A few days ago I wrote about Isaac Asimov in his role as a popularizer of math and science. Today I will turn to another important popularizer, Martin Gardner. But first I return to make a few more remarks about… Read More ›
Month: August 2020
Quite a bicycle!
Well, it does have two wheels, but I’m still skeptical. At least it says it’s “low emission.” Legal definition of bicycle, anyone?
Ashmont Grill patio under the tent
Barbara and I had a yummy dinner on the patio under the tent at Ashmont Grill last night: grilled asparagus; confit pork belly lettuce cups (which unfortunately disappeared somehow before I could take a photo); hot buttered lobster roll with… Read More ›
Murder on Lexington Avenue
Signing or lip-reading? If you’re Deaf, which should you be taught? That is the question. And if you are in upper-class turn-of-the-century New York, no less, that is ultimately the core issue in Victoria Thompson’s Murder on Lexington Avenue. I… Read More ›
Popularizers I: Asimov on Numbers
Many popularizers are unjustly looked down upon by professional academic scientists and mathematicians. I learned about that as an early age, and I also learned to reject those snobby attitudes. That’s mostly because of my dad’s influence: even though he… Read More ›
Agoraphobia and other pronunciation conundra
Quick! How do you pronounce agoraphobia (a word we hear too much these days)? In particular, do you stress the first syllable and have a short /o/ in the second, or stress the first syllable but have a silent /o/ in the… Read More ›
Hid from our Eyes
It was over eleven years ago that I read and reviewed the fourth book in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s series of upstate New York novels, and now we’re onto book #9. This averages out to only about one book every two years, a… Read More ›
A walk in JP
Today I took my walk in JP rather than Dorchester. (That’s because I was on my way to Wegman’s for my first experience with their contactless curbside pickup, which I rated five stars without question.) Take a look at this… Read More ›
Pronouns again!
Pronouns — as well as other linguistic tidbits — continue to be an issue far beyond what one might expect. Linguist Dennis Baron continues to be the primary authority on the topic of pronouns, and only partly because of their… Read More ›
RIP, Douglas (2004-2020)
He was a very good cat. He helped me build my model railroad, and he loved to sit on my lap. He was so affectionate that we often called him Huggie Dougie. He will be missed.
Buffy and Star Trek — and the Jews
Until recently I hadn’t thought about any connections between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Trek, nor about any connections between Star Trek and the Jews. So what happened recently to update that pluperfect verb “hadn’t realized”? Well, as I’ve mentioned before, one of my… Read More ›
Looking back over a summer of teaching remotely with Zoom and Canvas
So my course is over now, and I’m in the midst of final grading, which means I have a little perspective about how this new experience went. Twice this summer I’ve written about Zoom-based teaching and learning, first on July 3… Read More ›
Sigh, Gone
A coming-of-age memoir by a Vietnamese refugee. That’s a flat, factual description of this powerful book. It doesn’t capture much of what it is like. The full title — Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the… Read More ›
Should everyone in your class be able to earn an A?
This question was inspired by a very interesting post in Computing Education Research Blog (anonymous, but probably by Mark Guzdial). There are (at least) three ways in which you might be interpreting it: Is it OK if everyone in the class… Read More ›
Eve (my great-niece)
Starting early on her STEM preparation:
On not playing poker
Can a psychology Ph.D. who has never played poker before become a championship poker pro? Apparently so! Maria Konnikova has been making the rounds, promoting her new book, The Biggest Bluff. I heard her on NPR and on Freakonomics, but you might… Read More ›
What— hieroglyphics in AI??? (and in Google?)
You’ve heard of Fabricius, right? Actually, probably not. I hadn’t either. Here’s Google’s description of it: Fabricius, a Google Arts & Culture Lab Experiment that uses machine learning to help translate ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. That sounds implausible, but it’s true…. Read More ›
Stories are sticky. Statistics, not so much.
Last month I was listening to a Freakonomics episode that really stuck with me. That’s what it was about. Stickiness. As teachers, we would like our lessons to be sticky. As citizens, we would like certain political messages to be… Read More ›
The Existential Joss Whedon: Evil And Human Freedom in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly And Serenity
Don’t go away! OK, a reasonable response to this book title might be “How geeky can you get‽” I mean, the pop-culture-plus-intellectual combo inherent in The Existential Joss Whedon: Evil And Human Freedom in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly… Read More ›
Nobody sends messages by fax anymore… or do they?
I was wrong. I admit it. For years I’ve been saying that it’s ridiculously archaic to be using fax technology. I said that in 2020… and in 2019… and in… well, I’ve been saying it since 2010 at least. It… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 