“Have you ever made a decision in a moment of panic and then regretted it for the rest of your life?” One of the characters in Emily St. John Mandel’s novel, The Lola Quartet, asks this question near the end… Read More ›
Month: July 2024
Why accelerate in math?
Looking back over five decades (more or less) of teaching high-school mathematics, I estimate that maybe 30–40 of the students I have taught over the years were truly accelerated in math. But let’s define our terms first: So, you ask,… Read More ›
Building a house under construction
Now that my model railroad includes a pre-fab house built from a standard kit, which I showed as a work in progress over ten weeks, it’s time to experiment with a different approach: a compromise between a standard kit and… Read More ›
Harris/Buttigieg.
Clearly.
If you don’t love this book… what’s wrong with you?
Christine Lavin has been one of my favorite singer-songwriters for forty-odd years (some odder than others). I most recently saw her in concert three months ago, and that inspired me to read her memoir, Cold Pizza for Breakfast. Even though… Read More ›
JD Vance: A view from the recent past
Now we know who our next VP is going to be. Well… maybe not.. but let’s look back at what I wrote on August 8, 2017, and subsequently on August 28, 2022: Post of 8/8/2017: What an irritating book! Even… Read More ›
Building a model railroad structure, week 10
Finally, the house and detached garage are done! It will take a few more weeks before we can see them in context, as the surrounding neighborhood isn’t quite complete (it’s missing some streets and most of the landscaping). When all… Read More ›
Trying new (to us) dishes at Tavolo
So often, it seems, we get the same menu items at Tavolo. That’s because they’re so good! But it was time to try something new. Not to jump right into new things, however, we started with our traditional kale Caesar… Read More ›
They claim to speak 20… or 50… or even… wait for it… 367 languages!
Me (in front of my geometry class) (Don’t ask): What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Several members of the class simultaneously: trilingual. Me: What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Several members of the class… Read More ›
Building a model railroad structure, week 9
More progress, as the Goldbergs get close to the scheduled date for their closing. They needed a mezuzah before the closing — and remember that it’s 1969, so they had to look up Mezuzahs in the Yellow Pages (if you’re… Read More ›
Not just for nerds, not just for geeks.
Suppose you heard from someone (me, for instance) that you might enjoy a book titled Thinking Inside the Box. What would you expect it to be about? Perhaps some sort of pushback against those of us who advocate thinking outside… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 