Author Archives

I am entering my 21st year as a math teacher at Weston High School, the sole public high school in Weston, MA. It’s also my 44th year as a teacher altogether. In addition to my day job, I taught for 20 years at the Saturday Course in Milton, MA. I also teach at Harvard’s Crimson Summer Academy each summer; 2017 was our 14th consecutive summer.

Sometimes I work on educational software. I also read, cook, and continue building my model railroad whenever I can. For some reason I'm left with less so-called free time than would be ideal. Nevertheless, I manage to devote time to my wife, Barbara, and to our excessive number of cats as well.

• The Industry, Visit #3

  By ljd42 on August 14, 2018

  

  Third time’s the charm, right? That’s what they say. Well, this was something of the reverse situation. Night before last was the third time that Barbara and I had dinner at The Industry. I had already written enthusiastic reviews of the… Read More ›

• What happened to our rear windshield?

  By ljd42 on August 13, 2018

  

    We walked out to the driveway this morning, and this is what the rear windshield of our car looked like. How did that happen? We do have a large spruce tree that hangs over the car, but no large… Read More ›

• How to subscribe

  By ljd42 on August 12, 2018

  A couple of my regular readers have asked me how to subscribe to this blog, so that they will be automagically notified whenever a new post appears. WordPress makes this process very simple: in the lower right corner of each… Read More ›

• Eighth Grade

  By ljd42 on August 11, 2018

  

  Show of hands: Who wants to live through eighth grade again? I don’t see very many hands there. By now I’m sure you’ve heard of Eighth Grade, Bo Burnham’s all-too-real coming-of-age movie. Billed as a comedy, it’s mostly uncomfortable and… Read More ›

• Who on earth counts in base six?

  By ljd42 on July 21, 2018

  All cultures count in base ten, because humans have ten fingers. That’s common knowledge — so common that it isn’t even true. It is, of course, true that most cultures count in base ten, with some obvious and well-known exceptions… Read More ›

• Your iPad or your chicken.

  By ljd42 on July 18, 2018

  

  William is holding my iPad hostage until I give him some of my chicken:

• The golden meanie

  By ljd42 on July 16, 2018

  

  Fellow math nerds: check out Sandra Boynton’s pet, Fibonacci. Of course he’s a golden meanie: She describes him thus: The Golden Meanie is a mythical beast of pleasing proportions but unpleasant temperament. Oh well. You can’t have everything.  

• Vincent and Giraffe

  By ljd42 on July 15, 2018

  

  Vincent likes his new giraffe rug. (Doesn’t look much like a giraffe to me, but what do I know?)

• Is Chinese a language? (I.e., is Chinese a language?)

  By ljd42 on July 13, 2018

  Note the subtle use of italics to express emphasis in the title. 😀 Why do people persist in referring to Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, and so forth as dialects rather than languages? Actually, there are a couple of good explanations — “good”… Read More ›

• Weston alum blogs about Ireland and Tanzania.

  By ljd42 on July 11, 2018

  Take a look at Studying abroad in Ireland and Tanzania, a wonderful travel blog by Weston alum Izzi Lambrecht, currently a rising senior at Holy Cross. For example, read her recent essay “Soooo How Much Agency Do We Have? Pondering in… Read More ›