Learning Strategies

Recent Posts - page 14

• 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 ›

• Brunch at Via Cannuccia

  By ljd42 on May 14, 2023

  

  To follow our first excellent experience—dinner on April 20—Barbara and I joined our friend Meredith for brunch yesterday at Via Cannuccia. Like the dinner, brunch was first-rate. From Stefano’s wonderful home-made pastries, we each had a shy brioche roll with… Read More ›

• Flicka says it’s her turn.

  By ljd42 on May 12, 2023

  

  “It’s not fair,” says Flicka. “Why does my brother get all the pictures?” So here’s one of Flicka. You can see her stripèd nose, but not her extra toes:

• “JP” stands for…

  By ljd42 on May 11, 2023

  

  For some of us, JP means Jamaica Plain. For others of us, it’s the country code for Japan—as in URLs ending in “.jp” and other related uses. For everyone, and for both of the above reasons, it’s appropriately in the… Read More ›

• Virtual abutters

  By ljd42 on May 9, 2023

  

  “Virtual Abutters Meeting” was the headline on the notice. My first reaction was to ask myself “What’s a virtual abutter?” And then I realized that I had misparsed the headline. “Virtual,” it turned out, really modified “meeting,” not “abutters.” Also,… Read More ›

• Two truths and a lie

  By ljd42 on May 5, 2023

  

  Your task, of course, is to figure out which of the three is the lie. Yesterday, you see, was a special occasion. (No, not my birthday. And that’s no lie.) As a result, Barbara and I decided to indulge in… Read More ›

• Teachers deserve better.

  By ljd42 on May 3, 2023

  

  “Teachers deserve better. They deserve more trust and respect, and less standardized testing, smaller class sizes, and yes, larger paychecks.” So says author Alexandra Robbins in The Teachers: A Year Inside America’s Most Vulnerable, Important Profession. A well-known long-time New… Read More ›

• A language-learning proposal

  By ljd42 on May 1, 2023

  

  Continuing to sing the praises of the under-appreciated Helen DeWitt, I must tell you about her language-learning proposal. For a bit of context, I will first tell you about a brief conversational exchange I had with my ninth-graders at Weston… Read More ›

• မြန်မာဘာသာ

  By ljd42 on April 29, 2023

  

  When you read this post on your device, does the title look like (as it should), or does it look like a bunch of boxes? Or maybe just like random gibberish? If your device and software are old, you might… Read More ›

• Why isn’t there an “r” in “castle”? And why isn’t there an “r” in “please”?

  By ljd42 on April 27, 2023

  

  “Why should there be?” you reply. (It’s always best to answer a question with a question.) Either of the two questions in the title of this post presupposes that an “r” is expected. But why? A brief (but relevant) digression:… Read More ›

• The Best Book of the Year!

  By ljd42 on April 25, 2023

  

  Yes. I know. How can I honestly say “best book of the year” when the year isn’t even half over yet? Furthermore, of course, I can judge only the books that I’ve read. So, let me rephrase. Of the 17… Read More ›

• Sardinian. (No, it’s not the language that sardines speak.)

  By ljd42 on April 23, 2023

  

  Your second guess will probably be that Sardinian is a dialect of Italian spoken on the island of Sardinia, so maybe it really is related to sardines, since you suspect that Sardinia was named after the many sardines that are… Read More ›

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