Learning Strategies

Recent Posts - page 10

• The Lola Quartet

  By ljd42 on July 30, 2024

  

  “Have you ever made a decision in a moment of panic and then regretted it for the rest of your life?” One of the characters in Emily St. John Mandel’s novel, The Lola Quartet, asks this question near the end… Read More ›

• Why accelerate in math?

  By ljd42 on July 27, 2024

  

  Looking back over five decades (more or less) of teaching high-school mathematics, I estimate that maybe 30–40 of the students I have taught over the years were truly accelerated in math. But let’s define our terms first: So, you ask,… Read More ›

• Building a house under construction

  By ljd42 on July 24, 2024

  

  Now that my model railroad includes a pre-fab house built from a standard kit, which I showed as a work in progress over ten weeks, it’s time to experiment with a different approach: a compromise between a standard kit and… Read More ›

• Harris/Buttigieg.

  By ljd42 on July 21, 2024

  Clearly.

• If you don’t love this book… what’s wrong with you?

  By ljd42 on July 18, 2024

  

  Christine Lavin has been one of my favorite singer-songwriters for forty-odd years (some odder than others). I most recently saw her in concert three months ago, and that inspired me to read her memoir, Cold Pizza for Breakfast. Even though… Read More ›

• JD Vance: A view from the recent past

  By ljd42 on July 16, 2024

  

  Now we know who our next VP is going to be. Well… maybe not.. but let’s look back at what I wrote on August 8, 2017, and subsequently on August 28, 2022: Post of 8/8/2017: What an irritating book! Even… Read More ›

• Building a model railroad structure, week 10

  By ljd42 on July 14, 2024

  

  Finally, the house and detached garage are done! It will take a few more weeks before we can see them in context, as the surrounding neighborhood isn’t quite complete (it’s missing some streets and most of the landscaping). When all… Read More ›

• Trying new (to us) dishes at Tavolo

  By ljd42 on July 12, 2024

  

  So often, it seems, we get the same menu items at Tavolo. That’s because they’re so good! But it was time to try something new. Not to jump right into new things, however, we started with our traditional kale Caesar… Read More ›

• They claim to speak 20… or 50… or even… wait for it… 367 languages!

  By ljd42 on July 10, 2024

  Me (in front of my geometry class) (Don’t ask): What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Several members of the class simultaneously: trilingual. Me: What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Several members of the class… Read More ›

• Building a model railroad structure, week 9

  By ljd42 on July 7, 2024

  More progress, as the Goldbergs get close to the scheduled date for their closing. They needed a mezuzah before the closing — and remember that it’s 1969, so they had to look up Mezuzahs in the Yellow Pages (if you’re… Read More ›

• Not just for nerds, not just for geeks.

  By ljd42 on July 3, 2024

  

  Suppose you heard from someone (me, for instance) that you might enjoy a book titled Thinking Inside the Box. What would you expect it to be about? Perhaps some sort of pushback against those of us who advocate thinking outside… Read More ›

• Building a model railroad structure, week 8

  By ljd42 on June 30, 2024

  

  Porch is done, including the columns, porch roof, and stairway.

• dBar

  By ljd42 on June 27, 2024

  

  Lovely anniversary dinner yesterday out on the patio at dBar! (Zeus must have approved, because it stopped raining just before we got there, and it didn’t pick up again until we got home.) It was hard to know what to… Read More ›

• The Mathematical Murder of Innocence

  By ljd42 on June 25, 2024

  

  You could call this a non-fiction novel. You could, that is, if that genre name hadn’t been pre-empted by Truman Capote back in the ’60s. Or you could call it historical fiction, if that genre name hadn’t had a long… Read More ›

• Building a model railroad structure, week 7

  By ljd42 on June 22, 2024

  

  Right now the contractor claims she’s still on time and under budget! Never heard of such a thing, but let’s take a look at her progress. Here are two views of the house right now, front and back: I’m sure… Read More ›

• Sourdough (a science fiction novel, not a manual for breadbaking!)

  By ljd42 on June 20, 2024

  

  Maybe it’s just me. Maybe it’s a current publishing trend. Whatever the reason, I seem to be reading too many dystopian novels these days. Actually, though, Robin Sloan’s wonderful novel Sourdough turns out not to be dystopian after all. It… Read More ›

• Building a model railroad structure, week 6

  By ljd42 on June 16, 2024

  

  The four walls and the basement have finally assembled themselves into something approximating a house: The prospective homeowners came by — against the realtor’s advice — to look at the progress. They were unhappy to find that they got wet… Read More ›

• Think globally, shop locally.

  By ljd42 on June 13, 2024

  

  My new glasses were ready, so Barbara and I made the brief trek down to Eye & Eye. As we have good parking karma, a legal parking spot opened up for us right in front of Eye & Eye on… Read More ›

• This is not a book review.

  By ljd42 on June 12, 2024

  Of course I knew I was going to enjoy The Cypher Bureau. As a historical novel about the Polish cryptologists who deciphered The Enigma in World War II, it combines a topic that deeply interests me (cryptology) with an aspect… Read More ›

• Death on the Down Beat

  By ljd42 on June 11, 2024

  

  As the title suggests, it’s a mystery novel. As the title suggests, a musician is murdered. But that’s probably as far as your expectations will be fulfilled. Speaking of expectations, as supervisors like to say, the author exceeds expectations. Of… Read More ›

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