Korea. In Europe and the United States, conflicting messages were the biggest mistake in the beginning. When people are told that ...
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2020/06/conversation-taylor


Bridgette Craighead chants during a Black Lives Matter protest she organized in Hardy, Va. (Heather Rousseau for The Post)
When Black Lives Matter came to white, rural America
As protests spread last month, three women set out to start a Black Lives Matter chapter, and movement, in Franklin County, Va., which is 90 percent white.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/27/when-black-lives-matter-came-white-rural-america/


Here are the educations
the highest grade requirements
Have you come in? Here are all the numbers for this year's enrollment in higher education
Record-breaking recording - and the young people have listened to the recommendations
https://www.berlingske.dk/samfund/her-er-uddannelserne-med-de-hoejeste-karakterkrav




-- - Scott MacLeod - Founder, President & Professor
- World University and School- http://worlduniversityandschool.org 
- 415 480 4577- http://scottmacleod.com 
- CC World University and School - like CC Wikipedia with best STEM-centric CC OpenCourseWare - incorporated as a nonprofit university and school in California, and is a U.S. 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt educational organization. 








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buttercup (R. californicus): What I've been reading - 8/2/20 week - Coronavirus - Black Lives Matter
https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/08/buttercup-r-californicus-what-ive-been.html

buttercup (R. bullatus): What I've been reading - 7/26/20 week - Coronavirus + BlackLivesMatter + Black Books Matter
https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/buttercup-r-bullatus-what-ive-been.html


buttercup (R. bulbosus): What I've been reading - 7/19/20 week - Coronavirus + BlackLivesMatter + Black Books Matterhttps://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/buttercup-r-bulbosus-what-ive-been.html

buttercup (R. austro-oreganus): What I've been reading - 7/12/20 week - Coronavirus + BlackLivesMatter + Black Books Matterhttps://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/buttercup-r-austro-oreganus-what-ive.html
buttercup (R. auricomus): What I've been reading - 7/5/20 week - Coronavirus + BlackLivesMatter + Black Books Matterhttps://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/buttercup-r-auricomus-what-ive-been.html

buttercup (R. asiaticus): What I've been reading - 6/28/20 week - Coronavirus + BlackLivesMatter + Black Books Matterhttps://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/buttercup-r-asiaticus-what-ive-been.html
buttercup (R. arvensis): What I've been reading - 6/21/20 week - Coronavirus + BlackLivesMatter + Black Books Matterhttps://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/buttercup-r-arvensis-what-ive-been.html

buttercup (R. aquatilis): What I've been reading - 6/14/20 week - Coronavirus + BlackLivesMatterhttps://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/buttercup-r-aquatilis-what-ive-been.html
buttercup (R. amplexicaulis): What I've been reading - 6/7/20 week - + George Floyd + BlackLivesFirsthttps://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/buttercup-r-amplexicaulis-what-ive-been.html
buttercup (R. alismifolius): What I've been reading - 5/31/20 week - Coronavirushttps://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/buttercup-r-alismifolius-what-ive-been.html
buttercup (R. aestivalis): What I've been reading - 5/24/20 week - Coronavirushttps://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/buttercup-r-aestivalis-what-ive-been.html
buttercup (R. acris): What I've been reading - 5/17/20 week - Coronavirushttps://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/buttercup-r-acris-what-ive-been-reading.html
buttercup (R. acraeus): What I've been reading - 5/10/20 week - Coronavirushttps://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/buttercup-r-acraeus-what-ive-been.html

buttercup (R. aconitifolius): What I've been reading - 5/3/20 week - Coronavirushttps://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/buttercup-r-aconitifolius-what-ive-been.html
buttercup (R. acaulis): What I've been reading 4/26/20 week - Coronavirushttps://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/buttercup-ranunculus-acaulis-what-ive.html

buttercup (R. abortivus): What I've been reading - 4/19/20 week - Coronavirushttps://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/buttercup-ranunculus-abortivus-what-ive.html
buttercup (R. abnormis): What I've been reading - 4/12/20 week - Coronavirushttps://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/buttercup-ranunculus-abnormis-what-ive.html




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re


GREG MANKIW'S BLOGRandom Observations for Students of EconomicsSUNDAY, JUNE 07, 2020What I've been watchingOver the past week, I have watched the six-part HBO miniseries  The Plot Against America , which came out in March. It is based on the 2004 Philip Roth novel of the same title and tells an alternative history in which FDR is defeated in 1940 by the fascist-sympathizing Charles Lindbergh through the eyes of a Jewish family living in Newark, NJ. Compelling story, well acted. It is the best piece of television I have seen in years.
http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2020/06/what-ive-been-watching.html









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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranunculus_californicus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ranunculus_species
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_genera_of_flowering_plants

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Erythronium taylorii: This "Yoga Concert: Metamorphosis with Yoga Lene" is pretty great! Is this a Swedish Yoga meditation? * * Angela & Victor transform Yoga remarkably (and music is always transforming itself ... with no rock & roll Yoga here from Gothen

Dear Angela & Victor (Yoginis) ~ 
Yoga Concert: Metamorphosis - Yoga Lene in Sweden with musicians from Gothenburg Symphony



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Angela, Victor, Patricia, Andrew, Satya, Linda, Yogina Teachers, All,

MMmmm. .. appreciating the creativity here in teaching Yoga meditation too, with music -and on the Web. Performativity again in Yoga teaching too (or meditation indirectly re piper Stuart Liddell, A&V, All?), and while Yoga Lene here is doing something remarkable, when she first starts teaching Yoga, her face seems a little tensed, pained or similar? (Swedish unique thinking, content exceptionalism too -  with Yoga also? - and all in English! ~Victor! :) ... all in a time of global quarantining!

Yoga Concert: Metamorphosis - Yoga Lene in Sweden with musicians from Gothenburg Symphony
'Welcome to a yoga pass with live music played by musicians from Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Lene Skomedal, Yoga Lene.'

https://www.gso.se/en/gsoplay/video/yogaconcert/

Yoga Lene seems to be teaching about and to classical western music too! Where is the raga here? :)

Appreciating the global metaphors she engages Swedish-wise in Yoga:)

Warm regards, Scotty




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Scott MacLeod <yogamacflower@gmail.com>8:42 AM (56 minutes ago)
to Scott, Jane, Ann, Alden, Ed, TymMa, Ann, Alden, Ed, Tym,

What do you think of this classical music (with Yoga!), Ma - from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Sweden?
MMmmm. .. appreciating the creativity here in teaching Yoga meditation, with music -and on the Web. Performativity again in Yoga teaching too (or meditation indirectly re piper Stuart Liddell, Angela & Victor, All?), and while Yoga Lene here is doing something remarkable, when she first starts teaching Yoga, her face seems a little tensed, pained or similar? (Swedish unique thinking, content exceptionalism too -  with Yoga also? - and all in English! ~ re Yogi Victor van Kooten! :) ... all in a time of global quarantine! 
Yoga Concert: Metamorphosis - Yoga Lene in Sweden with musicians from Gothenburg Symphony'Welcome to a yoga pass with live music played by musicians from Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Lene Skomedal, Yoga Lene.'https://www.gso.se/en/gsoplay/video/yogaconcert/
Yoga Concert Metamorphosis with Yoga LeneYoga Concert Metamorphosis with Yoga LeneYoga Concert Metamorphosis with Yoga Lene from Göteborgs Symfoniker on Vimeo.https://vimeo.com/412352275

Yoga Lene seems to be teaching about and to classical western music too! Where is the raga here? :)
Appreciating the global metaphors she engages Swedish-wise in Yoga:)
Appreciating especially how she brings this music together with Yoga as well! Are Yoga or music transformed themselves? I think Angela & Victor transform Yoga remarkably (and music is always transforming itself ... with no rock & roll Yoga here from Gothenburg for example! :)) But this "Yoga Concert: Metamorphosis with Yoga Lene" is pretty great! Is this a Swedish Yoga meditation? Seems to be heading that way, cosmopolitan-wise :) 
Warm regards, Scotty
And here's the amazing bagpiper Stuart Liddell in a kind of meditation at the Glen Fiddich too - https://vimeo.com/371359345 (https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/lupinus-stiversii-mit-professors-wyn.html) - and did he learn this Scottish meditation in part in perfecting his drones even? :)




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READ THE INTERVIEW IN OPUS MAGAZINE

LENE SKOMEDAL
Founder

MUSICIAN AND YOGA TEACHER

I live in Gothenburg and work mainly as a freelancing horn player, but I am also a yoga instructor. I combine my two passions, music and yoga ...

https://www.yogalene.com/about



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Nontheist Friends / Quakers ~


Thanks, Friends in Britain, Nontheist Friends' Network, NtFs, Nontheist Friends, AQs, atheist Quakers, Trevor, All,

Here it is newly on Youtube:
(https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/learn/about/swarthmore-lecture/)
2020 Swarthmore Lecture, Openings to the Infinite Ocean: A Friendly Offering of Hope Tom Shakespearehttps://youtu.be/N-OJoq0jNAk
Friendly regards, Scott- http://www.quakerquaker.org/profile/ScottMacLeod - - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Nontheist_Friends_(atheist_Quakers%3F) - - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/nontheist%20Friend - 



-- - Scott MacLeod - Founder & President  
- World University and School- http://worlduniversityandschool.org 
- 415 480 4577- http://scottmacleod.com 

- CC World University and School - like CC Wikipedia with best STEM-centric CC OpenCourseWare - incorporated as a nonprofit university and school in California, and is a U.S. 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt educational organization. 


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new hippie shirt ... wore it on a walk in Canyon



pretty afternoon too
Scott MacLeod <sgkmacleod@gmail.com>11:03 AM (2 minutes ago)
to JanieHi Ma, 
Not yet afternoon here ... is it pretty by you? How are you?
Got a beautiful hippie psychedelic shirt at Walmart Friday evening with lots of pinks, yellows, blues and oranges, - made in Vietnam - and which is XXL ... wasn't sure even if, or when, I'd wear it. And then low and behold, when I went for a walk yesterday evening, I put it on over a T-shirt, not yet washed ... and it fit well, and was kinda nice to boot. (No concerns either about sociality - and I'm somehow interested in, engaged with this aesthetic, taste-wise too, - even as my hair is getting a little longer in this quarantine time). I think the price listed at the store was something like $13.97, but the automatic check out register at WM sold it to me for $7 - what a good deal. Still unsure at the store when and how I'd wear it (and how I'd wash it too, since it was made in another country, and didn't have washing instructions - but I bought it also since it might help people in Vietnam too financially). And re norms, too, I was wondering if I'd wear it, but felt free to do so - socioculturally - in my solitary walk, in solitary Canyon (which has its 'plusses') to wear this shirt yesterday, and liked it. ... nice walk too on the far side of the Monroes overlooking Moraga! (Too much thinking here, Ma? :)
It's been a piping morning here (listening-wise), with lots of Stuart Liddell, and as I get further along learning about my new smartphone - with much better voice-integration than previous phone - I spoke to Google Assistant (which seemed to pop up at a good time) last night to set my alarm for 7:30 this morning - and re being productive Google Assistant said too. ... And so I didn't turn off the alarm in the other room this morning by voice, but I may begin using Google Assistant and this tinkling alarm to set playing times for bagpiping throughout the course of the day ... Now how could I also make this process of practicing more social, I wonder? :) 
Love, Scott








-- - Scott MacLeod- http://scottmacleod.com 


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Hi Ma,

Not yet afternoon here ... is it pretty by you? How are you?

Got a beautiful hippie psychedelic shirt at Walmart Friday evening with lots of pinks, yellows, blues and oranges, - made in Vietnam - and which is XXL ... wasn't sure even if, or when, I'd wear it. And then low and behold, when I went for a walk yesterday evening, I put it on over a T-shirt, not yet washed ... and it fit well, and was kinda nice to boot. (No concerns either about sociality - and I'm somehow interested in, engaged with this aesthetic, taste-wise too, - even as my hair is getting a little longer in this quarantine time). I think the price listed at the store was something like $13.97, but the automatic check out register at WM sold it to me for $7 - what a good deal. Still unsure at the store when and how I'd wear it (and how I'd wash it too, since it was made in another country, and didn't have washing instructions - but I bought it also since it might help people in Vietnam too financially). And re norms, too, I was wondering if I'd wear it, but felt free to do so - socioculturally - in my solitary walk, in solitary Canyon (which has its 'plusses') to wear this shirt yesterday, and liked it. ... nice walk too on the far side of the Monroes overlooking Moraga! (Too much thinking here, Ma? :)

It's been a piping morning here (listening-wise), with lots of Stuart Liddell, and as I get further along learning about my new smartphone - with much better voice-integration than previous phone - I spoke to Google Assistant (which seemed to pop up at a good time) last night to set my alarm for 7:30 this morning - and re being productive Google Assistant said too. ... And so I didn't turn off the alarm in the other room this morning by voice, but I may begin using Google Assistant and this tinkling alarm to set playing times for bagpiping throughout the course of the day ... Now how could I also make this process of practicing more social, I wonder? :)

Love, Scott







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Good lesson, Taylor!
Re The Londonderry Horn Pipe
check out The Sailor's Hornpipe Scottish Highland Dancing
https://youtu.be/Ff0X8blt3Ks
for a well played hornpipe example - and for the great dancing. 
Congratulations on your 3rd wedding anniversary. It sounds like a great trip too!
More about jig and hornpipe sheet music, and writing out A & D SSP chanter music on sheet music for learning / making connections muscially in a different way, soon-ish. 


Cheers, 
Scott






-- - Scott MacLeod- http://scottmacleod.com 



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Thanks, Taylor, 

Musing-wise, not only is Stuart LIddell in a kind of meditation - Stuart Liddell performs March, Strathspey and Reel at the Glenfiddich Piping Championship 2019 from The National Piping Centre on Vimeo.https://vimeo.com/371359345 - with meditative mind, when he pipes - and a Scottish meditation in a sense - he's also an awesome, formidable competitor, and warrior too (in a Scottish sense as well) ... but now wiedling his bagpipes, and not the broadsword for example - and as film-maker and sage as well, and newly via the internet :) Re-visit "Ascension of Inverary ..."  in some of these regards too :)
Musical regards, Scott

-- - Scott MacLeod- http://scottmacleod.com 


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Taylor, 
Would you like to explore "The Mason's Apron," as hornpipe, parts 1&2, for next week (instead of the tunes I sent you)? Since it's next in my version of the CoP Blue Tutor - as a hornpipe esp - it could be great for building steadily, and in a pedagogically focused way, Scottish thinking-wise too. 
As an additional exploration creativity-wise, consider exploring playing it from this reel setting - "The Mason's Apron" reel:http://www.celticscores.com/sheet-music/276_The_Mason’s_Apron- and regarding our exploring the 4 different main dance forms of piping music besides marches ... What is the difference between a hornpipe and a reel per this?

And for inspiration (and further explorations), here Stuart plays it as a jig too:The Mason's Apron at about 5:25
Stuart Liddell - Lunchtime Recital 2010: 5 of 8https://youtu.be/HWWgJk2MyhUSo this, and pts 3 & 4 of the Scots' Guards' tunes we're playing?
Regards, Scott


-- - Scott MacLeod- http://scottmacleod.com 

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Another tremendous version of Mason's Apron: 

Stuart Liddell (solo) - The Blue Cloud, Mason's Apron
https://youtu.be/nsWSrDX7zrs


Scott
-- - Scott MacLeod- http://scottmacleod.com 



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New GHB dance-form alert - waltzes! 

Stuart Liddell - Lunchtime Recital 2010: 8 of 8
https://youtu.be/MBpxL6n0ae4

At about 2:08, Stuart begins playing waltzes! (and this is all an old-favorites' set of his!) ... and he begins with a jig - a great jig-template-for-the-mind - Troy's Wedding, and then PLAYS this as a Waltz ... it's cool ... and relevant to what we'll explore on thursday, Can you ;play 'The Mason's Apron" as a Jig and a Hornpipe .. possibly using the 'reel' setting of sheet music? 


Musical cheers, Scott






-- - Scott MacLeod- http://scottmacleod.com 



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Scott MacLeod10:04 AM (0 minutes ago)
to TaylorTAYLOR,

I think one of the Hornpipe aspects regarding a kind of "SLIPPAGE" in "The Mason's Apron" in the CoP Blue Tutor Vol 3 version is the run of three notes at the end of bar 4 (I think) and elsewhere .. and holding the last note longer ... slipping on a moving ship too - and re Sailor's Hornpipe? :))

Scott


The Sailor's Hornpipe Scottish Highland Dancing

https://youtu.be/Ff0X8blt3Ks
Lots of 'slippage' here too ... Have highland dancers and pipers built in the experience of living - and dancing even - on a moving ship, which has probably been a very commonly shared experience for Celtic Knot folks over the past 3 centuries - into Hornpipes? :)





-- - Scott MacLeod- http://scottmacleod.com 

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Scott MacLeod11:42 AM (0 minutes ago)
to TaylorTaylor, 

Stuart Liddell again with 2 other Glen Fiddich winners, up in Mt. Vernon Washington (in a Celtic center hall BUILT for piping apparently!)Valley of the Deer Revue: The Best of Highland Piping
https://youtu.be/xVAVE5i_10Q

Troy's Wedding (jig) at the close beginning after 1:44:55
While this is a favorite tune of Stuart's (I don't gravitate toward it too actively personally ... but I do to Stuart's piping ... do you like Troy's Wedding as tune 'lyrically' ?:)
Scottish Gaelic lesson herein too (and mention of Washington State Alcohol and Cannabis Board re questions of the law too!:)


Musical cheers, 
Scott

-- - Scott MacLeod- http://scottmacleod.com 




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By the way, two lessons ago, I think my tenor drone, when playing the D chanter, was out of tune :) Did you hear this? - and re listening to tuning and taking time, too, to tune - even in live piping situations ...

Cheers,
Scott

Just getting into the canny, too, innovative, and risk-taking (Scots' wise), Fred Morrison here -

https://youtu.be/eQAl7kQpikY (Fred Morrison - Live from The Celtic Center) ... and thanks too to Skye Richendrfer's intro to this and "The Valley of the Deer" performance introducing Stuart Liddell and the other 2 Glen Fiddich winners ...


--
- Scott MacLeod
- http://scottmacleod.com/piping.htm



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Scott MacLeod12:14 PM (0 minutes ago)
to Taylorre bagpiper Fred Morrison 
Fred's a bit of a Scottish hippy, creative and smart - https://fandalism.com/skyer - and he speaks with a lot of dialect very interestingly! He seems very 'old' and very Scottish (or 'Celtic Knottish,' so maybe Irish too, I'm hearing, but somehow 'old' as I see this, he's seen a lot, and it comes through in his piping gmusic) - from Bishopton - https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bishopton,+UK/@55.9077957,-4.781642,10z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x48884c3491aa6ae5:0xde47d15905862ab9!8m2!3d55.908622!4d-4.50452 - so basically from the 'greater' Glasgow area :)

Interesting to read this too - What gear do you use?
Smallpipes in A by Gordon Mooney; Smallpipes in D by EJ Jones and Gordon Mooney; Reelpipes by Fred Morrison/McCallum; MacDougall of Aberfeldy Great Highland Pipe; Low D Whistle by Goldie. Love Hornpipes - many favs.
- https://fandalism.com/skyer -

and his favorite album at bottom :)
Scott- https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/08/erythronium-taylorii-this-yoga-concert.html -

PSAnd wow, someone added to Bishopton, Scotland, a video of a dog chasing a ball into the water - to Google Street View https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bishopton,+UK/@55.9156351,-4.465421,270549a,13.1y/data=!3m8!1e5!3m6!1sAF1QipNuIofV2HpE4NxJngvsDt1jPI7La2jAJ8XO3Lue!2e10!3e10!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNuIofV2HpE4NxJngvsDt1jPI7La2jAJ8XO3Lue%3Dw203-h114-k-no!7i1280!8i720!4m5!3m4!1s0x48884c3491aa6ae5:0xde47d15905862ab9!8m2!3d55.908622!4d-4.50452 - (which could be a great precursor to creating an actual-virtual realistic virtual Harbin Hot Springs for ethno-wiki-virtual-world-graphy - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/ethno-wiki-virtual-world-graphy :))


-- - Scott MacLeod- http://scottmacleod.com 


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Taylor, 
Back to Stuart Liddell, here too as a kind of 'film-maker sage' (at least represented this way, in part) ... so somehow 'wise' ... I don't think I've sent this your way yet:

Piping The Way - Stuart Liddell West Highland Way Bagpipe Film
https://youtu.be/p1GR8qQulx4

Have you seen this? What do you think and re Stuart's "Ascension of Inverarary ... " ? Appreciating Stuart's seeing the notes he's playing in his mind first (and differently than all other greatest pipers), re too Yo Yo Ma - http://scottmacleod.com/GuidelinesPracticingMusicalInstrument.htm :)
Cheers, Scott

-- - Scott MacLeod- http://scottmacleod.com 





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Scott MacLeod12:32 PM (0 minutes ago)
to Scott, Lynn, Angela, victor, Patricia, Andrew, Satya, Barbara, Patti, Marc, LindaAngela and All, 
Appreciating especially how Yoga Lene brings this music together with Yoga! 
Are Yoga or music transformed themselves? I think Angela & Victor transform Yoga remarkably (and music is always transforming itself ... with no rock & roll Yoga here from Gothenburg for example! :)) But this "Yoga Concert: Metamorphosis with Yoga Lene" is pretty great! Is this a Swedish Yoga meditation? Seems to be heading that way, cosmopolitan-wise :)Have blogged about you, today, Yoga Lene, and these ideas above to my mother and family here - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/08/erythronium-taylorii-this-yoga-concert.html - and much more (like bagpiping as meditation) too. 
Change - social change - of Yoga and music, re the '60s too, is fascinating to observe re socioculturally anthropology and Yogically!
Warm regards, Scott
PS Thanks for your email reply, Lynn, earlier! Love, Scott 



-- - Scott MacLeod - Founder & President  
- World University and School- http://worlduniversityandschool.org 
- 415 480 4577- http://scottmacleod.com 

- CC World University and School - like CC Wikipedia with best STEM-centric CC OpenCourseWare - incorporated as a nonprofit university and school in California, and is a U.S. 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt educational organization. 





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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythronium_taylorii
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Erythronium










https://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0204+1058
https://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/im...


Erythronium taylorii is a rare species of flowering plant in the lily family known by the common names Pilot Ridge fawn lily, Taylor's fawnlily, and Yosemite fawn lily. It is endemic to Tuolumne County, California, where it is known only from Pilot Ridge, a remote mountain ridge outside of Yosemite National Park.

Erythronium taylorii - Wikipedia
...

Saxifraga cernua: WUaS Open edX platform via MOOCit - First course ever: "WUAS 002 Circuits and Electronics Introduction" ~ https://studio.app.moocit.fr/course/c... ~ (probably not yet viewable) - "Hey Scott GK, ready for your fir

WUaS Open edX platform via MOOCit - 

First course ever: 
"WUAS 002 Circuits and Electronics Introduction"



~ https://app.moocit.fr/courses/course-v1:WUAS+002+1/course/ ~


(probably not yet viewable, so see below)



* 
Hey Scott GK, ready for your first MOOCit Course?

Saxifraga cernua: WUaS Open edX platform via MOOCit - First course ever: "WUAS 002 Circuits and Electronics Introduction" ~ https://studio.app.moocit.fr/course/c... ~ (probably not yet viewable) - "Hey Scott GK, ready for your

WUaS Open edX platform via MOOCit - 

First course ever: 
"WUAS 002 Circuits and Electronics Introduction"



~ https://app.moocit.fr/courses/course-v1:WUAS+002+1/course/ ~


(probably not yet viewable, so see below)



* 
Hey Scott GK, ready for your first MOOCit Course?

Saxifraga cespitosa: Voilà!, Nicolas, et merci beaucoup, ~ initial momentous steps for World Univ & Sch into Open edX, potentially regarding creating major online universities in all ~200 countries' official and main languages (and in outer space too!), an

Voilà!, Nicolas, et merci beaucoup,

Voilà! Ça marche maintenant. Merci à Nicolas
Scott



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Thanks so much, Yvain, Anant, Ned, Larry, Nicolas,

I like what I see in checking out the https://studio.app.moocit.fr/course/course-v1:WUAS+001+1 studio. It seems very extensible and flexible in multiple ways. It's also practical. Thank you for this remarkable platform for education.

Am simply keeping you, Anant and Ned, posted in these initial momentous steps for World Univ & Sch into Open edX ... and potentially regarding creating major online universities in all ~200 countries' official and main languages (and in outer space too!), and even wiki schools with courses people could create in all 7,117 known living languages - and in anticipating machine learning, translation and other AI in the Open edX platform.

Will free up your in-boxes for the time being, Anant and Ned - and thank you all so much for these amazing information technologies, and this structure and process that allow potentially for the creation of free universal highest quality online education (wiki, too, - for people-to-people open teaching and learning). It's a bit like the first Mars-walk in 2038 - n'est-ce pas? :)

More soon, Yvain! Thank you.

Cheers, Scott
https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/saxifraga-mertensiana-offer-to-build.html

https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Nation_States
https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Languages



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Create Web anew: #EthnoWikiVirtualWorldGraphy as ethnographic theory & cultural practice. So many possible dirs. in sociocultural anthropology https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/se... Am seeking for all 7.5 billion people to shape #RealisticVirtualEarth Add Harbin Pix: http://tinyurl.com/p62rpcg ~

Create Web anew: #EthnoWikiVirtualWorldGraphy as ethnographic theory & cultural practice. So many possible dirs. in sociocultural anthropology https://t.co/v3gVpAEY1l Am seeking for all 7.5 billion people to shape #RealisticVirtualEarth Add Harbin Pix: https://t.co/dHWQmnrQPY ~— Scott_GK_MacLeod_WUaS_worlduniversityandschool.org (@scottmacleod) July 31, 2020

https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1289230354528649217?s=20
https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1289252433734955008?s=20
https://twitter.com/HarbinBook/status/1289252798379380737?s=20
https://twitter.com/WUaSPress/status/1289253483539861504?s=20
https://twitter.com/sgkmacleod/status/1289254661283708928?s=20
https://twitter.com/TheOpenBand/status/1289256488817442816?s=20


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Create Web anew: #EthnoWikiVirtualWorldGraphy as ethnographic theory & cultural practice. So many possible dirs. in sociocultural anthropology https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/se... Am seeking for all 7.5 billion people to shape #RealisticVirtualHarbin Add Harbin Pix: http://tinyurl.com/p62rpcg ~

Create Web anew: #EthnoWikiVirtualWorldGraphy as ethnographic theory & cultural practice. So many possible dirs. in sociocultural anthropology https://t.co/5p81EFFOza Am seeking for all 7.5 billion people to shape #RealisticVirtualHarbin Add Harbin Pix: https://t.co/8F7i8x7dSD ~— HarbinBook (@HarbinBook) July 31, 2020

https://twitter.com/HarbinBook/status/1289252969221771265?s=20
https://twitter.com/WUaSPress/status/1289253576716386304?s=20
https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1289254068938928130?s=20
https://twitter.com/sgkmacleod/status/1289254957082767362?s=20
https://twitter.com/TheOpenBand/status/1289256295355179008?s=20











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Friday, July 31, 2020
Could someone be reading my blog possibly? The following from PhilPapers.org about Agency, Consciousness and MUCH more, just popped into my email (and which I'm posting both here - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/andersons-mountain-crown-agency-have.html (from 7/28/20) - and in today's July 31, 2020 - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/saxifraga-cespitosa-voila-nicolas-et.html - post):


Jul 31st 2020 GMTWhere is the Fundamental Disagreement Between Naive Realism and Intentionalism? Takuya Niikawa - 2020 - Metaphilosophy 51 (4):593-610.Fully Autonomous AI. Wolfhart Totschnig - forthcoming - Science and Engineering Ethics:1-13.In the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics, the term “autonomy” is generally used to mean the capacity of an artificial agent to operate independently of human guidance. It is thereby assumed that the agent has a fixed goal or “utility function” with respect to which the appropriateness of its actions will be evaluated. From a philosophical perspective, this notion of autonomy seems oddly weak. For, in philosophy, the term is generally used to refer to a stronger capacity, namely the capacity to “give oneself the law,” to decide by oneself what one’s goal or principle of action will be. The predominant view in the literature on the long-term prospects and risks of artificial intelligence is that an artificial agent cannot exhibit such autonomy because it cannot rationally change its own final goal, since changing the final goal is counterproductive with respect to that goal and hence undesirable. The aim of this paper is to challenge this view by showing that it is based on questionable assumptions about the nature of goals and values. I argue that a general AI may very well come to modify its final goal in the course of developing its understanding of the world. This has important implications for how we are to assess the long-term prospects and risks of artificial intelligence.What Inference to the Best Explanation Is Not: A Response to Roche and Sober's Screening-Off Challenge to IBE. Marc Lange - 2020 - Teorema: International Journal of Philosophy 39:27-42.Brain-to-Brain Coupling in the Gamma-Band as a Marker of Shared Intentionality. Paulo Barraza, Alejandro Pérez & Eugenio Rodríguez - 2020 - Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 14.Throwing Spatial Light: On Topological Explanations in Gestalt Psychology. Bartłomiej Skowron & Krzysztof Wójtowicz - forthcoming - Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences:1-22.It is a well-known fact that mathematics plays a crucial role in physics; in fact, it is virtually impossible to imagine contemporary physics without it. But it is questionable whether mathematical concepts could ever play such a role in psychology or philosophy. In this paper, we set out to examine a rather unobvious example of the application of topology, in the form of the theory of persons proposed by Kurt Lewin in his Principles of Topological Psychology. Our aim is to show that this branch of mathematics can furnish a natural conceptual system for Gestalt psychology, in that it provides effective tools for describing global qualitative aspects of the latter’s object of investigation. We distinguish three possible ways in which mathematics can contribute to this: explanation, explication and metaphor. We hold that all three of these can be usefully characterized as throwing light on their subject matter, and argue that in each case this contrasts with the role of explanations in physics. Mathematics itself, we argue, provides something different from such explanations when applied in the field of psychology, and this is nevertheless still cognitively fruitful.Jul 30th 2020 GMTAgency in Mental Disorder: Exploring the Connections. Matt King & Joshua May (eds.) - forthcoming - Oxford University Press.How exactly do mental disorders affect one’s agency? How might therapeutic interventions help patients regain or improve their autonomy? Do only some disorders excuse morally inappropriate behavior, such as theft or child neglect? Or is there nothing about having a disorder, as such, that affects whether we ought to praise or blame someone for their moral success or failure? Our volume gathers together empirically-informed philosophers who are well equipped to tackle such questions. Contributors specialize in free will, agency, and responsibility, but they are informed by current scientific and clinical approaches to a wide range of psychopathologies, including autism, addiction, Capgras delusion, Tourette syndrome, personality disorders, depression, dementia, phobias, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. These conditions exhibit a diverse array of symptoms that can contribute quite differently to blameworthy or praiseworthy acts.The Nature of Truth (Second Edition). Michael Lynch, Jeremy Wyatt, Junyeol Kim & Nathan Kellen (eds.) - forthcoming - MIT Press.(Counter)Factual Want Ascriptions and Conditional Belief. Thomas Grano & Milo Phillips-Brown - manuscriptWhat are the truth conditions of want ascriptions? According to a highly influential and fruitful approach, championed by Heim (1992) and von Fintel (1999), the answer is intimately connected to the agent’s beliefs: ⌜S wants p⌝ is true iff within S’s belief set, S prefers the p worlds to the ~p worlds. This approach faces a well-known and as-yet unsolved problem, however: it makes the entirely wrong predictions with what we call '(counter)factual want ascriptions', wherein the agent either believes p or believes ~p—e.g., ‘I want it to rain tomorrow and that is exactly what is going to happen’ or ‘I want this weekend to last forever but of course it will end in a few hours’. We solve this problem. The truth conditions for want ascriptions are, we propose, connected to the agent’s conditional beliefs. We bring out this connection by pursuing a striking parallel between (counter)factual and non-(counter)factual want ascriptions on the one hand and counterfactual and indicative conditionals on the other.The Role of Consciousness in Free Action. Philip Woodward - forthcoming - In Joe Campbell, Kristin M. Mickelson & V. Alan White (eds.),  Wiley Companion to Free Will . Wiley.It is intuitive that free action depends on consciousness in some way, since behavior that is unconsciously generated is widely regarded as un-free. But there is no clear consensus as to what such dependence comes to, in part because there is no clear consensus about either the cognitive role of consciousness or about the essential components of free action. I divide the space of possible views into four: the Constitution View (on which free actions metaphysically consist, at least in part, in phenomenally conscious episodes of a special sort), the Causal-Dependence View (on which free actions are necessarily caused by conscious episodes), the Counterfactaul-Dependence View (on which free actions necessarily counterfactually dependent on conscious episodes of certain types), and the Independence View (on which there are no necessary dependence-relations that hold between free action and conscious episodes). After surveying recent empirical literature that purports to show that consciousness plays a smaller role in generating action than is usually supposed, I conclude that it is plausible that free action depends on consciousness in two ways. First, free action causally depends on consciousness control. Second, free action counterfactually depends on the agent's being responsive to certain reasons.Technological Innovation and Natural Law. Philip Woodward - forthcoming - Philosophia Reformata.I discuss three tiers of technological innovation: mild innovation, or the acceleration by technology of a human activity aimed at a good; moderate innovation, or the obviation by technology of an activity aimed at a good; and radical innovation, or the altering by technology of the human condition so as to change what counts as a good. I argue that it is impossible to morally assess proposed innovations within any of these three tiers unless we rehabilitate a natural-law ethical framework. And I offer some moral starting points within such a framework, in connection with innovations of each of the three types.The Selection Problem for Constitutive Panpsychism. Philip Woodward - forthcoming - Australasian Journal of Philosophy.Constitutive panpsychism is the doctrine that macro-level consciousness—that is, consciousness of the sort possessed by certain composite things such as humans—is built out of irreducibly mental (or proto-mental) features had by some or all of the basic physical constituents of reality. On constitutive panpsychism, changes in macro-level consciousness amount to changes in either the way that micro-conscious entities ‘bond’ or the way that micro-conscious qualities ‘blend’ (or both). I pose the ‘Selection Problem’ for constitutive panpsychism: the problem of explaining how high-level functional states of the brain ‘select’ micro-conscious qualities for bonding or blending. I argue that there are no empirically plausible solutions to this problem.










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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxifraga_cespitosa
...

Saxifraga mertensiana: An offer to build out a WUaS course on the MOOCit France platform from best STEM CC-4 OpenCourseWare ... for matriculating WUaS students this autumn ... * * * 4 horses and a foal in Indian valley to the east of Canyon 94516, How coul

An offer to build out a WUaS course on the MOOCit France platform from best STEM CC-4 OpenCourseWare ... for matriculating WUaS students this autumn 



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Bonjour Yvain, 

Thank you for your email. And it was very nice to talk to you in Paris last Wednesday, July 22, 2020. 
If we could get help or assistance financially from edX, MIT or Grants.gov or similar, I think World Univ & Sch developing with MOOCit France in Open edX makes sense. MIT faculty and students could teach newly on this platform via WUaS Open edX as well, in the future, but at this point World Univ & Sch has no money to speak of whatsoever. 
Nevertheless, I think WUaS would seek to create a course with MOOCit's Starter plan. I have one course I've taught with much video - 
Society and Information Technology videos:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJIy6LpZLeI&list=PLof6LHEpLfwrYnYlQfwU119jDpOwfnZuN - 

as one possibility (http://worlduniversityandschool.org/InfoTechNetworkSocGlobalUniv.html), and I'll look further into CC-4 MIT OCW for a great introductory course which might work for all of WUaS's prospective students (>10) beginning September 1, who might be studying differentially toward all 6 planned majors - worlduniversityandschool.org - for free-to-students CC-4 OCW-centric Bachelor degrees (as WUaS proceeds with CA licensing, and accreditation). 
More thoughts here - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/saxifraga-mertensiana-offer-to-build.html. If WUaS were to begin soon with MOOCit France, would I be able to email a new URL with the upcoming WUaS Monthly Business Meeting minutes for July 18, 2020, do you think? Thank you.
Best, Scott
https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/passion-vines-when-might-be-able-to.html 
- Scott MacLeod - CEO, Founder & President  - https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch- World University and School- http://worlduniversityandschool.org - http://scottmacleod.com
https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/
https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/
Languages - World Univ: https://twitter.com/sgkmacleod/https://twitter.com/WUaSPress/
- CC World University and School - like CC Wikipedia with best STEM-centric CC OpenCourseWare - incorporated as a nonprofit university and school in California, and is a U.S. 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt educational organization. 


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Yvain @ MOOCit <yvain.demolliere@moocit.fr>6:51 AM (3 hours ago)
to meHi Scott, 

Thank you for your email and providing links to MiT OpenCourseware.
One pragmatic way of moving forward will be for you to do a trial of our Open edX hosting solution: https://moocit.fr/tarifs (Under Starter plan).We can create a demo course for you that you can use as a basis to integrate content from one OCW course. I've looked at sample courses you provided, I think they are quite "light" in terms of available content, a lot of readings, references, etc.. but no videos or pdf to download.It might require more extra work on your side if you want to provide more course material into your courses. 
Let me know what you think,
Best, --
Yvain DEMOLLIERECEO | MOOCit
Mail : yvain.demolliere@moocit.frTel : +33 (0) 6 80 99 90 29 Skype : yvain.demolliere




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Dear Larry,

Here below is Yvain's response from MOOCit France re Open edX - with a Starter plan at 9 Euros / month and going up ..

Ideal to start and test the solution
9 € / month
1 Course, 1 Instructor, 10 Participants

This isn't very viable if WUaS seeks to develop online major universities in all ~200 countries, and since WUaS has no money to speak of whatsoever. But it does give us some value numbers, or Euro currency figures, with which to begin to think about an alternative. Interesting to get an educational, I.T., French CEO's commercial, business-like first take on all of this (and Pearson would probably do something similar) - but it seems like WUaS and potentially with edX and MIT could take this in other entrepreneurial directions ... and re CC-4 MIT OCW licensing as well.

I think it would make most sense if WUaS could do this in collaboration with edX instead, since WUaS is so MIT OCW-centric in its 4 current languages. Reach out to CEO Anant Agarwal, or MIT President Reif, again? Great to learn too that MOOCit France sees commercial value in WUaS in a sense, enough to offer these plans or tariffs - a kind of legitimization or credibility.

Interesting to learn that content here again on the web is key, and that the courses I shared with MOOCit France seem 'light' in terms of not enough video, but possibly 'heavy' in terms of the amount of reading, for example. If WUaS can begin to grow on an edX-related platform, and regarding the WUaS BOOKSTORE too, am wondering about, for example, WUaS Home Lego robotics' Engineering courses, as a 'makey-makey' approach to learning, beyond 'light' and 'heavy' courses.

Re Yvain's comments, I wonder also if WUaS could develop a new form of book too called something like the VIDEO BOOK, on top of publishing from a Realistic Virtual Earth (text in the sidebar in Google Street View). In this way students and readers could listen to these VIDEO BOOKs from their laptops, and watch the equations, graphs, images diagrams when important (built into the text). Pricing at WUaS for VIDEO BOOKS (re the content Yvain mentioned), published by the WUaS Press even, would be part of the reimbursement from nation states, and their counties, to WUaS. (This idea would build on the now old and established audio book idea - and could be adapted from paper books too - but would leverage our WUaS students studying from their computers, while co-listening, and occasionally watching, these VIDEO BOOKS). In the information age, sticky eyeballs, as well as parallel ear drums, in a NEW way, opens new possibilities. It's how to make this commercially viable at WUaS re Yvain's comments - and per our bookstore, since WUIaS students may not be realistically into buying and reading books (re MIT OCW-Amazon's contract too) via the internet, but they might, attention-wise, be open to listening and watching VIDEO BOOKs (if excellent enough or interesting enough for their majors). edX CEO Anant Agarwal, in this case could have tremendous insights, re both edX students thus far, as well as Indian students, and online students from other countries, as wiki WUaS continues to seek to build out from MIT OCW toward free-to-students' university degrees.

Having heard back from Yvain, I'll seek to get the WUAS Minutes out now.

I'm not convinced that MOOCit France is the sensible way to engage Open edX, or any of these other service partners - https://open.edx.org/marketplace-cate... - and edX also doesn't seem like a viable opportunity. Building out our own WUaS MOOCit approach from the ground up could make sense with Grants.gov money, but I don't see an opportunity here either. Quakers (having just attended a FAHE - Friends Association for Higher Education - meeting in Zoom) - and Haverford and Swarthmore's IT departments as a possible MOOCit-like service provider? Contact MIT Profs Wyn Kelley and Joaquin Terrones further - re Brazil WUaS? Contact Google and Sundar Pichai and John Hennessy and Peter Norvig to see if they could become a service partner? This last approach could be most sensible. 

Smartphone is still 'down' or 'dead' but I should receive the new one today. Thoughts, ideas, questions, suggestions, comments?

Sincerely, Scott




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Dear Larry,

However, since there's a 15 day free trial window, if we were to proceed experimentally with MOOCit France to actually get something started on WUaS Open edX, a single course for our 5 possible students this autumn - since MOOCit France is making a real offer with a real viable (probably accreditable) platform - we could actually get started with our 2nd undergraduate matriculating class. My "Network Society, Information Technology, and the Global University" - http://worlduniversityandschool.org/I... - course also comes to mind as a possibility to experiment with, with about 7-8 weeks of video, and more -
Society and Information Technology videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJIy6LpZLeI&list=PLof6LHEpLfwrYnYlQfwU119jDpOwfnZuN

eg
The Information Technology Revolution - History and Geography - Scott MacLeod

https://youtu.be/FJIy6LpZLeI

This course is also listed in WUaS Course Catalog ... worlduniversityandschool.org ... and it's a fascinating and generative course. I could model it via MOOCit France in part in conversation with Charlie Nesson's JuryX edX HarvardX course.

It looks like however we wouldn't get our own WUaS Open edX domain at this point - and per the WUaS Minutes. On the other hand, we might get a new URL to send out with upcoming WUaS Minutes if I got started right now.

And perhaps something would emerge either financially or further Open edX-wise by the end of the 15 days, or similar.

What do you think?

Sincerely, Scott


*
Dear Larry,

Simply factor in the costs of MOOCit France as service partner in Open edX - into WUaS reimbursement from countries for CC-4 MIT OCW-centric courses? (And somehow raise initial monies from Grants.gov - possibly via Sid Mazumdar somehow, with a creditable platform like Open edX?). Begin with my course in the next 15 days' free trial period, and then build out to 6 more for our WUaS majors before September 1, using much video from MIT OCW and Yale OYC? For our own WUaS domain it's 99 Euros per month, but limited to 50 students - like with the 49 Euro/month level with a MOOCit domain (https://moocit.fr/tarifs). WUaS would have to plan for one or the other if we were to offer 6 courses in our major by September 1, and after 15 days. That this is within Open edX's process and planning is perhaps most significant, however - https://open.edx.org/marketplace-cate....

However, I don't see a lot of enjoyment in this platform re student retention necessarily, or innovative potential in the MOOCit approach either per se.  But Open edX is open to innovation, I think, if we were to have our own team, for example - from our own GitHub data platform perhaps.

Wait yet longer - and postpone our 2nd matriculating class at WUaS until an excellent opportunity emerges perhaps from edX itself (which doesn't seem that likely)?

Sincerely, Scott



*
Larry,

It's interesting to see what building blocks MOOCit France sees as useful with their experience as an Instructional Design prize winner with Open edX - videos and pdfs, not books and references. Are videos and pdfs some new basic units - building blocks - of online education? Perhaps ...

I count 52 service partners on the Open edX page - https://open.edx.org/marketplace-cate... - AMAZING as competition too. Get 3 bids or offers? And find what's possible in other ways by comparing and contrasting? Pearson in Britain, Unify in India - https://open.edx.org/marketplace/unify/ - and one other? Am seeking excellence in a platform, and experience with something like MIT OCW / MIT / Harvard / Academia ... possibly even re these service partners' branding, and am not finding it yet either. And yet, these service partners are all over the place - and have a relationship with edX and Open edX - so could we go with them all with time, for country-specificity eventually - and thanks to their connections with edX? Begin with MOOCit France, build an initial WUaS student body, and then figure out the next steps - including building our own WUaS team?

I think graduate student instructors at WUaS will be able to build courses with MIT OCW video and PDFs, as well as make their own videos and PDFs, in learning to become faculty members (and we could even hire for this via handshake - https://app.joinhandshake.com/employers/447700 and https://app.joinhandshake.com/users/19861050).

Sincerely, Scott



*
I think it could be fun, enjoyable, to build out my course in Open edX via MOOCit France because the material is fascinating, and I could make PDFs too. And then to build out an Actual-Virtual Harbin Ethnographic course could be fun as well here.

As Yvain notes, they are offering us a pragmatic approach to getting started.

And I'd think because MOOCit France was the instructional design prize winner at Open edX, that there's more thinking about how Artificial Intelligence might be used ahead on the Open edX platform with MOOCit France than with the other 51 service partners. Planning for AI - and in all ~200 countries' official languages, has much merit!

Sincerely, Scott




*
Larry, 
With MOOCit France, WUaS would also get an experienced team of developers to come into conversation with - up to a point - as well. And perhaps they could come to lead all 52 Open edX service partners. 

If we could get help or assistance financially from edX, MIT or Grants.gov, I think this makes sense. MIT faculty and students could teach newly on this platform via WUaS Open edX as well. I'd reply with something like this to Yvain first.
Scott







* * *
4 horses and a foal in Indian valley


Ann and Jane, 

How are you both doing?
I just had a wonderful hour-long walk, and interestingly heard at the top of Indian valley, toward the end of the walk, some festive hispanic music wafting up what could be 1-2 miles away in the sound chamber of the valley. Impressive. Also saw my 2nd lone coyote - and am beginning to think they aren't as furtive as I thought; also heard 2 minutes later some coyote screeches in the brush. 
Love, Scott

*
Ann, Ma, 
I'm guessing the festive music was coming from the little ranchero on the road into Moraga (possibly 1.5 miles away ... a 30 minute walk? potentially) ... and I also saw the 4 horses and 1 foal, which seem fairly 'high strung' in an unique to their western breed way which I haven't seen before. I'm guessing the people in the ranchero mind these horses, and the cattle too when they're around. It also occurs to me that with so many Hispanic or Latino people in California, that they kind of own a half of this state, and live on it in their own way, and where Spanish is the 2nd language of California. It's a wonderful culture which Ted knew fairly well, I'd think.

Warmly, ScottSpanish label in blog - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/Spanish - 

*
Hi Ann, Ma, 

Just back from a nice walk. A few nights ago I saw just 2 horses and the foal up on a hillside, from near the bottom of the valley where I sometimes start walking up it. I thought they looked like a little nuclear family, in human anthropocentric terms, and am not sure where the other two horses were. Could the ranchers have even kept them in? And this evening, also in the same area in the bottom, there were all lining the road, and one mare and the foal came right up to me and let me touch them briefly, especially the foal. Am learning gradually and empathically or intuitively about horse 'psychology' - and am amazed regarding this "Buddies" Tweet with eagle, HANDLER and other species - https://twitter.com/TheFigensezgin/status/1286927695901851648?s=20 - and their connections. I think food is a starting point :) How are you both? And how's the weather in your part of the world? Thinking about you! :)
Warmly, Scott



*
Ann, Ma, But why without food did the foal and horse come up to me? Was the horse the foal's mother? They seemed to initiate the connection ...  Did they want to 'HERD-MEET' me? C'est possible. Warm regards, Scotty

Foal and mare ears were back a little, but they were present. 


*
Ann and Jane (Ma), How could I invite these horses to go on a walk with me - and around the far side of the Monroes, overlooking Moraga, - some of the way, but not all of the way. (I wouldn't want them to become kind of annoyances or pests). Carrots? - when I see them next - and other horse-training techniques, understanding what they can learn and do beforehand (from Youtube)? Would I be the lead horse in a sense, and the 5 of them would follow along quite readily if I did certain things (learned specific behaviors?) One time some months ago, they seemed quite hot-to-trot, coming up right behind me and even in a pushy way almost - but there may also be other horse trainers in the background in all of this. Scotty :) (Any good Youtube videos for my learning you could point me to, Annie?:)


*
Ma, Ann, 
Much insight into horse-thinking here, as well as possibly how following would work (but in a ring)How to teach a horse to follow you. The In Hand Guyhttps://youtu.be/4O9QD0ppDtc  
Teach Your Horse to Follow You with Jonathan Fieldhttps://youtu.be/VYlBd3oiCHE

Horse Behavior: Teach Your Pony to Follow You At Libertyhttps://youtu.be/re2Mp30D2nk
https://animals.mom.me/how-to-teach-your-horse-to-follow-you-without-a-halter-12165266.html
https://equinehelper.com/get-your-horse-to-follow-you/


Scott


*
Good morning, Ma, and Ann, 

It's a slightly foggy morning here. Regarding the 4 horses and foal in Indian valley that followed my up the main unfinished road a month or 2 ago, in almost a pushy way, at 5:50 in this first video - https://youtu.be/4O9QD0ppDtc - the trainer shows what he does with this occasionally 'pushy' horse into the trainer's space (but not so pushy from a herd animal's perspective). There's an amazing amount to learn in this first video too about horse psychology - and the round pen helps. I see horse's herding behavior as key to understanding their thinking.
This video gives me ways, also, of approaching the 5 horses in Indian valley in so many new ways - regarding how much they're open to be touched, and how they interact with a human, (and possibly with regard to each other as horses). The metaphorical handshake with horses per this video seems a bit distanced - a stroke on the neck, and a rub on the forehead etc briefly. Since the foal and mare came up to me the other day - as if to connect - maybe they'll do so again one of these days. Without food (since I can't plan for when I'll see them next to bring food), can I become one of their herd in a sense, I wonder (as a human?). There's something about building a certain kind of trust or rapport with horses in this first video too, with similarities and differences with the other videos.  
Do you have a horse or two on the ranch these days, Annie? And how are you both doing in these new social constellations we're living in during this coronavirus pandemic time - psychologically, culturally, meme-wise, thinking-wise - but possibly where the virus itself is 'mild' and providing an in case of emergency opportunity to plan for the next epidemic, all blown out of proportion by the internet media? Am hoping this email finds you both well, hail and hearty!
Fondly, 
Scott







*










https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxifraga_mertensiana

https://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-taxon=Saxifraga+mertensiana


...

Dahlia: What happened to the old blogger.com? * * * * Just received this G Suite "Suspicious login alert ..." below, Rifai, - and thank you for checking into the WUaS G Suite system from the Sri Lanka World University and School email * * * wiki World Un

What happened to this blog's Information Technology re blogger.com getting updated?

Looks like there's more direct access to coding with the HTML itself in this new version ... so  more creative potential, as well as precision in coding with this markup language ... 

Now how to make smaller this dahlia picture in the HTML? 




* * * *
Info WorldUniversity10:57 AM (16 minutes ago)to Sri, Rohit, india, Rohit, Scott, Nidahas, nidahasvidyalaya, livestream, Peter, mazumdarp, Scott, Marisol, Hostsave, me
Hello Sri, Rohit, Partha, Marisol, Peter, All, 
I just received this G Suite "Suspicious login alert  ..." below, Rifai, - and thank you for checking into the WUaS G Suite system. 
Brainstorming-wise, am seeking I think for WUaS, like WikiTree (planning for a single family tree for all 7.5 billion people) and possibly for WUaS in Wikdiata's 300 languages, for people to begin to actively add an 'honor code signatory' certificate - eg https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/MacLeod-2524 - to their 'You at WUaS' page - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/You_at_World_University - and re laws too in each or their own countries as well as international law ... and regarding G Suite processes too. (Partha, thoughts here from your role in the embassy in Sri Lanka, and from a Washington DC state department perspective too?)
Just shared these questions with a friend regarding a different legal, medical & ethical situation I'm in: "What would be the investigation options here from a Kaiser Permanente health system organization perspective, from a Moraga chief of police perspective, and similar? (Just received an email from G Suite about investigation options re many WUaS users of G Suite, for example)."

Thanks, Rifai, for accessing the WUaS G Suite system - and would you be able to show Rohit (and Peter in German at Deutschland WUaS and Marisol in Quechua at Peru WUaS) - and to develop in Hindi India World Univ & Sch - in the Google Sites: 
https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool
https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool/srilanka
Here is India WUaS - https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool/india - in English but which needs translation into Hindi (with the language for prospective students that WUaS courses will be in English first) ... 
I still haven't heard back from Yvain at MOOCit France regarding our brand new upcoming WUaS Open edX platform - and even with a few first new WUaS Open edX courses to share with prospective students - but here's where we are presently - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/passion-vines-when-might-be-able-to.html - and - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/lupinus-stiversii-mit-professors-wyn.html - and see, further my blog labels for related developments. 
Regards, Scott


G SuiteThis Suspicious login alert is to inform you that Google has detected a suspicious login in your domain. Google considers login activity suspicious if we notice a sign in attempt that doesn't match a user's normal behavior, such as a sign in from an unusual location, or because we think an unauthorized person attempted to access a user's account.
The alert details include:
User: srilanka@worlduniversityandschool.orgAttempted Login IP: 2402:4000:2081:c588:44c3:beea:f720:c904Please view the alert center for additional details, investigation options, and remediation recommendations.
Go to Alert Center
Thanks for logging in, Sri! and looking forward to seeing the new WUaSs in Google Sites in their languages (Hindi, Quechua, German + ) ... another ~200 countries' official / main languages to go ... 



* * *
Online Learning ResourcesInboxxJason Manners <jason@broadbandseach.com>Wed, Jul 29, 1:13 PM (20 hours ago)to meHello Scott,                      
Just wanted to say that I found https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Research very useful. It definitely left me thinking about other resources and some new ideas – thank you!
I know most people's "every day" has changed significantly and learning at home has taken on a new meaning for many, whether that involves filling lockdown nights, teaching our children, or studying online.
We created a hugely detailed post on internet and distance learning resources. It features a lot of info but especially focuses on:       
a.  useful resources for anybody who wishes to learn at home; and        
b.  how to assess whether a resource is likely to be of use to you or those you teach.      
Here’s the link to our piece - https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/best-distance-remote-internet-learning-tools.              
It's had a great response already, which we're incredibly pleased about.               
Do you think you could add a link to our post from yours?  It will give your readers a bit more information and I think it would add value. As a reputable site, it certainly won't do your SEO efforts any harm too (bonus!)            
Any questions, please let me know.   

Best wishes,

Jason

Jason Manners
Communications Team Lead
Broadbandsearch.net


*

Jason,

Have you had challenges adding this - https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/best-distance-remote-internet-learning-tools to wiki World Univ & Sch?

Best, Scott


--

--
- Scott MacLeod - Founder, President & Professor

- World University and School
- http://worlduniversityandschool.org

- 415 480 4577
- http://scottmacleod.com

- CC World University and School - like CC Wikipedia with best STEM-centric CC OpenCourseWare - incorporated as a nonprofit university and school in California, and is a U.S. 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt educational organization.











https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlia

Dahlia: What happened to the old blogger.com? * * * * Just received this G Suite "Suspicious login alert ..." below, Rifai, - and thank you for checking into the WUaS G Suite system from the Sri Lanka World University and School email

What happened to this blog's Information Technology re blogger.com getting updated?

Looks like there's more direct access to coding with the HTML itself in this new version ... so  more creative potential, as well as precision in coding with this markup language ... 

Now how to make smaller this dahlia picture in the HTML? 




* * * *
Info WorldUniversity10:57 AM (16 minutes ago)to Sri, Rohit, india, Rohit, Scott, Nidahas, nidahasvidyalaya, livestream, Peter, mazumdarp, Scott, Marisol, Hostsave, me
Hello Sri, Rohit, Partha, Marisol, Peter, All, 
I just received this G Suite "Suspicious login alert  ..." below, Rifai, - and thank you for checking into the WUaS G Suite system. 
Brainstorming-wise, am seeking I think for WUaS, like WikiTree (planning for a single family tree for all 7.5 billion people) and possibly for WUaS in Wikdiata's 300 languages, for people to begin to actively add an 'honor code signatory' certificate - eg https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/MacLeod-2524 - to their 'You at WUaS' page - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/You_at_World_University - and re laws too in each or their own countries as well as international law ... and regarding G Suite processes too. (Partha, thoughts here from your role in the embassy in Sri Lanka, and from a Washington DC state department perspective too?)
Just shared these questions with a friend regarding a different legal, medical & ethical situation I'm in: "What would be the investigation options here from a Kaiser Permanente health system organization perspective, from a Moraga chief of police perspective, and similar? (Just received an email from G Suite about investigation options re many WUaS users of G Suite, for example)."

Thanks, Rifai, for accessing the WUaS G Suite system - and would you be able to show Rohit (and Peter in German at Deutschland WUaS and Marisol in Quechua at Peru WUaS) - and to develop in Hindi India World Univ & Sch - in the Google Sites: 
https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool
https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool/srilanka
Here is India WUaS - https://sites.google.com/view/worlduniversityandschool/india - in English but which needs translation into Hindi (with the language for prospective students that WUaS courses will be in English first) ... 
I still haven't heard back from Yvain at MOOCit France regarding our brand new upcoming WUaS Open edX platform - and even with a few first new WUaS Open edX courses to share with prospective students - but here's where we are presently - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/passion-vines-when-might-be-able-to.html - and - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/lupinus-stiversii-mit-professors-wyn.html - and see, further my blog labels for related developments. 
Regards, Scott


G SuiteThis Suspicious login alert is to inform you that Google has detected a suspicious login in your domain. Google considers login activity suspicious if we notice a sign in attempt that doesn't match a user's normal behavior, such as a sign in from an unusual location, or because we think an unauthorized person attempted to access a user's account.
The alert details include:
User: srilanka@worlduniversityandschool.orgAttempted Login IP: 2402:4000:2081:c588:44c3:beea:f720:c904Please view the alert center for additional details, investigation options, and remediation recommendations.
Go to Alert Center
Thanks for logging in, Sri! and looking forward to seeing the new WUaSs in Google Sites in their languages (Hindi, Quechua, German + ) ... another ~200 countries' official / main languages to go ... 












https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlia

What happened?

What happened to this blog I.T.?  

Anderson's mountain crown: Agency - "Have you thought much about agency, philosophically, ... and personally?" * * * How can a piece of meat have consciousness? per McGinn ... (or be conscious?)

Scott MacLeod <sgkmacleod@gmail.com>10:52 AM (16 minutes ago)
to David, JaneGood morning, David, (Jane),

Agency ? Further philosophy and psychology thereof - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/geomorphology-agency-have-you-thought.html - and re Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's view  https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/agency/ - and Lacan MD too - https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lacan/. Am recalling George Alexander MD's focus on behavior regarding too perhaps intention - in seeking to understand humans - and regarding how impossible intention as a concept can be, 
especially with regards to consciousness (how to bring together the 1st person and 3rd person views, or the objective and subjective) - with regard to explaining awareness, sentience, feeling, subjectivity (including memories) etc. or to put another way per Chalmers - 
"The hard problem of consciousness is the problem of explaining why any physical state is conscious rather than nonconscious. It is the problem of explaining why there is “something it is like” for a subject in conscious experience, why conscious mental states “light up” and directly appear to the subject."

https://iep.utm.edu/hard-con/
- and how can a piece of meat have consciousness? per McGinn ... (or be conscious?)
https://serendipstudio.org/bb/neuro/neuro02/web1/hhochman.htmlThe Mysterious FlameConscious Minds in a Material WorldBy COLIN McGINN https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/mcginn-flame.html 
So intention re consciousness is all a bit squishy scientific-thinking-territory-wise, but BEHAVIOR (and from the perspective too of a problem-solving, thinking psychiatrist MD, and also from a BF Skinner perspective) - is easier to 'go from' INFERENTIALLY / DEDUCTIVELY in thinking about human choices - in order to understand them to help people WITH LANGUAGE if analysands might be doing things that harm themselves or their well-being, - so in thinking about agency (AND therapeutically). 
From July 12, 2020 - I was amused at your reply, Ma, to my question: "Have you thought much about agency, philosophically, ... and personally?" -Jane MacLeodSun, Jul 12, 1:15 PM
to me
"No in answer to your question if it was a question.

Love, Ma"
In many ways, George posited the idea of agency and perhaps in his role as psychiatrist - as a way to help an analysand, some of whom might not be experiencing "the capacity to act," or a kind of freedom to make and act upon their choices - and then in conversation an analysand might think further how they have the capacity to act, and as a beneficial change or outcome.
I suppose writing - the use of language and thinking graphically or symbolically - is emblematic of a kind of great agency. (George didn't publish much at all, one paper in Friends' Journal on "The Separation of Church and State" from 2008 I think). And I recall his focus on too on the significance of publishing or printing in talking with me (and even perhaps regarding the metaphor of people as computers; it was George too that in a way planted the idea in the 1990s, I think, that computers were a great field to get into career-wise - go and become a computer technician would be a pragmatic career-focus - and now I'm continuing to develop my big educational project, as perhaps an idea of expression of my agency). Hmmm ...  
Agency philosophy-wise, and personally too? Perhaps (but not yet for me in finding a life partner) ... And for you? Agency for you, David? The capacity to act to find a life partner? And for you, Ma ,and all of us, the capacity to reverse aging with genetic engineering, and to be writing and thinking about agency (philosophically) together when we're 200 years' old? What do you think? :)
Cheers, 
Scott


-- - Scott MacLeod- http://scottmacleod.com 



*
Dear David, Ma,

As a follow-on re thinking about agency philosophically and personally:

psychodynamic psychiatric thinking posits ego, which Lacan departs from perhaps in part with the 'mirror phase,' (re his 3 registers) - and agency philosophically is a whole other approach to related conceptualizations in part ... but which is significant to the role of the psychoanalytic psychiatrist, especially who is a good learner (like George Alexander MD was), perhaps ... and re his moving on to Lacan MD as a psychiatrist (and as a kind of free thinker) in Lacan's 'return to Freud,' when there's no going back! :) ... theoretically perhaps. :)

Scott
https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/20...






* *
Sunday, July 12, 2020
Hi David, Ma,

Here's a slightly updated version of my email to you just now:

Have you thought much about agency, philosophically, "the capacity to act, and 'agency' denotes the exercise or manifestation of this capacity" (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/agency/) and personally?

Am recalling and appreciating George Alexander MD's thinking about this (family friend, and brilliant psychiatrist, as well as Lacanian psychoanalyst), and how he with language made abstract ideas helpful and relevant to individuals with whom he was in conversation. There are many folk philosophies that inform otherwise (eg Quakerism and Yoga, and perhaps some underlying Harbin philosophies too ... ie that it's the divine, or ego religiously conceived, that shape people's actions and their ways of being); cultures can do this too, where the group's discourse somehow seems to inform possible actions of the individual. The idea that we have agency - free will, intentional action, - or choice to decide what we want to do as individuals is something that western philosophical thinking in particular seems to make possible in very unique and even sophisticated ways.

Psychiatrically, and psychologically, an individual with their own agency (not informed by a psychotherapist or psychoanalyst) might choose actions that lead to flourishing, or well-being, in conversation with someone, or on their own, because they might have engaged the idea of agency (via words). (And perhaps they head to a good psychiatrist if they aren't making choices that lead to flourishing, or because they're making poor choices, agency-wise, - and leading to a lack of well-being). Language can help - both with a) the idea that we have agency (as one thinks about this), and b) that conversation can open possibilities in ideas about how to develop agency. The Desiderata - https://www.desiderata.com/desiderata.html - as a poem of agency? (Am appreciative too of George explicitly not giving advice, because reasoning-wise, consciously too, and philosophically, to be able to give good advice may entail being in the other persons 'shoes' - which is logically impossible; appreciating that George was both conscious or aware of this, and that he was able to express this (about his logically not giving advice). That said, he as an experienced clinician seemed to be able to 'free up' people's agency, in my experience of him and understanding his thinking.

Am appreciating, too, the 'problem solving,' Western analytical and philosophical approaches too which George took with conversants - and regarding the human problems and issues that emerge with people. It's a very grounded - re realist - way of thinking, and focusing, too, on the symbolic (rather than the mirror register) per Lacan's 3 registers. Ah language - and agency. (George had a different reading of Lacan than - https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lacan/ - based on reading primary texts and studying Lacan in depth, but this philosophical article is a fairly, and unusually, salutary writing on or about Lacan's thinking; ah, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:).

What do you think about agency? How have you thought about human's capacity to act - about yours or individuals you know, and consciously? Am seeking to find some examples re Cuttyhunk or DC (or Pgh) for you, for example, to make this personally relevant - and not abstract, - and will let you know if some come to mind. (Acting to find a mate, perhaps, David?)

Consciousness re agency raises a whole series of other questions - and how to make these personally meaningful and relevant are fascinating questions too :)

Warm regards, Scott
5 blog posts in recent years about this:
https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/07/geomorphology-agency-have-you-thought.html
https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2013/12/rosy-faced-lovebird-agency-agent-with.html
https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2019/04/eternal-flame-falls-agency-as.html
https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2010/10/tibet-valley-digital-communication.html
https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2013/10/california-condor-whats-anthropological.html

I experience a kind of agency or freedom when I hear great rock and roll (but haven't thought too much about the agency word in this capacity) -
The Allman Brothers Band - Full Concert - 01/05/80 - Capitol Theatre (OFFICIAL)

https://youtu.be/9b1VlW02L8s





--
- Scott MacLeod
- http://scottmacleod.com




*
Jane MacLeod
1:15 PM (9 hours ago)

to me

No in answer to your question if it was a question.

Love, Ma




*
Scott MacLeod
1:19 PM (9 hours ago)

to Jane

Ah, ok. :)

Love, Scott

--
- Scott MacLeod
- http://scottmacleod.com












*








https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oreostemma_alpigenum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora_of_the_Sierra_Nevada_alpine_zone
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