Let’s assume that you neither speak nor read Irish. (Probably a safe guess.) I, too, neither speak nor read Irish. But work with me here. Study this image, which shows an American wearing a custom tee shirt. Without knowing any Irish,… Read More ›
Life
There is still hope.
Apparently many people think that the number of Supreme Court justices is immutable, that the Constitution specifies that there must be nine. This is not true. If you think that nine is a magic number written into the Constitution, you… Read More ›
My slightly updated ethnicity
Donald Trump doesn’t understand that science is not a fixed body of known facts. It changes all the time — whenever new data and new tools result in new information and therefore new knowledge. That’s why Fauci (et al.) used… Read More ›
A math problem for the season
From this week’s issue of The New Yorker:
Pawliamentary immunity
Yay! News out of Israel that’s about cooperation, not conflict. According to YNet, Israel’s major English-language news source, the 30 stray cats who hang out in the backyard of the Knesset have started entering the building, with the response that…… Read More ›
A Cat
Why had I never heard of this book before? Well, at least I’m not alone. A Cat is a little-known 1995 work written by Leonard Michaels and illustrated by Frances Lerner. I read the 2018 Tin House hardcover version, which I… Read More ›
Is this box small enough for you?
William says “Where I fits, I sits.” But does he fit?
Facts, truth, math, and Donald Trump
Given Donald Trump’s uneasy relationship with facts (and a few other flaws), we all wonder how he has managed to maintain rock-steady approval from about 40% of Americans for the past four years. I was unwillingly forced to think about… Read More ›
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?
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
Model trains are not cat toys!!!
You can skip to 1:20 if you’re impatient:
A comfortable pillow?
Vincent is ignoring William, who thinks that he’s resting his head on a comfortable pillow:
Your last name is always your last name, right?
“Of course my last name comes last,” you reply! “That’s why it’s called my last name!” Well, no. Your surname is not always your “last” name. And I’m not talking about the “Doe, Jane” construction used in bibliographies and official class lists… Read More ›
English history, fractals, and Donald Trump
The Fractal Geometry of Nature may be Benoit Mandelbrot’s most famous book, but have you ever heard of the fractal geometry of history? I hadn’t either — until I watched the six-minute video “The Abandoned Hill with Two Members of… Read More ›
Think of the veterans. And think of the cats… and dogs.
Think of the veterans who are your neighbors. Think of the cats and dogs who are your pets and your neighbors’ pets. They are assailed by endless illegal fireworks every night. Fireworks can trigger PTSD in veterans, and they can… Read More ›
Justice Alito has strong views about pronouns (and gender).
Justice Samuel Alito warns that Bostock not only opens up bathrooms and locker rooms to sexual predators, it runs afoul of the First Amendment by forcing people to use gender pronouns against their will. … Alito implies that somehow this deluge… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 