Haven’t seen too many recently…
Assistant Professor Psychological and Brain Sciences University of Toronto Mississauga Co-Director, APPLY Lab (www.applylab.org) Least important mammal in his house (just ask the cats). "If vision worked like *that*, we'd all be dead."
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Haven’t seen too many recently…
IZ TIME FOR PARTY CATS FRANCA, HIT THE BEAT
Hlarf. One of the things I didn’t like about Berkeley was neighbors who perfumed the hallway with Eau de Flatulent Moose
That is AMAZING news to see after back-to-back-to-back meetings!
I fucking wish I could do that. My hearing fun is poor auditory filtering, and sometimes, it would be a mercy!
Oh noes! Howl whapped my ear with claws this morning. Fortunately, we trimmed them last night.
I haven’t flown them in years and years… I don’t think I’d enjoy the present experience. They were a lifeline, though, in my Nashville days.
The Shinkansen is so much fun to ride
The adrenaline is a thing, isn’t it? I taught 9-12 today, and rode mine through a bunch of equipment moving at 2.
Considered bad form whilst touring houses, I’m told
Oh good, I'm not the only one.
I use OUP's Cognition (by Chun and Most; new as of 2022); previously, I used Goldstein (which I didn't like as much). Here's my topic schedule - I'm happy to share materials, etc (just send me an email - bsky isn't great for sending lots of files around). Just kicked it off this morning!
Having hard-copy letterhead, rather than just a digital version? The newest of these is probably a decade and more old - I've been here five years and never seen preprinted letterhead for my dept. The oldest (green) in the stack is c.1991
Several generations of retired dept letterhead
I did a version of that in a 1970s condo in the late 2010s. Vast damn improvement.
Delightful.
I wonder how good I am at finding load-bearing walls...
"You *brought* a flashlight?"
“Why is my human attending to something that isn’t me? The King of Kings does not approve.”
“Wait, you don’t care about superficial features?” “You want to root around the the basement with a flashlight?!?” “You’re asking technical questions about systems?!?!?!!”
On the thread of home repair: it turns out I know enough to really amuse/baffle a real estate agent.
These are worse: you have to remove everything but the can to swap the LED replacement for a halogen bulb. Basically, you’d need to be on a 12 ft ladder on the stairs to do it. I don’t own such a ladder, and don’t care to buy one.
That is the hallmark of a bodge job.
“Phil’s Appalling Bodge Job” should be a title card.
Yup, I’ve long theorized that’s what happened here.
And now I’m reminded of The Stupidest Potlight above our stairs, that would take a substantial ladder to get to.
I know enough to be occasionally useful and (mostly) enough to know when to say “I need a professional”
I just realized I do this for my parents, as the one handy-around-the-house kid. This is complicated by living in a different country.
I may even have a recording somewhere, which is a terrifying thought
One of these years, I will probably wind up learning to grout properly. But not in this (rental) house, particularly because I think the kitchen tile has other issues. In fact, I think most/all of the floor tiles here aren’t on the right substrate. Tiles shouldn’t make noise when you walk…
Gah!
What horrors have been found?
A former boss of mine did a parody version of that as part of a talk five years ago… “I will follow science into the dark”
I look forward to tormenting you FOR THE KIDS (I’ll probably be traveling that weekend)
An Old Monster of the Credit
I probably shouldn’t drop “if $topic was easy, I wouldn’t have a job” tomorrow, right?
One exam I wrote last year had cats appear in some form in ~25 of 80 multiple choice questions.
I think mine is more induced confusion. Lots of cats in the slides don't mean the course is going to be easy.
It never even crossed my mind to do something goofy for the first class. Maybe later in term, I'll bust out the cat Hawaiian shirt I had made last year.
This would have been vastly preferable (albeit somewhat disconcerting, as large felines make for odd landscapers)
Missed this last week (I blame vacation!) - anything in particular?
Right in the nostalgia.
He, at least, is unconcerned with the coming academic year.
Closer to home
Four views of Prince Edward Counry
From the Royal Canadian Air Force museum
“Feral Raccoon Plumbing Services: Fixing With Grabby Hands”
Ow. I thought two sets was obnoxious enough.
Bonus points: even though they’re using the tiniest bobcat I’ve ever seen, they’re still making things rattle in the house.
The business next door decided that the Sunday of labour day weekend was an excellent time to have a contractor tear up their entire very decrepit parking lot.
Have another Lounge Tipple for me.
YAY!
It’s a good sign when I am laughing so hard at a show that I can neither hear the dialogue nor read the captions.
Have koala. Preordered book. Want vulture.
Oddly, the teacher who got me to really enjoy history for its own sake was the moderately eccentric former president of the university, who was teaching because he liked it.
Yes, but that was “no, you’re my human” and is an exceptional circumstance outside of your control.
Also, my favourite long-defunct Tumblr… Hungover Owls www.tumblr.com/hungoverowls
Ow. Five years in as faculty, and I understand my advisor so much better now.
The world is full of smarter rabbits
I’m going to have to mow the lawn for the first time since early July. How I know it’s been a long, hot, dry, summer.
I mean, if I had to guess for this market, that price and that house? It’ll sell, but the house itself is irrelevant.
I need more port in my life.
I read the piece in the Star, and went “thank goodness, this isn’t the realtor we’re working with”
Excellent culinary shenanigans! I’m about to grill burgers for us, because my spouse wanted burgers and that’s enough reason!
There are a variety of fools out there who should find a better way to make themselves happy. Perhaps by being the butt of every joke on an improv show. I mean, @courtneymilan.com deserves Enrichment Pumpkins too, but as @rahaeli.bsky.social can attest, one can have too much of a good thing.
Florida Man is beyond help…
And this is supposed to help?!?
This is my Florida experience every year: what fresh hell have designers made, and how have they ignored my professional kin?
We have a rule that we don’t want to be outnumbered. Two humans. Two feline overlords.
The insurance rider just makes me boggle. Then again, my brother-the-chef has a rider on my parents’ policy for his knives.
I wish I knew what my allergy trigger was, but Claritin is just barely touching it…
Every sign has a reason
WOE!
That’s a real happy dilute tortie
Even *renting*, going from Cambridge, MA to Mississauga, ON, we went from an 800 sq ft condo to a 2-story house for relative parity in cost. Five years later, we’re househunting and it’s good that our index for price is already “housing is very expensive”
Does the Benevolent Order meet there?
No thoughts, just Howl
Find me a moose!
I did not need the rideshare back from Toronto to be as bouncy as a bouncy thing. If I wanted that, I’d have taken the campus shuttle!
He looks concerned with this development
Excellent!
The idea of affordances here comes pretty strongly to mind - in a Gibsonian sense - but this feels very relevant to a few people on here… @oddletters.bsky.social @edzitron.com
I’m kind of amazed to not see Gibsonian affordances in this piece l, particularly from an HCI / UI perspective.
From the department of “well, routing algorithm, that’s a choice” - we’ve gone from the Gardiner to Lakeshore back to the Gardiner. I mean, dodging the CNE makes sense, but still.
Well, a week from today, I'm back in the classroom teaching cognitive psychology. As I'm on vacation the rest of the week, I've been doing the last bits of prep for next week's lecture - which is the first lecture of Fall term, on the first day of classes.
I don’t need to buy a gigantic camera case… but it would simplify moving a certain pile of equipment… and it’s on sale…
The universe decided to give you extra Enrichment Pumpkins?
Very vaguely something from Digital that my father had at home. That I ever remember using? His Mac II.
Sophie judges some people’s willingness to make an ass of themselves on the internet.
Where’s that PHIL NO image when I need it?
And I bet you have as much fun with that as I do. Of the “crunch, that was a cranium, wasn’t it” variety.
Like birding, but for bad arguments?
