Internet UltraGeek » Learning

Selling Your Soul Online

Raj Dash — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:44:34 +0000

Does the Internet bring out the crazies? Get this. Twenty-two year old coed student Natalie Dylan is a virgin and she’s selling her virginity via auction. For nearly $4M dollars. That’s supposedly to pay for school, for a Master’s degree. Geez. What school is she going to?

Talk about whoring yourself out. That price is only getting you one night with this girl, at the Bunny Ranch in Nevada – a state where prostitution is legal. She’s promoted her cause on the Howard Stern show. The CNN video below has more.

Being Leonardo da Vinci

Raj Dash — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:10:19 +0000

If your freelancing is currently limited to one discipline or even one subniche within that discipline (such as only writing about science), then you need to expand. A successful freelancer sows the seeds of future transformation. If business change comes to you, then you’ll be ready to move into new territory.

WikiHow had an excellent, indepth article about how to think like Leonardo da Vinci. The following list is an interpretation of that article, as well as a afterthought to What Leonardo da Vinci Taught Me About Freelancing, with a few more points thrown in.

Consume information. Absorb all forms: print, radio/ audio, images, TV/ movies/ video, verbal.
Listen to different types of music, even those you do not normally enjoy.
Listen to the sound of different languages.
Track your thoughts, whether to write in a journal, draw, or blog.
Assume more than one point of view, for the sake of argument, then determine which one suits you best.
Capture the sensations you experience, including writing about them or illustrating them. Illustration can include drawings/ paintings, diagrams, photographs, screensnaps, screencasts, video.
Ask questions, compare unrelated topics and see if you can’t find parallels or intersections. To accomplish this, record tidbits of information about each topic, either in list or mind map form. (Give preference to the latter, because it more closely resembles human brain thinking patterns, and can help you absorb information far more quickly than a linear list.)
Imagine. Imagine conversations with great minds. Imagine finding the solution to great questions.
Be physically active. This is the counterpoint to thinking, but being physically active is just as important as being mentally active.

Using Audio Notes With Mind Maps

Raj Dash — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:00:44 +0000

Ever wanted to attach voice notes to your mind maps? Well you can. While a few mind mapping apps have built-in audio recording, not all do. However, all mind mapping apps do allow you to attach files to map nodes. That means that you can attach an audio file, and when you click on the linked map node, the default desktop application for that audio file format will activate.

If you’re using MindManager 8 and up, there’s an embedded Internet Explorer web browser. So any file type that I.E. can handle will be played internally. For other audio formats, the default application will start. (Just note that you can use pretty much any mind mapping application that allows linking to an audio file.) If you look at the image above, you can see an audio icon to the right of the main mind map node.

Applications of this include audio notes for courses – particularly language learning – and any step-by-step instructional content.