The Power of Habit

Listen to The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg on Audible. https://www.audible.com/pd/B007C64916?source_code=ASSOR150021921000R

https://mastodon.online/@PoeticLicenseDK/109608205481835015

I've read Ziglar, WaitIey, Robbins, Tracy, Brown, etc, on a loop. Did it for years while I resurrected a career after leaving Allied Plywood in 2001.

Have fallen into bad habits. Started with doom scrolling Twitter. #DingDong 's actions pushed me away. Had wanted to get away for years, but the black hole of hatred and fear of TFG and his Putin connection kept me hooked like a heroin junkie.

Even after migrating to #Mastodon, I've been doomscrolling Smart News the entire holiday. Black hole. So much wasted time. So much guilt. So much fear of the tsunami about to hit in 2023.

Need to reset. New habits. Do what I know

The Power of Habit.

I needed to find this book. The above statement confirms what I and my closest colleague and mentor, VM, have been talking about. The same sense of overload that prevents me from grading is exactly what prevents students from reading to learn or attempting Math problems. We've known that what holds most back are poor habits, so I'm revisiting the things I do unconsciously and what students do unconsciously to find areas where we can all be more efficient.

This is the sort of professional development & curriculum designing that we should be doing.

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The Greater Reset: It's a good read; now I have to process

Listening to The Greater Reset by Michael D. Greaney, Dawn K. Brohawn on Audible. https://www.audible.com/pd/B09T88Q9FB?source_code=ASSOR150021921000R

"Simply put, Keynesian monetary theory is designed to concentrate wealth." That's interesting.

Although born into this paradigm shifting mindset, I had no interest in reading this book. My sister handed me the book when I dropped off holiday baked goods. Hoping I had an excuse not to read it, I asked, "Is it on Audible?" It is and it's good.

Now I have to process.

ChatGPT: where is the educational benefit?

https://mastodon.online/@PoeticLicenseDK/109602214566250186Mastodon Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2022/chatgpt-questions-predictions-ethics/Washington Post Article

ChatGPT is being applied by professionals to mine large industry specific data sets in order to generate "best practices" recommendations reports that might yield $Billions in savings. I know people who do this for a living.

However, ChatGPT is also being used by students to make convincing sounding arguments in the humanities. Where is the educational benefit?

Tim Wu's The Master Switch

Listen to The Master Switch by Tim Wu on Audible. https://www.audible.com/pd/B004964ZKM?source_code=ASSOR1500219210011

#DingDong decided to ruin the party on the #DirtyBird site with a $44 billion offer to purchase it. Considering his partners, the Saudis,  the UAE, and Larry Ellison, it seemed pretty obvious before the deal closed that an anti-democratic cabal was making a bold move to control the public square, legally. So I endeavored to resist.

That #DingDong was willing to light his $22 bil stake and his investor's money on fire, and put his core business at risk, made it abundantly clear that the move wasn't about profits but about controlling the political narrative with respect to the rise of authoritarianism and fascism in America. This is the context in which I discovered Tim Wu's legal history of the media industry, with its "Manichean" dichotomy of centralized and decentralized control.

Tim Wu broadened my perspective by revisiting the evolution of America's media / communications industry. I was unaware that key players sought control of a Master Switch, which could be used to decide who has access to mass communications.