There’s a flaw in the typography of the sign outside my dentist’s office. It’s neatly lined up in two columns, starting something like this [names changed to preserve anonymity]: John Smith, DMDMary Jones, DDSJoe Gummer, DDSRhonda Radical, DDS General DentistryDental… Read More ›
Life
Hey, Verizon, $.02 does not equal .02¢
You have to listen to this actual mind-boggling conversation between a Verizon Customer Service manager and a Verizon customer. Here is the first astonishing excerpt: Customer: Do you recognize that there’s a difference between point zero zero two dollars and… Read More ›
New Year's Eve at the Ashmont Grill and High Fidelity
To celebrate the New Year, Barbara and I just had dinner at the Ashmont Grill, which offered a special menu for New Year’s Eve. Although we hadn’t really intended this to be a “going out in public” experience — like… Read More ›
An obligation to vote?
Everyone knows about the 2004 decision of the Massachusetts supreme court legalizing gay marriage, and everyone knows that laws banning gay marriage have been passed in many states and are in the pipeline in others, but out-of-staters may not be… Read More ›
Elmira 2006
This year’s trip to Elmira was not nearly as interesting as last year’s.
The Russo-Japanese War (of the condiments)
My colleague Boris gave me a jar of horseradish mayonnaise imported from Russia. Having enjoyed it on roast beef sandwiches, and even ham sandwiches, I decided to do a comparison with the Japanese equivalent, purchased at Kotobukiya in the Porter… Read More ›
The Supremes
I’m shocked (but not really surprised) that nobody on Jeopardy the other night knew that Earl Warren was the Chief Justice of the United States for the Supreme Court’s Miranda decision. Isn’t that part of being a well-informed American citizen?… Read More ›
Homework, oral traditions, and religions
Many questions can be raised concerning homework, such as why it is given and what its purpose is. I’ve discussed these big issues in an earlier post. Here I just want to mention a smaller but still significant issue —… Read More ›
Sudburyopoly
I am told that there is an unfortunate preposition in the game of Sudburopoly, where the first half of the slogan of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School is misstated as “Think of yourself,” rather than “Think for yourself.” I know a… Read More ›
Tech Model Railroad Club and MIT Museum
Barbara and I spent an enjoyable couple of hours yesterday visiting the MIT Museum and the Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC). Go see both of them! MIT’s small museum is currently showing five exhibitions: a fascinating collection of holograms —… Read More ›
How do you get the gas company's attention?
So we park our car in front of the house, get out, and smell the distinctive odor of natural gas. Sniffing around, we conclude that it’s pretty clearly coming from the middle of the street. We go in and call… Read More ›
Numb3rs and the MAA
The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) has generally been enthusiastically positive about the well-known television show, Numb3rs. So has the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). These reactions are to be expected: both organizations want to promote interest in… Read More ›
Should we rename all the Washington Streets?
So the Cambridge City Council wants the MBTA to rename Lechmere Station because they have just discovered that mid-18th-Century local resident Richard Lechmere was a slave owner. By that theory, should they petition to have all the Washington Streets renamed?
Ah, that explains it
Some thoughtful reflections on the election — from Grover Norquist, best known for being head of Americans for Tax Reform, as well as being a distinguished alumnus of Weston High School and a close Republican colleague of Karl Rove: Nobody… Read More ›
Former students
Now that I’ve been teaching in Weston for almost ten years, I seem to be running into a surprising number of former students of mine (from Lincoln-Sudbury, but now through other connections). Weston isn’t exactly far from either Lincoln or… Read More ›
Where have I been?
Oh no! A month and a half have gone by since I have last posted! I am determined to resume posting right away…
Vote for John Bonifaz
Massachusetts voters: I know that nobody pays much attention to the election for Secretary of State (officially, of course, known as Secretary of the Commonwealth in Massachusetts), but don’t just vote automatically for the incumbent! Cast your vote for John… Read More ›
Suddenly a new car
Our trusty Ford Escort station wagon, which was relatively cheap but reliable, finally stopped being either and just died. When you have a nine-year-old car and you’re faced with a $1000 estimate for repairs, you have to decide whether it’s… Read More ›
End of hiatus!
Finally back from a blog hiatus of almost three months! I am very much looking forward to the new vesion of Blogger, which will permit labels on posts to denote categories. This feature will help viewers who are interested in… Read More ›
Art Show
Yesterday afternoon, Barbara and I attended the third annual art exhibition, “At Home with the Arts,” at The Boston Home, a nursing home for adults with advanced MS. Didn’t buy anything, but there were a number of works we liked…. Read More ›
Learning Strategies 