Learning Strategies

Recent Posts - page 23

• Miriam and Alan explore Scotland.

  By ljd42 on July 6, 2022

  

  Which two actors are these? Yes, Alan is Alan Cumming, as you suspected. And Miriam is Miriam Margolyes, who has appeared in dozens of films but is best known (in certain circles) as Professor Sprout in several of the Harry… Read More ›

• Don’t shoot off fireworks in residential neighborhoods…

  By ljd42 on July 4, 2022

  

  …where they scare cats and dogs, trigger PTSD in war veterans, and are illegal.

• 42: From crosswords to jigsaws to the meaning of life

  By ljd42 on July 3, 2022

  

  Another exciting book from A.J. Jacobs! 42: From crosswords to jigsaws to the meaning of life is not the title of the book. As Lewis Carroll might say, it’s not even the name of the book. Nor is it what… Read More ›

• Can you pronounce dBar as one syllable?

  By ljd42 on July 1, 2022

  

  Barbara and I had a lovely dinner at dBar, outside on their beautiful patio…but we forgot to take pictures! ☹️ I suppose that means it didn’t happen. So we’ll settle for a photo from OpenTable. Barbara started with a “jumbo… Read More ›

• And now…I’m back to teaching…

  By ljd42 on June 29, 2022

  

  Ten months ago was when I had most recently taught a class. But that was by Zoom, of course. As was my teaching in the previous summer. So it has really been almost three years since I’ve taught a live… Read More ›

• More and more teachers are leaving the teaching profession.

  By ljd42 on June 27, 2022

  

  Yes, I suppose I’m part of the problem, not part of the solution. But I didn’t exactly leave the teaching profession: I just retired from my position at Weston High School. Being “semi-retired,” I’m still teaching every summer at the… Read More ›

• All four cats…

  By ljd42 on June 26, 2022

  

  companionably eating their dinner together. And should be no fighting over the food bowls, with four bowls for four cats:

• Gender issues: a perspective from a Russian Jewish mathematician

  By ljd42 on June 24, 2022

  

  “My mom used to tell me that most men do not like brainy women,” writes well-known mathematician Tanya Khovanova. Well-known in certain circles, anyway. Female, Russian-American, Jewish—there are a lot of possible identity issues here. I’ve written about Khovanova twice… Read More ›

• What’s an “app crit”? And why should I care?

  By ljd42 on June 22, 2022

  Perhaps for some odd reason you have never looked at a modern edition of an ancient or medieval text—whether in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Old Norse, Sanskrit, Old High German, or whatever. In that case, it’s not too late to start!… Read More ›

• Back when Heinlein was antifa (really!)

  By ljd42 on June 20, 2022

  

  When I was growing up and reading a lot of science fiction, the Holy Trinity of sf writers consisted of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert Heinlein. Often they were called “The Big Three.” They had a number of… Read More ›

• I finally got to see the world’s finest model railroad, but…

  By ljd42 on June 19, 2022

  

  As I drove along Main Street in Peabody yesterday, the first bad omen was the sight of the old-fashioned parking meters in front of the Franklin & South Manchester Railroad. Quarters only! The problem was that I no longer carry… Read More ›

• Saoirse and Beanie and…[who else?]…add up to…Lady Bird!

  By ljd42 on June 17, 2022

  

  Although I’ve never been to Sacramento, and certainly wasn’t there in 2002, the movie Lady Bird felt very realistic to me. Realistic and convincing. Kudos to director Greta Gerwig! As A.O. Scott in the New York Times put it, “Every… Read More ›

• Happy Bloomsday!

  By ljd42 on June 16, 2022

  

  As you probably know, today is Bloomsday, the annual Irish holiday commemorating the 24-hour period over which James Joyce’s Ulysses took place. As you also know, I had announced in this space last month that I would be (re)reading that… Read More ›

• Signs of the times in Medford and Brookline

  By ljd42 on June 15, 2022

  

  First, here’s a sign inside the entrance to the Wegmans in Medford: Yes, I know that it’s purely for commercial purposes, but it still makes me feel welcome. On the other hand, here is a pair of street signs in… Read More ›

• Weston pix?

  By ljd42 on June 14, 2022

  

  Apparently my phone has a mind of its own. For some reason it just decided to show me these two Weston photos from the past: One is from about 10–12 years ago (I’d guess), the other somewhat older. Can you… Read More ›

• Basque? Isn’t there anyone around here who speaks Basque?

  By ljd42 on June 13, 2022

  

  Well, the Basques do, of course. But they aren’t one of the major ethnicities in these parts; I’ve known only a couple of Basques in the Boston area. In linguistics courses the Basque language is the standard example of a… Read More ›

• Frogs? Yes, Frogs!

  By ljd42 on June 10, 2022

  

  “Brekekekéx-koáx-koáx!” Unless you google it, you probably don’t know what that means or where it’s from. Perhaps it would be easier in the original Greek: “βρεκεκεκὲξ κοὰξ κοάξ.” No? That didn’t help? Well, I’ll tell you. It might help if… Read More ›

• “Who will clean out the desks?” (a crowd-sourced poem about teachers)

  By ljd42 on June 8, 2022

  You do listen to Morning Edition, don’t you? You do appreciate teachers, don’t you? (Unlike Ron DeSantis and his ilk.) I am so glad that I am semi-retired, so I don’t have to cope with the all-too-common lack of appreciation… Read More ›

• We provide the best secondary education in America. Really?

  By ljd42 on June 6, 2022

  

  “This school,” they kept telling us, “provides the best secondary education in America.” “You,” they kept telling us, “are the elite, the future leaders of America.” “All of you,” they kept telling us, “will go to the best colleges in… Read More ›

• Wordle, Wheel of Fortune, Jotto, & the Mathematics of Information Theory

  By ljd42 on June 5, 2022

  

  Apparently I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t play Wordle. I’m not entirely sure why I don’t, but I can think of a couple of possibilities: it’s far too competitive, it’s far too rigid, and it’s far too… Read More ›

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