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[story-review]

Utility Maximization

Decision making is a huge part of day-to-day life, and there are many strategies that people use when making decisions. One of these strategies is utility maximization. This strategy is when you compare two options and decide which has the better utility, meaning that you choose the option that you believe is the most beneficial at that moment in time.

A common example of decision making that many college students face is when deciding on whether they are going to go class or skip. When using utility maximization, they may weigh the benefits of skipping (i.e. more sleep, hanging out with friends, etc.) against the benefits of going to class (i.e. learning material that will be on tests, being able to ask questions about the material, etc.). People will make different decisions based on what they deem to be more beneficial in that moment. For example, some people may prioritize being better rested over being able to ask questions about material in class, while others will prioritize the opposite.

The ability of someone to make the best decisions using this strategy is impacted by different contexts. Some contexts that would make the decisions vary are whether the person is alone or with friends, in a comfortable environment or stressful environment, in different moods, and under the influence of drugs. Every little part of people’s lives affects how they decide what is most beneficial to them in the moment.

[story-review]

Rehearsal in Memory

Learning is done through many different methods. One method is rehearsal. This is simply the repeated thinking of items to learn or keep track of. It’s commonly used for small reasons used daily, such as a grocery list or directions. You repeat to yourself what you need on the grocery list and the directions to wherever you need to go in order to not forget, though some people do tend to need these things written out to remember because memory varies from person to person. The more the information is rehearsed, the more likely it’ll go into your long-term memory and be easier to remember.

In terms of studying and learning, rehearsal is what helps with knowing the information. However, there are two different types of rehearsal and which one you use can determine if the information is actually learned or not. The first is maintenance rehearsal; this rehearsal is when you focus on the information itself and not on what the information is or how it relates to other information that you know. When you study like this, it’s more likely that you’ll forget the information because you’re not connecting it to anything to help with remembering it.

The other type of rehearsal is elaborative rehearsal. This rehearsal is when you do make connections with the information you’re trying to learn to information you already know, and it requires focusing on what the information is. With this rehearsal, the information you’re learning can be connected to each other as well as other information you know. In other words, elaborative rehearsal is like creating a puzzle and slotting the information into the right places. Using this type of rehearsal increases the likelihood of remembering it because it allows you to think of the information in more detail.

An example would be learning the bones of the body. Using maintenance rehearsal, you learn where a bone is or the name of the bone, but those pieces of information aren’t connected to each other. With elaborative rehearsal, you would connect those pieces of information together, and you might relate the information of that one bone to the other bones in the body. This could be done using the femur. You connect the name to knowing that the femur is the bone in the thigh, that it’s the biggest bone in the body, and that it’s connected to the tibia and fibula on one side and the hip on the other side.

For studying, elaborative rehearsal is more likely to take place, as it’s being done subconsciously and is how people learn to study as they grow up. Maintenance rehearsal isn’t usually done when studying, instead it’s the type that’s used for remembering the grocery list or directions.

[story-review]

About Action Potentials

Alright, listen up broskis. I’m explaining how brain cells (AKA neurons) activate, the technical terms being how they create an action potential.

We start at the resting potential of the membrane at around -70 millivolts, this number is just a comparison of the inside of the neuron to the outside. Other neurons give the membrane signals to become more positive or more negative. Making it more positive increases the likelihood of the neuron actually firing because the membrane has to reach -55 millivolts to activate, anything below this number and nothing will happen (the creatively named ‘All or Nothing’ Principle). From there it will fire up to +40 millivolts, called depolarization. It gets so positive because sodium ions, which are positive, enter the membrane and make it more positive.

As they say, what comes up must also come down, and so we enter repolarization, the nosedive back into the negative millivolts. This part of neural firing involves potassium ions, again positive, to leave the membrane and lower the charge of the membrane to make it more negative. The next part of this journey leads the neuron membrane to become even more negative than it was at the start of this fun process, and professionals call this the refractory period. This period just gives the neuron a bit of a break and makes sure it can’t fire for a small time after an action potential. Towards the end of this time, potassium ions stop leaving the membrane and the membrane voltage returns to the resting potential.

I can explain this using a more familiar process that people might be able to understand better: a laundromat. When you go to use a washer in a laundromat, it’s at a resting potential, that being having no clothes in it. Going to start it, it’ll only start when you pay all the money it requires, not some of the money. This represents that ‘All or Nothing’ Principle. Next the depolarization happens: it washes your clothes with detergent. The repolarization phase is the rinsing and wind down at the end of a cycle. Your clothes being in it and needing taken out is the refractory period because the washer can’t wash another load with the current load still in it. The washer enters its resting potential when you take your clothes out to move them to a dryer.

And that, my friends, is how action potential works. I hope you appreciated my real-life example because I had to work for it.

[story-review]

"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" An Angel Trapped

The short story, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” starts with a man going to the beach to get rid of some crabs that had been in his house. On the way back, he sees a peculiar sight: an older man with wings laying on the ground near his house. The man leaves and brings his wife out to see the old man, and they both get their neighbor to see. The neighbor says that the old man is an angel who was after the couple’s child. The couple then locks the old man in their chicken coop.

A priest hears of this angel and comes to see him. He then does some tests to see if the old man is an angel. The old man fails all of the tests, so the priest warns people that the old man might be the work of the devil. The people of the town come to see the angel, who becomes an attraction in the town. The couple starts charging people to see the angel. Many of the people were there for miracles, even going so far as to pull out the angel’s feathers to get a miracle, however the feathers did strange things to the person instead of miracles. A carnival act then comes into town, where a woman has been turned into a ram-sized spider, who could tell her story of being turned into a spider as a punishment for disobeying her parents, and people flock to see her rather than the angel.

With the money they gained, the couple built themselves a mansion. The chicken coop was falling apart, and their child managed to get inside. The child and the angel both come down with chicken pox, so the couple call a doctor. The doctor finds almost everything about the angel to be strange, like the noises in his kidneys and his wings. The angel skulks around the mansion for a while, causing the couple to shoo him away when they see him. The couple lets the angel sleep in the shed, where they notice that he is sick and that he barely has any feathers left on his wings. The angel gets better over the course of a year and the feathers grow back on his wings. He is able to fly away towards the sea in the end.

The story is on the shorter end lengthwise compared to others, but the amount of detail covered and the information conveyed throughout is more than some of those other stories. It flowed well, nothing felt like it was forced into it given the short length, and the plot itself was interesting and had a satisfying ending. In my experience, stories this short are usually frustrating because of how many questions in the story are left unanswered; however, this one isn’t frustrating despite questions being unanswered because, even though the story raises the questions, in the end it’s not about the questions, it’s about how people react to the unknown.

The townspeople are the interesting ones to talk about in this story. They treat the angel horribly because they don’t know anything about him. They throw him food and watch him “as if he weren’t a supernatural creature but a circus animal.” It’s a dehumanizing way to treat a human-like being, a very humiliating event for anyone to go through. The townspeople do this, though, without a second thought because they don’t see the angel as even coming close to being a human. To them, he is just a being who is there for their amusement and to bring good luck for them. This reflects how people in society will ostracize anyone who is different. A couple of examples I can think of are how African Americans were put into zoos early in American society and how mentally ill people who locked away in asylums. These groups were separated from society because the people in the society didn’t want to understand or empathize with them.

A small part of the story is how the townspeople expect the angel to bring them luck or cure their ailments. The angel doesn’t though. Instead, the people take it upon themselves to pluck out his feathers to get the miracle from it. This speaks to the selfishness of humanity because the people expect a miracle due to the fact that he is holy and because they are around a holy being, they deserve the miracles. The miracles that the people got aren’t solutions to their problems. They have nothing to do with their problems, such as a blind person getting three new teeth. I think this is a commentary on how people who take advantage of other people for their own benefit have karma that will eventually catch up to them, only the story has immediate karma happen to illustrate the point.

I was interested in how the couple treated the angel throughout the story. Their main emotion when dealing with him was annoyance, but towards the end, the wife, and the husband a little bit, gave off the impression that she cared about him a little bit. They both are concerned when the angel is sick, and they don’t know if he’s going to die or not. The wife seems concerned when the angel’s trying to fly because she doesn’t know if it’s going to work. But when it does work and he flies off, she refers to him as “an annoyance in her life,” so she’s giving mixed signals. It’s hard to know exactly how the couple feels about the angel overall, which I think reflects how people are with their feelings about anything that they don’t feel strongly about. The couple financially benefits from the angel, which you would think increases their positive feelings about the angel, but instead they choose to keep the angel as far from their life as possible by not letting him in the house that they built with the money gained by the angel attraction. This fits in with the rest of the story with the townspeople ostracizing the angel but also wanting him to grant them miracles.

I really liked the ending because the angel was able to pick himself up and fly away from the ill treatment of this town. It gives hope to anyone feeling trapped that they can escape from their situation and fly far away from it. I also like it because it feels like the story came full circle with husband seeing the angel arrive in the beginning and ending with the angel leaving with the wife watching him go.

[story-review]

"Where Does the Town Go At Night?" The Tale of a Wondrous and Mysterious Town

The story "Where Does the Town Go At Night?" by Tanith Lee starts with the main character, Anton Gregeris, coming across a homeless man, Ercole, who tries to engage him in a conversation. Gregeris tries to pay him to leave him alone, but the man wants Gregeris to buy him a meal so that he can tell him a true story about the city. Gregeris agrees to buy Ercole a meal at a local restaurant. At the restaurant, Ercole begins to tell his tale.

He begins by describing the first special night that he was Awake. During this night, he met a young girl, a rich man, and an elderly couple. The elderly couple help him to realize that the town is moving through the ocean like a ship. He tells about how when he woke up, he thought it was a dream but then he encountered the young girl in an argument with her boyfriend. When he approaches her, she doesn’t remember him and runs away. He talks about another one of these nights where the town is moving underwater, and Ercole comments on the fish that he saw flying around. Finally, he tells of a different night where he saw a mermaid and compared her to an angel.

Ercole informs Gregeris that another one of these nights is happening tonight, and Gregeris then leaves to go see an ex of his, Marthe. His son, Kays, is then introduced and Gregeris thinks of a couple of past events with Marthe and Kays that he loathed. Gregeris then takes Marthe out to dinner to be polite and Kays is sent to Marthe’s friend’s house. That night, Gregeris tries to stay awake but falls asleep and when he wakes, it’s to the whole bottom half of the town being gone. The official reports say an earthquake took it. Gregeris then sees his son and realizes that he was one of the ones who was Awake during the special nights. The story ends with Gregeris being devastated that he was the reason that his son wouldn’t get to experience that incredible place again.

The beginning of this story is a bit slow. It takes a minute for it to pull the reader in. Without having to read this for class, I most likely would’ve stopped after the first page or two because it didn’t hook me in. But once I got into the story, I didn’t want to stop reading. I was invested and interested in the world and the mystery and wonder of what was happening in this town.

The main character himself isn’t the type that I’m used to in fantasy stories. Gregeris is a selfish, rich, and mean guy. He really only cares about what is good for him, what helps his image, or what would harm his image. The biggest example to come to mind is when Marthe shows up at his mother’s birthday party with Kays. It’s said in the text, “That time Gregeris had considered having Marthe, and very likely the boy, murdered.” To get rid of the humiliation he’s feeling, he is briefly willing to kill someone, which can be relatable, but the fact that it’s because of a consequence of his own actions makes it more obnoxious than relatable.  Another big example of this in the story is the fact that he is trying to cover up that he had a child with Marthe because it would hurt his reputation that he would associate in that way with someone of her social class.

Throughout reading this story, I was constantly reminded of how much I don’t like Gregeris. I can’t think of a single thing I liked about his character. This is so jarring because the type of character I’m used to in these kinds of stories are ones that are at least a little bit likeable. The characters or characters may have certain aspects that are unlikable, but these flaws are usually paired with at least one good quality. It may sound like I don’t like that Gregeris is unlikable but it’s a difference from other stories that I actually like. It makes this story more interesting in how it keeps the reader engaged even with an unlikable main character.

What makes this story so fun to read is the sense of wonder that it encapsulates. Most of the town being asleep while the town is traveling the world at night has the feeling of a bedtime story for a child. The story plot is basically a bedtime story but written for adults to make them feel the wonder that they felt in childhood. The way the author is able to capture the sense of wonder is beautiful and awe-inspiring. After childhood, most people don’t get to experience that wonder and I find it nice that this whole story gives that to people who may not have experienced wonder in a long time. That major sense of wonder given in this story is from the town going underwater and Ercole being able to see fish up close and interact with them, as well as from the mermaid that Ercole gets to see and bathe in the glory of.

The way the author highlights social inequality through the story is something I particularly. It’s brings an interesting aspect to the story that I think needed to be there to make it more adult and not a children’s story. The social inequality in the town is directly referenced by how the people who are Awake behave during the special nights. Everyone talks and acknowledges each other, whereas normally they will ignore each other or even look down on certain people. The young girl Ercole befriends who is more high class will dance with and be very close to him during the special nights, but outside of those nights she is scared of him because he’s homeless.  “By the time I got round into the alley, she was starting to walk away, but hearing me, she glanced back … she speeds up and gets out of the alley quick as she can.” The special nights might be a utopian vision of a possible future without social inequality, but the author does make sure we know that the “real world” is still consumed by it. The inequality is referenced through the characters themselves. The main character is a rich, upper-class man and he is directly contrasted with Marthe and Ercole. Marthe is living in a small, messy apartment with Gregeris heavily judging both her appearance and her personality. His attitude towards her reflects the attitude of real-life upper-class people when they are confronted with people who are working class. Ercole is homeless and is a nice, kind person, but Gregeris immediately judges him for being homeless and a beggar by trying to get away from him and not talk to him, which is very much in line with how rich people deal with those in poverty.

[story-review]

A Review of "The Mole King": Mostly Esmeralda TBH

The story starts with the main character, the Mole King, being overwhelmed by his duties and seeking out confined spaces in the forest to hide away in. The threat of war is then introduced, and the King is expected to lead his people into battle, but he doesn’t want to be responsible for the deaths of so many people. Because of this, he flees the castle and burrows into a badger’s den and digs himself deeper in when he hears people looking for him. The King continues to dig underground and lives for many years alongside all the beings that live underground.

After the Mole King has lived underground for many years, a new character is introduced, Princess Esmeralda. Her father is trying to have her marry someone, but she doesn’t want to marry anyone. She discovers the Mole King when her pet lynx attacks him in the garden when he is popping his head above ground. Esmeralda takes him to her bedroom in the tower and keeps him there for a while. Her father pressures her to marry, so she decides to marry the Mole King. After the wedding, Esmeralda’s father dies, and the King becomes the king again. The Mole King hates being king but can’t leave because Esmeralda has him under surveillance. Eventually, there is a coup and the King escapes by digging into the ground and Esmeralda escapes due to help from her maid. The King stays underground and Esmeralda wonders about the world with her lynx.

The characters themselves are interesting, Esmeralda in particular. She’s everything, he’s just Ken, as they say. Esmeralda portrays a woman not able to change her environment, but she makes it her own. She refuses to marry any of the suitors her father picks, she lives in a tower, and she has a terrifying lynx as a pet. When she marries the Mole King, it’s her own decision. The Mole King is given his nickname by her, and servants spread it around so that it’s the only name he is called. Esmeralda is in charge of her own life, and even her husband’s life, when princesses in fairytales and folklore are usually less independent and self-assured. She is feminist icon. She takes charge in situations that are unnatural to her, it doesn’t seem as though she sees herself as inferior to men, and she punishes anyone who is disrespectful to her husband. She knows what she wants and what she doesn’t and doesn’t let others change her opinions.

As a princess, she was meticulous and purposeful, but once she is freed from her responsibilities after the coup, she becomes a lighter and happier version of herself. She is noted in the story as wondering through the forest and resting in a tall tree by a lake. This is interesting parallel to the Mole King. Where he found happiness below the earth, Esmeralda found happiness on the earth. Esmeralda’s happiness can be related to the happiness of women when a life they don’t like falls apart. An example of this is when a husband dies and leaves their wife a widow, and outsiders would assume that the widow is extremely upset, but the widow may have not been happy in the relationship but couldn’t say that because of societal standards and is now living her best life. This would be the same way that Esmeralda wouldn’t have been able to say that she didn’t like her life as a princess but was so much happier when she wasn’t one anymore.

The way the Mole King went about avoiding his problems was fun to read about and the author made it sound so magical and appealing. In reality, it would not be appealing being under so much dirt and living with worms. To me, it seems like an analogy to people in the modern day who would rather hide from the problems faced in politics than choose to stand up for something. The Mole King hides from war and a coup, while these people hide from racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism. They act as if not dealing with the problems make them completely disappear when that is certainly not the case and damage from their inaction can be seen after the situation is over. The inaction can also be seen by outsiders, like the Mole King’s counselors, who know that something bad will happen because of the inaction but are powerless to stop it because the people who could do something are hiding away.

The coup that happens in the story was interesting, but I would’ve liked it more if it wasn’t done by evil counselors. If the coup happened just because of how incompetent the Mole King was and how his leadership was negatively affecting the kingdom, it would’ve fit better with the character of the Mole King. He hasn’t been king in years and he doesn’t want to be, which indicates that his leadership wouldn’t have been the greatest. It would have made sense if the counselors or maybe the citizens themselves just wanted a better leader, who actually cared about the kingdom and wanted to help.

I feel like more time could’ve been spent on the relationship between the Mole King and Esmeralda. They had interactions leading up to their wedding, but after that there were only a few paragraphs explaining the next few years. I felt that the author could’ve written more to explain to the reader the dynamic between the two and maybe how it evolved or didn’t evolve over the years. Their relationship was very controlling in the beginning, with Esmeralda being the one in control, and it would’ve been interesting to see if their relationship was like that in the years before the coup.