Knowledge vs. Intelligence

Knowledge consists of facts and skills that are taught or learned. It is what most standardized tests (SAT, ACT, ASVAB) measure. Intelligence is different and has several aspects. 

Intelligence includes creativity, speed of learning, pattern recognition, and the ability to solve unfamiliar problems. That last ability is rare and crucial and often requires creativity. 

In general, knowledge and intelligence go together, but knowledge is easier to increase through study and experience. Experience is the best teacher, but reading a lot also helps. Books are concentrated experience.

It is possible to get better at solving unfamiliar problems through practice because most problems have common elements. Tolerance for uncertainty is important in that endeavor. 

The varieties of intelligence often cited such as verbal, mathematical, spatial, etc. would more accurately be called skills. 

My advice: read a lot on a variety of topics and try many different activities. Narrow your focus as needed for practical reasons (time and money). 

Quasi-crystalline structure of the aperiodic monotile?

Quasi-crystals are the 3D manifestations of the Penrose tiles. Now that the aperiodic monotile has been found, what material is the 3D form of that?

I conjecture it could be an ultradurable, non-stick steel, among other things. 

Nile Perch vs Asian Carp or Lionfish or Green Crabs?

Nile Perch aren't picky eaters and are voracious predators. It would be worthwhile to conduct experiments on whether they would preferentially eat Asian Carp or other invasive species. The variety from Lake Maryut could be introduced to brackish waters and thence gain the ability to survive in the ocean.

Of course, a repeat of the rabbit or cane toad incidents in Australia is possible, but less likely in the ocean. 

 

After 14 years of bombing, the Houthis have doubled in size

They went from about 100,000 members to 200,000. Allow me to propose a radical solution: do nothing.

They have launched many attacks against ships but have only managed to sink two and kill four sailors. Ignore them. They aren't worth the over $1 billion the US has spent bombing them during Operation Rough Rider. 

Not only does it make the US look stupid to use so much military force to no lasting effect, but it also acts as highly effective recruitment propaganda for the Houthis.  

In the words of the great philosopher Hank Hill, it's like a tire fire. If you try to put it out, you just make it worse. The only thing to do is grab a beer and watch burn.

Utah Data Center - NSA Boondoggle

They spent $1.5 billion to build a gigantic, water-cooled computer complex in a desert:

Utah Data Center - Wikipedia

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The completed facility is expected to require 65 megawatts of electricity, costing about $40 million per year.[6][19] Given its open-evaporation-based cooling system, the facility is expected to use 1.7 million US gal (6,400 m3) of water per day.[24]

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Good lord, just use mineral oil, you fools. It's what smart people like me do. Mineral oil has been used to cool high-voltage transformers since the 1890s. It can be used to cool electronics of any sort. 

It is the nature of bureaucracies to pick the most complex and expensive solution so they can justify a larger budget. The same thing happened when Trailblazer won over ThinThread. The high-level NSA employees who protested that decision were viciously hounded. 

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A group of former NSA workers—Kirk Wiebe, William Binney, Ed Loomis, and Thomas A. Drake, along with House Intelligence Committee staffer Diane Roark (an expert on the NSA budget[7])—believed the operational prototype system called ThinThread was a better solution than Trailblazer, which was just a concept on paper at the time. They complained to the DoD Inspector General office in 2002 about mismanagement and the waste of taxpayer money at the NSA surrounding the Trailblazer program. In 2007 the FBI raided the homes of these people, an evolution of President Bush's crackdown on whistleblowers and "leaks" after the New York Times disclosed a separate program (see NSA warrantless surveillance controversy). In 2010, one of the people who had helped the IG in the ensuing investigation, NSA official Thomas Andrews Drake, was charged with espionage,[7][8] part of the Obama administration's crackdown on whistleblowers and "leaks".[8][9][10] The original charges against him were later dropped and he pleaded to a misdemeanor.

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Espionage?! You gotta be shitting me. 

Seed Oils, Longevity, & Diet

I find it interesting that the Inuit and other carnivore people have about the same lifespan as everyone else (70, or three score and ten, as the good book says).

Tribes that follow a high-carb diet do about as well:

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The Tukisenta tribe predominantly eats sweet potatoes, a carbohydrate-rich food.

The Kitavans have a very high-carb diet with lots of saturated fat and little protein, yet they appear to thrive on it without becoming obese or developing metabolic syndrome.

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https://drscottsolomons.com/blog/2024/10/28/the-tukisenta-tribe-a-nutritional-paradox-in-the-highlands-of-papua-new-guinea

Human metabolism is flexible. Blue zone lifestyles have evidence for longevity (Mediterranean diet, moderate daily exercise, low stress).

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What differentiates the Tukisenta, Maasai, and Tokelauans from modern Western populations is their lack of processed foods, refined sugars, and seed oils

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Blue zone diets are free of such things too.

It seems the main things to avoid are tobacco, alcohol, sugar, and seed oils. All of those things are multibillion dollar industries.  

Universal translators are mathematically impossible

When I say "universal", I mean translation to and from any living thing capable of externally expressing its thoughts.

Rick and Morty squirrels uncensored

Whatever sound a human or animal makes, it can only be correlated against a very limited set of actions. 

NSA linguist and whistleblower Perry Fellwock said breaking an unknown cipher requires the interception and analysis of about 30,000 encrypted words. The only way to speed that up is if you have something like the Rosetta Stone. In other words, if we had a large enough sample of dog speech and its English translation, we could translate the language of dogs, if they have one. 

Do Venus flytraps have thoughts? Do cockroaches? Maybe. Probably. It is the utmost arrogance for humans to think they are the only living things with intelligence.

There is evidence that plants grow better with certain music even though they don't even have ears. 

Here, because the neural system of a cockroach is so simple, they can be controlled with electronics:

Cockroach and Brain Cell Hacking - YouTube

Many parasites control their hosts without electronics:

Body Invaders | National Geographic