Monkey Mind
38 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 months ago -We jump around from topic to topic with the discipline of a monkey mind. Birds, linguistics, computing and grad school may feature disproportionately.
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Episodes
Episode 038: Dirty Data
October 18, 2023 15:00 - 1 hour - 34.7 MBGrace and David talk about fudging data, data illiteracy, misaligned incentives, and all the ways in which data is used and misused in science. Note: this will be our last episode. Goodhart's law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart's_law) My personal favorite Dilbert strips on Software Quality (https://medium.com/@nairgirish100/my-personal-favorite-dilbert-strips-on-software-quality-be90b46e2f04) Elisabeth Bik (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Bik) Homo economicus (https://en.wikip...
Episode 037: An Episode about Wild Things
September 02, 2023 16:00 - 2 hours - 55.5 MBBrutal heat wave makes Texas among the hottest places on Earth (https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/brutal-heat-wave-makes-texas-hottest-places-earth-rcna91584) South Pacific Gyre (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pacific_Gyre) El Niño (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Niño) Pole of inaccessibility (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_of_inaccessibility#Oceanic_pole_of_inaccessibility) Convex hull (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convex_hull) 8. “Olas y Arenas” — The Beaches Belong t...
Episode 036: This Episode Is Two Months Late
May 17, 2023 09:00 - 1 hour - 60.9 MBPokémon Crystal Version - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pokémon_Crystal_Version) Move Deleter - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Move_Deleter) National Pokédex - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/National_Pokédex) Vinyl overtakes CD sales for the first time since 1987 (https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/10/2363...
Episode 035: Pokémon and Singaporean cultural history
March 10, 2023 04:00 - 1 hour - 40.5 MBGrace and David do surprise trades in Pokémon Violet, and somehow end up talking about cultural institutions in Singapore. Surprise Trade (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Surprise_Trade) Pokémon breeding (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_breeding) Bottle Cap (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Bottle_Cap) Mint (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Mint) Pokémon competitive play - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_competitive_play) Lazada...
Episode 034: ChatGPT and Natural History
January 28, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 55.1 MBWe discuss ChatGPT, professional subreddits, natural history in Singapore, and more ChatGPT. ChatGPT is MBB or bust (https://www.reddit.com/r/consulting/comments/104ryr5/chatgpt_is_mbb_or_bust/) r/KitchenConfidential (https://www.reddit.com/r/KitchenConfidential/) John Searle - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Searle) r/AskHistorians - Comment by u/jbdyer on "What was Soviet pet culture like? Were dogs and cats considered capitalist fripperaries, or were they comrades? Did the pl...
Episode 033: Migration Assistant
September 23, 2022 13:00 - 58 minutes - 53.4 MBGrace and David talk about what happens when an operating system is so old, macOS doesn't know how to migrate from it. And some other stuff. macOS version history - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS_version_history) Year 2038 problem - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem) File Allocation Table - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#FAT32) Accidental Tech Podcast (https://atp.fm/) The rapid testing show : Planet Money (https://www.n...
Episode 032: Teaching 101 courses
March 13, 2022 06:00 - 45 minutes - 41.5 MBDavid and Grace discuss the challenges of teaching introductory courses and developing students' writing skills. CS50x 2022 (https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/2022/) Department of English Language and Literature (https://english.unm.edu/undergrad/core/core-writing.html) Writing the Essay (https://cas.nyu.edu/ewp/ewp-courses/writing-the-essay.html) Essays (https://www.geoffreychallen.com/essays) Poorly Structured (https://www.geoffreychallen.com/essays/2021-07-30-poorly-structured)
Episode 031: Weird travels and mice
February 21, 2022 16:00 - 37 minutes - 34 MBDavid survived a lockdown while travelling and tells the tale. Random diversion to 3D-printed mice. Maastricht Formation - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastricht_Formation) Maastrichtian - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastrichtian) Ploopy. Open-source hardware. (https://ploopy.co/) Another method for finishing a Ploopy shell! ASA filament with acetone chemical smoothing. (https://www.reddit.com/r/ploopy/comments/soxqrg/another_method_for_finishing_a_ploopy_shell_asa/...
Episode 030: Travel? Travel!
November 17, 2021 22:00 - 52 minutes - 48.4 MBDavid plans to travel. Naturalis Biodiversity Center (https://www.naturalis.nl/en) List of oldest universities in continuous operation - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_universities_in_continuous_operation) The Feather Heist - This American Life (https://www.thisamericanlife.org/654/the-feather-heist) The Man Who Stole Bird Feathers (Published 2018) (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/01/books/review/kirk-wallace-johnson-feather-thief.html) Baden-Powell House - Wikipedia ...
Episode 029: Stable Isotopes and Computer Systems
October 18, 2021 16:00 - 49 minutes - 45.1 MBStable nuclide - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stable_nuclide) Stable isotope ratio - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stable_isotope_ratio) The Use of Stable Isotopes in the Study of Animal Migration (https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/the-use-of-stable-isotopes-in-the-96648168/) Leaky abstraction - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaky_abstraction) MOSTFET (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOSFET) Combinational logic - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia....
Episode 028: This episode has no theme
September 22, 2021 13:00 - 45 minutes - 41.4 MB2021 Western North America heat wave - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Western_North_America_heat_wave) Cenchrus - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenchrus) Red tortoise cake - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_tortoise_cake) Pisang goreng - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisang_goreng) Brave (web browser) - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(web_browser)) Cotopaxi - Gear For Good | Free shipping on orders $99+ (https://www.cotopaxi.com...
Episode 027: Camera Obscura
August 13, 2021 11:00 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MBDavid and Grace debate the relative merits of cameras of all shapes, sizes and ages, but only after discussing ways to cross borders with dead bodies. Note: In the middle of this episode, we had to go to Zoom audio because we lost one of the mic recordings. Sorry about that! Cryogenic storage dewar - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryogenic_storage_dewar) Digiscoping - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digiscoping) 'High Flying Bird': What Soderbergh Begged Apple to Change Ab...
Episode 026: Covid Vaccination Talk
July 26, 2021 00:00 - 48 minutes - 44.4 MBWe talk about Covid vaccines, efficacy vs effectiveness, and how on earth to get vaccination rates up. COVID-19 vaccine - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_vaccine) Phases of clinical research - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phases_of_clinical_research#Efficacy_vs_effectiveness) New Mexico Department of HealthCOVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard (https://cvvaccine.nmhealth.org/public-dashboard.html)
Episode 025: Maps and Models
June 16, 2021 14:00 - 43 minutes - 40.3 MBDavid took the opportunity of a soft lockdown to add 98,000-ish buildings' worth of height data to his bird-building collision data set, one building at a time. Lidar - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar) Archaeologists discover the largest-and oldest-Maya monument ever (https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/06/archaeologists-discover-the-largest-and-oldest-maya-monument-ever/) Photogrammetry - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photogrammetry) OneMap 3.0 (https://www.onemap3...
Episode 024: Protein Folding, Artificial Intelligence, and SkyNet
June 11, 2021 12:30 - 1 hour - 43.9 MBIn typical Monkey Mind fashion, David and Grace talk about vaccinations, then folding proteins, then using computers and gamers to fold proteins, then things computers can't do and things computers can't do yet, and things computers might never be able to do. Meningococcal Vaccination: What Everyone Should Know (https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/mening/public/index.html) Protein folding - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_folding) Foldit: Competitive Protein Folding for Medical ...
Episode 023: On the Economics of Science
June 11, 2021 12:15 - 1 hour - 56.5 MBDavid and Grace discuss the problem of finding money to pay for science, and unsurprisingly end up talking about economics. r/LinkedInLunatics (https://www.reddit.com/r/LinkedInLunatics/) Science funders gamble on grant lotteries (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03572-7) Kati Kariko Helped Shield the World From the Coronavirus (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/health/coronavirus-mrna-kariko.html) Andy Matuschak is creating tools for thought | Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/quan...
Episode 022: Not Sure What We Talked About, Part V
June 11, 2021 11:00 - 1 hour - 61.4 MBHi, it's Grace, weeks after the recording of this episode. I can't remember what we talked about but these are our show notes, so we must have talked about birds (surprise), urban geography, Freiburg, shipping containers, something about modelling the financial markets, and more Freiburg. YouTube: The Capercaillie Bird defends its territory (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xSj5XcByuA) Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Freiburg+im+Breisgau,+Germany/@47.993078,7....
Episode 021: Not Sure What We Talked About, Part IV
April 17, 2021 16:30 - 1 hour - 28.6 MBWhy comparing Covid-19 vaccine efficacy numbers can be misleading (https://www.vox.com/22311625/covid-19-vaccine-efficacy-johnson-moderna-pfizer) Is this ship still stuck? (https://istheshipstillstuck.com/) In Suez Canal, Stuck Ship Is a Warning About Excessive Globalization (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/business/ship-suez-canal.html) Swiss cheese model - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_cheese_model) What Killed These Bald Eagles? After 25 Years, We Finally Know. (https:/...
Episode 020: Not Sure What We Talked About, Part III
April 17, 2021 16:15 - 2 hours - 47.3 MBStevey's Blog Rants (https://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/03/execution-in-kingdom-of-nouns.html) Tidyverse (https://www.tidyverse.org/) Codewars Java Kata (requires sign in and some Java homework) (https://www.codewars.com/kata/reviews/54a83d11e1288d7cd70001d6/groups/54b6e0b3ac3d54604b001320) Reddit: I found this during my first day in new job (https://www.reddit.com/r/programminghorror/comments/lr6ip1/i_found_this_during_my_first_day_in_new_job/) Reddit: Dutch electronic voting code base (h...
Episode 019: Not Sure What We Talked About, Part II
April 17, 2021 16:00 - 1 hour - 38.2 MBIzu Islands (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izu_Islands) Cattle stranded on ship in Mediterranean must be destroyed, say vets (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/27/cattle-stranded-on-ship-in-mediterranean-must-be-destroyed-say-vets) Cal Newport - Author of Deep Work, Study Hacks Blog (https://www.calnewport.com/) The Oresteia: The Trilogy by Aeschylus (1983) - IMDb (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5524714/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt) Jadeite Cabbage (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadeite_Cabbage) W...
Episode 018: Not Sure What We Talked About, Part I
April 17, 2021 15:00 - 1 hour - 25.4 MBYou should probably charge your MacBook using the ports on its right side (https://www.imore.com/heres-why-you-should-probably-charge-your-macbook-using-ports-its-right-side) Masuda method (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Masuda_method) YouTube: Ring Fit Adventure Speedruns (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvjHMu_tBOs) Ring Fit Adventure on speedrun.com (https://www.speedrun.com/ring_fit_adventure#Any) YouTube: Automatic basketball hoop (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FycDx69px8U)
Episode 017: Tries and Trees
February 13, 2021 18:00 - 1 hour - 22.9 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ESK5SaP-bc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ESK5SaP-bc) Codewars: Achieve mastery through challenge (https://www.codewars.com/) CS50x 2021 (https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/2021/) Trie (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trie) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaCinQIy8MI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaCinQIy8MI) The Newick tree format (https://evolution.genetics.washington.edu/phylip/newicktree.html) How to root a phylogenetic tree (http://cabbagesofdoom.blogspot.com...
Episode 016: The One About Games Done Quick
February 13, 2021 18:00 - 1 hour - 28.9 MBThis was recorded over a month ago, I have had no time since to listen back and make show notes, and all I know is that we talked a lot about video games and Awesome Games Done Quick 2021. Pokémon Red and Blue/Mew glitch (https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Red_and_Blue/Mew_glitch) Mr. Bones (video game) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Bones_(video_game)) Azumarill (Pokémon) (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Azumarill_(Pok%C3%A9mon))
Episode 015: Flooding, Ponding, and Draining
January 16, 2021 09:00 - 1 hour - 22.3 MBDavid and Grace talk about flooding, environmental effects and urban design. Wikipedia: La Niña (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Ni%C3%B1a) David's tweet (https://twitter.com/g33k5p34k/status/1345318794583920645) Video shows car driving in an extremely flooded Lorong Halus (https://mothership.sg/2021/01/lorong-halus-flooded/) Tweet about extreme weather in Singapore (https://twitter.com/winstontlchow/status/1345374250660630529) You shouldn't be alarmed by the 'flooding' at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio...
Episode 014: Landscape of Death
January 01, 2021 13:00 - 1 hour - 39.4 MBHere's the relevant quote from Orson Scott Card's (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card) Speaker for the Dead (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_for_the_Dead): If we had to observe your university under the same limitations that bind us in our observation of the Lusitanian aborigines, we would no doubt conclude that humans do not reproduce, do not form kinship groups, and devote their entire life cycle to the metamorphosis of the larval student into the adult professor. Species ...
Episode 013: Trees and Maps
December 20, 2020 03:00 - 1 hour - 28.8 MBEight Little Piggies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Little_Piggies) Reconstructing trees: A simple example (https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/phylogenetics_07) Colleges That Change Lives (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleges_That_Change_Lives) John Costello (https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/john-costello.html) Richard Stallman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman) Map projection (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map_projection) Accidental Tech Podcast: 356: Wit...
Episode 012: Bad Education
October 19, 2020 11:00 - 1 hour - 21.6 MBToo Many Head and Eye Movements (https://www.monkeymind.xyz/011) An example of the LORMS marking scheme in Appendix A and B (https://www.seab.gov.sg/docs/default-source/national-examinations/syllabus/alevel/2021syllabus/9752_y21_sy.pdf) The Harvard Educational Review - HEPG (https://www.hepg.org/her-home/issues/harvard-educational-review-volume-88,-issue-3/herbooknote/negotiating-opportunities)
Episode 011: Too Many Head and Eye Movements
October 19, 2020 07:00 - 1 hour - 29.1 MBOn academic assessment, computerised proctoring, gaming the system, and instructional delivery. Graduate Record Examinations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graduate_Record_Examinations) Wikipedia: National Trades Union Congress (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Trades_Union_Congress) Exam Day: What to Expect (https://support.proctoru.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043565051-Exam-Day-What-to-Expect-) https://twitter.com/LegendAriee16/status/1304098649186742273 (https://twitter.com/LegendAriee1...
Episode 010: Games and Mental Models
August 16, 2020 14:00 - 1 hour - 28.5 MBWe made it to Episode 10. Games, mental models, games as models, and broken models. Bloons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloons) Shopping Cart Hero 3 (https://shoppingcarthero3.net) All Abstractions Are Wrong But Some Are Useful (https://www.monkeymind.xyz/004) Researchers find bug in Python script may have affected hundreds of studies (https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/10/chemists-discover-cross-platform-python-scripts-not-so-cross-platform/) Games Done Quick (https://game...
Episode 009: A Perception-Themed Episode
August 16, 2020 05:00 - 1 hour - 56.2 MBHuman colour perception, animal navigation, things that fluoresce under UV light, and a little bit about learning software engineering tacked on at the end. NDP 2020 mobile column will reach more heartland areas; to pay tribute to frontline and essential workers (https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/ndp-2020-mobile-column-heartlands-covid-19-frontline-workers-12982564) ColorBrewer: Color Advice for Maps (https://colorbrewer2.org/#type=sequential&scheme=BuGn&n=3) Emlen funnel (https:...
Episode 008: Babies are really sh*tty neural nets
August 16, 2020 04:00 - 58 minutes - 40.4 MBDavid talks about birds (surprise), we talk a little bit about RSA cryptography, and Grace struggles to remember her undergraduate language acquisition class. White-bellied erpornis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-bellied_erpornis) Pitta (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitta) Sapayoa (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapayoa) Parrotbill (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrotbill) Recent African origin of modern humans (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recent_African_origin_of_modern_humans) Coal...
Episode 007: True bugs and true foods
June 14, 2020 04:00 - 1 hour - 58.6 MBThis episode is about bugs, bugs as food, and then global cuisines and what happens to foods that are transposed outside of their original habitat. Recorded on 24 May 2020, before Bon Appetit imploded. Hemiptera (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemiptera) On Data Formats and Speciation (https://www.monkeymind.xyz/002) Speech Jammer (https://www.clicktorelease.com/code/speech-jammer/) Chagas disease (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagas_disease) Wheel bug (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_bug...
Episode 006: Dependency Hell and Browser Wars
May 23, 2020 16:00 - 1 hour - 85 MBGrace is still obsessed with CS50x. We talk about development frameworks, rooting out bugs that are not your fault, and demonstrated skill as a professional calling card. C$50 Finance (https://finance.cs50.net/) Commonplace book (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book) Longform (https://longform.org) jQuery (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JQuery) Bootstrap (front-end framework) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootstrap_(front-end_framework)) PHP (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHP#Histor...
Episode 005: This is All About CS50x
May 23, 2020 15:30 - 1 hour - 77.2 MBGrace has a new obsession: Harvard's CS50x Introduction to Computer Science, so we talk about online education, and how to teach and learn online. CS50x (https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/2020/) Scratch - Imagine, Program, Share (https://scratch.mit.edu) The Perils of JavaSchools (https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2005/12/29/the-perils-of-javaschools-2/) Segmentation fault (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmentation_fault) Accidental Tech Podcast: 375: Wobbly Goblin (https://atp.fm/375) C - Pointers (h...
Episode 004: All Abstractions Are Wrong But Some Are Useful
May 23, 2020 15:15 - 1 hour - 33.5 MBDavid and Grace talk about abstraction in statistics, computing, mathematics and a few other things besides. Birth-death process (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth–death_process) Akaike information criterion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akaike_information_criterion) Stratechery by Ben Thompson (https://stratechery.com) Subtraction.com (https://www.subtraction.com) The Law of Leaky Abstractions (https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/11/11/the-law-of-leaky-abstractions/) Logic gate (https://e...
Episode 003: Foods, Farms and Pets
May 23, 2020 15:00 - 58 minutes - 53.7 MBDavid and Grace talk about the relationship between human beings and the rest of the animal kingdom. What is a wet market? (https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/apr/16/what-is-a-wet-market-coronavirus) Pro Chef Tries Butchering a Whole Pig for the First Time | Bon Appétit (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaOQrgC_iNs) Snake wine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_wine) Bought for a Song: An Indonesian Craze Puts Wild Birds at Risk (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/world/asia...
Episode 002: On Data Formats and Speciation
May 17, 2020 05:00 - 1 hour - 76.7 MBWe talk about remote audiovisual production, wrangling data, and genealogy in evolutionary biology. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/567d5c40c647adf832eb7aa5/1589694146158-AM7T3EF4M1Z9U0RBNKSJ/002+Audio+Hijack.png?content-type=image%2Fpng Audio Hijack - Record any audio on Mac (https://rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/) Bon Appétit (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbpMy0Fg74eXXkvxJrtEn3w) Pro Chefs Make 13 Kinds of Pantry Pasta | Test Kitchen Talks @ Home | Bon Appétit (https://www.yout...
Episode 001: From Bad Wi-Fi to Bad Science
April 18, 2020 14:00 - 1 hour - 66.8 MBDavid is serving his Stay-Home Notice at a hotel with bad wi-fi. We talk a little bit about the state of Covid-19 in Singapore on 28 March (ahh, such innocent times), how science gets done, and what happens when science is done badly. Recorded on 28 March 2020. Everything you need to know about Stay-Home Notice (https://www.gov.sg/article/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-stay-home-notice) COVID-19: Stay-home notices for all travellers entering Singapore from ASEAN countries, Japan, UK, S...