Author Archives
In 2018 I semi-retired by retiring from Weston High School after my 21st year teaching mathematics there. This was also my 44th year as a teacher altogether. In 2023 I retired fully, adding in my 18 years at Harvard’s Crimson Summer Academy each summer. For 21 years I had taught at the Saturday Course in Milton, MA, and I used to serve on the board of the Dorchester Historical Society.
I read, cook, and spend a lot of time building my model railroad. For some reason I’m left with less free time than would be ideal, considering that I’m supposed to be retired, but somehow I also manage to devote time to my wife, Barbara, and to our varying number of cats (once up to six, but now sadly down to one).
Larry Davidson
ljd@larrydavidson.com
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Promising Lives Cut Short
Recently I finished reading William Cohan’s non-fiction account called Four Friends: Promising Lives Cut Short. My motivation for choosing to read this book was simple. The author, his eponymous four friends, and I have something in common: we all graduated… Read More ›
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Step-by-step: Building a structure on my model railroad layout
Q As asked by a randomly chosen reader of this blog: When will your model railroad finally be completed? It has been “in progress” for years now! A Never. What counts is the journey, not the destination. A model railroad… Read More ›
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Murder Crossed her Mind
Every four years like clockwork (assuming, that is, you have a strange clock with a rather vague sense of regularity*) Stephen Spotswood publishes another great novel in his Pentecost and Parker series. And now we’re on to number four: Murder… Read More ›
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The Pearl, a well-named restaurant
On our way home from yet another doctor’s appointment (they come far too often, don’t they, when you’re getting close to 80), Barbara suggested stopping for lunch at The Pearl. She had to twist my arm, but I finally agreed… Read More ›
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Gyu-Kaku
Yes, it’s a chain, but don’t dismiss it out of hand. After all, it’s a Japanese chain, not an American one. From Waikiki to Kansas City, Toronto to Dorchester, Gyu-Kaku has some five dozen locations in North American alone, supplementing… Read More ›
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Ishihara—who’s that?
No, not a professional baseball player. OK, so how about Munsell—who’s that? And are/were they real, or are they fantasy? (Why am I asking these odd questions?) And how are Ishihara and Munsell related to regulations like the following? 2.1.01.05.002:… Read More ›
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But what if that little engine just couldn’t?
You probably remember the inspirational story from your childhood, The Little Engine that Could. Yes, I understand, that story is supposed to be inspirational…but I’ve always considered it pernicious. Pernicious. How can that be? Well, I was reminded of that… Read More ›
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Conlangs
No, conlangs are not languages spoken at cons (science fiction or mystery or cosplay conventions) — although they could be spoken at some of these. Nor are they languages spoken by convicts. The portmanteau word “conlang” simply means “constructed language.”… Read More ›
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Buskin & Batteau (and Friends)
Probably it was at least 20 years ago that I had last attended a live concert. So clearly it was now time to do so when I saw that David Buskin and Robin Batteau were going to be performing (with… Read More ›
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Linguini, meet clams!
A month ago I posted this comment: “I’ve already written many times about Tavolo, so just a word about one new item.” And now, once again a new item. You guessed it from this post’s title: linguini with clams on… Read More ›
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Dorchester-Italian (two ways): Via Cannuccia and Tavolo
Everyone knows North End Italian — but the North End is approximately a thousand miles away and parking is impossible. Yes, there’s always the MBTA, but… well… the T is the T. So why not think about Dorchester Italian, a… Read More ›
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Happy St. Gertrude’s Day!
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Posts you may have missed
Now that I’m back to writing in my blog, I just remembered that there are friends who follow me on Facebook but don’t follow my blog directly, so they no longer see automatic summaries of my posts! (Other settings also… Read More ›
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Three cheers for the heroes at Beth Israel!
As you know if you’ve been following this blog, I spent 18 days of this past July as a patient at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston. Unfortunately, since I was unconscious or confused most of that time, I remember… Read More ›
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“My cat likes to be pet.” Does that sentence sound grammatically correct to your ear?
To my ear, at any rate, it does not sound correct. Shouldn’t it be “to be petted”? But I’ve recently heard this use of pet as a past participle (more on that below) from at least two well-educated native speakers… Read More ›
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Truly Vera [get it?]
Apparently I’m the last person in the Western Hemisphere to learn who Vera is. Truly. That is because I watch so little television, and television is the main way in which Americans know Vera. But this post is about a… Read More ›
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Read Desert Star again (but maybe it would be best for you to wait until you’re in your seventies)
Actually, don’t wait until then! If you’re in your thirties or forties or whatever, read Michael Connelly’s Desert Star now…and then read it again when you’re in your seventies. It will be a different book. Of course if you’re already… Read More ›
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Vietnamese and Chinese Food on the Dot
Where oh where do you go for Vietnamese and Chinese lunches? Dorchester, of course! Over the past week, one day for the Davidson-Bean household was Vietnamese food day and two were Chinese food days. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures… Read More ›
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Happy Ἐξελαύνω Day!
This is my not-quite-annual “march forth” post wishing everyone a happy Exelauno Day. In case you’ve forgotten, here is my post from two years ago, which happens to be mostly about learning Ukrainian (!) but opens with remarks about Exelauno… Read More ›
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I’m back!
Where, you may be wondering, have I been for the last eight months? Actually, I’ve been in Boston the whole time, so why no blog posts? For those who don’t know the answer, here’s the Readers Digest condensed version. Like… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 