Science/life: Formulation of art makes art available to people

 Last week, I was taking a two-day grant writing seminar provided by our cancer center. Grant writing is one of few ways scientists make money for their work. It is a critical skill to write fundable grants.

They provided 7 hour talk sessions, slides handouts, and 239-page guidebook. The contents are essentially detailed instructions for the NIH grant writing. They are far more detailed than original instructions for the grants and explain purposes of each part. The contents are distilled from collective wisdom for writing successful grants. It is an art form, I thought.

Afterwards, I have been taking my time to apply the contents and instructions to my own grant writing. With good instructions, in many cases, "just do it" yields the best results. It has been a lot of fun. It may take more than a few attempts to implement the contents successfully. But the seminar was that good and worth adopting.

When we learn something practical, the subject usually is an art; a collection of "doing something in a manner (or manners) for a particular purpose". And good instructions clearly illustrate "how and what to do" in the art. The instructions themselves are an art form. We may need to supply "why" by ourselves, though.

When I read "Mastering Jujitsu" by Renzo Gracie and John Danaher (2003), I was very impressed by how well they break down the "game" of one-on-one, unarmed combat/contest in a closed area. They see the game by the ranges/distance, by the advantageous/disadvantageous relative positions, and by the phases/process (initial engagement to endgame). They provided new ways to appreciate UFC-style mixed martial arts contests.

Compared with that systematic approach, "practice these moves, get tough, get faster, get more power or moves, be good and may the better one win" approach of some poor old-school martial arts looked almost idiotic. 

Such is the power of methodical thinking.

PS 

The car fluid leak I mentioned in previous entry (11/13) turned out to be differential fluid leak. I anticipate another $600 for the repair. Maybe some cut in shopping, but money can make a lot of troubles go away. Got to use it well for the purpose.

Life: Fixing car makes me think life is a process

 My car started making rattling noise from front passenger side when turning. I took the car to a shop. The very first appointment made through online was cancelled, due to their mechanic taking off the day. On the second visit, They replaced front axle CV joints. An $800 repair.

Next day, the car was making the same noise. I made an appointment and took the car to the shop. They said somehow the CV joint was not in place, and after an hour told me it was fixed. Yes, no noise. As the parts and labor was under warranty, no out of pocket expense this time, but a few hours of our time.

I kept an eye on the car, and noticed fluid leak under the hood the next day. That leak was not there previously. I put a white poly trash bag beneath the car to check the type of fluid. Brown fluid with funky smell from front center-right, likely transmission fluid.

I suspect the transmission fluid seal at the end of CV joint was damaged during the installation. If so, seal replacement may be needed.

This guess may be right or not. Anyhow I do not want to leave it when transmission fluid leak is suspected. I made another appointment today. 

 Multiverse or metaverse are buzzwords for a while. In an ideal universe, everything goes without a hitch, and even if something happens, it can be fixed immediately.

Obviously, unlike in a made-up ideal world, it does not work that way here. Many things in this universe can just drag on. We gotta be patient and be thankful when an issue, or a car, is fixed.

A thought on pre-thanksgiving November.