Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages
Status Reports
Status: Summary (2019 - December)
(Text as at 19/01/2020 23:41:17)
*** THIS IS NOT THE LATEST VERSION OF THIS NOTE ***
(For the live version and other versions of this Note, see the tables at the end)
Rationale for this Report
- This is a summary report with links to my various on-going projects. Detailed progress is shown on the sub-reports.
- This summary report should highlight whether my focus has become unbalanced or otherwise inappropriate to the achievement of my major goals.
- As these reports are rather a pain to generate, I now produce them quarterly, rather than monthly. I’ve also improved the automation, and am reducing the amount of narrative comment.
Projects in Progress
- I have ten projects on which I would like to spend my time, which is too many. I currently split them into three groups.
- The first two groups always have effort planned, but the final group in general does not, though in the first quarter of the academic year – as this time – they have a token one hour per week each.
- The first group relates to my primary (project) life-goals; the second relates to lesser things I really want to address; the final group1 relates to those I’d like to look into if I get ahead on the other projects.
Primary Projects
- Personal Identity2: This is the subject that ought to grab most of my attention, as it is the topic of my yet-to-be-completed PhD Thesis3. I need to achieve something in philosophy, as this is the only one of my endeavours that promises a professional outcome (in the sense of being one of more than merely personal interest).
- Web-tools4: This project is intended to assist with the prosecution of philosophical research. It is fundamentally an enabling project, though one I hope will have general metaphilosophical implications. The other two projects in this group are test cases of the method, as well as worthwhile studies in their own right.
- Philosophy of Religion5: On and off, this represents the main preoccupation of my adult life (work and family aside). Eventually, I intend to follow up in some detail interesting topics from the Philosophy of Religion module from the MA in Philosophy and Religion at Heythrop College, London University that I tasted at the end of 2010, though nothing much has happened in the last decade!
Secondary Projects
- Music6: Improve my competence as an oboist. I have managed regular oboe-practice in my new den for some time now, and recommenced oboe lessons – approximately fortnightly – in September 2018. I have also purchased an electronic piano – also installed in my den – so hopefully some progress will be made on piano-playing, though there’s little time for it.
- Bridge7: I still want to become an expert player but have recognised that this isn’t going to happen without it becoming my main priority, so I’m effectively just playing for fun. I’ve expanded my horizons to include three partners and the occasional tournament.
- Chess8: I returned to the chess scene in September 2018 and play regularly for the Billericay first team in the Southend and North Essex Leagues. My ultimate aim is to improve my standard of play so I can perform acceptably, but I’m currently just treading water.
Other Projects
- Consciousness Studies9: A supporting project for both Personal Identity and Philosophy of Religion. An essential element of any critique of transhumanism.
- Languages10: Gain at least a rudimentary understanding of 24 diverse languages – for practical and philosophical purposes.
- Mathematics11: Revive / improve my mathematical competence with a view to the use of mathematics as a tool in my various other projects. Also – now that I’m 66 – useful for keeping various bits of my brain functioning12.
- HiQ13: Enjoy and contribute to the intellectual society of ISPE and Mensa. Mostly in abeyance, though I re-joined ISPE14 in 2017 and have maintained my membership into 2020, but can spare no time to speak of for taking part.
- These projects are (approximately, in their respective groups) in order of decreasing priority, yet in practise the amount of effort expended on them has failed to respect this.
- I have ignored the various infrastructural elements of my life in these reports – in particular family life, household management, general reading, culture, current affairs, walking the dog, new grandson and such like.
- However, these “non-project” items continue to be time-consuming. The situation with the house15 turned out to be much worse than we first thought and we appointed Bakers of Danbury to sort it out. Things have gone well, and the first two phases of the work have been completed, but we can only afford further significant work if litigation against the surveyor leads to a positive outcome.
- This report and the sub-reports obtained by following the links immediately above show the current status. The report headings show the period the reports are for. Earlier reports can be found by following the links in the “Table of Previous Versions of this Note” further down this report, or in the sub-reports.
Actuals & Planning
- Actuals
- In 19Q4 I spent across my various projects 677.5 hours (677.5 hours YTD) – where by "YTD" - Year to Date - I mean the academic year commencing in October 2019. "Actual versus plan" was 87.3%, (87.3% YTD).
- Overall, I worked hard in 19Q4 but failed to achieve my time-budget, falling short by around 13%. This was down to failing to account properly for “family time” over the holiday period, a bad cold that lasted through December, and excessive optimism in the budget.
- The balance of the various projects against plan was mostly as I’d like, with the minor projects losing out.
- The tables of actual versus plan are on separate pages, accessible below16:-
- For detailed breakdowns of time spent this year, by month and by study location, follow this link17.
- For a report by sub-project of time expended since my records began, follow this link18.
- For tables of Actual versus Plan, together with the high-level plan for the next quarter, see this page19.
Planning
Given my return to regular Bridge, and a decision to try to play Chess regularly if infrequently, I’ve only slightly reduced the average weekly total planned to 59 hours. This is still more than I’ve ever achieved before, and so is unlikely to be achieved, but hopefully the lower-priority projects will be those that lose out.
The planned effort for my Thesis is more or less what it ought to be20.
A point of regret is that – at 26 hours / week – the time allocated to my relatively unimportant priority 2 & 3 projects is almost the same as the 30-hours effort devoted to my priority 1 projects.
I’ve not had scope to increase the time allocated to Web Tools.
Unfortunately, time isn’t available at the moment – given my other commitments – to spend as much time on Philosophy of Religion as I would like. It remains cut to the bone at 1 hour a week.
I’ve decided to continue to try to play the oboe properly, and improve my general musicianship, and have maintained my Music allowance at 7 hours / week. I now have the enthusiasm – and stamina – as an oboist to achieve this, but not the extra 2 hours allocated previously for Theory and Aural.
My intention was always to restrict the effort on Bridge, and focus on Personal Identity. Historically, this resolve has seldom come to anything, except when I’ve stopped playing bridge altogether, though I now believe that for me Bridge is sufficiently enjoyable and relaxing to be self-justifying.
Given the above I’ve decided to continue to down-prioritise Chess, which in 19Q4 was relatively low-key, as I only played 3 games, as I find it neither as enjoyable nor as relaxing as Bridge, and have scheduled only 4 hour / week. I’ve also slightly reduced the time allocated to bridge to 14 hours / week.
The overall time restriction has been reflected in the four “Priority 3” projects having a notional budget of an hour a week.
So, the weekly plan (59 hours) for the next quarter is as below:-
- Priority 1: 30 hours
- Personal Identity: 22 hours.
- Web Tools: 7 hours.
- Philosophy of Religion: 1 hour.
- Priority 2: 25 hours
- Music: 7 hours.
- Bridge: 14 hours.
- Chess: 4 hours.
- Priority 3: 4 hours
- Consciousness Studies: 1 hour.
- Languages: 1 hour.
- Mathematics: 1 hour.
- HiQ: 1 hour.
Follow this link for a categorised list of recently21 purchased books. As the categorisation has got out of hand, follow this link for an alternative list of recent acquisitions22.
Detailed Interim Activities
- As these reports are now quarterly, at best, I’m including a link to a brief uncommented list23 of what I’ve been working on since the last report (ie. this one). It is generated automatically from my time-recording system.
- I’ve recently added a fuller YTD List24, useful for getting a handle on what – if anything – has been happening to the minor projects.
- Their main utility (to me, at any rate) is as a quick jumping-off point for the various writings in progress or recently completed.
- The lists will, in general, be updated every few days.
Plans for the Near Future25
- Thesis
- Religion
- Website
- Music
- Bridge
- Chess
- Consciousness
- Languages
- Mathematics
- HiQ
- Thesis26
- Continue with my Thesis27; in particular
- Spend at least an hour a day writing something original.
- Fill out those sections that I can write something on without further research.
- Rework the structure so that Level-1 or -2 print produces the thesis with the correct reading-list.
- Continually review the Note describing my Current Beliefs28 on the topic of Personal Identity.
- Complete a full review and update of the Notes I’ve created on Personal Identity, focusing on:-
- Those directly referenced by my Current Beliefs29,
- Those without a reading list: Olson30, Ontology31, Organisms32, Perdurantism33, Person34, Personality35, Physical Continuity36, Physicalism37, Probability38, Psychological Continuity – Forward39, Psychological View40, Psychology41, Reductionism42, Religion43, Semantics44, Siliconisation45, Similarity46, Soul Criterion47, Souls48, Statue and the Clay49, Substance50, Survival51, Taking Persons Seriously52, Unity of the Person53.
- Those not yet in the latest standard format.
- Make progress on specific Chapters of my Thesis, using the materials below →
- Chapter 154 (Introduction). Focussing on:-
- Locke55
→ "Duncan (Matt) - I Think, Therefore I Persist", Complete Write-up
→ "Maurer (Nicholas) - Too Many Persons, or None At All?", Write-up
→ "Strawson (Galen) - 'The Secrets of All Hearts': Locke on Personal Identity", Read
→ "Strawson (Galen) - 'Where our responsibility lies': Locke on personal identity", Read
- Logic of Identity56
→ "Noonan (Harold) - Identity, Constitution and Microphysical Supervenience", Write-up57
- Chapter 258 (What Are We?). Focussing on:-
- Brains59: "Mitchell (Kevin J.) - Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are", Read & review
- Human Beings60: Review the Symposium between:-
→ "Robinson (Denis) - Human Beings, Human Animals, and Mentalistic Survival", Read and Write-up
→ "Johnston (Mark) - 'Human Beings' Revisited: My Body is Not an Animal", Complete Write-up
- Persons61: "Cottingham (John) - Why we are not 'persons'", Complete Write-up
- Selves62:-
- "Arikha (Noga) - The Interoceptive Turn", Read and Write-up
- "Dainton (Barry) - Self: Philosophy In Transit", Read and Write-up
- "Glover (Jonathan) - I: Philosophy and Psychology of Personal Identity", Read and Write-up
- "O'Hear (Anthony), Ed. - Mind, Self and Person", Complete Reading and Write-ups
- Chapter 363 (What Is A Person64?).
- "Nanay (Bence) - Catching Desires": Complete write-up
- "Noller (Jorg) - A Transformative Account of Personal Identity",
- "Noller (Jorg) - Person",
- Personites65, develop Note, using:-
→ "Olson (Eric) - Ethics and the Generous Ontology", then …
→ "Eklund (Matti) - The Existence of Personites",
→ "Johnston (Mark) - The Personite Problem: Should Practical Reason Be Tabled?",
→ "Johnston (Mark) - Personites, Maximality and Ontological Trash",
→ "Kaiserman (Alexander) - Stage Theory and the Personite Problem",
→ "Pautz (Adam) - Johnston’s Puzzle about Personites".
- Chapter 466 (Basic Metaphysical Issues). Focus on:-
- Existence67: "Williams (Christopher) - Death and Other Difficulties"
- Logic of Identity68 (Partial Identity69)
→ "Baxter (Donald L.M.) - Temporary and Contingent Instantiation as Partial Identity",
→ "Hawley (Katherine) - Almost Identical, Almost Innocent"
- Parfit70
→ "Colen (J.A.) - In Memoriam Derek Parfit (1942-2017)",
→ "Funkhouser (Eric) - Notes on Parfit, 'Personal Identity'",
→ "Korsgaard (Christine) - Personal Identity and the Unity of Agency: A Kantian Response to Parfit",
→ "Perry (John) - Time, Fission, and Personal Identity",
→ "Parfit (Derek) - Personal Identity",
→ "Parfit (Derek) - Prudence, morality, and the prisoner's dilemma", Note71
→ "Parfit (Derek) - Who do you think you are?",
→ Complete run-through of the Parfit reading-list
- Simple View72
→ "Duncan (Matt) - A Challenge to Anti-Criterialism"
→ "Duncan (Matt) - A Renewed Challenge to Anti-Criterialism"
→ "Duncan (Matt) - Dualists Needn’t Be Anti-Criterialists (Nor Should They Be)"
- Vague Identity73
→ "Broome (John) - Indefiniteness in Identity",
→ "Noonan (Harold) - Vague Identity Yet Again"
- Chapter 574 (Persistence75 and Time76). Focussing on:-
- General
- "Sider (Ted), Hawthorne (John) & Zimmerman (Dean), Eds. - Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics",
- Persistence77
- Robert O. Doyle: Complete running through relevant pages, ie:-
→ "Doyle (Robert O.) - Change (Being and Becoming)"
→ "Doyle (Robert O.) - Persistence (Perdurance and Endurance)"
→ "Doyle (Robert O.) - David Wiggins" (part)
- "Haslanger (Sally) & Kurtz (Roxanne), Eds. - Persistence : Contemporary Readings",
- "Hawley (Katherine) - Persistence and Determination",
- "Wiggins (David) - Continuants: Their Activity, Their Being, and Their Identity", especially
→ "Noonan (Harold) - Review of Wiggins's 'Continuants'", and
→ "Wiggins (David) - Identity, Individuation, and Substance"
- Time78
- "Boccardi (Emiliano), Ed. - Manuscrito vol. 39 no.4: Recent Trends in the Philosophy of Time: An Introduction to Time and Reality - I", and
- "Boccardi (Emiliano), Ed. - Manuscrito vol. 40 no.1: The Passage of Time and its Enemies: An Introduction to Time and Reality - II"
- "Botros (Sophie) - Truth, Time and History: A Philosophical Enquiry", and especially
→ "Botros (Sophie) - Truth, Time and History - A Philosophical Inquiry with Dr Sophie Botros"
- "Bourne (Craig) - A Future for Presentism",
- "Correia (Fabrice) & Rosenkranz (Sven) - Unfreezing the Spotlight: Tense Realism and Temporal Passage",
- "Costa (Damiano), Gilmore (Cody) & Calosi (Claudio) - Relativity and Three Four-Dimensionalisms",
- Natalja Deng: Various papers, starting with
→ "Deng (Natalja) - One Thing After Another: Why the Passage of Time is Not an Illusion",
- Mauro Dorato: Various papers,
→ "Dorato (Mauro) - Presentism / Eternalism and Endurantism / Perdurantism: why the unsubstantiality of the first debate implies that of the second",
→ "Dorato (Mauro) - Presentism and the Experience of Time",
→ "Dorato (Mauro) - The Irrelevance of the Presentist / Eternalist Debate for the Ontology of Minkowski Spacetime".
- "Fischer (Florian) - Philosophy of time: A slightly opinionated introduction",
- "Friebe (Cord) - Eternalism and the Temporal Content of Persistence", and
- "Friebe (Cord) - Metametaphysics: the Ontology of Spacetime and the Presentist/Eternalist Debate".
- "Lebens (Samuel) & Goldschmidt (Tyron) - The Promise of a New Past": Complete and send to Sophie Botros & Michael J. Alter,
- "LePoidevin (Robin) - Travels in Four Dimensions: The Enigmas of Space and Time",
- "LePoidevin (Robin) & MacBeath (Murray), Eds. - The Philosophy of Time: Oxford Readings in Philosophy",
- "Miller (Kristie) - Issues in Theoretical Diversity: Persistence, Composition, and Time",
- "Roselli (Andrea) - How Long is Now? A New Perspective on the Specious Present",
- "Rovelli (Carlo) - The Order of Time",
- "Sattig (Thomas) - The Flow of Time in Experience",
- "Savitt (Steven) - Presentism and Eternalism in Perspective",
- "Skow (Bradford) - Objective Becoming",
- "Torrengo (Giuliano) - Time and Simple Existence",
- "Zimmerman (Dean) - Presentism and the Space-Time Manifold"
- Chapter 679 (Animalism80). Focussing on:-
- Animals81:
- "Ross (Don) - Consciousness, language, and the possibility of non-human personhood: Reflections on elephants"
- Animalism82
- "Hershenov (David) - Review of David DeGrazia’s Human Identity and Bioethics",
- "Merricks (Trenton) - Objects and Persons",
- "Olson (Eric) - The Human Animal - Personal Identity Without Psychology", my core text,
- "Shoemaker (Sydney) - Persons, Animals, and Identity",
- "Snowdon (Paul) - Persons, Animals, Ourselves",
- Life83
- "Al-Khalili (Jim) & McFadden (Johnjoe) - Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology",
- "DiFrisco (James) & Mossio (Matteo) - Diachronic Identity in Complex Life Cycles: An Organizational Perspective",
- "Lachmann (Michael) & Walker (Sara) - Life ≠ alive",
- "Schrodinger (Erwin) - What is Life?"
- Chapter 784 (The Constitution View85):-
- "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Persons and Bodies: A Constitution View": My other core text. Start a serious review.
- "Baker (Lynne Rudder), Etc. - E-Symposium on 'Persons & Bodies: A Constitution View'": Write up reviews of papers,
- "Corcoran (Kevin) - Rethinking Human Nature: A Christian Materialist Alternative to the Soul": Read and review,
- "Loose (Jonathan) - Constitution and the Falling Elevator: The Continuing Incompatibility of Materialism and Resurrection Belief": Write a Note.
- "Mellor (D.H.) - Micro-composition": Read
- "Zahavi (Dan) - Subjectivity and Selfhood: Investigating the First-Person Perspective": Write-up.
- Chapter 886 (Arguments against Animalism87):-
- "Bailey (Andrew M.) - The Elimination Argument",
- Dicephalus & Conjoined Twins88
- "Buchanan (Rachael) - The battle to separate Safa and Marwa"
- "Campbell (Tim) & McMahan (Jeff) - Animalism and the Varieties of Conjoined Twinning"
- "Olson (Eric) - The Metaphysical Implications of Conjoined Twining"
- "Stone (James L.) & Goodrich (James T.) - The craniopagus malformation: classification and implications for surgical separation"
- "Wikipedia - Craniopagus Twins"
- "Olson (Eric) - The Role of the Brainstem in Personal Identity",
- "Olson (Eric) - On Parfit's View That We Are Not Human Beings",
- Pregnancy89
- "Damschen (Gregor), Gomez-Lobo (Alfonso) & Schonecker (Dieter) - Sixteen Days? A Reply to B. Smith and B. Brogaard on the Beginning of Human Individuals",
- Elselijn Kingma. Especially
→ "Finn (Suki) - Bun or bump?",
→ "Kingma (Elselijn) - Lady Parts: The Metaphysics of Pregnancy", and
→ "Kingma (Elselijn) - Were You Part of Your Mother?".
- "Gomez-Lobo (Alfonso) - Sortals and Human Beginnings",
- "Isaac (Sasha) - Is artificial-womb technology a tool for women’s liberation?",
- "Oderberg (David) - The Metaphysical Status of the Embryo: Some Arguments Revisited",
- "Smith (Barry) & Brogaard (Berit) - Sixteen Days".
- Chapter 1090 (Thought Experiments91):-
- "Nielsen (Lasse) - Reconstructing Thought Experiments in Personal Identity",
- "Searle (John), Etc. - Minds, Brains, and Programs",
- Investigate Transhumanism92. In particular,
- "Alexander (Denis) - Healing, enhancement and the human future": Read,
- "Awad (Edmond), Etc. - The Moral Machine experiment": Read,
- "Ball (Philip) - Sim ethics": Write up,
- "Bostrom (Nick) - Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies": Read,
- "Bridle (James) - New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future": Read,
- "Davies (Sally) - Women’s minds matter" (and papers cited / resisted)
- "Fry (Hannah) - Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine": Read & review,
- "Graziano (Michael) - Endless fun": Detailed review,
- "Hanson (Robin) - The Age of Em: Work, Love, and Life when Robots Rule the Earth", Read
- "Harari (Yuval Noah) - Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow": Review, especially Chapter 8,
- "Kent (Adrian) - Replication Ethics": Read,
- "Madary (Michael) & Metzinger (Thomas) - Real Virtuality: A Code of Ethical Conduct": Read,
- "Marshall (Richard) & Metzinger (Thomas) - Thomas Metzinger: All About the Ego Tunnel": Read,
- "Midgley (Mary) - Biotechnology and Monstrosity: Why We Should Pay Attention to the 'Yuk Factor'": Complete,
- "O'Connell (Mark) - To be a Machine": Briefly review,
- "Schneider (Susan) - Artificial You": Read,
- "Shipley (G.J.) - Review of Andy Clark's 'Natural-Born Cyborgs'": Complete review,
- "Smith (Wilfred Cantwell) - The Promise of Artificial Intelligence": Read,
- "Tegmark (Max) - Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence": Read.
- Chapter 1193 (Resurrection94):-
- Death95
- "Baillie (James) - We all know that we will die, so why do we struggle to believe it?": Complete review
- "Bradley (Ben), Feldman (Fred) & Johansson (Jens) - The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Death": Start a review, especially
→ "Zimmerman (Dean) - Personal Identity and the Survival of Death",
- "Luper (Steven), Ed. - The Cambridge Companion to Life and Death": Start a review, especially
→ "Olson (Eric) - The Nature of People",
- "Stone (Alison) - Thinking about one’s birth is as uncanny as thinking of death": review
- Makropulos Case96
- "Moore (Adrian W.) - Is the quest for immortality worse than death?": Detailed analysis
- "Moore (Adrian W.) - Williams, Nietzsche, and the Meaninglessness of Immortality": Read and review
- Reincarnation97
- "Barua (Ankur) - Revisiting the Rationality of Reincarnation-Talk": Write a file-note.
- "MacIntosh (J.J.) - Reincarnation and Relativized Identity": Read and review
- "Noonan (Harold) - The Possibility of Reincarnation": Read and review
- Resurrection98
- "Martin (L. Michael) & Augustine (Keith) - The Myth of an Afterlife: The Case against Life After Death": Start a thorough review,
- "Badham (Paul) - Christian Beliefs About Life After Death": Read and review
- "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Death and the Afterlife": Read and review
- "Corcoran (Kevin) - Dualism, Materialism and the Problem of Post Mortem Survival": Read and review
- As background tasks:-
- Ensure all items in:-
→ "Various - Papers on Desktop", and
→ "Various - Papers in Desk Drawer"
are either addressed or re-filed.
- Maintain "Various - Papers & Books Yet To Be Logged", and log papers therein if they become important.
- Convert old PDF-précis, Etc99 to Notes: As an interim task, correct the dates + email address on the longer pdfs.
- Complete cataloguing the books downloaded from Springer,
- Continue with "Marshall (Richard) - Philosophy at 3:AM: Questions and Answers with 25 Top Philosophers",
- Complete reading:-
- "Barker (Jonathan) - Debunking Arguments and Metaphysical Laws",
- "Carey (John), Ed. - The Faber Book of Science",
- "Dennett (Daniel) - The Mind's I - Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul: Introduction",
- "Erber (Joan T.) & Szuchman (Lenore T.) - Great Myths of Aging",
- "Everett (Daniel) - Did Homo erectus speak?",
- "Hofstadter (Douglas) - Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid - A Metaphorical Fugue on Minds and Machines in the Spirit of Lewis Carroll",
- "Gazzaniga (Michael S.) - Who's in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain",
- "Rosling (Hans) - Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think" (Note100)
- Complete my Note on "Smith (Martin) - Why Throwing 92 Heads in a Row Is Not Surprising" and discuss with Pete & Mike.
- Continue reading and reviewing papers issued by Aeon101,
- Keep up with the Journals via JSTOR & Cambridge Core.
- Update my Journals Note102: Review the journals I have access to; more are available as a Cambridge Alumnus.
- Keep up with the philosophical world by regular reviews of "Interaction - Philos-List", but only seriously pursue items relevant to my research.
- Religion103
- Philosophy of Religion:
- "Antony (Louise M.) - Philosophers without Gods: Meditations on Atheism and the Secular Life": Continue reading,
- "Ferguson (Matthew) - Κέλσος": Continue reading the Blog.
- Resurrection: Continue reviewing104
- "Alter (Michael J.) - The Resurrection: A Critical Inquiry", and
- "Alter (Michael J.) - The Resurrection & Christian Apologetics: A Critical Inquiry Volume 2".
- Background:
- Aeon: Read & annotate papers as they arise
- "Finkelstein (Israel) & Silberman (Neil Asher) - The Bible Unearthed": Continue reading
- "Finkel (Irving) - The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood": Continue reading
- "Taylor (Joan E.) - Jesus and Brian: Exploring the Historical Jesus and His Times Via Monty Python's Life of Brian": Review KCL Conference videos
- Website105
- Own Website: Priority 1 Items By Category:-
- Architecture
- Complete XRef-re-engineering project:-
- Ensure all links and link-pages use the new XRef table, and pension off the old tables.
- Check all link-types still work and fix any errors.
- Complete the auto-triggering of regeneration of “associated” link pages.
- Fix update bug in Convert_Webrefs.
- Fix Bug whereby PaperSummary pages seem to have “Works-” and “Books/Papers-” Citings that refer to the same link-pages.
- Review effectiveness of hyperlinking method in the light of PhD and Philosophy of Religion experience.
- Where possible, use ID rather than NAME for in-page hyperlinks
- Authors
- As revealed by Spider: Philosophers_Index_List_OA.htm. Author Names Scrambled. 133 items.
- Completely re-engineer Authors processing to use IDs rather than Names:-
- Authors' pages to be identified by Author_nnnnn, where nnnnn is the (numeric) Author_ID.
- Directory-structure in thousands: Author_mm.
- Use Author_ID in all Tables.
- Need to document at the same time!
- Needed because of difficulties transferring special characters in file names.
- Enable "alternate names" for identically-named authors (to avoid middle-initial = X).
- Backups
- Copying Errors:
- Investigate & fix directory error when backing up ZoomSearch database.
- This directory structure was set "not to back-up". Determine why this was ignored.
- Investigate Record-count discrepancies:-
- How do website files work as far as counts are concerned?
- Why aren't they recorded in Backup_History, nor the fact that the website was backed up?
- Different counts depending on whether new or old laptop is backed up. Investigate 63k discrepancy - lower on new laptop.
- Review architecture to improve performance; Need to document first
- Books/Papers
- Investigate whether multiple Subject/Topic/Subtopic usage leads anywhere (ie. are just the first (of 3) actually used). Fix anything amiss.
- Bridge
- As revealed by Spider: Bridge_Code_Archive.htm (14 items) & Bridge_Code_Archive_Recent.htm (5 items)
- Develop auto-reconciliation routines vs EBU results download
- Documenter
- Investigate the error reports from the Documenter, especially unused variables & queries.
- Provide Functional Documentation for Website Generator (using Notes)
- Education
- "Sitepoint (Learnable) - Sitepoint Learnable Web Development Courses": Plan what to do (and with the eBooks in my possession).
- Read "PC Pro - Computing in the Real World".
- Infrastructure
- iCloud for Windows: Re-install & solve 'The upload folder for iCloud Photos is missing' problem. Try on new Laptop.
- Notes
- Add "Note Alternates" to Note pages.
- Allow the option to concatenate Notes in the Printed version (ie. linearly embed them essay-style), rather than treating the hyperlinks as footnotes – but still keep the hyperlink & cross-referencing in place.
- For use as "disclaimers" - eg. for "Plug Notes".
- For Thesis / essays: the difficulty here is the need for linking passages to make the text run smoothly.
- As revealed by Spider: #Reference links: fail for Printable Notes. 24 items.
- As revealed by Spider: Blackberry links from archived Note 1010 (Maintenance Dashboard). 38 items.
- As revealed by Spider: Blog106 Achived Notes - sundry links to Printable Notes. Live Note OK. 100 items outstanding.
- As revealed by Spider: Old links from Archive Notes to (non-existent) Archived Printable Notes. 42 items.
- As revealed by Spider: Sundry uncategorised. Refs failing. 30 items.
- Create Functor to facilitate addition of Audio Files to Music Page
- Investigate Note_Links: Section references seem to be incorrect
- Printable Notes: fix the bug whereby the “private” flag is round the wrong way.
- Suppress the publication of the Printable versions of Temp Notes
- Photos
- Develop software & procedure to make adding more content to the photos pages easier to undertake.
- Timeline software: Add photos for Holidays
- Process
- Determine why Recalculation & Changed Book/Papers produce unneeded regeneration.
- Full Website Regeneration is now taking 18.5 hours:-
- This is on my new laptop - it was taking 36 hours on my old laptop. Investigate why so, and improve performance!
- The end-to-end time on the new laptop is no better because the process pauses mid-way when the system goes to sleep overnight. I've set the power mode to 'Presentation', so we'll see if this fixes things.
- I got a copy error for private Note for Note 133. This contributed to extended run-times on the new laptop. Hopefully just a set-up problem.
- Spider
- Analyse the results of the data collection exercise and design a plan of campaign to fix broken Internal links and prevent recurrence.
- Correct the code so the problems discovered by the Spider don’t recur.
- Delete 'orphan pages' that are never linked to, ie. Use the Spider to prune redundant pages107 automatically where possible.
- Fix the historical data where errors are uncovered by the Spider. An easier task now the site has a full-regen function.
- The Spider was generating WebRefs. Procedurally, this ought not to have been possible.
- The major problem turned out to be because unprocessed108 URLs got added to the end of the last WebLinks_Tester_Brief page, which then got Spidered. I've stopped this happening, so hopefully the problem will not recur. The fix was made in 18Q2.
- However, 4 other creations appeared - dated 18/05/18 - from the run of 10/07/18. The creation date was from the previous spider run, but the IDs show that they were produced in the latest run.
I've re-opened the case!
- Technology
- Look into Sistrix Smart109. Errors and warnings itemised are:-
- Duplicate content: seems to be variants on theotodman.com
- Title Tags: Empty, too long, identical
- Page Not Found
- Filesize in excess of 1Mb
- Meta-Description: Empty
- Few words on Page
- H1: Not used, used multiple times per page, identical across pages
- Pictures: Alt attribute missing
- WebRefs
- As revealed by Spider: WebLinks_Tester_Brief_12.htm. Refs failing. 1 item.
- As revealed by Spider: WebLinks_Tester_Full_Map.htm (etc). Refs failing. 117 items.
- As revealed by Spider: WebLinks_Tester_Map_3.htm (etc). Refs failing. 20 items.
- Documentation & Bug-fixes: Phase 2
- Re-document the procedures in the light of recent changes.
- Resolve issues generated / revealed by the spider.
- Investigate - and fix where possible - broken links.
- Reformat WebLinks_Tester.htm, WebLinks_Tester_Map.htm, WebLinks_Tester_Full.htm & WebLinks_Tester_Full_Map.htm
- Clarify 'truncated': Display, not link
- Allow more space for 'link returned', 'issue' and 'display text'
- The 'As Above" lines waste space. Only for Notes Archive? Consolidate onto single second line.
- Reformat WebLinks_Tester_Brief: Allow more space for 'link returned', 'issue' and 'display text'
- Other Websites: Priority 1 Items By Category:-
- Music110
- Oboe:-
- Practice the oboe for two 30-minute sessions each and every day111 – focussing on the items below and …
- Occasionally combine into an hour-long session to build up stamina further.
- Attend the summer sessions of The Enigma Ensemble.
- Run through the Enigma Ensemble portfolio, practicing the active pieces.
- Work through, and perfect, scales & arpeggios112 for Grades I-VII, using
→ "Trinity Guildhall - Trinity Guildhall Scales & Arpeggios for Oboe (Grades 1–8)", and
→ "ABRSM - Scales and Arpeggios for Oboe, Grades 1-8 (ABRSM Scales & Arpeggios)".
- Improve sight-reading by playing through
→ "Trinity Guildhall - Sound at Sight Oboe Grades 1-8", and
→ "Davies (John) & Harris (Paul) - 80 Graded Studies for Oboe: Book 1".
- Occasionally review Grade VI pieces, in particular
→ "Boni (Giovanni) - Sonata in G" (Prelude, but also 2nd, 3rd & 4th movements for interest),
→ "Davies (John) & Harris (Paul) - 80 Graded Studies for Oboe: Book 2" (Blatt - Study No. 52),
→ "Morricone (Ennio) - Gabriel's Oboe (Piano Solo Or Oboe/Piano)"
→ "Miller (Vojislav) & Liebermann (Winfried), Eds. - Test Pieces for Orchestral Auditions (Orchester Probespiel) - Oboe" (Eroica, Aida, Der Freischutz),
→ "Nielsen (Carl) - Two Fantasy Pieces, Op. 2" (Romanze only)
- Prepare Grade VII pieces, in particular113
→ "Albinoni (Tomaso) - Concerto in D Minor Op. 9/2 for Oboe & Piano", 1st movement (but also 2nd & 3rd for interest)
→ "Bach (J.S.) - 105 Difficult Passages from the Works of J. S. Bach. For oboe", Items 49 & 70
→ "Davies (John) & Harris (Paul) - 80 Graded Studies for Oboe: Book 2" (Ferling - Study No. 62)
→ "Fiocco (J.H.) - Arioso - Oboe + Piano",
→ "Head (Michael) - Presto for Oboe & Piano"
→ "Hinke (Gustav Adolf) - Elementary Method For Oboe", Items 14 & 18
→ "Miller (Vojislav) & Liebermann (Winfried), Eds. - Test Pieces for Orchestral Auditions (Orchester Probespiel) - Oboe" (Mozart Jupiter, Tchaikovsky Pathetique, Stravinsky Pucinella),
→ "Mower (Mike) - The Good Tempered Oboe" ('Jauntless Jig' & 'May The Fourth Be With You'),
→ "Nielsen (Carl) - Two Fantasy Pieces, Op. 2" (Humoresque),
→ "Saint-Saens (Camille) - Sonata Op.166 in D Major for Oboe & Piano" (1st Movement),
→ "Schumann (Robert) - 3 Romances, Op. 94 for Oboe and Piano" (1st & 3rd Movements; 2nd for interest).
- Prepare Grade VIII pieces, in particular114
→ "Bach (J.S.) - 105 Difficult Passages from the Works of J. S. Bach. For oboe", Items 62, 66 and 28
→ "Davies (John) & Harris (Paul) - 80 Graded Studies for Oboe: Book 2" (Harris - Study No. 74; Luft - Study No. 77)
→ "Miller (Vojislav) & Liebermann (Winfried), Eds. - Test Pieces for Orchestral Auditions (Orchester Probespiel) - Oboe" (try various),
→ "Mower (Mike) - The Good Tempered Oboe" (No. 44 - 'Dop Dop Doobah'),
→ "Saint-Saens (Camille) - Sonata Op.166 in D Major for Oboe & Piano" (2nd & 3rd Movements),
- Read and apply oboe practice techniques recommended by Martin Schuring.
- Read "Caplan (Stephen) - Oboe: The Breathing Book".
- Piano: Try to develop some competence as an aid to theory, so:-
- Continue working through "Rhodes (James) - How to Play the Piano",
- Work through "ABRSM - Selected Piano Exam Pieces 2009-2010: Grade 1", and
- Try to play by ear, using for inspiration:-
→ "Cannel (Ward) & Marx (Fred) - How to Play the Piano Despite Years of Lessons: What Music Is and How to Make It at Home".
- Theory: Prepare for Grade 5 Theory, so:-
- Study
→ "Taylor (Eric) - The AB Guide to Music Theory - Part 1", and
→ "Taylor (Eric) - The AB Guide to Music Theory - Part 2",
- Do the exercises in
→ "Taylor (Eric) - Music Theory in Practice: Grade 1",
→ "Taylor (Eric) - Music Theory in Practice: Grade 2",
→ "Taylor (Eric) - Music Theory in Practice: Grade 3",
→ "Taylor (Eric) - Music Theory in Practice: Grade 4", and
→ "Taylor (Eric) - Music Theory in Practice: Grade 5",
- Aural:
- Run through:-
→ "Trinity Guildhall - Trinity College London Aural Tests Book 1 (Initial to Grade 5) 2017", and
→ "Trinity Guildhall - Trinity College London Aural Tests Book 2 (Grades 6 to 8) 2017".
- Get a grip on the process of ear-training by reading "Deutsch (Diana) - Absolute Pitch", and related material115.
- Try out "Boytim (Joan Frey) - The First Book Of Baritone/Bass Solos".
- Also follow up items in:-
→ "Various - Music - Aural - Various On-line Training".
- Bridge116
- Continue playing bridge regularly with David Tennet:-
→ Play at Mountnessing Bridge Club
→ NICKO - 2019-20 (Round 2, for Mountnessing A; Tuesday 21st January; against last years' winners!)
→ Woodham Ferrers Swiss Teams (Sunday 26th January; with TC & SE)
→ Warboys B Flight (Wednesdays 12/2 & 11/3): If selected
→ National Pairs (Sunday 15th March): Or with Colin
- Continue to develop a partnership with Colin Scott
→ Play at Billericay Mayflower Bridge Club
- Continue a partnership with Linda Fleet
→ Play at Hutton Duplicate Bridge Club
- Re-read Hand-counting papers, focussing on
→ Papers in Counting the Hands117,
→ "Bourke (Tim) & Smith (Marc), Bird (David) - Countdown to Winning Bridge", and
→ "Lawrence (Mike) - How to read your opponents' cards: The bridge expert's way to locate missing high cards"
- Read "Klinger (Ron) - Five-card Majors".
- Read "Reading - Bridge - Magazines".
- Chess118
- Chess Study:-
→ "Hansen (Carsten) - The Full English Opening: Mastering the Fundamentals",
→ "Ris (Robert) - Crucial Chess Skills for the Club Player: Volume 1",
→ "Ris (Robert) - Crucial Chess Skills for the Club Player: Volume 2",
→ "Sadler (Matthew) & Regan (Natasha) - Game Changer: AlphaZero's Groundbreaking Chess Strategies and the Promise of AI",
→ "Speelman (Jon), Tisdall (Jon) & Wade (Bob) - Batsford Chess Endings",
→ "van der Sterren (Paul) - FCO - Fundamental Chess Openings", and
→ "Willemze (Thomas) - The Chess Toolbox: Practical Techniques Everyone Should Know".
- Chess Training:-
→ Chess.com (game analysis & daily 10-minute game),
→ "Chess - Chess - YouTube Videos"
→ Complete review of 2018/19 season's games, and keep up to date with those of the current season.
- Chess Play: Participation119 in Billericay Chess Club:-
→ Club Nights
→ NECL matches
→ Southend League matches
- Consciousness120
- Aeon: Read & annotate papers as they arise, especially ...
→ "Chittka (Lars) & Wilson (Catherine) - Bee-brained": Write-up
→ "Frankish (Keith) - The Consciousness Illusion": Write-up
→ "Pigliucci (Massimo) - Consciousness is real": Read & write-up
→ (see also) "Strawson (Galen) - The Consciousness Deniers": Read & write-up
- "Crane (Tim) - Elements of Mind - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind": Re-read and review notes.
- "Dehaene (Stanislas) - Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts": Read.
- "Dennett (Daniel) - Illusionism as the Obvious Default Theory of Consciousness": Read.
- "Eliot (Lise) - What's Going On in There?: How the Brain And Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life": Read.
- "Kammerer (Francois) - The Hardest Aspect of the Illusion Problem - and How to Solve it": Read.
- "Papineau (David) - Introducing Consciousness": Re-read and write notes.
- Languages121
- Thai: Following Nat's emigration to Thailand:-
→ "Lonely Planet - Lonely Planet Thai Phrasebook & Dictionary",
→ "Becker (Benjawan Poomsan) - Thai for Beginners",
→ "ThaiNotes - Thai Notes",
→ "Wikipedia - Thai Alphabet", and
→ "Wikipedia - Thai Language".
- Egyptian (Ancient):
- Mathematics122
- Aeon: Read papers as they arise.
- "Feynman (Richard), Leighton (Robert B.) & Sands (Matthew) - The Feynman Lectures on Physics - Vol I": Read.
- "Gowers (Timothy), Barrow-Green (June) & Leader (Imre), Eds. - The Princeton Companion to Mathematics": Browse.
- "Polya (George), Stewart (Ian) - How to Solve IT: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method": Read.
- Try the puzzles in
→ "Polya (George) & Kilpatrick (Jeremy) - The Stanford Mathematics Problem Book: With Hints and Solutions", and
→ "UKMT, du Sautoy (Marcus) - The Ultimate Mathematical Challenge".
- "Shapiro (Stewart) - Thinking about Mathematics - The Philosophy of Mathematics": Complete reading.
- "Smith (Martin) - Why Throwing 92 Heads in a Row Is Not Surprising": Analyze.
- "Tammet (Daniel) - Thinking in Numbers: How Maths Illuminates Our Lives": Read.
- "Wilmott (Paul) - Machine Learning: An Applied Mathematics Introduction": Read.
- HiQ123
- ISPE
- Sort through and review historical material,
- Investigate & take part in ISPE Ning
- Read "ISPE - The Thousander",
- Read "ISPE - Telicom": The last print issue (Jan - Dec 2016) looks interesting as a starter, and has stimulated me to look into124 ...
- Read "Tammet (Daniel) - Embracing the Wide Sky: A tour across the horizons of the mind",
- Investigate the controversies over IQ-testing, in particular read and review:-
→ "Gould (Stephen Jay) - The Mismeasure of Man",
→ "Herrnstein (Richard J.) & Murray (Charles) - The Bell Curve - Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life", and
→ "Devlin (Bernie), Fienberg (Stephen E.), Resnick (Daniel P.) & Roeder (Kathryn) - Intelligence, Genes & Success - Scientists Respond to The Bell Curve"
- Consider submitting articles on my research to Telicom as a way of getting feedback.
- Investigate Triple Nine Society.
- Mensa
In-Page Footnotes
Footnote 1:
- Since the contents of the groups changes over time, this justification for their segregation isn’t entirely accurate.
Footnote 12:
- Mind you, the mathematical bits didn’t function very well in my youth, so what hope is there now?
Footnote 14:
- Due to administrative confusion, I needlessly took their latest entrance test. After chasing them up I was told I “passed with flying colours”, but could get no more information.
Footnote 15:
- Coxes Farm hails from the 16th century, or possibly earlier, and is very “wonky”, requiring continual maintenance.
- In December 2017, a base to roof crack appeared in the render at the front.
- Subsequent investigations revealed that the frame at the front – which had been added in the 17th century – has rotted away, so the front façade was held up by the brick infill and an impervious cement render, the cause of the rot.
- The front of the house has now been rebuilt, as has ¾ of the rear. A third project – currently on hold – is to rebuild the lower part of a side wall.
- I’ve written a Blog Item on this saga, with some theoretical thoughts, which I hope to have published in due course.
Footnote 16:
- If these link to the wrong version, ie. the current one, you’ll need to go the “previous versions” and select the correct one.
Footnote 20:
- 25 hours / week represents the amount of time that I’d need to spend if I were pursuing my research part-time at Birkbeck – which would be something like 5 hours / day, 5 days a week.
Footnote 21:
- As my purchasing has now dropped to a relative trickle, I’ve extended the selection range to cover the last 6 months.
- Some of these are random purchases from charity shops, or presents. Others are selectively purchased in support of my various projects.
- Poverty and lack of space is severely curtailing my purchasing power.
Footnote 22:
- Or at least those recently added to my database, in the case of electronic items that sometimes arrive too fast to be catalogued immediately.
Footnote 25:
- In the light of the segregation of my projects into three tiers, items for tertiary projects are only to be addressed if everything of higher priority is in shape.
- If there are any changes to this list between quarters, they will appear in the Priority Task List.
Footnote 57:
- This paper covers the "loose and popular" sense of identity, amongst much else.
Footnote 71: Footnote 100:
- Read the Appendices, and extract the Chapter Summaries as learning-points.
Footnote 104:
- While I couldn't submit to Michael Alter's deadlines and the amount of work required, I ought to at least read these books.
Footnote 107:
- Note that Backup_Prune_Ctrl deletes (relevant) pages that weren't regenerated in the last full site-regen, but this isn't the same thing.
Footnote 108:
- These are URLs that were used in web pages but hadn't yet been converted to the +WnnnW+ format, so appeared at the end with no WebRef ID.
Footnote 109:
- See Sistrix
- This used to be called Optimizr, see Sistrix (which now auto-forwards to Sistrix).
- A quick look doesn’t show it to be an obvious scam, but I need to double-check.
- An unsolicited analysis of my site turned up monthly from Optimizr from January 2015 to October 2017, listing a large number of “problems” that I think I know about, but which are in the queue to address.
- It restarted in February 2018, under the Sistrix name (this seems to have been associated with Optimizr since November 2015).
- The free version of this software is restricted to 1,000 pages, which is a very small proportion of my Site, though I may be able to point it to difference base-URLs.
- But I do need to address the problems validly itemised, and a sub-set is still useful.
Footnote 111:
- Well, maybe with the occasional holiday, and excluding days on which I have a lesson or the Enigma Ensemble.
Footnote 112:
- I don't intend to present these for the Trinity exams, as I can present Orchestral Audition pieces instead; but they are essential for technique.
Footnote 113:
- I've yet to decide which to present for the Exam, so this long list will get whittled down in due course.
Footnote 114:
- These are just the ones from the Trinity schedule that I happen to have. Some look rather fearsome.
- The only one I've had assigned is the Second Movement of the Saint-Saens.
Footnote 115: Ie. The following:- Footnote 119:
- This used to say "full participation", but I've let the team captain know that my focus is now on Bridge, and that - while I'm willing to "fill a board" - I don't want to take the place of anyone more enthusiastic.
Footnote 124:
- Though I will probably book the time against my Thesis, as it involves what it is to be a person, transhumanism and the like.
Live Version of this Archived Note
Table of 12 Earlier Versions of this Note (of 81)
Table of 12 Later Versions of this Note (of 14)
| This version updated |
Reference for this Topic |
Parent Topic |
| 19/01/2020 23:41:17 |
512 (Status: Summary (2019 - December)) |
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