Blog posts and other resources are great ways to get introduced to an idea, or expand the scope of what you know, but they generally are very shallow. You want to learn as much as you can a ]]>

Blog posts and other resources are great ways to get introduced to an idea, or expand the scope of what you know, but they generally are very shallow. You want to learn as much as you can about a topic efficiently. Blog posts are inefficient, but good books are excellent. Avoid bad books.

Here are great books about UI Design that will make you as good as you can be.

Donald Norman: Design of Everyday Things

Good introduction to the idea of being observant about the world around you. Its examples are about the everyday objects like faucet handles, but the concepts apply to websites and mobile too.

Steve Krug: Don't Make Me Think

This is a fantastic introduction to website usability. It focuses on the modern web, and it covers a lot of great common patterns we see. It shows you how to have an eye for good web design.

Nielsen: Web Usability

Very deep research-backed information on designing interfaces. Look at all of his books.

Jef Raskin: The Humane Interface

Amazing book that opened my eyes to how simple and powerful computer

interfaces can be. Jef Raskin designed the Mac, and his ideas are brilliant. Also check out his son Aza's stuff.

Edward Tufte: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

Classic, brilliant books about representing information to people in

most informative way.

I actually haven't read this, but I totally believe the thesis. Great idea. Maybe it has little to do with design, though.

More books:

A friend goes to a program that recommends these books: Reading Recommendations

Crumlish: Designing Social Interfaces

Summer Bedard (great UX designer of Turntable.fm) recommends this book, if you're into social networks.

I really love the Economist, and I learned a lot recently about doing business in Japan.

I really love the Economist, and I learned a lot recently about doing business in Japan.

If you're visiting Japan for business, you're likely to be in Tokyo. As the largest city in the world Tokyo has services and amenities that you would expect in a large city as well as certain things you'll want to know about that are specific to conducting business in Japan.

International flights arrive at Haneda or Narita airports. Narita is farther away from the center of Tokyo. Upon landing, naturally you'll go through customs which is efficient but thorough.

Once through customs you'll likely head to a hotel in the center of Tokyo. Transportation costs depend on which airport arrived at. Narita is farther away from the center of Tokyo. For international travelers taking a taxi from Narita Airport to the center of Tokyo can run about $150 whereas a cab from Haneda Airport to the center of Tokyo runs usually about $30.

There’s also mass transit available at both airports that is less expensive than taxis. One important note to make about Japanese ideas of good manners is that tipping is deemed an insult in most cases. Therefore, unless you're rounding up your bill to avoid receiving change, you won't have to worry about tipping your taxi driver.

You should bring two maps one in English, one Japanese with you to help communicate with your taxi driver. English is not commonly spoken. If you choose mass transit, the good news is that mass transit frequently has signs that are in English as well as Japanese.

Two common places for business travelers to stay in Tokyo are the Okura Hotel and the Hilltop Hotel.

When you are ready to go to your business meeting, for men, you'll likely be wearing a tie though in warm summer weather ties are often not worn. Japan's summers are very warm and avoiding summertime travel, especially during August is advisable.

Before your meeting you should have determined the language that you’ll be using at the meeting. If the language is not English, there are many translation services around that can range from about $200 to $500 an hour.

Japan's business culture does use bowing. Your safest bet is to practice a bow that uses your head and neck and avoids being a deep bow even if the person bowing to you bows deeply. There are different reasons for the deep bow, such as a means of showing you respect by hotel workers, but the short bow should do it for you.

Don't be surprised if your business meeting does not cover a lot of substantive matters because the Japanese tend to spend time cultivating business relationships. While you might leave your business meeting with the impression that you’ve covered very little business, be prepared to cover business after hours at dinner engagements.

Alcohol in the form of sake or whiskey is frequently a part of these business dinners. You should consider business dinners as an opportunity to discuss business matters as your Japanese companions will likely bring up business.

Tokyo has the highest number of Michelin starred restaurants in the world. There are great opportunities for good cuisine.

One thing you should note is that Japanese business people frequently assume that foreigners don't like to eat Japanese food so they'll recommend restaurants that serve non-Japanese food. If you like Japanese food you can indicate that you would like to eat at a Japanese restaurant.

When it comes to getting money from an ATM you should head for a 7-Eleven or a Citibank because these are primarily the locations that accept foreign cards.

As you make your way around Tokyo becoming familiar with unfamiliar customs and language challenges, there is a valuable piece of good news which is that Tokyo is an extremely safe city so that you likely will not have to worry about becoming a victim of crime as you navigate your way around the city."

Google has always been a great search engine. Since 1998, whenever anyone felt lucky, they found what they wanted instantly. On the other hand, Altavista, Excite, Yahoo, and all of the oth ]]>

Google has always been a great search engine. Since 1998, whenever anyone felt lucky, they found what they wanted instantly. On the other hand, Altavista, Excite, Yahoo, and all of the other search engines were frustrating. You search for "Bob Carpenter" and it gives you results for woodworking.

Recently, however, you may have noticed that Google changes your queries. When you search for "boosting" it changes to "boost" which has very different results since boosting is a theoretical machine learning idea. Google changed "pyquery" to "jquery" when I searched for it.

Google thinks it's smarter than you. That's a problem because the results for non-popular queries look increasingly like Altavista's. I want Google back.

The ant,
in contrast to the lazy grass-
hopper,
toils for food over the scurried ground
under the hot sun all summer
in anticipation of the bi
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The ant,
in contrast to the lazy grass-
hopper,
toils for food over the scurried ground
under the hot sun all summer
in anticipation of the bitter winter
oblivious to the present's gifts
looking always to the future
in preparation of bleaker times
toiling as long as the sun is high
in Miami.

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/blog/post/the-yale-system-of-medical-school
/blog/post/the-yale-system-of-medical-school#comments
Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:54:40 
Joseph Perla
/blog/post/the-yale-system-of-medical-school
The Yale System:


reponsibilities all too often assumed by teachers are thrown upon the student. If [the stud
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The Yale System:


reponsibilities all too often assumed by teachers are thrown upon the student. If [the student] is interested and wants to
work, he has the fullest opportunities for study and guidance; if he is not himself
interested, he will find no one to pull him along. This freedom is not desired by
the immature student, or by the one whose primary interest is in the acquisition
of a degree and not in the subject matter; but it is an advantage to the
independent, thinking student generally interested in medicine and anxious to
be rid of those pedagogical procedures and routines which have no bearing upon
the acquisition of knowledge [38].


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/blog/post/work-is-a-card-game
/blog/post/work-is-a-card-game#comments
Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:54:40 
Joseph Perla
/blog/post/work-is-a-card-game
I have been procrastinating heavily recently, for the past few months actually. I was not entirely paralyzed, but I did have a constant generalized anxiety about not doing work.  It p
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I have been procrastinating heavily recently, for the past few months actually. I was not entirely paralyzed, but I did have a constant generalized anxiety about not doing work.  It persisted and irritated me at all times.  I decided to read everything I could about productivity systems, work methods, and procrastination.  Reading excels as a procrastination tool.  
Yesterday, I believe I have solved my problems (yea, right).  I invented a card game.  How do you play? You go to CVS to buy some index cards, colorful ones.  Perhaps stickers or photographs would work even better.  The more fun the better.
The Game
Write a task you want to complete on each card.  Be specific if you can, although if at a loss you don't have to be too specific.  I wrote down tasks like "finish problem set," "learn the PCP Theorem proof," and "finish my midterm".  Throw in a somewhat fun task like "write a blog post." This post is a product of the Card Game.
Shuffle the cards well.  Keep shuffling. Shuffle some more.  Make sure everything is nice and random and you think you can easily get any task. Do not think about the probabilities of getting one card or another.  You will work on a task either way, and you will finish all of the tasks in a reasonable time period.  The purpose of shuffling is to mix up your day, add a dash of unexpected, and create intermittent rewards like all good games do.
Cut your deck, then choose the top card.  Set a timer to work on the task for some time, say 10 minutes.  As your focus and concentration increases, you can increase this work period (but no more than 30-60 minutes). Try to keep it short as you just begin getting into the zone, because your focus has not built up yet.
Work on your task!  Go full at it, since you only have to work for a few minutes.  Delve into the problem, you won't finish in so little time anyway, so just get an understanding of what you might do at least.  Deeply introspect, look at things different ways, write thoughts down.
When your timer rings, take a break for, say, 5-10 minutes.  It sounds like a lot, but you need it.  A regular 5-10 minute break prevents Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and other Repetitive Strain Injuries.  Eyes away from the computer regularly also avoid vision damage.  You can meditate or do yoga or calisthenics. These exercises increase blood flow to brain, and the focus restores mental clarity that can be lost in details.  Do not work, do not stare at a computer screen, and do not write unless it is artistic (and you don't work as an artist in that medium).  Do not stress out if your mind keeps thinking about your task.  Do not try to keep thinking about your work, but do not force it away if it strays there. Let your mind float to where it lands.  Take the full break, even if you become bored.  You will need it.  Try to meditate.
When your break is over, shuffle the deck again and choose another card.  What color will it be this time?! Fun!  Maybe it is the same task again! Probably not!  Repeat the work/break cycle.  At one of your break periods you will know if it is time to stop.  
If you finish a task completely, rip the card in half.  Make a loud sound. Feel the relief.  Pin the card to a poster board as your trophy.  You conquered a task, and this will hang for all to see.
Regularly review your deck of cards to ensure that these are in fact necessary tasks.  Maybe they are not. Unnecessary and boring tasks poison the game.  Eliminate them to keep the Card Game fun and productive.  Productivity is rewarding. Fun is rewarding. Unnecessary thumb twiddling is not, and will ruin the game if not effectively pruned.  Focus on the good.
Keep one deck of cards separate and sorted and call them your Tickler.  These are tasks you are not doing now, but you might want to do some day.  These are ideas and inspiration.  Every night, manually choose 3 cards from your Tickler and turn them into a new deck for Tomorrow.  Use that deck for your game the next day.  Try to limit the number of cards you play with every day in order to focus and get consistent amounts of work done.  Slow and steady.
If you get to a task card that looks too big or complicated or daunting, crumple it up and break the task down into several new task cards.  Try to make them all the same color for fun.  Put the first of your new task cards into your deck, and leave the rest in the Tickler.  Try to make the first card, the first step at the least, take just 10 minutes.
Theory and Explanation
What is the theory behind the Card Game?  It turns work into a bit of a game.  What will I do next? I don't know.  It could be drudgery.  It could be a fun blog post.  I add the natural game element of random rewards.
I also add the benefits of the Pomodoro Method.  I invented the Pomodoro Method independently 3 years ago. I used the timer on the iPhone app to help me focus for short bursts of time, and I used the break to do yoga, meditate, relax, or think about my problem at a high level.
The timer frees the stress that comes with being forced to do something that I do not want to do.  The timer limits my undesirable work time down to 10 minutes.
I also get to churn through tasks.  The pile of cards gets thinner and thinner, which shows achievement. Ripping the card in half as I finish is fun and a physical act and reward in and of itself.  I should collect the piles of trash and build a stack.  That would help me build progress toward something.  That feels good too, like a collection.  
All the cards are different colors, which adds a bit in terms of organization, but mostly just makes it a little more fun.  The collection of defeated tasks becomes a colorful montage. It is a trophy case.
I can easily decide that a task is actually not a priority at all (i.e. it should not be done).  I can destroy the card (but not mount it as a victory), or archive the card in a Tickler.
I think one really great part of my system is that as I come upon a card that is a complex task, I can break it up into chunks on the spot. First, I observe how much time I allocated to work on this problem.  Then, I break up my card into chunks of approximately that time period.  Instead of creating an outline of my plan all at once, I can do it piecemeal as I come across the card.  Or, I can just outline the first step or two, and leave the remainder of the project to be outlined later.  This helps avoid the problem of making problems too big, or keeping them too big, without thinking about small concrete steps that will help along that path.
How do you decide whether a card is actually important?  Is it important?  Is it important? People often avoid to-do lists because they are actually unimportant. You will too if you leave in cards that you subconsciously actually don't want to do ever.  Just eliminate the card, do not do the task.
The tasks become more physical, with weight. This can work much better than a to do list. I don't know if this would work on an iPhone app.  I imagine not so well.  It's easy to review and rank and order your cards.  The Card Game is versatile.
You need to call it your Card Game. It needs to be a game, you need to call it a game. You need to call it fun, and put in a few fun things to do.  They are rewards.  You will always hope that the rewards come up.  And sometimes you will hope that one of your hard projects comes up. You just need to commit to working to whatever comes up.  The way to do that is to feel it is a game, not work. If you say you "should" play with your cards, then you will get stuck.  You want to play your Card Game every day.

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