Learning Strategies

Recent Posts - page 29

• Are we really all related? How many degrees of separation?

  By ljd42 on November 24, 2021

  We are all related—or so they say. And the new science of DNA will prove it. That, at any rate, is the thesis of well-known writer A.J. Jacobs, whom I wrote about just over seven years ago in a very… Read More ›

• “But Chinese is such a simple language,” he says. “It has no grammar!” 

  By ljd42 on November 22, 2021

  The problem here is not what you’re thinking if you’re a non-linguist: most non-linguists think of language as writing, and they know that written Chinese looks intimidating. But language is primarily speaking, not writing, and the person quoted here is… Read More ›

• Not Rizzoli and Isles

  By ljd42 on November 20, 2021

  It’s not about Rizzoli and Isles. But it is a Tess Gerritsen mystery (you may or may not know that Gerritsen is the author of the Rizzoli and Isles mysteries, upon which the television shows are based); it’s pretty good,… Read More ›

• The Best Years of our Lives

  By ljd42 on November 18, 2021

  Even if you don’t know this classic 1946 movie—even if you’ve never heard of it—you will surely suspect that the title is meant ironically. The movie poster (below) even contains scare quotes that belie the obligatory smiles. So yes, the… Read More ›

• Music to our ears

  By ljd42 on November 16, 2021

  All math teachers and mathematicians love music, but not all musicians love math. That has been my experience, at any rate, based on a fairly large sample. Recently I listened to a Freakonomics episode featuring British mathematician Sarah Hart, in… Read More ›

• Whining about Daylight Saving Time

  By ljd42 on November 13, 2021

  If I were a pedant (which of course I’m not), I would feel compelled to articulate four pet peeves related to Daylight Saving Time: Some people—I’m thinking of you, Ethel—call it Daylight Savings Time! (Apparently it has something to do… Read More ›

• Look it up! But first understand the purpose of dictionaries.

  By ljd42 on November 11, 2021

  A dictionary in every room. That was an essential feature of our home when I was growing up. That way, when a question came up in conversation, no matter which room we were in, we could always look up a… Read More ›

• Don’t read this book if you’re a Donald Trump fan! (It will only infuriate you.)

  By ljd42 on November 10, 2021

  “Raging fascist oaf” is one subtle description of The Former Guy in the satirical novel Squeeze Me, by Carl Hiaasen. As you know, there are two kinds of satire: the dark ones, like 1984, and the humorous ones, like Squeeze… Read More ›

• Are you a Renaissance man?

  By ljd42 on November 8, 2021

  You may wonder why on earth you would want to read a book about Renaissance education. Perhaps you’re under the illusion that education during the Renaissance was like the image in this cartoon: But no, as you see from the… Read More ›

• Should you switch?

  By ljd42 on November 6, 2021

  No, I don’t mean switch from Coke to Pepsi, nor from math to linguistics. I am not even referring to the Monty Hall problem, though that seems more likely under the circumstances. I am talking about the fascinating two-envelope paradox…. Read More ›

• What does the Thursday Murder Club do?

  By ljd42 on November 4, 2021

  Do the members of the club commit murders on Thursdays? Do they always solve murders on Thursdays? Definitely not the former. The latter is closer to the truth, but that’s not quite it either. They meet every Thursday, and they… Read More ›

• Translating Medicarespeak into other languages

  By ljd42 on November 1, 2021

  I was looking through the newest information from Medicare, which looked to my untrained eyes just like the previous version and the one before that and the one before… What caught my eye won’t surprise you: some sentences (presumably equivalent… Read More ›

• Men of Boston Cook for Women’s Health

  By ljd42 on October 29, 2021

  Every year—well, not last year, for obvious reasons—the Codman Square Health Center in the center of Dorchester hosts a fundraiser called Men of Boston Cook for Women’s Health. Barbara and I have attended almost every year from 1996 through 2017,… Read More ›

• Street art in Dot

  By ljd42 on October 26, 2021

  No, it’s not a gallery, nor a museum. These are works of art created by anonymous artists in my neighborhood, spotted on a recent walk. The first two are—if you look closely—a pair of well-decorated traffic light control boxes. The… Read More ›

• On the planet of the apps: Between Glossika and DuoLingo, who wins?

  By ljd42 on October 24, 2021

  I have been trying these two language-learning apps every day for a month now. You may recall that I wrote about them three weeks ago, when I continued to review my rusty German, since I used to be pretty good… Read More ›

• Read Stanley Tucci’s memoir, Taste !

  By ljd42 on October 22, 2021

  Actors? Mostly I can take ’em or leave ’em. But there are a few actors I find memorable, and Stanley Tucci is one of them. I knew him originally from The Big Night and Julie and Julia, and more recently… Read More ›

• Democracy? How could geometry tell us anything about democracy? To find out, read Shape, by Jordan Ellenberg!

  By ljd42 on October 20, 2021

  Even if you don’t usually read applied math books, you need to read Shape, by Jordan Ellenberg. The subtitle tells you more than the title: The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy, and Everything Else. Yes, I know, it… Read More ›

• Nothing to see here. Move along.

  By ljd42 on October 18, 2021

  I never discuss politics in these posts. (Well, hardly ever. I do make an exception for the Former Guy.) So there’s no politics in this post. Don’t look at the picture: it’s just a photo of an unremarkable nearby house,… Read More ›

• A Lincoln-Sudbury alumnus stars in Gifted.

  By ljd42 on October 15, 2021

  Chris Evans—an actor you may recognize, but I don’t—is a Lincoln-Sudbury alum (’99?) and the star of the movie Gifted, which you should definitely see. See it even if you have no connection whatsoever with either Lincoln or Sudbury! Evans… Read More ›

• Polychromatic house

  By ljd42 on October 14, 2021

  Walked by this Dorchester house on today’s walk. I really like the color combo, but I suspect that a lot of people don’t.

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