Learning Strategies

Recent Posts - page 13

• What happened in Peekskill? And why have I never learned this?

  By ljd42 on June 18, 2023

  

  All across the nation the people heard the taleAnd marveled at the concert, and knew we had not failedWe shed our blood at Peekskill, and suffered many a painBut we beat back the fascists and we’ll beat them back again!… Read More ›

• Listen to Me

  By ljd42 on June 15, 2023

  

  No, not the movie by the same name. I’m talking about Tess Gerritsen’s excellent new Rizzoli and Isles novel. As you expect from a Rizzoli and Isles story, there is a medical angle to the plot of Listen to Me…. Read More ›

• Rethinking grading

  By ljd42 on June 12, 2023

  

  “You got an A in Algebra One in your previous school, but you clearly don’t know very much algebra. How did you get that A?” was my question to a certain high-school freshman I was teaching. No, it was not… Read More ›

• The Freedom Caucus shouts “Ban these books! It’s the American Way! Freedom!!!”

  By ljd42 on June 10, 2023

  

  What does it remind you of? 1984? Fahrenheit 451? I don’t mean that people want to ban those particular books (though I’m sure they do); I mean that both of them are cautionary tales that remind you of the dangers… Read More ›

• Don’t forget to make reservations!

  By ljd42 on June 8, 2023

  

  So here we are, eating a delicious dinner at our third monthly visit to Via Cannuccia, and we look out the front window. We see three reservationless couples on the sidewalk waiting patiently for a table to open up; they… Read More ›

• Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English

  By ljd42 on June 7, 2023

  

  If you enjoy the English language, but aren’t a professional linguist, you will definitely enjoy this book. If you are sometimes, often, or (yikes) always a prescriptivist, but have an open mind, you’ll not only enjoy it but will also… Read More ›

• Finland is part of Scandinavia, isn’t it? And Finnish is a Scandinavian language, isn’t it? Well…no.

  By ljd42 on June 5, 2023

  

  More than 90% of Americans believe that Finland is part of Scandinavia and that Finnish is consequently a Scandinavian language. Actually, I made up that “more than 90%” claim. But it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it turned out… Read More ›

• Among mysteries, novels are usually better than short stories. In science fiction, short stories are most often better than novels.

  By ljd42 on June 3, 2023

  

  IMHO, the claim in the overly long title to this post is correct. YMMV, of course. If you agree with my conclusion, the natural question is to ask why this should be so. Here we have two similar, occasionally even… Read More ›

• A new Agatha Christie? How can that be?

  By ljd42 on June 1, 2023

  

  What have we here? It’s apparently a new collection of short stories by Agatha Christie (who died 47 years ago). Something is amiss! Midsummer Mysteries, subtitled Tales from the Queen of Mystery, is indeed marketed as a new collection of… Read More ›

• Some experiences with ChatGPT

  By ljd42 on May 31, 2023

  

  In recent months I’ve been desultorily exploring ChatGPT, for better or for worse. In the following examples you might want to note GPT’s impressive use of English syntax and vocabulary, combined with an impressive amount of lying/inaccurate facts: Finally, as… Read More ›

• Just Thai Kitchen keeps getting better and better…

  By ljd42 on May 29, 2023

  

  Now with more local competition, Just Thai Kitchen is even better and has a greatly enlarged menu. No way to try everything! Barbara and I decided to get delivery from there last night. We chose three old favorites and two… Read More ›

• Scots

  By ljd42 on May 28, 2023

  

  Scots. No, I don’t mean the people from Scotland. I mean the language; “Scots” is a singular noun, not a plural. And yes, it is from Scotland—but it most definitely is not Gaelic. Give up? TIL that Scotland has four… Read More ›

• Piper

  By ljd42 on May 26, 2023

  

  Piper, a homeless cat who hangs out in our neighborhood, likes to dream that he’s in the jungle:

• Tavolo: Pizza Ieri

  By ljd42 on May 24, 2023

  

  Normally we have a full Italian dinner whenever we go to Tavolo, but yesterday was Taco Tuesday, so Barbara and I decided to just have a simple meal of a margherita pizza and a kale Caesar salad without kale. (You… Read More ›

• Trace Elements

  By ljd42 on May 23, 2023

  

  How, you’re probably wondering, could the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) possibly relate to a novel about Venice? OK, I admit that you’re probably wondering no such thing. But I’m going to tell you anyway. Of course water is the… Read More ›

• She is often considered the first female mathematician.

  By ljd42 on May 21, 2023

  

  Who am I talking about? Hypatia of Alexandria, of course. In March of 415 C.E. “she was murdered by a mob of Christians” (for some strange value of “Christians”) according to a well-sourced article in Wikipedia. To see why they… Read More ›

• Ukulele of Death

  By ljd42 on May 19, 2023

  

  Yes, it’s spelled “ukulele,” not “ukelele.” As those clickbait posts on Facebook would say, almost 90% of adults spell this word wrong! A second issue is not so easily resolved. Many of us like labels and taxonomies—not as a tool… Read More ›

• Still no haggis for me, thanks.

  By ljd42 on May 18, 2023

  

  Eight months ago I reviewed The Haven, and today was our return visit. You’re wondering, I’m sure, about three things: whether anything has changed, whether I relented and had haggis this time, and whether there was any bagpipe music. The… Read More ›

• What’s math got to do with it? Alaska’s new voting system would be good for Massachusetts…perhaps.

  By ljd42 on May 17, 2023

  

  Because of its small population—despite being the largest state in area—Alaska gets to elect only one member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Until last year it used the traditional system: a separate primary for each party chooses one finalist… Read More ›

• Secrets Typed in Blood

  By ljd42 on May 15, 2023

  

  As the third, most recent, and best-so-far novel in Stephen Spotswood’s great Pentecost and Parker series, Secrets Typed in Blood is an outstanding detective novel that takes place in the year of my birth. I reviewed the two previous books… Read More ›

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