Geneg! geneg, geneg, geneg, geneg, geneg. Are you an old-school, 200-proof Marxist? I didn't think there were any of you left. The thesis-antithesis-synthesis stuff you were saying (that's how it parsed out to me anyway) sure sounded like that.

I am anything but a Marxist; we do agree on at least one thing, though: "Economists and governments begin tinkering and the next thing you know you have a very complicated system." I also appreciated your comments about the futility/counterproductivity of a lot of the policy tinkering that goes on.

skrevet af Carnophile kl. 2:59 pm (EST) den Jul 5, 2008

From the "Mars" thread, re: complex/complicated:

Even as I was writing “complicated” I was thinking “Don’t systems theorists distinguish between complicated and complex?”

I actually do use dynamics systems mathematics in my job, but not the "chaos" stuff. Difference and differential equations. As far as assessing the dynamics of a system, the main topics we focus on are conditions under which convergence to a steady state occurs (globally or locally), speed of convergence if it does occur, how to reduce the variance of a system by use of various control measures, and a smattering of chaos-type stuff.

You know I don't agree with the "money changer" remark, but more broadly, the economy is run efficiently? Maybe in some "minimum energy" sense (though I can't imagine how one would assess that), but not in the totally different sense of Pareto efficiency.

skrevet af Carnophile kl. 4:20 pm (EST) den Jul 3, 2008

Thanks for responding to my post. I just have a few more points.
a) I have just started to become active in my community, and I am finding that most Americans are pretty unwilling to do the dirty work of keeping our democracy running. Let's face it -- meetings are boring! Until, that is, the PTB (powers that be) try to sneak in some items that can change the entire nature of our society. But I am learning, first-hand, that I have no right to whine and moan about how my city is run if I'm not willing to show up at city council meetings and work to make my voice heard.
b) about one or two teachers being responsible for teaching more than one subject -- sounds great, but may in fact be unworkable. In my area, teachers are grossly underpaid (I actually make less than a local MacDonald's store manager). This often translates into the unpleasant fact of attracting the wrong people into my profession -- since most very bright people can make much more in the private sector, most folks with a family to support do just that. So in Florida it is hard enough to find teachers who are well-educated in one field, much less two.
c) While a low teacher to student ratio would be nice, it is much more important in the lower grades and in the maths and sciences than in the liberal arts in high school. It is far more important to create real SMALL schools of no more than 500 students each -- so that teachers and students can build a real rapport and become a true learning community. My headmaster says that we at SMA are a family -- and we act that way -- supporting and caring for each other, from custodial staff to students. That just can't be done when you have a 66 acre campus and 225 faculty members and a student population of 2800.

skrevet af RachelfromSarasota kl. 6:51 pm (EST) den Jun 28, 2008

Geneg -- this was such a long post that I decided to reply privately to your profile page, rather than inflict our discussion on our innocent LT group, who may not be interested in the nuts and bolts we're discussing. Your comments and ideas are right on the money! So much so, in fact, that they are mostly de rigeur (sp. ?) when it comes to teaching English lit/literary analysis. I'd love to have you pop into our beginning of the year, week-long faculty meetings, and look at some of the things we must incorporate into each and every lesson plan. I don't know of ANY public school in the USA that treats children as cogs in a "one-size-fits-all" learning schematic. Teachers today are expected to teach to a whole variety of learning styles, and we're given lots of training in just how to do that. We try to incorporate kinesthetic learning, right brain dominant learning, left brain dominant learning, mathematical-anyalytical learning styles, creative learners, and just about anything else that can be calibrated or guessed at. In short, we're doing what most good teachers have always done -- including lots of different ways to learn the same thing in every unit. And almost every public high school teacher today gets a snapshot of each child's learning style, strengths, weaknesses, and diagnosed learning disabilities through a variety of instruments (504s, IEPs, etc.)

Honestly, geneg, that's not the problem here. The problem is multi-faceted. I have been heavily involved in public education for 20 years, both as a parent, an adult student, and now a teacher, and what follows are my observations, which are backed up, I may add, by a majority of the colleagues I talk with.

1. America as a nation values athletics much more than academics.
2. Most Americans don't consider teaching "real" work.
3. Many American parents have less than fond memories of their own scholastic experiences.
4. Thus, often when teachers call home to enlist parental help in reaching a child, that help is not forthcoming -- for reasons 2 and 3, and also because of the very real economic and social pressures most parents face today -- the high incidence of divorce, highly dysfunctional families, the overflow of self-centeredness from the "me" generation, and. . .
5. the fact that many American parents are themselves not "into" academics and don't see academic success as having real value.

Now, granted, these are all gross generalizations, and there are of course exceptions -- but after ten years in the trenches, in both inner-city and white-bread suburban schools, I have found these generalizations to hold good.

Lack of parental support means, in reality, that teachers can rely only on those precious minutes we spend in class with our kids -- and that is just not enough. Even the best teacher cannot follow a child home to make sure that not only is homework valued, but that there's a quiet, well-equipped space to do it; that parents allot time each night for homework and reading; and that parents celebrate academic achievements along with all the other things in a child's life that need celebrating. This is a huge problem. Most of the great teachers I know (and I do know a few) are like me -- we give up our lunch periods to open our rooms up to our kids, we stay after school for a few hours to help those kids who need extra time or attention, and some, like me, even feed those children whose parents have little or no food in the house.

As far as removing a child from the classroom who is disruptive to the point where other children can't learn -- I don't know of ONE teacher who would not drop down on his/her knees and kiss the principal's hand if that could be done. But it can't. End of story. Legal issues prevent this. I personally know of one teacher, an awesome guy, likeable, mellow, friendly and laid-back, who was punched in the face by an out-of-control (and probably stoned) student -- said student got 5 days out-of-school suspension and then was back in that teacher's classroom. It's called "public" education for a reason. I don't have the time to go into all the legal ramifications here, but you can do the research yourself -- even a student caught bringing a loaded weapon onto a school campus is only "expelled" from school for one year -- the next year they can come back to that school or another public school, if the student has behaved appropriately in the mean time.

We are not allowed to search students' lockers or backpacks without legal cause -- and proving that cause can be an enormous headache.

Geneg, if you are really interested in helping us reform America's educational system, then I beg you to show up yourself at your local school board meetings. That's where policy is decided, and that's where real change starts. Or run for the board yourself!

You're on target when you talk about phys. ed., by the way. I chose to take a massive cut in pay (over $5000 a year) and to extend my commute from 15 to 45 minutes in order to work at this nation's only public military academy. Sarasota Military Academy does many things that other high schools can only dream about. To start with, we are not TOTALLY dependent on public funding. That means our headmaster and our board have the ability to set our own disciplinary policies and stick to them. That's a huge plus. Secondly, we are considered a school of choice -- like a magnet school. There are no fees to attend SMA, but students and parents MUST each sign a behavioral contract, and if that contract is broken, SMA has the ability to send that student back to her/his districted high school. Thus we have both the carrot and the stick. But take a moment to pity the poor teachers at that neighborhood high school -- their hands are bound, legally, and they are forced to take every student of legal age, whatever their behavioral or criminal background. When I taught at a traditional local high school, I found out midway through the year that one of my students had just been released from jail -- on a felony conviction (he and some buddies had robbed a convenience store at gunpoint -- using automatic weapons). The only reason I found this out (his records were sealed), was that he liked me and confided to me that he had found Jesus and been born again in prison. You can bet your bippy that I made sure this young man and I stayed on good terms!

Another thing that SMA does is require both students and teachers to wear a uniform -- military dress -- formal pants (no skirts, even for us ladies) -- and a military epauletted shirt. We all have rank, even if, in my case, it's purely honorary. We follow strict opening of class procedures -- the class stands at attention when the role is called, they respond to all questions with "Sir" or "Ma'am" or by that individual's rank, and they stand when an adult comes into the room. We also have morning formation each and every day -- they are formed into company ranks, they salute the flag, and morning announcements and activities are done in person at this 15 minute daily assembly.

And of course, physical exercise is incorporated into EVERY JROTC class, which every student MUST take through their junior year. Then they can switch over to a purely academic track -- but only a few kids take advantage of that option.

And, at our students' request, during our first or second year of operation, ALL staff and students are randomly drug-tested.

Now, all this is great -- discipline, drug-testing, required behavioral contracts and parental involvement -- but if you ask me, and I'll pretend that you have, the number one factor in SMA's success is that we are in all truth a SMALL school -- we have a small campus and our headmaster has promised to enroll no more than 600 students per year (we have a waiting list about twice that long as I speak).

Geneg, I have been involved in educational initiatives for about 12 years now, and I can tell you that EVERYONE, from parents to students to administrators to ivory-tower experts, agrees that our factory-model schools, with up to 2800 kids on one campus, is the absolute, positively worst way to educate our young. NO ONE likes this idea -- we know it doesn't work. So why do we still do it?

And that's got to be the topic for another thread and another rant, and another day.

Nice talking to you.

skrevet af RachelfromSarasota kl. 11:01 pm (EST) den Jun 27, 2008

I agree with you about Facebook. LT is a good jumping-off place: one can write, as here, or e-mail a personal note. . . .Facebook seems intrusive and cluttered. esta1923

skrevet af Esta1923 kl. 11:33 am (EST) den May 22, 2008

Geneg, thanks so much for permission to put in your reviews. The whole idea was to have them in one place for easy reading and I'd hate to have missed such excellent ones. When you sort out your access to the Wiki pages, you'll find them at numbers 3, 49 and 74. By the way, I may have screwed up your link. On the group page for GRTB, I've added links to each page. Maybe you'll have better luck from there.

I'm glad you reviewed Three Men in a Boat. I don't think you came back into the Game Thread to report you had. There's a passage in the book that is quite popular here for readings at weddings, a thing I learned when I was asked to read it at one. It's early on, when they are setting out and overfilling the boat. I wonder if you recall it.

skrevet af InigoMontoya kl. 11:13 am (EST) den May 9, 2008

Hi. On Go Review That Book!, I've created a group Wiki page to keep track of the progress of the game and the reviews that have been generated. Some may find it easier to read the reviews by having them in one handy place. There's a discussion thread in the group and this is the first Wiki page if you are interested in having a look. To avoid any difficulties with copyright, I'm seeking your consent to add your reviews to the group Wiki page.

skrevet af InigoMontoya kl. 8:39 am (EST) den May 9, 2008

PS - cute picture - even if you are bummed!!!

skrevet af kiwidoc kl. 11:58 pm (EST) den May 8, 2008

Ah, Gene, ya devil. I've got a pile of books that would stretch for here to the Horsehead Nebula and that doesn't even include the research material I have to go through for my next project. Good luck with the MIDDLEMARCH discussion--it's a helluva lot smarter than most genre stuff out there, I wager. I'll keep this short--Sherron and I were up in the office, recording another section of my novel for podcasting (eventually) and I'm wiped. Talk at you soon, mon...

skrevet af CliffBurns kl. 12:57 am (EST) den May 8, 2008

Sorry, I havent been on in a while. It is TOTALLY ok about the 'arguing' and stuff... i am used to people who disagree with me iguess and you might be able to tell, but i want to be a lawyer weh i grow up!! It is ok, dont worry about it!

skrevet af miriamelise kl. 10:10 pm (EST) den May 7, 2008

The map is a little screwed up. Pumpkin Center is actually in the west in the foothills.

skrevet af varielle kl. 1:06 pm (EST) den May 7, 2008

Gene: Glad to be of service.

Not sure if the Dick book you bought has "Electric Ant" in it but, if it does, make sure you read that one. Great concept. That particular collection I think I loaned to someone over 20 years ago and never got back. I'm still trying to get over the grudge. And, while I think of it, you should pick up a copy of Dick's novel FLOW MY TEARS, THE POLICEMAN SAID. One of the pivotal scenes near the end was inspired by the BOOK OF ACTS--I've always appreciated that novel, there's something spiritual and moving about it, the sadness leavened by a sense of (possible) redemption. Have a feeling that one might really work for you.

Have a great weekend, chum...

skrevet af CliffBurns kl. 10:25 am (EST) den May 3, 2008

Gene: I defy Scandinavia to have a winter like our last one. Cripes, we had a solid week of -50 wind chills. I can recall one Christmas when it was so cold the metal strip on the side of the car grew brittle and broke off. Aughhh. Dunno about Canada joining the United States but I'd sure welcome Montana joining Canada; what a gorgeous state.

skrevet af CliffBurns kl. 11:38 pm (EST) den Apr 14, 2008

I live a little north of thr Arctic Circle and Nordland is one of 19 counties in Norway. Bodø, where I have lived for about 35 years, is a town with about 45,000 inhabitants near the coast. Winters aren,t that cold, mainly due to the Gulf Stream. The spring/summer lasts about 5-7 months (april-august) and then it is very nice living here. In a way I like that the seasons are so different as they are here.
I am not a Lapplander, but I slightly know a few Lapplandic persons.
What is it like to live in Plano? Is it a big town/city, and what kind of town/city is it? Do you have very differnt seasons, too? Weather/temparature?

skrevet af kjellika kl. 11:58 am (EST) den Apr 6, 2008

Hey,
you are great. Thanks for trying. I have since thought of enough of my keywords that I tracked it down in the other person's postings and made a note of it. I still have no idea why it does not appear in my posts, but I guess I can remain blissfully ignorant of some mysteries.

I love your picture, BTW. Is it you or just a random picture which expresses your feelings on life?

Thanks again.

skrevet af polutropos kl. 4:07 pm (EST) den Mar 30, 2008

Sorry, I never watched "The Wire." Sorry to disappoint.

skrevet af Lunar kl. 5:11 am (EST) den Mar 25, 2008

LOL I love the hat!

skrevet af BGP kl. 4:56 pm (EST) den Feb 22, 2008

Huh, well, you've got a doppleganger. But then again, this guy looked like you 15 years ago, so I wasn't accounting for age. Funny how you sometimes expect people to look like the last time you've seen them: an indication of our psychic self-centeredness, I suppose. Anyway, this guy was a bartender, so I never got a good look at him in the light of day.

skrevet af makifat kl. 1:39 pm (EST) den Jan 25, 2008

That is a very nice profile photo of you, BTW. Nice smile.

skrevet af TheresaWilliams kl. 5:00 pm (EST) den Jan 16, 2008

Hi Gene, I have a funny story about Tobacco Road. When I was nine, my father had an attack (we thought it was a heart attack at the time) and spent several days in the hospital. I was too young to visit according to hospital rules, so I had to wait in the waiting room. My mother worked in a little store that sold various things, including books. Not knowing anything about books, she bought a copy of TOBACCO ROAD for me to read while she was visiting Daddy. Well, I was pretty shocked, enough that the title is emblazoned in my memory forever. When I saw your book group was doing it, I ordered myself a copy because I want to revisit the book as an adult. I look forward very much to reading your review. I may not get to the book for a while because classes are full steam ahead. But as soon as I read it, I would love to have a discussion with you!

skrevet af TheresaWilliams kl. 4:58 pm (EST) den Jan 16, 2008

About "modal". The "mode" of a probability distribution function is where it achieves a local maximum, so it represents the most likely value. The "modal" bear would be the most likely wh1ich is to say, the ordinary, bear.

Lately, or maybe not so lately, I've developed the verbal tick of talking about "the ordinary bear", so when prompted for a user name "Quick...think of a name...." out came modalUrsine, a slihtly more highfalutin' way of saying ordinary bear.

skrevet af modalursine kl. 2:53 pm (EST) den Jan 13, 2008

Not sure what you mean - the idea of a cat in the library or that there might be some library scat!!
LibrarysCat

skrevet af LibrarysCat kl. 5:18 pm (EST) den Jan 2, 2008

Thanks for the kind note - and the words towards our mis-informed member! I appreciate the comment. =)

skrevet af stephmo kl. 2:39 pm (EST) den Dec 27, 2007

Wow, I had forgotten all about that posting (me asking for pointers about learning html db) "blast from the past". At first I wasnt even sure it WAS me, but I could hear my own voice in the um "prose".

The post was circa 2005 when the HTML/DB tool had just come out. Its now called APEX by the way. Oracle likes to change the name of its tools to keep us hopping, I guess.

I'm an Oracle specialist , its how I get my corn pone, so I try to keep up with whatever is going on in the Oracle world, and in related fields. Everybody has his own learning style, and my style is not super quick to "Follow what the master is doing and eventually mastery will come, grasshopper". I mean eventually it will, but thats not my preferred way to go.

To answer your first question, yes, eventually I figured out how to do some stuff. Persistence wears away a rock. I'm known for being a stubborn cuss.

But I'm curious about your remark that "Its not what I expected to find". Makes a fella wonder what you WERE expecting?

skrevet af modalursine kl. 10:45 pm (EST) den Dec 25, 2007

Yeeeeeeeeep, winter's been here for a good month or so. I was kind of surprised that it didn't snow for Halloween because we'll usually get one early snowfall just before, or on, Halloween, and then almost nothing for a couple weeks after and then winter will hit in its entirety , but this year it was a day or two after Halloween that we got our first snow.

Actually this week isn't that bad at all, -4 to -16 is "warm" winter weather.We just had a couple of weeks where it was -30 with the wind chill factored in, which isn't especially bad, but it is definitely winter weather. Bad is when you start getting into the -40s and lower, THAT is the "Brrr." weather. But hey, it's still early and January & February are usually the colder months anyway.

In general I can deal with the cold, it's just the wind I can't stand. So as long as it isn't windy I don't mind the weather at all. And really, as long as you're bundled up enough there is nothing to mind.

I can't say that I'm on a curling team(curling isn't that big in the cities usually, I know it's kind of a Canadian stereotype, but most people from around here don't curl), but I am reffing hockey and will be doing some snowboarding now that our ski hills are starting to open up. Might even take a trip out west to go to a real ski resort for once!

But all and all it has been a nice calm winter so far. No snow storms or blizzards yet, and only one scare where we were supposed to get 15-20cm of snow in the course of 24 hours, but the system passed south of the city so we didn't snowed on too badly.

FYI it started to snow while I was writing this...

skrevet af -Mr-Dustin- kl. 3:48 pm (EST) den Dec 12, 2007

Hello,

I saw your post in the Progressive Evangelical group about the New Perspective on Paul. In a nutshell this is a group of evangelical scholars who are undermining the traditional Protestant understanding of Paul which started with Luther, specifically with regard to conversion. N.T Wright is a major name associated with it. Without going into deep detail, I believe it threatens to undermine all of Protestant theology.

skrevet af thinkingriddles kl. 9:37 pm (EST) den Dec 10, 2007

Hello, geneg, I didn't mean to ignore you, sorry (I somehow missed the new comment on my profile). No, it doesn't sound like proper (southern) German. "Yo/a/nder" isn't German at all, AFAIK, at least in none of the dialects I know. It might well be part of some overseas dialects such as Pennsylvania Dutch or Plautdietsch, i.e. an English intrusion into those dialects. HTH :-).

skrevet af GirlFromIpanema kl. 5:44 am (EST) den Nov 22, 2007

I stole the picture off some kid.

I grew up in Winston-Salem, and lived in Durham with my wife for 15 years. I liked Carolina, but it has changed radically. If Oriental has not changed much, I might like to retire there one day. Get a boat, and just sail around.

I once knew a barista from Plano. Her name was Monica. She became a rare book dealer. (I helped her write some obscure descriptions for latin theological texts.) I enjoy your comments. A clear and righteous thinker...like me!

skrevet af Arctic-Stranger kl. 8:01 pm (EST) den Nov 21, 2007