Saturday, July 21, 2007

Week 3, Day 7

For the body:
Today was an official day of rest from my formal exercise program. However, I think I burned calories by vacuuming the house and dusting, doing dishes and 4 loads of wash. I also took our basset, Zeke, out for a walk to smell the wildlife.

For the mind:
I got bogged down in some nearly incomprehensivle chapters in Beyond AI involving evidence grids, bayesian networks and seguing into designing for a brain. I forged my way through and found myself in somewhat more understandable territory describing the different stages of AI: hypohuman, diahuman, parahuman, allohuman, epihuman and hyperhuman. Several more chapters to go.

On the lighter side, I listened to another Escape Pod podcast, entitled "Conversations with and about my Electric Toothbrush" by Derek Zumsteg. Zany, spectulative science fiction at its best, deliniating the plight of a poor electric toothbrush with higher aspirations for itself and its human owner. The iTunes store emailed me about another new podcast, the Classic Tales Podcast. I grabbed all 8 episodes and listened to "The cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe. We had a very old bound set of Poe when I was growing up and I have hazy memories of the tale. The narrator, B.J. Harrison, does a fantastic job of bringing it to life.

For the spirit:
I've been listening to various dharma talks from The InterDependence Project and sat for 20 minutes of breath meditation. I also reminded my husband to move the old television off my meditation cushion and put it anyplace else.

No comments: