NSE and the Dunning Kruger Effect

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a phenomenon whereby the unskilled don't know enough to know that they are idiots and bad decisions ensue.

I can't remember where I was going with that but for some reason I thought of NSE when I learned today about the theory (though I had been aware of the actual effect for some years). The following is quoted from Wikipedia:

Kruger and Dunning noted ... that ignorance of standards of performance is behind a great deal of incompetence. This pattern was seen in studies of skills as diverse as reading comprehension, operating a motor vehicle, and playing chess or tennis.

Kruger and Dunning proposed that, for a given skill, incompetent people will:

1. tend to overestimate their own level of skill;
2. fail to recognize genuine skill in others;
3. fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy;
4. recognize and acknowledge their own previous lack of skill, if they can be trained to substantially improve.

As we paddle and trip, we all hopefully move from ignorance to enlightenment. We learn that there is much we don't know, and as the skill level improves, so does the decision making. Unfortunately we have to make a few dumb mistakes before it hits home that we need to learn to do things better. Northstar Expeditions has avoided too many dumb mistakes as a group, and we have twice now taken lessons as a group to improve our skillset. I'm sure there will be dumb mistakes in the future and hopefully we are sufficiently enlightened to recognise and learn from them.

NSE Loves Beaver

Jay Reaches His Goal

NSE member Jay had a goal to learn to roll a kayak. Actually, this was something that Bryan & Jay were going to work toward together. Then, last summer, Bryan got impatient waiting to coordinate with Jay and went & figured it out for himself. Well Jay had not lost sight of that goal and has been working toward it over several weeks this spring. He joined the Kelsey Kayak Club and used the "member pool nights" to work on rolling a whitewater kayak, sometimes with help, sometimes on his own working with paddle floats and the side of the pool. A couple of weeks ago Bryan was at the pool with Jay and shot this short video featuring two successful rolls, the second being a clean roll where he brings his head up last and makes it look more or less effortless.

Jay is still working on perfecting the roll, trying to get to a place where he can play in the water with confidence. But this is a great start, and means he doesn't have to pay up on that bet he made!

Why NSE Doesn't Do Extreme Skidooing

Check this out: http://www.earlyups.com/photos/sled-fail/
Watch the 3 videos, showing 3 angles on this stunt. It's worth a few minutes of your time.

Running a "rapid" the chaotic way

Not sure what to say about this; NSE has no comment...

New NSE Canoe

I saw this over on Murat's paddle making blog. It might give us some inspiration for a new fleet of NSE canoes. Of course we couldn't limit ourselves to Budweiser. We'd have to include Guinness, Great West, Sleemans, Heineken, Boddingtons, Harp, Blue, and pretty much anything else that we can find locally in a can that freezes well.

A NSE Helicopter?

I came across this video this evening:

The River from FPV-Leif on Vimeo.

Aside from being a pretty cool perspective on a nice Norwegian river, it brings to mind an idea for cool new gear that NSE should investigate. No longer need our Chief Photographer Rob be tethered to the ground! Let's get his photography into the air with a camera mounted on an "octocopter"! (I'm not sure, but I think this would kick my brother's kite-mounted camera's ass!)

Trip On Ice?

This might give some (bad) ideas for a future trip....

Fishing in Missinipe Area

I came across this today while searching for information about Bartlett Lake. It's an article on the Churchill River Canoe Outfitters website about fishing in the Otter Lake region. A number of lakes are mentioned including what fish you might expect to find and where. A good resource for those of us who canoe and fish in the neighbourhood.

Rod shows off a walleye destined to be our breakfast.

Plenty of Wire

An engineer, a psychologist, and a theologian were canoeing in the wilderness of northern Canada. Suddenly, the temperature dropped and a furious snowstorm was upon them. They came across an isolated cabin, far removed from any town. The canoeists had heard that the locals in the area were quite hospitable, so they  knocked on the door to ask permission to rest.

No one answered their knocks, but they discovered the cabin was unlocked and they entered. It was a simple place... 2 rooms with a minimum of furniture and household equipment. Nothing was unusual about the cabin except the stove. It was large, pot-bellied, and made of cast-iron. What was strange about it was its  location... it was suspended in mid-air by wires attached to the ceiling beams.

"Fascinating," said the psychologist. "It is obvious that this lonely trapper, isolated from humanity, has elevated this stove so that he can curl up under it and vicariously experience a return to the womb."

"Nonsense!" replied the engineer. "The man is practicing the laws of thermodynamics. By elevating his stove, he has discovered a way to distribute heat more evenly throughout the cabin."

"With all due respect," interrupted the theologian, "I'm sure that hanging his stove from the ceiling has religious meaning. Fire LIFTED UP has been a religious symbol for centuries."

The three debated the point for several hours without resolving the issue. When the trapper finally returned, they immediately asked him why he had hung his heavy pot-bellied stove from the ceiling.

His answer was succinct...

"Had plenty of wire, not much stove pipe."

Thievery

Jay and Rod are at camp. Jay turns to Rod and says "Rod, look up there and tell me what that means". Rod says "Horologically, it means it's about 2 am, theologically, it shows how puny we are and astrologically, I'd say the sun is in Leo." Jay says "Rod, you dolt! It means that someone has stolen our tent!

Grey Cup Fever

It's game day and Northstar Expeditions endorses the following video message.