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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Our War
This novel is strictly fictional. It’s just fiction, I tell you. It’s purely coincidental that Craig DiLouie’s Our War is about a Republican president who is impeached by the House, and then is convicted by the Senate (!), and then… wait for it…… Read More ›
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What is the most popular surname in your country of origin?
Thanks to Lisetta Shah, my former colleague and former student, for this link to maps and explanations of the most popular last name in every country. Check it out! Some of it will come as a surprise to you, some of… Read More ›
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The huge Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show
This year’s Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show was different from previous years’ — not because the exhibits were significantly different (they weren’t) nor because it was held in West Springfield rather than Amherst (that’s been true for years). It… Read More ›
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To be in Irish and Spanish
Or should that title be ‘“To be” in Irish and Spanish‘? The issue is just use versus mention, you know. (If you don’t know, check out this Wikipedia entry.) Let’s start with Spanish, since I am guessing that most —… Read More ›
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“Angry white guy unloads on new city councilor in voice mail”
As posted by Adam Gaffin: My new city councilor, Julia Mejia (whom I wrote about on December 11 because she won by a single vote) received an angry voicemail message from a Trump supporter and gave a masterful response in… Read More ›
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Library Shelfie Day!
This is an addendum to this morning’s post. I wish I had known at the time that today is Library Shelfie Day! Read the article in the second link, but note that it includes several inappropriate ways to organize your… Read More ›
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Which books are checked out from libraries most often? Can you guess?
Forget the best-sellers lists. I don’t want to know what’s popular — I want to know what’s happening in libraries, the center of American culture. For its 125th anniversary the New York Public Library has calculated its most checked-out books of… Read More ›
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Why do so many girls and women leave STEM?
No, I’m not going to mansplain the situation. I just want to draw your attention to a pair of essays about it, one by Karen Morenz, embedded within another by Scott Aaronson. My expectation is that nobody will disagree with… Read More ›
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Purple and green
A present my sister Ellen made for Barbara and me: These four beautiful handcrafted quilted pot-holders in purple and green, to match the colors of the walls of our kitchen:
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Against My Better Judgment: An Intimate Memoir of an Eminent Gay Psychologist
Would this headline be clickbait? “Eminent Harvard Psychologist Admits That He’s Gay!” Ho hum, it wouldn’t work as clickbait today. Nobody today would be shocked (except perhaps by the choice of verb in this made-up headline). But back in the… Read More ›
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Catch and Kill
Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, Charlie Rose… What do these three have in common? If you’ve been under a rock for the past five years, you might not know. So read Ronan Farrow’s exposé, Catch and Kill. If, as is more likely, you… Read More ›
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How about a nice, relaxing cross-country bus ride from NYC to LA?
“Miles on the MBTA.” That was the clever (but unobtrusive) title of Miles Taylor’s original blog, written for years while he was a high-school student in Cambridge. His goal was to visit and review every station on the Red, Blue,… Read More ›
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Call me by my name.
“Call me either one. I don’t care.” It always surprises me when a student gives that sort of reply in response to my asking “Do you want to be called Liz or Elizabeth?” (or the equivalent, of course, depending on… Read More ›
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William is pretending he’s a hamburger…
William is pretending he’s a hamburger… but I’m not fooled.
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Fake news in Fakebook… I mean Facebook.
This ad just appeared in my Facebook feed. Clearly fake news!
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Which languages?
“This is America. Speak English, or go back to where you came from!” I hear that too often from Trumpian Americans who feel threatened by immigrants and others whom they don’t understand. The best story about that was told by… Read More ›
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Bella Luna update
I suspect that Bella Luna has been waiting with bated breath for me to review it once again. We end up going there for dinner about once a month, after all, since Barbara works upstairs in the same building. A… Read More ›
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Irregardless
Irregardless of the price, I am buying a new computer. Well, no, not really. Not any time soon, at any rate. But that’s not the topic of this post; the word “irregardless” is. “That’s not a word!” you cry. “If… Read More ›
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366 days of math
You definitely want 366 days of math. Check it out as we are about to enter a new year! The American Mathematical Society offers us a page-a-day desk calendar, in the usual form factor, with a mathematical tidbit for each day… Read More ›
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The surprising truth about Donald Trump
The shocking truth about Donald Trump! The book A Warning (by “Anonymous: a senior Trump administration official”) reveals it. Well, no, it doesn’t. I lied. But I figured that I would start with a lie, in keeping with the subject. Now for the… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 