THINKER'S ALMANAC - March 30

Before the invention of the pencil eraser, what did people use to erase errors?

Subject:  Invention - Eraser-tipped Pencil

Event: Hyman L. Lipman patents pencil with eraser, 1858

 

The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser - in case you thought optimism was dead. -Robert Breault

On this day in 1858, a Philadelphia stationer named Hyman L. Lipman patented the first eraser-tipped pencil.  This is one invention that has stood the test of time and is also one of the best metaphors there is to remind us that everyone makes mistakes and that no human is faultless.

                                                                            Image by Uwe Baumann from Pixabay 

One common misnomer about pencils is that they contain “lead.” In reality, pencils contain a mineral called graphite.  Legend has it that in the 16th century a shiny black substance was discovered in England’s Lake District under a fallen tree.  The substance was first used by local shepherds to mark their sheep. Because the black material resembled lead, it was called plumbago (from the Latin word for lead, plumbus — the same root that gave us the word “plumber,” someone who works with lead pipes).

A pencil shortage in 18th-century France resulted in the invention of another well-known writing implement.  While at war with England in 1794, Revolutionary France could not access the graphite needed to make pencils.  An engineer named Nicolas-Jacques Conte improvised, combining low-quality graphite with wet clay. Conte then molded the substance into rods and baked it.  This process produced “Crayons Conte” or what we know today as chalk.

Before he lived at Walden Pond, the American writer Henry David Thoreau made a significant contribution to the pencil’s evolution.  After graduating from Harvard College, Thoreau went to work at his family’s pencil-making business. Working with material from a New Hampshire graphite deposit, Thoreau developed his own process for making pencils.  He numbered his pencils from the softest to the hardest using a numbering system from 1 to 4. The No. 2 was the Goldilocks of pencils — not so soft that is smudged easily and not so hard that it breaks easily.

The origin of the most common color for pencils is another story.  Pencils were commonly painted in any number of colors, but in 1889, at the World’s Fair in Paris, a Czech manufacturer Hardtmuth debuted a yellow pencil.  Supposedly made of the finest graphite deposits, the pencil was named Koh-I-Noor, after one of the world’s largest diamonds. The distinct yellow of the Koh-I-Noor became the industry standard for quality, and soon other manufacturers began painting their pencils yellow.

The final key element in the evolution of the pencil came in the 1770s when British polymath Joseph Priestley discovered that a gum harvested from South American trees was effective for rubbing out pencil marks — appropriately he called this substance “rubber.”  Prior to Priestley’s discovery, the most common erasers used were lumps of old bread.

Priestley was also the author of an influential textbook called The Rudiments of English Grammar which was published in 1761 (1).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason: Before pencils had erasers, what was commonly used to erase pencil marks? What well-known American writer contributed to the evolution of the pencil?

Challenge - Ordinary Objects, Extraordinary History: What are some examples of inventions, like the pencil, that are everyday ordinary objects?  Brainstorm a list of some ordinary objects that you encounter every day.  Select one of these objects and do some research on its origin. Write a report providing details about the object’s origin and history.  

Sources:

1-”Trace The Remarkable History Of The Humble Pencil.”  All Things Considered.  NPR.org 11 Oct. 2016.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - March 13

Why did a public service announcement featuring an egg frying in a pan become one of the most successful PSAs of all time?

Subject:  Analogies - SAT

Event:  Analogies removed from the SAT, 2005

In 2005, the College Board removed analogy questions from the SAT.  These problems tested students’ ability to recognize vocabulary and make logical comparisons.  

For example, 

STORY : FABLE :: POEM : _______ 

(A. POET, B. NOVEL, C. RHYME, D. SONNET).  

Using analogical thinking, a student would see the relationship:  a FABLE is a type of STORY, and a SONNET is a type of POEM.

Writing in The New York Times on this day in 2005, Adam Cohen wrote an obituary of sorts for the SAT analogy, mourning its loss:

Intentionally misleading comparisons are becoming the dominant mode of public discourse.  The ability to tell true analogies from false ones has never been more important. (1)

Although analogies may no longer be a test item on the SAT, they remain a key strategy for thinkers and writers, both for clarifying their own thinking and for communicating their thinking to others.

An analogy uses comparison and ratio to reason to some conclusion.  In this 

sense, an analogy is less figurative than a metaphor or a simile, but a bit more logical.

For example, in an essay about nail-biting, the writer Suzannah Showler uses an analogy to show her readers that we should not go to extremes by labeling all nail-biters as obsessive-compulsives:

But just as the specter of hoarding shouldn’t rule out collecting as a hobby, not every nibbled nail should be judged by the end-stage diagnosis.

In another example, Joseph Addison uses an analogy to describe the benefits of reading:

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.  As by the one, health is preserved, strengthened, and invigorated; by the other, virtue -- which is the health of the mind -- is kept alive, cherished, and confirmed. 

Notice how Addison’s explanation echoes an almost mathematical relationship:  

Reading : Mind :: Exercise : Body

One of the most successful public service announcements ever produced employed a visual analogy comparing drug abuse to a fried egg.  The PSA was produced by the Ad Council in 1987. It featured the simple image of a single egg in a frying pan along with a concise message of just 15 words:  “This is your brain. This is drugs. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?”

                                                                        Image by Alexa from Pixabay 

Analogies are an excellent way to teach your reader and to avoid the curse of knowledge (see THINKER’S ALMANAC - January 2).  Look at your topic from your audience’s point of view.  Think about what they know and what they don’t know.  Like a teacher who tries to build a bridge between a student’s prior knowledge and a new concept, try to arrange an analogy that helps the reader to see the unknown through the lens of the known.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  In the 1987 anti-drug PSA, what image represented the brain and what other image represented drugs? How do analogies help a writer to overcome the Curse of Knowledge?

Challenge - The Annals of Analogy:  What is an example of an excellent analogy that you have seen used by a great thinker or writer?  Identify the analogy, and explain why you think it works.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

March 13, 2012:  On this day The New York Times announced that the Encyclopedia Britannica would no longer produce its print edition. First published in 1768, The Britannica became the most recognized and authoritative reference work every published in English.  The last print edition, produced in 2010, consisted of 32 volumes and weighed 129 pounds.  It sold for $1,395.

Sources:

1-Cohen, Adam. “An SAT Without Analogies Is Like: (A) A Confused Citizenry…” The New York Times 13 March 2005.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - February 23

Why is one of the keys to a successful Ted Talk not just the content of the talk but also the talk’s time limit?

Subject:  Attention - TED Talk Time Limit

Event:  TED Founded, 1984

In 2005, Time magazine reported that research conducted by Microsoft Corporation concluded that the attention span of the average individual dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2005. Time also noted that the attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds(1).

A bit more optimistic view of the human attention span can be found at TED conferences, where the rule is no presentation may exceed 18-minutes.  It’s hard to argue with the success of TED Talks; they are streamed more than 2 million times per day.

TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) was created by Richard Saul Wurman, who hosted the first TED conference in Monterey, California, on this day, Thursday, February 23, 1984.  Attendees paid $475 to watch a variety of 18-minute presentations.  In 2009, TED began to depart from its once a year model by granting licenses to third parties for community-level TEDx events.  The TED.com website was launched in 2006, and today there are TED events in more than 130 countries.

As TED curator Chris Anderson explains, the time limit is no accident; instead, it is a purposeful standard that helps both the speaker communicate clearly and the audience learn more efficiently:

It is long enough to be serious and short enough to hold people’s attention. It turns out that this length also works incredibly well online. It’s the length of a coffee break. So, you watch a great talk, and forward the link to two or three people. It can go viral, very easily. The 18-minute length also works much like the way Twitter forces people to be disciplined in what they write. By forcing speakers who are used to going on for 45 minutes to bring it down to 18, you get them to really think about what they want to say. What is the key point they want to communicate? It has a clarifying effect. It brings discipline. 

Communication coach Carmine Gallo explains the logic of the 18-minute time rule based on the physiology of the brain:

The 18-minute rule also works because the brain is an energy hog. The average adult human brain only weighs about three pounds, but it consumes an inordinate amount of glucose, oxygen, and blood flow. As the brain takes in new information and is forced to process it, millions of neurons are firing at once, burning energy and leading to fatigue and exhaustion. (2)

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the rationale behind the 18-minute time limit for TED Talks?

Challenge - Under 18 But Not Minor:  Some of the most effective and memorable speeches in history come in under the 18-minute rule.  For example, Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which he gave at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, was 17 minutes long.  Speaking at a normal pace, the average 18-minute speech would be approximately 2,500 words.  Do some research on great speeches, and find one that you like that is under 2,500 words.  Explain the rhetorical context of the speech and, besides the fact that it is less than 18-minutes long, explain why you feel it is effective.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

February 23, 2011:  On this day an important study on language was published. More specifically, the study revealed the power of metaphors to persuade.  In the study, participants were shown two different metaphors describing the same situation:

Crime is a beast ravaging the city.

Crime is a virus ravaging the city.

People who read the “beast” metaphor were more likely to suggest law enforcement-based solutions, such as more police or longer jail sentences.  In contrast, people who read the “virus” metaphor were more likely to suggest education initiatives or economic policy changes. Clearly metaphors subtly influence our thinking, bringing to mind different associations.  When we think of a “beast,” for example, images related to brute force and cages come to mind.  In contrast, when we think of a “virus,” images related to antidotes and prevention come to mind. (3).

Sources:

1-McSpadden, Kevin. “You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish” Time.com 14 May 2015.  

2-Gallo, Carmine. “The Science Behind TED's 18-Minute Rule.”  Linkedin.com 13 March, 2014.

3-Thibodeau, Paul H. and Lera Boroditsky. “Metaphors We Think With: The Role of Metaphor in Reasoning.” Feb. 2011. PLoS ONE 6(2): e16782.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - January 27

What one word will go with each of the following words to form a compound word: “flower,”  “friend,” “scout”?

Subject: Creativity - Remote Associates Test

Event:  Birthday of Sarnoff Andrei Mednick, 1928

 

Look at these three words:  DREAM, BREAK, LIGHT.

Does a fourth word come to your mind automatically, a word that is associated with each of the other three?

Psychologist Sarnoff A. Mednick, who was born on this day in 1928, sought to better understand creative thinking.  After interviewing scientists, architects, and mathematicians to identify their creative process, he noted that one key element of creativity is associations from memory. Being creative means being able to make associations and to connect ideas, especially ideas that aren't immediately obvious.

                                                                                     Image by Pexels from Pixabay 

Based on what he learned about creativity, Mednick created the Remote Associates Test (RAT) in the 1960s as a method of assessing creative thinking.  The test is made up of word puzzles where the solver must examine three words -- such as DREAM, BREAK, LIGHT -- and identify the single word that links all three: DAY -- as in “daydream,” “daybreak,” and “daylight.”

Some psychologists argue that the RAT is more a test of linguistic ability or problem solving than creativity; nevertheless, Mednick’s invention remains a popular instrument.  The RAT not only helps us ponder the relationship between memory and imagination, but it also meets the criteria of Albert Einstein’s definition of creativity:  “Creativity is intelligence having fun” (1).

Try the following examples, which range from very easy to very hard:

1. dew, comb, bee 

2. preserve, ranger, tropical 

3. sense, courtesy, place 

4. flower, friend, scout 

5. sticker, maker, point 

6. right, cat, carbon 

7. home, sea, bed 

8. fence, card, master 

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the RAT, and what insights does it give us about creativity? 

 

Challenge - Mother Tongue Lashing:  What one word fits between the words ‘Jelly’ and ‘Bag’ to form two separate compound words? Jelly __________ Bag  The answer is the word “bean” as in jelly bean and beanbag.  This is a variation of the RAT called Mother Tongue Lashing. It takes advantage of the wealth of compound words and expressions in English. For each pair of words below, name a word that can follow the first word and precede the second one to complete a compound word or a familiar two-word phrase.

1. Life __________ Travel

2. Punk __________ Candy

3. Green _________ Space

4. Rest __________ Work

5. Word  __________ Book

6. Rock __________ Dust

7. Spelling __________ Sting

8. Night __________ House

Sources:  

1-Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.

Answers to the RAT:  1 honey, 2 forest, 3 common, 4 girl, 5 match, 6 copy, 7 sick, 8 post

Answers to Mother Tongue Lashing:  Answers:  1 time, 2 rock, 3 back, 4 home, 5 play, 6 star, 7 bee, 8 light

THINKER'S ALMANAC - January 22

How did an encounter with a chicken lead to the death of the man who coined the phrase “Knowledge is power”?

Subject:  Induction - Knowledge is Power

Event: Birthday of Francis Bacon, 1561

 

Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. -Francis Bacon

Today is the birthday of English philosopher, statesman, and scientist, Francis Bacon (1561-1626), known for the famous pronouncement, “Knowledge is power.”  In science, Bacon challenged the established deductive method of thinking, which was based on the classical writings of Aristotle and Plato.  Unlike deduction, which is based on the syllogism, Bacon’s inductive method is based on empirical evidence.  In Bacon’s method, the five senses become the basis of how we make sense of our world, by observation, data gathering, analysis, and experimentation.

                                                                    Image by Pexels from Pixabay 

In 1620, Bacon published The New Instrument (Novum Organum Scientiarum), where he made his famous claim “knowledge is power.”  As historian Yuval Noah Harari explains in his book Sapiens, Bacon’s genius was his pioneering work in connecting science with technology.  Today we take this connection for granted, but in the 17th century, there was a divide between scientific theory and technology.  Bacon argued that the true test of knowledge wasn’t just whether or not it was true; instead, the true test was its utility.  Bacon envisioned a future where science and technology would be forged to empower humankind (1).

While Bacon is known today for the development of the scientific method, his devotion to that method might have also led to his own demise.  The story goes that one snowy day in 1626 Bacon was traveling with a friend in his carriage.  The two men began arguing about Bacon’s recent hypothesis that fresh meat could be preserved if frozen.  Seeing an opportunity to do some on-the-spot experimentation, Bacon stopped his carriage and purchased a chicken from a peasant woman. After having the woman gut the chicken, Bacon proceeded to pack snow into the chicken’s carcass. He then put the chicken in a bag, packed more snow around the outside of its body, and buried it.  Unfortunately, in the process of gathering his empirical evidence, Bacon caught a severe chill, which led to his death by pneumonia on April 9, 1626.

In addition to his important work in science, Bacon is also known today for his writing, principally the English essay. Influenced by Montaigne, the French writer who pioneered the essay, Bacon adopted and popularized the form in English as a method for exploring ideas in writing.

Bacon wrote on a wide range of topics but preceded his essays’ titles with the preposition “of,” as in  Of Truth, Of Death, Of Revenge, Of Love, Of Boldness, Of Ambition.  His essays are eminently quotable, for Bacon crafted his sentences carefully, making each one a profound package of pithiness — you might go so far as to call them “Bacon bits.”  As Bacon explained in his own words, aphorisms, those concise statements of general truth, were essential to his thinking:

Aphorisms, except they should be ridiculous, cannot be made but of the pith and heart of sciences; for discourse of illustration is cut off; recitals of examples are cut off; discourse of connection and order is cut off; descriptions of practice are cut off. So there remaineth nothing to fill the aphorisms but some good quantity of observation; and therefore no man can suffice, nor in reason will attempt, to write aphorisms, but he that is sound and grounded (2).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What were Bacon’s contributions to both the world of science and of writing?

Challenge - Everything is Better with Bacon:  Just one of Bacon’s aphorisms is like an essay in itself.  For example, here’s what he said about rhetoric:  “The duty and office of rhetoric is to apply reason to imagination for the better moving of the will.”  Research some of Bacon’s aphorisms.  Select one that you find interesting.  Quote it, and write an explanation of why it intrigues you.

 

Sources:  

1-Harari, Yuval N. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. New York: Harper, 2015.

2-Bacon, Francis.  The Advancement of Learning. 1605. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5500/5500-h/5500-h.htm

THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 30

Subject:  Questions - Kipling’s Six Honest Serving Men

Event:  Birthday of British writer Rudyard Kipling (1865)

 

A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy? -Albert Einstein

Today is the birthday of Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), England’s master storyteller and poet.  Kipling was British, but he lived for many years in India where he was born.  Known especially for his short stories and his popular work of fiction The Jungle Book (1894), Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907 when he was just 42 years old.  He was the first English language writer to win the prize, and he was also the youngest ever to win the prize.

In a poem that accompanied one of his stories -- “The Elephant’s Child” -- Kipling includes a poem that personifies the six key interrogative pronouns, the words we use to begin questions:

I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who. (1)

Making Kipling’s “six honest serving-men” a part of your learning team is one of the best metacognitive strategies there is.  Metacognition is the ability to critically analyze and monitor your own thinking, and one excellent way to do this is to ask questions as you read or listen to a lecture.

In a 1991 study, ninth-grade students listened to a lecture.  A quarter of the students reviewed their notes on the lecture by themselves.  Another quarter of the students discussed the content of the lectures in small groups.  The final two quarters of students were taught self-questioning strategies, and then were asked to generate and answer questions individually during and after the lecture, or they were asked to generate and answer questions and then discuss their questions and answers with a small group.   All subjects in the study were tested immediately after the lecture and then tested again ten days later. 

Based on the study’s results, the students who employed self-questioning as a part of their study scored significantly higher than students who merely reviewed notes or discussed the contents of the lecture (2).

Challenge:  Six Starts for Self-Questioning:  Do some research on strategies for self-questioning.  Then, write a short public service announcement aimed at students, explaining what self-questioning is, how it can be done, and why it is an effective method of learning.

Sources: 

1-Poetry Foundation.  “Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936).

2-King, Alison. “Improving lecture comprehension: Effects of a metacognitive strategy.” Applied Cognitive Psychology July/August 1991, Volume 5, Issue 4.