A person will ordinarily search the contents of a database using matching keywords and tags.  Sophisticated databases might allow for filtering:  for example using NOT, AND, OR on a number of keyword strings such as both titles and product descriptions.  It is not normally possible to submit, say, a personality profile to a database - or a personality profile and a setting.  Searching for “serial murders subway terminals” might lead to event information about precisely this, apparent serial…

I found some leftover hamburgers in the fridge. I decided to stack a couple of them together to form a colossal “super-burger.” At the time, I didn’t appreciate how doing so would make it almost impossible to physically fit the burger in my mouth. I squished and squeezed the burger until it was flat enough to eat. Such are the problems of physics that become…

Ableism (able + ism) is apparent in many interactions between people. While driving on a road having a posted limit of 60 KPH, I was traveling slower since I expected a red light to soon appear ahead of me. The driver behind me - at that point stopped due to the red light - hollered that no car should be driving less than the posted limit. I explained, "60 is the maximum speed. You shouldn't do more than the…

In recent blogs, I have been distinguishing between quantitative data and narrative data. I believe that I separated the two forms relatively well. Although I originally focused on the differences in data in order to give narrative "its own space," actually there can be a symbiotic relationship between the two types of data. In my last blog, I said that quantitative data can be incorporated into narrative data. In my submission today, I will be discussing how the narrative can be used to…

In this blog, I will be discussing some distinct types of data involved in feedback. The types that I will be covering are as follows: 1) structural; 2) event; 3) quantitative; 4) contextual; and 5) systemic. In 2014, I recall reading a number of blogs about three types of data: prescriptive, descriptive, and predictive. There was a data scientist apparently on tour lecturing extensively about these three types. I don't recall the individual's name. Well, prescription, description, and…

When I returned to university to do a graduate degree, I was interested to discover how certain terms are subject to "intellectual interpretation." A word that I was asked to explain during one of my earliest classes was "ontology." Since this term was absent from my dictionary, I originally confused it with "oncology." I faintly recall that oncology involves the study of tumors. After consulting a few sources, I said that ontology is the study of how things come to exist or into being. I…

Before elaborating on my fruitless existence - about my decision to avoid fruit - I want to emphasize how this blog is actually about something that I call the "Fallacy of Rational Prerequisite." There will be some misunderstanding about this term even after my prolonged explanation. I just want to state plainly at the outset that I am not proposing that people become irrational. If they are already so, I am not suggesting that they further the situation.…