Story Hook - Numenra Expert wants Cord

1. Numenera Expert (Bopuwan,Lvl 3, 4 for Numenera) needs you to get a specific piece of numenra - a long snakelike piece of synth that lights and transmits.... something... when the two ends are attached to pieces of wood.  The whole contraption will revolutionize how we build furniture by instigating the wood to blow up like a puffball mushroom, creating a single sphere of wood that can be shaped using special musical techniques.  Backfires -

1. Buy it from a shop.
1. Find the shop.
2. Haggle.
2. Happen across a Nano's estate sale.  
1. Buy it. 
2. Steal it.  
3. Sweet talk the owner into giving it to you.  
3. Trade for it from a wealthy collector (Quov, Level 3, 5 for manners/speaking)
1. Favor - 
2. Object Wanted - Something to improve my collection of ____.  
4. Steal it from wealthy collector.  
1. 2 Guards (lvl 2,3)
2. 2 Guards (lvl 4,5), with cypher that can freeze a target for 1 minute.

Modern Principles of Shaping - 7. Go back to kindergarten!

I'm writing a 10 part blog post where I discuss the Modern Principles of Shaping by Karen Pryor, to help solidify them in my mind.


7. Go back to kindergarten, if necessary. If a behavior deteriorates, quickly revisit the last successful approximation or two so that the animal can easily earn reinforcers.

1.  First, this suggests that you don't need to continually re-teach something.  You should teach it and maintain it by occasionally rewarding, so the behavior keeps occuring.  
2. Behavior can deteriorate because the behavior isn't being rewarded over a long period of time, the learner is finally understanding what the teacher wants and has forgotten what they're doing or the behavior has become sloppy over time.  
3. The trip to kindergarden is usually very quick, maybe 1-3 reinforcers per approximation.  Also, the approximations can skip over levels if the learner is understanding what you're doing.  
4. The more reinforcers you can give to the learner, the less likely they are to become frustrated.  Keeping the request within the normal boundaries of variation means they are doing it sometimes, and you can ratchet the request down further. 

9/30

3 Sessions

Turn head to her name -Expanding this to be further away.  Hard to catch a time when she's not noticing me heading to the training area with food. 
Come -Only happened once, since she's runs to me when she hears the food open. 
Sit Pretty -Started to ask her to stand higher. 

Clip Toenails - Succeeded in clipping 3 yesterday.  She also kinda bit, but not to hurt, but I only C/T for the times she was letting me hold her paw.  But she doesn't like me holding her back paws, so I'm taking my time petting her thigh and passing my open hand down her leg. 
Pick up - Picking her up and then C/T when she doesn't jump away.  Interspersing with Clip Toenails, so she doesn't know what's coming.  I think that letting her down is a good motivator, too.


Complete/Maintain:

Next: Other intonation versions of "Jazz", Spot she can sit in (Bell she can push?) if she wants attention. Sit wherever she is, rather than walking over to me then sitting. 

Future: Touching her paws (toward clipping her nails), Handshake

Choosing personal hobby focuses

I'veh ad a lot of hobbies over the years.  Some of them include:

• Juggling
• Swing Dancing
• Game Mastering (for tabletop RPGs)
• Reading
• Harmonica
• Learning Spanish
• Knitting
• Cribbage
• Board Games
• Tae Kwon Do
• Boxing
• Whistling
• Running
• Mobile Games
• Bike Riding
• Learning Electronics
• Wood Carving (Power and Not)
• Sewing
• Flying Discs

And many many more.

Right now, I want to pick up another hobby, but am constrained by the amount and type of time I can dedicate, the amount of noise I can make, and where I can pursue my hobbies.  Also, generally, I weigh how much effort I want to put into something that I don't know I'll be interested in in ~3 months. 

So, what fits the bill right now is learning Game Mastering, which includes reading rules sets, settings, and theory.  I play board games because a lot of my friends do.  And I want to get more into attempting solo RPG, but I'm afraid that the stories I make will suck when I finally get my dice. 

Harmonica is waning, because as it gets colder I won't be able to spend as much time outside, so my practice space is more limited.  I'd also like to pursue Swing Dancing more, it those are all time constrained.  And while Juggling is a big part of my identify, I don't have the drive to attend that I did before Turtle was born.

Maze Rats & Dungeon Design

So I've read over Maze Rats, and it is a short read.  I think there's some good framework in there to really streamline the dungeon delving that I've experienced with D&D 5e.  The only thing is that it doesn't have as much in there about creating a dungeon, so that's something I need to research. 

It talked about the "one more thing" approach.  Where you write things very generally (like "trap", "library", "monster", "npc", and then think about what connects them.  Then add more descriptors and iterate until you're done. 

It also suggested drawing the dungeon map, which is a great idea.  It makes it so it is something that folks can explore.  And you can pull it out any time, rather than having the preparation going to waste. 

I also was reading a DM who said you should start with a goal statement for yourself, including what you're trying to make, system, number of characters/goal level, etc.  Maze Rats doesn't have the expectation that the encounters are things that your characters can get through, which is part of the D&D 5e DM planning, so maybe that's not as important. 

9/27

1 Session

Follow a Fist - started working on getting her to follow my fist with her head after a few steps toward it, raising it up and down so she has to extend her neck.  I don't want to teach her to lay down, I guess, but it could be nice.  I eventually want to get her to follow my fist to places in the room, like jumping on the couch.  
Shake - very hard to get her to raise her right paw.  this is kinda stuck.  I need to think of an alternate behavior to shape. 
Sit Pretty -Very reliable on this one.  I need to start asking for longer behavior for this, but I'm afraid that she'll start using her teeth again. :( 
Lay on her Side - toward the end of the session, she flops herself.  And then she gets treats for that and letting me touch her feet.  I feel like she does this so she can continue to get things when she's tired.  
Let me touch her feet - Front feet are AOK, but she's very skittish about the back feet.  I can per her thighs and then down to her back paws in one motion, but I'm going very slow here.  I want her to be completely relaxed when she next needs her nails clipped. 


Complete/Maintain:

Next: Other intonation versions of "Jazz", Spot she can sit in (Bell she can push?) if she wants attention. Sit wherever she is, rather than walking over to me then sitting. 

Future: Touching her paws (toward clipping her nails), Handshake

Bullet Journals

My friend started a bullet journal.  Or, more specifically, she started a journal that has an index.  She's not using the regular task identification and bringing forward important items, which is a big part of bullet journaling. 

Her journal interests me, because the task-focused nature of bullet journals always got to me.  I like having lots of blank pages, and am growing to like the idea of an indexed journal, generally.  I've been using an indexed journal for the webinars I do for professional development.  I'm going to fill the index page before I fill the journal, though.  I didn't calculate how many pages I'd need to fill per index entry to make it work. 

And now that I'm filling my creative writing/adventure journal again from the back, the number of topics seems to be growing.  Should the topic be "Numenera" or "characters"/"stories"/"ideas" or something else?  That's where the index comes in.  How much division should it have?  Maybe for characters, it could be further broken down into characters from the country vs. cities? 

I also like that an indexed journal could be filled with whatever you'd like that can go on paper.  Stories, Quotes, Thinking Notes, Doodles, Pictures, Hopes.  But I don't like that you need to have a place and time dedicated to work on them.  My most productive times are on the bus or at lunch, because the rest of my time is dedicated.  But the bus is jostling, so writing doesn't work.  And lunch isn't great, either because its so short. 

I've also gotten scared off from most journaling because the examples I've seen are so beautiful and functional.  I couldn't do that!  Unless I tried and iterated until I was better.... 

Anyway, I don't think I want to do a new Journal, but it's really cool that my friend is. 

Modern Principles of Shaping - 6. Keep Training Continuous!

I'm writing a 10 part blog post where I discuss the Modern Principles of Shaping by Karen Pryor, to help solidify them in my mind.

6. Keep training sessions continuous. The animal should be continuously engaged in the learning process throughout the session. He should be working the entire time, except for the moment he’s consuming/enjoying his reinforcer. This also means keeping a high rate of reinforcement.

1. Continuous engagement can me either that the learner is always doing something or getting CT.  OR it could also mean that the learner is always eager and paying attention, even if they aren't actually doing anything.  The latter situations is what I strive for, and sometime hope to accomplish so I can capture some behavior  
2. Working the entire time means that the animal should respond as best they can to what they think you want them to do.  However, if something is on queue, and they choose to do something different, they're still engaged.  
3. Training time is valuable to both the teacher and learner, so be sure to set the expectation that the reward source is available now.  
4. A high rate of reinforcement could be as many as 20 treats per minute.  That seems tough to do when the learner is enjoying their reinforcer.  But maybe that means my treats are too substantial....
5. "High rate" is subjective, so some subjects will be able to do more with a lower rate of reinforcement.  
6. Reinforcement (and the information conveyed by the click) is the key to successful training.  So the more C/T you have/minute, the more likely you are to see change and success. 

Outstanding Questions: How many times should you repeat something?  Should the same criteria be used for multiple rewards in a single session?  Or is switching between criteria every C/T OK? 

9/26

None

[Trained Behaviors] - notes

Complete/Maintain:

Next: Other intonation versions of "Jazz", Spot she can sit in (Bell she can push?) if she wants attention. Sit wherever she is, rather than walking over to me then sitting. 

Future: Touching her paws (toward clipping her nails), Handshake

Modern Principles of Shaping - 5. If one door closes, find another!

I'm writing a 10 part blog post where I discuss the Modern Principles of Shaping by Karen Pryor, to help solidify them in my mind.

5. If one door closes, find another. If a particular shaping procedure is not progressing, try another way.

 

1. Depending on if this happens toward the end of within a shaping session, you may need to do this in real time.  I was trying this yesterday with Jazz with getting her to move her right paw so she can get toward a shake.  Very tough to separate actions, and easier if you can go the smoothest route.  
2. Alternatives for how to get the beginnings of a behavior: Capture, Targeting, Luring.  I tend to use capture, but it can slow down the process if the cat is just looking at me.  
3. Preparation for this part would be considering alternatives for how to get certain behaviors.  If you want the cat to raise its paw, maybe you move your hand in and the cat paws at it, or you lean forward, and the cat leans back and raises one paw in the process. 
4. This one is probably the hardest for me.  I tend to have a lot of patience, but I don't have as much as a cat.  

Outstanding Questions: How many times should you repeat something?  Should the same criteria be used for multiple rewards in a single session?  Or is switching between criteria every C/T OK? 

Modern Principles of Shaping - 4. Relax criteria when something changes!

I'm writing a 10 part blog post where I discuss the Modern Principles of Shaping by Karen Pryor, to help solidify them in my mind.

4. Relax criteria when something changes. When introducing a new criterion or aspect of the skill, temporarily relax the old criteria for previously mastered skills.

 

1. Introducing a criteria could be, for a human, spelling out what you want that person to do.  In this case, use only 5 words, use a positive statement, and make it memorable/measurable. 
2.  For non-verbal (differently abled, animals), begin rewarding a different criteria, but be lenient on the other.  This can be a hard experience, because the subject is now being rewarded for something different than before.  
3. When you relax the old criteria, use your judgement about how much to relax it.  For the first few C/T, relax it completely, to the point that you're not looking for it at all.  
4. When the new criteria is trained up, you can begin adding the first criteria back in.  The learner needs to be able to do both of the criteria before you ask for both.  
5. Don't lose heart that the learner seems to have lost all the things he learned.  You relax the criteria because the learner WILL be more variable in what they know until they know the new criteria. 

Outstanding Questions: How many times should you repeat something?  Should the same criteria be used for multiple rewards in a single session?  Or is switching between criteria every C/T OK?