Recent Posts - page 102

  • Linguistics, mathematics, and the general public

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    Just about everyone can speak, so we all have an opinion about language. Just about everyone can count, so we all have an opinion about math. Everyone’s an expert. After reading uninformed opinions about both, I decided to compare and… Read More ›

  • "You must be a Democrat."

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    The thorny question of grading took a new twist yesterday afternoon. I’ve discussed grading before — in my posts of 11/30/2005 and 12/20/2007 — and I’m not going to rehash those arguments. Sometimes I’m wrong, but on these issues I’m… Read More ›

  • Shout-out to B Block

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    Near the end of my B Block precalculus class this morning, a couple of juniors happen to mention this blog and asked me to give a shout-out here to B Block. I said I would do so. But first, of… Read More ›

  • Polite patrons and diversity in Dorchester

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    What do you do if you’re at a restaurant and there’s a celebrity at the next table? I’m told that Europeans ignore celebrities and let them enjoy their privacy, but Americans all too often have to say hello, get an… Read More ›

  • Fourth in the Commonwealth

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    Congratulations to the Weston High School math team for their excellent showing in the state playoffs on Friday in Shrewsbury! We finished fourth in the state among medium-sized high schools (the schools with which we compete) and will therefore be… Read More ›

  • Studs Terkel's Working

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    This year’s spring musical at Weston High School is the little-known Working, based closely on Studs Terkel’s great book of the same name. Although I say “closely,” the musical can of course include only a tiny fraction of the chapters… Read More ›

  • The Seventh Annual Fractal Fair

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    Seven is a lucky number, so no one was surprised that the seventh annual Fractal Fair at Weston High School turned out to be the best one so far. Of course there were many great exhibits in each of the previous fairs, but… Read More ›

  • Get over It

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    What do you do on a snow day? Watch a movie, of course. Get over It had been on my shelf for awhile, since I had ordered it from Netflix shortly after seeing Midsummer Night’s Dream at Weston High School… Read More ›

  • Careless in Red

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    Elizabeth George has long been one of my favorite authors, but her books have been becoming bleaker and bleaker. Even though I’ve read many — most? even all? — of her novels, I don’t think I’ve ever reviewed any of… Read More ›

  • Birthday/Sel de la Terre

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    Over the past few weeks, a number of my sophomores have been trying to figure out my birthday. All they knew was that it was somewhere in February. Even though I had told them that one of my students (now… Read More ›

  • Parental communication

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    Here is a strange note that I received from a parent of a 16-year-old student [names changed to protect, etc., etc.]: Mr. Davidson — Jimmy had trouble with the math project and would like to email you as soon as… Read More ›

  • Predictably Irrational

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    I generally find that non-fiction works are difficult to follow in the audiobook format. Perhaps it’s because non-fiction books remind the reader of college lectures, so there’s an impulse to take notes. Perhaps it’s because they tend to be dryer… Read More ›

  • Special K, a.k.a. sugar

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    While I suppose this probably isn’t news to anyone else, it was to me. Yesterday Barbara picked up a granola bar labeled Kellogg’s® Special K Bliss™. Note that Special K comes with “a variety of delicious options to kick-start a… Read More ›

  • Cries and Whiskers

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    Generally I stay away from mysteries that feature cats. They tend to be too cute, with anthropomorphized felines that solve crimes or even talk. But Clea Simon’s Cries and Whiskers avoids those pitfalls. Aside from featuring cats, this novel also… Read More ›

  • Everything is Miscellaneous

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    For years now I’ve been fascinated and bothered by hierarchical systems of organization, starting with the Dewey Decimal System and progressing to typical org charts in businesses and hierarchical file systems on computers. On the one hand, the systematic structure… Read More ›

  • Playing suburban patty cake

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    Catching up on a blog written by fellow Dorchester resident Candelaria Silva, I came across a post from a year and a half ago, “All White People, All the Time,” which caught my eye for several reasons: first of all,… Read More ›

  • Dollhouse

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    Thanks to the wonders of Tivo, Barbara and I were able to watch the opening episode of Dollhouse, “Ghost”, a few days late. It turned out to be part fun and part obligation — fun because it’s Joss Whedon, and… Read More ›

  • The Numbers Behind Numb3rs

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    My students sometimes ask me whether the mathematics in the television show Numb3rs is real. This question, among others, is explored in a fascinating book, The Numbers behind Numb3rs: Solving Crime with Mathematics, by mathematicians Keith Devlin and Gary Lorden…. Read More ›

  • Computational intractability

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    It’s been a stressful week here in Lake Wobegon, but February break is finally almost upon us; now I have a chance to catch up on things from the past few days. Of course it’s always nice to see the… Read More ›

  • The two Chows

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    No, not two dogs. No, not two students whose last name is Chow. I’m referring to two Chinese restaurants: Chau Chow in Dorchester (discussed previously in this blog on 7/23/2008, 9/1/2006, and 5/9/2006) and Great Chow in the Wollaston section… Read More ›