Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages
Status Reports
Status: Summary (2021 - June)
(Text as at 02/07/2021 20:32:38)
*** 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 for this academic year 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.
Secondary Projects
- 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!
- 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.
- Languages7: Gain at least a rudimentary understanding of 24 diverse languages – for practical and philosophical purposes.
- Consciousness Studies8: A supporting project for both Personal Identity and Philosophy of Religion. An essential element of any critique of transhumanism.
Other Projects
- Bridge9: 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.
- Chess10: 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.
- 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 67 – 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 (including the grandchildren!), household management, general reading, culture, current affairs, walking the dog 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, with the third phase started in December 2020 and is now complete bar a lick of paint and lime-wash. We’ve given up seeking redress from the surveyor.
- 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 21Q2 I spent across my various projects 691.75 hours (2033 hours YTD) – where by "YTD" - Year to Date - I mean the academic year commencing in October 2020. "Actual versus plan" was 99.8%, (96.3% YTD).
- Overall, I worked hard in 21Q2 and very marginally failed to achieve my time-budget, mainly on account of an attack of ‘flu in the last two weeks. I’m doubtless being too selfish – usually described as ‘focused’.
- The balance of the various projects against plan was mostly as I’d like, with the minor projects losing out. However, I spent a quarter of the time planned on Music – mostly on account of loss of enthusiasm – the effort shifting to Languages and Philosophy of Religion.
- 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
I’ve retained the average weekly total plan at 54 hours (8 hours a day during the week, 7 hours at weekends).
The planned effort for my Thesis – at 24 hours / week – is more or less what it ought to be20.
Chess and Bridge remain at “Priority 3”, as they should be, and Languages, Consciousness Studies and Religion remain at “Priority 2”.
A point of continual but useless regret is that – at 23 hours / week – the time allocated to my relatively unimportant priority 2 & 3 projects is more than half the 31-hours’ effort devoted to my priority 1 projects, though has reduced now that Chess and Bridge are in abeyance.
I had decided that I needed to read through the Bible again, and decided to do so in the original languages to make it more interesting. Consequently, Philosophy of Religion has had its time allocation increased to 7 hours / week, at the expense of Web Tools and Music.
I’ve decided to continue to try to play the oboe properly, and improve my general musicianship, but as just noted have had to reduce my Music allowance to 4 hours / week. I need to regain focus.
My intention was always to restrict the effort on Bridge, and focus on the philosophy of 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. However, as the clubs are shut, and I’m not playing on-line, I’ve slashed the planned effort to 1 hour / week for occasional study and interaction. I’ve “underspent” even that minimal budget so far this academic year, but may need to call on it for policy on re-starting Mountnessing Bridge Club towards the end of the year.
I’ve maintained the time allocated to Languages at 7 hours / week, and the bulk of this will be otherwise “fallow” time while walking Henry the dog.
I’ve decided to continue to down-prioritise Chess, and have scheduled only 1 hour / week.
Other projects continue to have a notional hour / week.
So, the weekly plan (retained at 54 hours) for the next quarter is as below:-
- Priority 1: 31 hours
- Personal Identity: 24 hours.
- Web Tools: 7 hours.
- Priority 2: 19 hours
- Philosophy of Religion: 7 hours.
- Music: 4 hours.
- Consciousness Studies: 1 hour.
- Languages: 7 hours.
- Priority 3: 4 hours
- Bridge: 1 hour.
- Chess: 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
- Website
- Religion
- Music
- Languages
- Consciousness
- Bridge
- Chess
- Mathematics
- HiQ
- Thesis26 (24 hours per week)
- 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.
- Regularly review and update of the Notes I’ve created on Personal Identity, focusing on those directly referenced by my Current Beliefs29.
- Make progress on specific Chapters of my Thesis, using the tasks outlined in my Thesis Dashboard30, using the materials listed31 in the Chapters and underlying Notes.
- Follow up on Keith Augustine's comments on my review of "Hershenov (David) - Review of Nancey Murphy's 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?'".
- 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 PDFs to Notes:-
- Review the two reports:-
→ PDF-précis,
→ PDF-essays32.
- Determine how the first is produced, and why the pdfs aren't highlighted, and compare with Write-ups Notes Jump Table
- Re-read & enhance recent Précis conversions, ie:-
→ "Skyrms (Brian) - The Goodman Paradox and the New Riddle of Induction"
→ "Woolhouse (Roger) - Spinoza and Substance"
- Convert outstanding Essays.
- Complete cataloguing the books downloaded from Springer,
- Continue with "Marshall (Richard) - Philosophy at 3:AM: Questions and Answers with 25 Top Philosophers",
- Complete reading (or make notes on):-
- "Borges (Jorge Luis) - Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings",
- "Bregman (Rutger) - Why Garbagemen Should Earn More Than Bankers",
- "Dennett (Daniel) - The Mind's I - Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul: Introduction",
- "Erber (Joan T.) & Szuchman (Lenore T.) - Great Myths of Aging",
- "Ord (Toby) - The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity",
- Complete my Note on "Smith (Martin) - Why Throwing 92 Heads in a Row Is Not Surprising" and discuss with Pete & Mike.
- Economics:-
- "Bregman (Rutger) - Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There"
- "Bregman (Rutger) - Why Garbagemen Should Earn More Than Bankers"
- "Reiss (Julian) - Philosophy of Economics: A Contemporary Introduction"
- "Sowell (Thomas) - Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy"
- "Susskind (Daniel) - A World Without Work: Technology, Automation and How We Should Respond"
- Continue reading and reviewing papers issued by Aeon33,
- Keep up with the Journals via JSTOR & Cambridge Core.
- Update my Journals Note34: 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.
- Website35 (7 hours per week)
- Own Website: Priority 1 Items By Category:-
- Architecture
- Compact and Repair Problems
- On compacting and repairing my main database I sometimes get the error "The query cannot be completed. Either the size of the query result is larger than the maximum size of a database (2 GB), or there is not enough temporary storage space on the disk to store the query result".
- It happens 3 times while the database is re-opening.
- There is lots of space, and the database is only 650Mb (and the error started when it was under 500Mb).
- This mostly happens after I've run long processes, so I usually close the database, re-open it and then try the compact and repair. Usually this works, but not always. But I then try again and the message disappears.
- I strongly suspect that this is MS Access itself re-indexing tables, and blowing up a temporary database, but I can’t find any evidence for this on-line. Or help, other than suggestions to split databases and do other sensible things. Given that the error occurs when the database is re-opening, with no temporary file visible, this is all very strange.
- 17/04/20 - set MaxLocksPerFile to 1,000,000 (from the default 9,500). Sadly, it doesn't seem to have made a difference.
- Complete XRef-re-engineering project:-
- Ensure all links and link-pages use the new XRef table, and pension off the old tables.
- Look into writing out specific object-identifiers, and linking thereto for Citations, rather than paragraph references. An issue is multiple instances of the same object in a document.
- 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.
- Document36 the process!
- Document37, repair & update my Website site-map
- 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
- Backups
- 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 document38 first
- Books
- Further improve the time to regenerate Book Summaries. Took about 21 minutes on 06/06/2021, but should be under 5 minutes!
- Books/Papers
- Determine why the indentation of "Various - Papers in Desk Drawer" squiffs after "Nakamoto (Satoshi) - Bitcoin - A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System". Maybe add it to the "suppressed" list, though "Various - Papers on Desktop" is OK.
- Investigate whether multiple Subject/Topic/Subtopic usage leads anywhere (ie. are just the first (of 3) actually used). Fix anything amiss.
- Reformat the BookCitings and PaperCitings pages:-
- Detail PaperCitings Pages: Include only useful information on the detail pages; but if there are multiple links from the same object, include them on the same line as 'extra links' as in BookCitings (copy the code: or, better, combine the two subs).
- Summary (Author Letter) pages: Include counts (as in Authors' Citations).
- Ensure uses the Cross_Reference table.
- Document39!
- Bridge
- 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": Membership cancelled, but plan what to do with the eBooks in my possession.
- Read "PC Pro - Computing in the Real World".
- Read "White (Ron) & Downs (Timothy Edward) - How Computers Work: The Evolution of Technology".
- 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 part of the Cross-Referencing project, check out the consistent treatment of Note 87540, which should be universally ignored. Recently, links to it appeared on web pages Book_Summary, BookPaperAbstracts and BooksToNotes, as a Note referencing a Book. The critical item was a row on the Note_Book_Links table.
- As revealed by Spider: NotesPrint from Secure_Jen fails for Notes_Jump links. Need to fix the processing of "../"-style links to go back to root and back. Example: Note 51341.
- Create a page to compare the vocabulary across related languages on Ling
- Determine why very long printable notes (eg. Level 3+ for Note 17042) are being truncated. Probably suppress them in any case, as they take far too long to load.
- Develop a method to create Papers for rows in Aeon_Files that have an associated Identity_Note_ID but no Paper_ID.
- Fix bugs in multi-level footnoting in Printable Notes – the referencing is going wrong.
- Investigate Note_Links: Section references seem to be incorrect
- Printable Notes: fix the bug whereby the “private” flag is round the wrong way.
- Split Aeon Page43 into multiple sub-pages (either by topic or by priority)
- Suppress the publication of the Printable versions of Temp Notes
- Upgrade Auto_Reference_Notes to reference Sub-Notes: Currently only affects one note - Somerset Maugham - so not yet urgent
- Very large printable Notes: eg. for Status: Summary44. Too large to be useful, and to transfer. Suppress for now.
- Papers
- The monthly regeneration process for Paper Abstracts was still taking just over 5 hours. I thought it could not be fixed until the cross-referencing project is fully complete and documented. However, it spontaneously improved to 1.6 hours in the August 2020 run. Monitor! Last run: 1.6 hours on 06/06/2021.
- Photos
- Timeline software45: Add photos for Bakers' Coxes Farm Development Phase III
- Timeline software46: Add photos for Holidays & Family History
- Develop software & procedure to make adding more content to the photos pages easier to undertake.
- Process
- Determine why Recalculation & Changed Book/Papers produce unneeded regeneration.
- 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 pages47 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.
- Investigate reduction in size of Web_Generator_Performance database that holds Raw_Links.
|a|Suppressed MsgBox for 'Near to 2Gb' database size check (just use Debug).
|a|One-off deletion of rather useless links: EMail, TheosStyle.css, TT_ICO.png, #Top, ...
|a|Remove code that generates these links, and check them.
|a|Investigate removal of website 'root' (C:\Theo's Files\Websites\Theo's Website\) from Raw_Link and Full_Link. This would save 200Mb, but needs careful checking - especially agains the Directory_Structure and related tables and code.
|a|If the above 'root' change is to go ahead - one-off updates + code changes required.
- Technology
- Look into Sistrix Smart48. 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
- 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.
- Find a way of recording Missing Webrefs other than debug.print: create table, then suppress message for known problems
- Investigate items flagged as defunct. Populate Defunct_Explanation in WebRefs_Table. Consider use of FairUse (Link (Fair Use)) for documents no longer available that I'd downloaded.
- Investigate WebRefs with Issue = 'URL Translated OK': does the translation really work? How?
- Other Websites: Priority 1 Items By Category:-
Religion49 (7 hours per week)
- 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,
- "Howard-Snyder (Daniel) - The Skeptical Christian": Read,
- "Howard-Snyder (Daniel) - Does Faith Entail Belief": Read,
- "Insole (Christopher J.) - Realism and Anti-Realism": Read,
- "Plantinga (Alvin) & Dennett (Daniel) - Science and Religion: Are They Compatible?": Read.
- Resurrection: Continue reviewing50
- "Alter (Michael J.) - The Resurrection: A Critical Inquiry", and
- "Alter (Michael J.) - The Resurrection & Christian Apologetics: A Critical Inquiry Volume 2".
- Bible:
- "Metzger (Bruce) - The Greek New Testament",
- "Lanier (Gregory R.) & Ros (William A.) - Septuaginta: A Reader's Edition - Volume 1",
- "Cohen (A.), Ed. - The Soncino Chumash",
- "Berlin (Adele), Brettler (Marc Zvi) & Fishbane (Michael) - The Jewish Study Bible: Featuring the Jewish Publication Society TANAKH",
- "Levine (Amy-Jill) & Brettler (Marc Zvi), Eds. - The Jewish Annotated New Testament".
- Background:
- Aeon: Read & annotate papers as they arise
- "Finkelstein (Israel) & Silberman (Neil Asher) - The Bible Unearthed": 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
- "Watts (Edward) - The Final Pagan Generation: Rome's Unexpected Path to Christianity": Continue reading
Music51 (4 hours per week)
- Oboe:-
- Practice the oboe for two 30-minute sessions each and every day52 – focussing on the items below and …
- Occasionally combine into an hour-long session to build up stamina further.
- Work through, and perfect, scales & arpeggios53 for Grades I-VIII, 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 particular54
→ "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
→ "Cimarosa (Domenico) - Oboe Concerto in C minor", All, but particularly 1st & 4th movements
→ "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" (Nos. 28 & 35: 'Jauntless Jig' & 'May The Fourth Be With You'; also No. 30: 'Answer the Question'),
→ "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 particular55
→ "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'; also No. 45: 'Enlightenment'),
→ "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, and
→ "Benedetti (Nicola) - My five tips for learning an instrument".
- Read "Caplan (Stephen) - Oboe: The Breathing Book".
- Piano: Try to develop some minimal competence as an aid to theory, so:-
- Continue practicing "Rhodes (James) - How to Play the Piano" (Bach's Prelude #1),
- 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",
- Whiz through56 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 material57, and
→ Try out "Earmaster - Ear Training & Sight-singing".
- Try out "Boytim (Joan Frey) - The First Book Of Baritone/Bass Solos".
- Also follow up items in:-
→ "Various - Music - Aural - Various On-line Training".
Languages58 (7 hours per week)
- General:
→ Brief Thoughts on Language & Languages59
- Amharic:
→ "Halcomb (T. Michael W.) - Introducing Amharic: An Interactive Workbook",
→ "Ling - Learn Amharic"
- Arabic:
→ "Abdul-Rauf (Muhammad) - Arabic for English-Speaking Students",
→ "Wightwick (Jane) & Gaafar (Mahmoud) - Mastering Arabic",
→ "Ling - Learn Arabic"
- Armenian:
→ "Andonian (Hagop) - Beginner's Armenian"
→ "Schumann (Johannes) - Armenian for beginners"
→ "Ling - Learn Armenian"
- Chinese:
→ "Newman (Richard) - About Chinese"
→ "Ling - Learn Chinese"
- Coptic:
→ "Layton (Bentley) - Coptic in 20 Lessons: Introduction to Sahidic Coptic with Exercises and Vocabularies"
- Danish:
→ "Koefoed (H.A.) - Teach Yourself Danish"
→ "Ling - Learn Danish"
- Dutch:
→ "Shetter (William) - Introduction to Dutch - A Practical Grammar"
→ "Ling - Learn Dutch"
- German:
→ "Tenberg (Reinhard) & Ainslie (Susan) - Deutsch Plus"
→ "Ling - Learn German"
- Greek (Modern):
→ "Matsukas (Aristarhos) - Complete Greek Course"
→ "Ling - Learn Greek"
- Hebrew (Modern):
→ "Raizen (Esther) - Modern Hebrew for Beginners: A Multimedia Program for Students at the Beginning and Intermediate Levels"
→ "Ling - Learn Hebrew"
- Hindi:
→ "Snell (Rupert) - Beginner's Hindi Script"
→ "Ling - Learn Hindi"
- Italian:
→ "Freeth (Mariolina) & Checketts (Giuliana) - Contatti 1: A First Course in Italian"
→ "Ling - Learn Italian"
- Japanese:
→ "Gilhooly (Helen) - Beginner's Japanese Script"
→ "Lammers (W.P.) - Japanese the Manga Way: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar and Structure"
→ "Ling - Learn Japanese"
→ "ToFuGu - Learn Hiragana: The Ultimate Guide" (revision)
→ "ToFuGu - Learn Katakana: The Ultimate Guide" (revision)
→ "WaniKani - Learn Japanese Kanji"
- Korean:
→ "Go (Billy) - Korean Made Simple: A beginner's guide to learning the Korean language: 1"
→ "Ling - Learn Korean"
- Latin:
→ "Duolingo - Duolingo Latin"
- Persian:
→ "Farzad (Narguess) - Complete Modern Persian"
→ "Ling - Learn Persian"
- Portuguese:
→ "Whitlam (John) - Modern Brazilian Portuguese Grammar: A Practical Guide"
→ "Ling - Learn Portuguese"
- Russian:
→ "West (Daphne) - Russian"
→ "Ling - Learn Russian"
- Spanish:
→ "Gordon (Ronni L.) & Stillman (David M.) - The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice"
→ "Ling - Learn Spanish"
- Swahili:
→ "Wood (Laurence) & Shadrack (Jaba Tumaini) - Learn Swahili Quickly and Easily: The theory made simple"
→ "Ling - Learn Swahili"
- Swedish:
→ "McClean (R.J.) - Swedish: A Grammar of the Modern Language"
→ "Ling - Learn Swedish"
- Thai:
→ "Becker (Benjawan Poomsan) - Thai for Beginners",
→ "Ling - Learn Thai",
- Turkish:
→ "Celen-Pollard (Asuman) & Pollard (David) - Turkish (Teach Yourself Complete Courses)"
→ "Ling - Learn Turkish"
- Urdu:
→ "Delacy (Richard) - Read and Write Urdu Script"
→ "Ling - Learn Urdu"
Consciousness60 (1 hour per week)
- Aeon61: Read & annotate papers as they arise, especially ...
→ "Chittka (Lars) & Wilson (Catherine) - Bee-brained": Write-up
→ "Frankish (Keith) - The Consciousness Illusion": Write-up
→ "Frohlich (Joel) - Frames of consciousness": Read & write-up
→ "Parks (Tim) & Manzotti (Riccardo) - You are the world": Read & write-up
→ "Pigliucci (Massimo) - Consciousness is real": Read & write-up
→ "Seth (Anil Kumar) - The real problem": Read & write-up
→ "Seth (Anil Kumar) - How we build perception from the inside out": Write-up
- "Bonhomme (Vincent), Etc. - General Anesthesia: A Probe to Explore Consciousness": 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.
- "Donald (Merlin) - A Mind So Rare: The Evolution of Human 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.
- "Shapiro (Lawrence) - The Mind Incarnate": Read.
- "Strawson (Galen) - The Consciousness Deniers": Read & write-up
- "Tegmark (Max) - Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence": Write up Chapter 8: Consciousness
Bridge62 (1 hour per week)
- Bridge "at the table" is on hold. Only play on-line if pressurised by clubs or partners.
- Review hands from National Masters Pairs in March 2020.
- Investigate RealBridge.
- Bridge Admin: Committee and Website involvement for Mountnessing and Hutton.
- Re-read Hand-counting papers, focussing on
→ Papers in Counting the Hands63,
→ "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"
→ "Lawrence (Mike) - How to Play Card Combinations"
- Read "Klinger (Ron) - Five-card Majors".
- Read "Reading - Bridge - Magazines".
Chess64 (1 hour per week)
- Why Play Chess:
→ Seriously consider the issues raised by "Ramon y Cajal (Santiago) - On Chess".
→ Counter this with responsibiity to the local chess scene now I've made contact
- Chess Study:-
→ "Gufeld (Eduard) - The Sicilian for the Tournament Player",
→ "Hansen (Carsten) - Back to Basics: Chess Openings: A comprehensive guide to chess openings and opening play",
→ "Hansen (Carsten) - The Full English Opening: Mastering the Fundamentals",
→ "Kuljasevic (Davorin) - How to Study Chess on Your Own: Creating a Plan that Works… and Sticking to it!",
→ "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 & occasional 10-minute game),
→ Investigate65 LiChess.org
→ "Chess - Chess - YouTube Videos",
→ Complete review of 2018/19 season's games,
→ Complete review of 2019/20 season's games.
- Club Play & Participation:
- Over-the-Boad Play: Participation66 if and when play resumes in Billericay Chess Club:-
→ Club Nights
→ NECL matches
→ Southend League matches
- Attend weekly Billericay Virtual Chess Club (using Discord)
Mathematics67 (1 hour per week)
- Aeon68: Read papers as they arise.
- "Cummings (Jay) - Proofs: A Long-Form Mathematics Textbook": 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.
- "Shapiro (Stewart) - Thinking about Mathematics - The Philosophy of Mathematics": Complete reading.
- "Smith (Martin) - Why Throwing 92 Heads in a Row Is Not Surprising": Analyze.
- "Spiegelhalter (David) - The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data": 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".
HiQ69 (1 hour per week)
- ISPE
- 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 about 40% through – is to rebuild the lower part of two side walls.
- I’ve written a Blog Item on this saga, with some theoretical thoughts, which I hope to have published in the Listed property Owners Club Magazine 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 31:
- I used to list in this Note an ever-growing list of items accummulated over time, broken down by Chapter and Note.
- However, now both Chapters and Notes are getting into shape, there is no need to list these items again here, so they have been cut after checking they are covered in their place elsewhere.
Footnote 47:
- 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 48:
- 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 50:
- 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 52:
- Well, maybe with the occasional holiday, and excluding days on which I have a lesson or the Enigma Ensemble (currently in hibernation).
Footnote 53:
- 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 54:
- I've yet to decide which to present for the Exam, so this long list will get whittled down in due course.
Footnote 55:
- 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 56:
- The earlier grades are very elementary, but I need practice writing musical notation.
Footnote 57: Ie. The following:- Footnote 65:
- And consider migrating from Chess.com, though I renewed my membership at the end of August 2020, but downgraded from Diamond, costing about £80, to Gold, costing about £24.
Footnote 66:
- This used to say "full participation", but I've let the team captain know that my 'mind games' focus is Bridge, and that - while I'm willing to "fill a board" - I don't want to take the place of anyone more enthusiastic.
- In any case, there's now no 'over the board' chess to be had.
Live Version of this Archived Note
Table of 12 Earlier Versions of this Note (of 87)
Table of the 7 Later Versions of this Note
| This version updated |
Reference for this Topic |
Parent Topic |
| 02/07/2021 20:32:38 |
512 (Status: Summary (2021 - June)) |
None |
Summary of Notes Links from this Page
To access information, click on one of the links in the table above (if any).
Summary of Note Links to this Page
| Status: Priority Task List (2021 - June), 2 |
Status: Priority Task List (2021 - September), 2 |
Status: Summary (2021 - June) |
Status: Summary Task List (2021: April - June) |
Status: Summary Task List (2021: July - September) |
| Status: Web-Tools (2021 - June) |
Website - Outstanding Developments (2021 - June), 2, 3 |
Website - Outstanding Developments (2021 - September), 2, 3 |
Website - Progress to Date (2021 - June), 2, 3, 4 |
Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
To access information, click on one of the links in the table above (if any).
Text Colour Conventions
- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2023