Late Updates

Just wanted to apologize for the dearth of new material lately. There are real-world reasons for my tardiness is revisions and updates, but I don't really wish to discuss them at this time.

My hope is to have some new writing samples up by Wednesday, April 4th. I plan on revising the Beginnings excerpt, and adding 2 more chapters to the online version. I can't predict when there will me more updates to the Photo Galleries. All I know is that the Prospect Park Gallery is next in line to get updated. Because of a complex schedule-this week-I am unsure if I'll get to it before the coming weekend.

Right now, I would like to spend the little time I have for the website filling the writing sections with more content. I have plenty of material sitting around in shelves or stored electronically, it is the process of finding and reviewing the materials before uploading that I have yet to do.

Sometime on Sunday, I will be posting a new blog discussion topic. It is based on an article I recently read at the 'The Straight Dope' website. I am currently 75% of the way through writing my thoughts, and will probably finishing typing them sometime tonight.

Genius

I was pondering the concept of genius on a subway ride today. While I haven’t descended upon a firm conclusion, I’m hovering around some central ideas. It seems to me that based on observation of all the people that get labeled as genius, it is actually possible to break down the concept into its constituent parts. I would proffer that there are 5 general categories of genius, and they are as follows:

• Recall Genius
• Tactile Genius – Fine Motor
• Tactile Genius – Kinesthetic(Whole Body)
• Creative/Innovative Genius
• Pattern & Flow Genius

There are additional subcategories which will examine a bit later, but let’s run through each general category first.

Recall Genius is probably the most common attribute of those given the genius label. This type of genius means that the individual essentially has the ability to store information better and in greater quantities than the average person. People who claim photographic, near photographic, or perfect recall fall into this category. These individuals can pull out studied information—no matter how long ago it was studied—and often have exceptional recall of non-studied information as well.

Tactile Genius – Fine Motor is also another common attribute of geniuses, however it is usually due to particular subcategory membership. There are 3 subcategories: 1) Stop-motion dexterity; 2)Flexibility & Strength; 3)Sensitivity. Stop-motion dexterity is the ability to hold the digits in the hand and feet motionless for extended periods of time without incurring trembling. Flexibility and Strength are the abilities to manipulate the digits beyond standard range of motion, manipulate the digits into uncommon or difficult shapes and positions, and to apply a greater range of forces with the digits. Sensitivity is the ability to more precisely detect properties of objects such as texture, rigidity/flexibility, and temperature.
Examples of these types of geniuses are commonly found in music(string instrument players, piano players), mechanics(jewelry/watchmakers) and in medicine(surgeons).

Tactile Genius – Kinesthetic is an uncommon attribute of geniuses, however it does have higher occurrences that other genius types in particular fields. This type of genius has an extremely high degree of control of body position, movement, and/or an exceptional ability to know the position of the body in 3-dimensional space.
Examples of these types of geniuses are most commonly found in two areas, athletic sports and performance art. These are the rare performers and competitors that have a body that manages to do everything they can think to demand of it.

Creative/Innovative Genius is a very rare attribute of geniuses, and typically has a limited lifespan. This type of genius causes an individual who possesses it to generate and create new and different things. It is a costly form of genius for the specific reason that it almost impossible to turn off; as long as the individual is focusing on a particular item of interest that individual will be generating additional output that may sometimes only be tangentially related. This type of genius is also more difficult to find because social systems & organizations typically pursue progress more than creativity, and also because existing systems & organizations usually have a collective historybank of ideas. Even when the individual comes up with an idea that is new to him/her, unless that idea is new to the system/organization and helps said organization progress further, the individual is not typically recognized as genius.
Examples of this are spread through many different fields. In performing arts, these types of geniuses are often composers and choreographers. In science, these types of geniuses are often theoreticians and inventors.

Pattern & Flow Genius is a common attribute of geniuses, and—aside from recall genius—one of the easiest to recognize. These type of geniuses are able to take in large volumes of information (sometimes disparate information) and see how(or make how) the information fits together. They are also able to see organizational structure of information well enough to postulate about missing information pieces, and how those unknown pieces effect the structure & flow of the information available.

Usually people that are termed genius have 1-2 of the above listed types. Occasionally you can get a person that may have 3 of the types, but it is nearly impossible for someone to have all 5. This is because there are biological costs, and the more genius types you have, the higher the cost. While there may be cultural factors that contribute to what types of geniuses arise in a given generation, there are often type clusters that emerge. Here are some common ones along with examples of what field these geniuses often end up in:

• Recall , Tactile-Fine Motor.
• Surgeons, Musicians
• Tactile-Kinesthetic, Pattern & Flow.
• Athletes in multi-person sports
• Creative/Innovative , Tactile-Fine Motor.
• Sculptors, Painters, Physical Mechanics Inventors
• Recall, Pattern & Flow.
• Physical and Theoretical Scientists

Recent Updates

Just wanted to let you know. I've added two DVD reviews to the General Writing Section of the Website. Over the course of the next month I hope to pull out some reviews of old TV shows and other movies I had from several years & websites ago and put them up. I'm still considering whether or not to review current TV shows. Because they haven't finished their runs, it is hard to know whether or not some of the issues and problems I see are strategic choices made that will be resolved before series ending, or if they are just missteps and miscalculations.

In the next two weeks I'm going to try and rehabilitate some old academic essays and put them up as well.

I should have around 10 images up for the Prospect Park PhotoGallery by the end of the week.

Recent Fiction Novel I'm Reading

Just wanted to let you know of a science fiction book I'm rereading during my waiting times (for subway, bus, etc.).


The book name is Shadow of the Giant, by Orson Scott Card. It is book 3 in a 3-book series that follows one of the supporting characters from Card's original novel Ender's Game. I probably reread Card's books once or twice a year. He has a way of explaining world-level politics and cultures that has the ring of truth in it, even if it might sometimes be prejudicial and superficial. As I ponder, explaining world cultures for my upcoming Superman novel, I like to remind myself of the authors I believe did it well.

I hope in the next 3 weeks to have a brief blurb for the upcoming Superman novel uploaded on the website's Fiction Writing Section. I haven't seriously started the process of writing the novel because I'm still working on the Batman novel, but the process of background, character development, and outline is ongoing. If I can actually meet projections and finish the 1st draft of the Batman novel by the end of the 2007 academic semester, I may be able to start writing my Superman story. I'm excited because it represents a new and different style of writing for me, and I think the story I'm coming up with is actually very interesting and topically relevant in today's world.

More Images added to Gallery

More images have been added to the Agora II Photogallery. I've also changed the layout of the gallery, to a more streamlined design. At some point, I hope to fix the comment feature problems I'm having so I can get viewer responses added into the gallery. I've added in a compilation panorama from the Sleep section of the Sep. 30, 2006 show. I reduced the image size and added filter effects to soften/haze the image to increase the difficulty in identifying specific individuals, since I know some of the performers did not want their images displayed on the internet. Hopefully they appreciate the methods I took to protect their identities; there is nothing left more identifiable than what could be picked up by walking past them on the street or at a beach.

Click to go the the entrance page for Dae's Agora II Photogallery.


I'm setting aside the guestbook/comment page for now. I'm hoping over the next 10 days to get some more writing samples up, particularly in the nonfiction section. I've got some old essays that could use some polishing, but are good enough to merit posting.

Setting Up a Guestbook

Sorry for the delay. It seems that what I would like to do is much harder than I expected it would or should be. Apparently even the simple comment style post use see on myspace or blog sites actually has some complex programming code that runs it. Setting up something simple for my website requires more time than I have to give it right now. Basically I need time to learn the programming basics, so that if I take some freeware code, I can make sure I'm not opening the site up to being hacked. Alas, I shall not have this fixed for an update anytime soon.

However, those wishing to add comments or thoughts, just email them to me, and I'll add them the old-fashioned way to the pages.