Learning Strategies

Recent Posts - page 11

• Building a model railroad structure, week 5

  By ljd42 on June 9, 2024

  

  As you know, the focus of this series is on constructing a suburban house on my model railroad layout, using a commercial kit. Before I continue that discussion, I need to point out that there are at least two other… Read More ›

• Red Side Story

  By ljd42 on June 7, 2024

  

  Red Side Story is the second novel of a two- (some predict three-) volume series by Jasper Fforde. Back on April 26 I reviewed the first volume, Shades of Grey. Why the delay, you ask? Talk to the Boston Public… Read More ›

• Trying some possibly new menu items at Tavolo

  By ljd42 on June 5, 2024

  

  These items were new to me, but may or may not be new to the Tavolo menu. In any case, Barbara and I felt a sudden need to have dinner at Tavolo last night, so of course we had to… Read More ›

• Who is Will Dean? Have you read any of his books?

  By ljd42 on June 4, 2024

  

  Recently I read First Born, by Will Dean. Although I had never heard of this author before, the enthusiastic reviews of this thriller persuaded me to give it a try. Admittedly it has no pretensions to being great literature, b… Read More ›

• Building a model railroad structure, week 4

  By ljd42 on June 2, 2024

  

  The trouble with photos like the one in the middle of last week’s post is that there is no way to have a sense of scale when you look at it. Just knowing the scale is 1:87 isn’t really any… Read More ›

• Highly Irregular (a book review)

  By ljd42 on May 31, 2024

  

  Probably you have at least some interest in language. Probably you are not a professional linguist. If both of these describe you (having an interest in language but not being a professional linguist), then Arika Okrent’s latest book, Highly Irregular,… Read More ›

• Two murders in Paris

  By ljd42 on May 29, 2024

  

  Recently I finished reading two mysteries that happened to take place in Paris. You probably wonder whether that was a coincidence. I did too; it certainly wasn’t intentional, but maybe it was my subconscious at work. The covers of both… Read More ›

• Cat’s cradle

  By ljd42 on May 28, 2024

  

  Flicka says that she’s the only baby in this house.

• Building a model railroad structure, week 3

  By ljd42 on May 25, 2024

  

  Hofstadter’s Law in action: As I continue to work on streets and roads (which I’m having difficulty making level, unlike streets and roads IRL which are always perfect), Meredith continues building our suburban house. Both are taking longer than expected,… Read More ›

• The Mayors of New York (a book review)

  By ljd42 on May 21, 2024

  

  The Mayors of New York is the title of a book by S.J. Rozan. Like you, I had misunderstood what it referred to. It’s fiction, not history! Along with everyone else I asked, I had guessed that it would be… Read More ›

• Building a model railroad structure, week 2

  By ljd42 on May 18, 2024

  

  ICYMI, you may want to read the first post in this series before reading this one. Right now we’re looking at what we accomplished this week; it won’t look like much, but painting tiny window frames is slow work. Why… Read More ›

• Promising Lives Cut Short

  By ljd42 on May 16, 2024

  

  Recently I finished reading William Cohan’s non-fiction account called Four Friends: Promising Lives Cut Short. My motivation for choosing to read this book was simple. The author, his eponymous four friends, and I have something in common: we all graduated… Read More ›

• Step-by-step: Building a structure on my model railroad layout

  By ljd42 on May 13, 2024

  

  Q As asked by a randomly chosen reader of this blog: When will your model railroad finally be completed? It has been “in progress” for years now! A Never. What counts is the journey, not the destination. A model railroad… Read More ›

• Murder Crossed her Mind

  By ljd42 on May 10, 2024

  

  Every four years like clockwork (assuming, that is, you have a strange clock with a rather vague sense of regularity*) Stephen Spotswood publishes another great novel in his Pentecost and Parker series. And now we’re on to number four: Murder… Read More ›

• The Pearl, a well-named restaurant

  By ljd42 on May 7, 2024

  

  On our way home from yet another doctor’s appointment (they come far too often, don’t they, when you’re getting close to 80), Barbara suggested stopping for lunch at The Pearl. She had to twist my arm, but I finally agreed… Read More ›

• Gyu-Kaku

  By ljd42 on May 4, 2024

  

  Yes, it’s a chain, but don’t dismiss it out of hand. After all, it’s a Japanese chain, not an American one. From Waikiki to Kansas City, Toronto to Dorchester, Gyu-Kaku has some five dozen locations in North American alone, supplementing… Read More ›

• Ishihara—who’s that?

  By ljd42 on April 26, 2024

  

  No, not a professional baseball player. OK, so how about Munsell—who’s that? And are/were they real, or are they fantasy? (Why am I asking these odd questions?) And how are Ishihara and Munsell related to regulations like the following? 2.1.01.05.002:… Read More ›

• But what if that little engine just couldn’t?

  By ljd42 on April 25, 2024

  

  You probably remember the inspirational story from your childhood, The Little Engine that Could. Yes, I understand, that story is supposed to be inspirational…but I’ve always considered it pernicious. Pernicious. How can that be? Well, I was reminded of that… Read More ›

• Conlangs

  By ljd42 on April 23, 2024

  

  No, conlangs are not languages spoken at cons (science fiction or mystery or cosplay conventions) — although they could be spoken at some of these. Nor are they languages spoken by convicts. The portmanteau word “conlang” simply means “constructed language.”… Read More ›

• Buskin & Batteau (and Friends)

  By ljd42 on April 21, 2024

  

  Probably it was at least 20 years ago that I had last attended a live concert. So clearly it was now time to do so when I saw that David Buskin and Robin Batteau were going to be performing (with… Read More ›

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