DIY: Storytelling

John Howe, Beowulf battles Grendl, john-howe.com

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In the immortal words of Rod Serling "picture, if you will," a storyteller silhouetted by the great fireplace of an ancient hall. His audience leans forward with rapt attention as he tells the battle of Beowulf and Grendl. He knows that his listeners have heard the story before and will call him on any deviation from the story as they know it. He also knows that his duty is to pass down the accumulated wisdom of his people. Beowulf's adventures are some of the few mythic tales that have been committed to the written page; other tales were passed down by word-of-mouth exclusively.

It's different today. We have books, films, recordings, and even collections of ancient manuscripts. Most of us can read. And we have Twitter, Instagram, and email. Yet storytelling continues, although its form and intent have to a large extent changed. There is literature and recounting personal experience. Not to mention fabrication and corporate spin (see new rhetorics).

Now each of us is a storyteller, or potential storyteller. An article in Time Magazine by James Murdoch discusses our new roles in Storytelling—both fiction and nonfiction, for good and for ill—will continue to define the world. In his article he says,

In 2016 and beyond, those who wish to create a better world will have to make storytelling the center of their efforts, not an afterthought. It’s clear that economic and military might will always be the key levers of statecraft. But more than ever before, swift and dramatic change is being driven by powerful narratives that crisscross the world at the speed of a click or a swipe.

Underlying this change is the empowerment of ordinary people: citizens, mothers, sons, all of us. Once, consumers had limited points of access to information and content, and powerful state and commercial institutions guarded the gates. That time is over.

In 2016, from Lhasa to Tehran to Odessa, people will continue to seek and find forbidden things. In this connected world, the game is up. Censors cannot hide, and their victims have decided, and are empowered, not to take it anymore. Italo Calvino had it right in If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler: “In the decree that forbids reading there will be still read something of the truth that we would wish never to be read.”

-- Marge

10 Percent and urban legend

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Being attracted by the premise that we only use 10% of our brains, the other night I watched "Lucy," even though my (mostly) always logical son insisted that the premise was untrue. Most interesting was how increasingly ineffective the plot became when you doubted its basis. (Sorry, Scarlett and Morgan. You both did fine jobs.)

Urban legend can sneak up on us. And the myth that says we use only 10 percent of our brains is especially pervasive, because it has been around so long and many people use it to their advantage. Another interesting take on the 10-percent-of-brain myth is Humans Already Use Way, Way More Than 10% of Their Brains at the Atlantic Monthly.

For more myths that are circulating, check out Snopes.com. It's a must-see in our twitter-fueled society.

The quantity 10 percent seems to be a handy number, though. There's the Ten Percent Law or Rule of 10's in ecology that says

...during the transfer of energy from organic food from one trophic level to the next, only about ten percent of the energy from organic matter is stored as flesh. The remaining is lost during transfer, broken down in respiration, or lost to incomplete digestion by higher trophic levels. (Wikipedia)

Statistics has the 10% condition which

states that sample sizes should be no more than 10% of the population. Whenever samples are involved in statistics, check the 10% condition to ensure you have sound results. Some statisticians argue that a 5% condition is better than a 10% condition if you want to use a standard normal model.

What I wonder is how 10 percent represents the population.  Guess that's why I'm not a statistician.

In elementary physics class we learned that efficiency seldom exceeds 20 percent.

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However, looking for example of inefficient devices, I'm finding some relatively efficient ones: Diode-pumped solid-state lasers that range from 1 to 60% efficient; autos that range between 15 and 35% efficient, and large AC motors that approach an amazing 93% efficiency (article is about centrifugal pumps).

Since we've wandered from the 10-percent topic, here's the ninety-nine rule:

The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 percent of the development time. The remaining 10 percent of the code accounts for the other 90 percent of the development time.

—Tom Cargill, Bell Labs (Wikipedia)

-- Marge