Learning Strategies

Recent Posts - page 27

• Are contractions bad? In a way, but not for the obvious reason.

  By ljd42 on May 2, 2022

  Oh my. Edwin Battistella begins a recent post in the OUP blog with this sentence: A few years ago, a student dropped a linguistics course I was teaching because the textbook used contractions. Yikes, can that be true? Apparently so…. Read More ›

• Gulp. Are there (were there?) special math problems given only to Jews?

  By ljd42 on May 1, 2022

  Yes, unfortunately there is (or was?) such a thing. The special problems were, of course, more difficult than the regular math problems. Much more difficult. I learned about this from Tanya Khovanova’s Math Blog, where she explains “how during entrance… Read More ›

• “Yes, it’s my real name. Shut up!”

  By ljd42 on April 29, 2022

  You probably don’t believe it’s his real name, so check out the first chapter of Randy Rainbow’s memoir, Playing with Myself. He even includes a photo of his birth certificate (but Republicans will probably claim that it’s a fake—just like… Read More ›

• Looking forward to a local cat café

  By ljd42 on April 27, 2022

  What’s wrong with you, Boston? Tokyo has 100 cat cafés; Boston has zero! But that may be changing—for the better, of course, since we couldn’t have fewer than zero. Richard Auffrey, better known as The Passionate Foodie, recently wrote about… Read More ›

• Re-read a whodunit (even though you already know who done it because you’ve read it before)!

  By ljd42 on April 25, 2022

  Why, you ask, should I re-read a whodunit when I already know who done it because I’ve read it before!? The quick answer, which I mentioned in an answer to a completely different question in a completely different context two… Read More ›

• Go hang a salami, I’m a lasagna hog.

  By ljd42 on April 23, 2022

  Say what? If you don’t get it, just read it backwards! Yes, it’s a palindrome. And I just watched a movie about people who write palindromes: The Palindromists. “How nerdy can you get!”, you exclaim. “And which syllable has the… Read More ›

• Math helps you flourish—but not in the obvious way!

  By ljd42 on April 21, 2022

  My good friend and colleague Leah Gordon often likes the same books that I do. From time to time we make recommendations to each other. One of these is Francis Su’s Mathematics for Human Flourishing, which I have just finished… Read More ›

• What could possibly shock a German?

  By ljd42 on April 19, 2022

  You may think the answer is “nothing.” Except maybe a failure to follow the rules. But you would be wrong. By this point you are probably familiar with Felicia Hofner, a.k.a. “Feli from Germany.” After six years in Cincinnati her… Read More ›

• Happy Passover!

  By ljd42 on April 17, 2022

  

• Learning Ukrainian: progress report #5

  By ljd42 on April 16, 2022

  The lessons are starting to become uninspired/uninspiring. My guess is that Duolingo had to rapidly hire some Ukrainian speakers and no one had the time to write thoughtful, well-vetted lessons. So we get sentence after sentence with only small variations… Read More ›

• The Conversation, a 1974 movie

  By ljd42 on April 14, 2022

  The Conversation is supposedly a great film. Everyone says so. It has mystery, suspense, interesting technology, and excellent acting. So why was I just meh about it? Well, it’s half a century old, so it may just be that it… Read More ›

• Learning to read aloud fluidly in a new alphabet

  By ljd42 on April 12, 2022

  As you know, I’ve been learning Ukrainian through Duolingo for about six weeks now. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I am progressing. The bad news is that Duolingo doesn’t give me enough context!… Read More ›

• Are we really living in the real world?

  By ljd42 on April 10, 2022

  That question may now seem like a tired old trope. That’s because it all started with Philip K. Dick’s classic 1959 work, Time Out of Joint. For some reason I had never read this dystopian novel before, even though it… Read More ›

• What are we? “Jewish Americans” or “American Jews”?

  By ljd42 on April 8, 2022

  The excellent PBS documentary from 2008, The Jewish Americans, is an in-depth account of three hundred years of American Jews. I have no idea why it took me 14 years to watch it! The mix of presenters includes public figures,… Read More ›

• Mangia, mangia al Tavolo!

  By ljd42 on April 6, 2022

  Yesterday evening it was time for a return visit to Peabody Square, this time to Tavolo. It felt like my Italian grandmother kept urging “Mangia, mangia!” No, wait, I don’t have an Italian grandmother. OK, so my Jewish grandmother kept… Read More ›

• Following 22 podcasts…

  By ljd42 on April 4, 2022

  That’s too many, you say! Maybe so, but I really do follow 22 podcasts. First, though, I should say that I started following a 23rd podcast today. But another one that I followed up through yesterday is no longer producing… Read More ›

• The golden age and more

  By ljd42 on April 2, 2022

  Those who read enough science fiction, particularly those who read enough about science fiction, hear a lot about the so-called golden age. The golden age of what? Well, the golden age of science fiction, of course. When was that? Well,… Read More ›

• Fortunately, things have changed in the past 30 years.

  By ljd42 on March 31, 2022

  Or have they? A couple of days ago, as part of an ongoing trip down memory lane on Apple Music, I happened to be listening to a 1992 song by Fred Small, The Marine’s Lament. Since it’s only two minutes… Read More ›

• New menu at Ashmont Grill!

  By ljd42 on March 29, 2022

  The Ashmont Grill has a new menu! Admittedly the majority of the items on the menu are still the familiar old favorites, but plenty of new choices are available. It didn’t take much arm-twisting for Barbara and me to try… Read More ›

• Learning Ukrainian: progress report #4

  By ljd42 on March 27, 2022

  As you see from the title, this is the fourth of my weekly reports on my progress in learning Ukrainian through Duolingo. After today, I will switch to writing intermittent reports: i.e., whenever I have enough new to write about,… Read More ›

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