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Status Reports
Status: Summary (2013 - March)
(Text as at 14/04/2013 13:58:05)
*** THIS IS NOT THE LATEST VERSION OF THIS NOTE ***
(For the live version and other versions of this Note, see the tables at the end)
Rationale for this Report
- This is a summary report with links to my various on-going projects. Detailed progress is shown on the sub-reports.
- This summary report should highlight whether my focus has become unbalanced or otherwise inappropriate to the achievement of my major goals.
- As these reports are rather a pain to produce, I now produce them quarterly, rather than monthly.
Projects in Progress
- I have now settled in to my new house and the developments to the outbuildings are complete. I’m now ensconced most of the time in my newly-built library / study – and have transferred my books from their temporary home in the garage. Unfortunately, they all got thoroughly shuffled in the process, so I’m currently re-cataloguing them so I can find them when needed. But, things are returning to normal.
- I have ten projects currently on the go, which is too many. Consequently, they are divided into two groups. The first group has effort planned, and the second group doesn’t. This is not to say that no time will be spent on the second group, but just that it’ll be minor and ad hoc. I re-categorised the projects at the start of the present academic year, demoting Music and Languages, and promoting Consciousness Studies, to reflect their true importance, and my abilities.
- A major change this quarter was a severe pruning of Bridge – which is as it should be – so hopefully I’ll be able to focus on more important things.
- Follow the hyperlinks for further details:-
Primary Projects
- Research into Personal Identity1. This is the subject that ought to grab most of my attention, as it is the topic of my yet-to-be-completed PhD. I need to achieve something in philosophy, as this is the only one of my endeavours that promises a professional outcome (in the sense of being one of more than merely personal interest).
- Studies in the Philosophy of Religion2. On and off, this represents the main preoccupation of my adult life (work and family aside). I intend to follow up in some detail interesting topics from the Philosophy of Religion module from the MA in Philosophy and Religion at Heythrop College, London University that I tasted at the end of 2010.
- Development of Web-tools3. This project is intended to assist with the prosecution of philosophical research. It is fundamentally an enabling project, though one I hope will have general metaphilosophical implications. The above two projects are test cases of the method, as well as worthwhile studies in their own right.
- Consciousness4 Studies. A supporting project for both Personal Identity and Philosophy of Religion.
- Bridge5: I’m still attempting to become an expert player, but recently results have been awful, for reasons I cannot fathom. So, I’m reducing it to an occasional indulgence.
Secondary Projects
- Mathematics6: Revive / improve my mathematical competence with a view to the use of mathematics as a tool in my various other projects. Also – now that I’m aged 59 – useful for keeping various bits of my brain functioning7.
- Languages8: Gain at least a rudimentary understanding of 24 diverse languages – for practical and philosophical purposes. We’ve a week in Cyprus in June, so I might brush up on my Greek in preparation. Also, Julie and I have signed up for refresher Portuguese classes in September through January, so this project will be re-instated in the autumn.
- Music9: Improve my competence as an oboist, and learn the piano. I have a vague intention of recommencing oboe-practice in my new den. We’ll see.
- HiQ10: Enjoy and contribute to the intellectual society of ISPE and Mensa (in abeyance, as I’ve allowed my membership of both societies to lapse again).
- Chess11: Improve my standard of play so I can perform acceptably in the Essex, London, Middlesex … leagues (whenever I’m ready). Probably a dead project, though I intend to keep myself familiar with developments.
- These projects are (approximately, in their respective groups) in order of decreasing priority, yet in practise the amount of effort expended on them fails to respect this. My intention is radically to prune the effort on Bridge, and focus on Personal Identity – though the latest temptation is to spend too much time on Philosophy of Religion (as it’s easier).
- I have ignored the various infrastructural elements of my life in these reports – in particular family life, household management, gym, and general reading, culture, current affairs and such like. In particular, I’ve ignored the main time-stealer of the last year: moving house and establishing ourselves in our new residence. This latter has had a major impact on the time – and in particular the quality of time – available for my highest-priority projects. Thankfully – the garden apart – this distraction is over.
- This report and the sub-reports obtained by following the links immediately above show the current status. The report headings show the period the reports are for. Earlier reports can be found by following the links in the “Table of Previous Versions of this Note” further down this report, or in the sub-reports.
Planning and Actuals
- 1Q13 was very much below plan as far as time expended was concerned (83% QTD, 80% YTD) – where the year is the 2012/13 academic year; though his compares marginally favourably with 77% in the previous quarter. The excuse remains the same – settling in to the new house, as noted above. Attention to my Thesis was again terrible – with virtually no effort at all on core activities. As noted above, Bridge is now under control. Philosophy of Religion had more effort expended than Plan, but the other projects less than plan. Consciousness studies hasn’t really got going yet.
- I’ve changed the way I construct these reports – improving automation somewhat – so the tables of actual versus plan are now on separate pages, accessible from the following links:-
- For detailed breakdowns of time spent this year, by month and by study location, follow this link12.
- For tables of Actual versus Plan, together with the high-level plan for the next quarter, see this page13.
- Follow this link for a list of recently14 purchased books. Some of these are random purchases from charity shops, or presents. Others are selectively purchased in support of my various projects. Poverty and lack of space is severely curtailing my purchasing power.
Detailed Interim Activities
- As these reports are now quarterly, I’m including a link to a brief uncommented list of what I’ve been working on since the last report (ie. this one). It is generated automatically from my time-recording system. Its main utility (to me, at any rate) is as a quick jumping-off point for the various writings in progress or recently completed. The list will, in general, be updated every few days. I’ve recently improved it. Anyway,
- It’s here15.
Plans for the Near Future
In the light of the segregation of my projects into two tiers, I’ve in general dropped any items for the Secondary Projects. There’s still a lot on this list – many of which items have been mouldering untouched for a long time. Attempt (somehow!16) to address – in however small degree – each item in the coming quarter.
- Personal Identity17
- Core Reading / Writing:
… Complete detailed reviews of
… … "Olson (Eric) - Animalism and the Remnant-Person Problem",
… … "Olson (Eric) - Immanent Causation and Life After Death", and
… … "Olson (Eric) - The Person and the Corpse"
… Complete detailed review of "Johnston (Mark) - Is Heaven a Place We Can Get To?", and
… Progress with the rest of "Johnston (Mark) - Surviving Death".
… Complete detailed review of "Wilson (Jack) - Beyond Horses and Oak Trees: A New Theory of Individuation for Living Entities".
… Progress with the rest of "Wilson (Jack) - Biological Individuality - The identity and Persistence of Living Entities".
… Continue reading and reviewing "Gasser (Georg), Ed. - Personal Identity and Resurrection: How Do We Survive Our Death?".
… Re-read and take notes on "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Persons and Bodies: A Constitution View".
… Re-read and take notes on "Olson (Eric) - The Human Animal - Personal Identity Without Psychology".
… Read and take notes on "Olson (Eric) - What are We? A Study of Personal Ontology".
- Background Reading / Writing:
… Read "LePoidevin (Robin) - Travels in Four Dimensions: The Enigmas of Space and Time".
… Write a review of "Bekoff (Marc) - The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy and Why They Matter".
… Continue reading "Medina (John) - The Clock of Ages - Why we Age; How we Age; Winding Back the Clock".
… Follow up on "Ward (Dave), Pritchard (Duncan), Massimi (Michela), Lavelle (Suilin), Chrisman (Matthew), Hazlett (Allan) & Richmond (Alasdair) - Introduction to Philosophy".
- Research Repositioning:
… Complete a full review and update of the Notes I’ve created on Personal Identity, focusing on those with little / no content other than a reading list.
… Review Thesis Outline18 to see if it still makes sense.
… Review Research Proposal19 to see if this also still makes sense.
… Review / Progress Essay20 What Are We?
… Complete "Admin - Catalogue Papers and Books (including Abstract improvements)".
- Philosophy of Religion21
- Web-tools23
- Hutton Bridge Club Website: Weekly maintenance
- Bridge “Joint Project”: Continue data collection & modelling
- Educate myself to professional standard in Web Development. Read eBooks (on Kindle):-
… "Lloyd (Ian) - Build Your Own Website the Right Way Using HTML & CSS"
… then others as appropriate, and apply principles to my site.
- General PC Education: Read:-
… "PC Pro - Computing in the Real World",
… "CS - Computer Shopper",
… "Barnes (Russell), Ed. - Web Designer".
- Start using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
- Standardise to HTML5
- Fix bug whereby archived Notes have a parameter, rather than the title, in their Titles
- Ensure FN referencing within Notes and referencing between Abstracts and Notes works for archived Notes.
- Review the effectiveness of the categorised reading lists for both Papers and Books.
- Web Spider:-
… Analyse the results of the data collection exercise and design a plan of campaign to fix broken links and prevent recurrence,
… Complete investigation into broken “External Links”
… Correct the code so the discovered problems don’t recur, and
… Fix the historical data (no simple task to automate).
… Delete “orphan pages” that are never linked to.
- Add “Date Created” to Note-Links (for audit purposes; I’m still not convinced that links disappear when they should).
- Fix bugs in multi-level footnoting in Printable Notes – the referencing is going wrong.
- Determine why very long printable notes (eg. Level 3+ for Note 17024) are being truncated.
- Investigate the use of RTF in memo fields, so that I can get round the 64k character limit.
- Very long pages (eg. Concatenated Notes and Book Paper Abstracts) fail to render correctly in Firefox (mostly OK in other browsers). Investigate whether it’s possible to subdivide them.
- Consciousness25
- Bridge26
- Mathematics27
- Languages28
- Music29
- Oboe:-
… Practice 15 minutes every other day – just reprising the works assigned in previous lessons
… Occasionally try 30-minute sessions to build up stamina
- Chess30
In-Page Footnotes
Footnote 7: Mind you, those bits didn’t function very well in my youth, so what hope is there now?
Footnote 14: As my purchasing has now dropped to a trickle, I’ve extended the selection range to cover the last 6 months.
Footnote 16: Carried forward from the last quarter, where I failed abjectly!
Live Version of this Archived Note
Table of 12 Earlier Versions of this Note (of 54)
Table of 12 Later Versions of this Note (of 51)
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Reference for this Topic |
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| 14/04/2013 13:58:05 |
512 (Status: Summary (2013 - March)) |
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