Both this NPR hidden brain podcast on the influence you have and this book on confessions of a sociopath point to the interesting aspects on how we know (and don’t know) about the psychological influences we can have on other people.
March 30, 2020
March 28, 2020
Social distancing
I drew this one from a photo (taken during a hike) and a movie still (watched during a long distance flight).
March 24, 2020
Calming routines
I usually found patent disclosure meetings a bit tedious. But the (remote) one held yesterday afternoon with two patent attorneys on a single-authored patent felt quite reassuring. During upheavals, routines can calm.
March 23, 2020
Networked creativity
I used to think that individual creativity is essential to succeed in a research career, either academic or industrial, until I saw people who managed to compensate their lack of creativity (or more general talent/effort) with socializing and networking to leverage up their apparent productivity.
March 21, 2020
Watercolor wet spatter a crabapple tree
I don’t have the skill (or, more importantly, the patience) to draw trees so I just settled for the built-in watercolor wet spatter in Adobe Fresco.
March 20, 2020
Shelter in place
The neighborhood cats came around, probably looking for the recently emerging groundhogs.
I drew these two cats from two separate photos, and found the process a refreshing break from working at home.
March 18, 2020
Life-long learning effects
The best part about attending a top school is not (just) the education, research, and networking, but the constant reminder to be humble and avoid underachieving for the rest of my life.
I can now claim to have a Turing award winner as my thesis co-supervisor and committee member. 😈 https://t.co/kVWFr5nl5Z
— Li-Yi Wei (@liyiwei) March 18, 2020
the official ACM announcement https://t.co/EfWw8qy0D2
— Li-Yi Wei (@liyiwei) March 18, 2020
How to clarify technical writings
There are two ways to clarify writing: modifying existing texts, and rewriting from scratch.
These two can be combined in some way and thus not exclusive.
Sometimes, if the writing has fundamental structure issues, it could help to sketch out a fresh outline aiming for a general audience without deep knowledge of the topic.
This exercise could then provide a roadmap for subsequent steps.
March 14, 2020
Uncertainty
In this podcast from a few days ago, Mervyn King made the point that uncertainty might cause anxiety but ultimately also makes life fun.
Drawing a sweetgum seed pod
I spotted this spiky plant ball on the ground while hiking and brought it back as a drawing subject.