28 Days of Survival Food: Day 4
Jul 28, 2010, 11:40a
OK, I've made it this far. It's been roughly 72 hours since I last ate. My body feels very weak, especially my lower arms (elbow down) and lower legs (knee down), which have been aching in a way that reminds me of growing pains. Becca and I went to see Salt last night, and I couldn't even prop my feet ... more »
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Nicky
- Jul 28, 2010, 9:39a
I am very impressed Nikhil, but I must say the Jewish mother in me would like to feed you and I am going to resist that when I see you next. The emotional experience is interesting to me. On a side note, Salt must have been an interesting choice of movies to watch when you are so weak, with all of the crazy action and all. I hope your weakness resides. I look forward to your posts~
With admiration~n
X
Jul 26, 2010, 12:26p
Post survival school, I had an experience that for lack of a better word I'll call "X". Words like "inner peace", "happiness", and "bliss" come to mind, but none of them actually captures the feeling that I had. I've tried and failed to explain it to people who have never had a similar feeling, so maybe it's like explaining ... more »
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Jessica
- Jul 31, 2010, 4:14p
I don't believe your four parts adequately delineate the factors contributing to X.
Survival school pushes one way past one's own personal psychological and physical limitations. I find that those who experience "X" are people who are coming from a place a far greater dependency on society. Those students that did a lot of wilderness training do not, in my opinion, experience X to the same degree. I think it is partially a matter of the brain being trained to realize that the "threats" we face in society are not real threats in the same way that they are in the field.
Carl Jung wrote about this in one of his early essays, I believe it is on the Stages of Life. He writes that when man's survival is at stake, his problems remain in the field of his existence. Once his survival is guaranteed, his problems move into the sphere of his psychology. People who are struggling to make ends meet do not suffer the same type of psychological ailments of those of the privileged classes. Also, I have never seen a non-privileged person sign up for survival school. I believe that the main contributing factor to "X" is the vacation it provides the psyche by moving one's sphere of problems outside the mind. It takes a period of time after the experience for the problems to move back into the sphere of the mind. During that period you are able to fully appreciate everything you do have and life seems a joy and completely easy. But man thrives on challenge, and you will slowly and by your own volition give up this vacation as you take on new problems.
I don't believe you will be able to achieve "X" with purely a dietary change or by limiting pleasure or by sociality isolating yourself, or by being miserable for a period of time.
I think the key contributing factor to "X" is being confronted with the basic problems of existence and not taking life for granted. It's hard to induce this on your own without a sense of falseness.
P2P Lending + SVM = $$$?
Jul 7, 2010, 1:20p
Since 2004, I've been intrigued by microfinance. It all started when I read Mohammed Yunus' book "Banker for the Poor". In it, Yunus describes how he was able to improve the lives of poor women in Bangladesh by providing them with small loans (as little as $50 or less). Not only did the lenders get a reliable return, the borrowers ... more »
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sundar
- Jul 8, 2010, 11:51p
yes i did get this far - great to see you continue to do interesting stuff, this atleast is much better than those frikking worms you write about:)
Tuomas Talola
- Jul 9, 2010, 5:35a
Have to say, I've never heard of Support Vector Machines. What you've done, I know as regression analysis. Nothing wrong with regression analysis itself, but using it to predict future returns or defaults is little dubious. This has been the case in financial markets over and over again.
However, the work you have done seems quite thorough, I appreciate it. I'd be interested in more detailed results.
Video of real bacterial chemotaxis
Jul 4, 2010, 7:02p
(This is the 4th in a 3-part series on the biology of bacterial chemotaxis. Consider it a video bonus. Parts 1, 2, and 3 are also available.)
I finally found a video of bacteria chemotaxing, and I wanted to share it with you (so I could finally shut up about bacteria by reaching some sort of closure on ... more »
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