There is a song by Alanis Morrisette called "Jekyll and Hyde." I am not really sure what it is about, but I was listening to it when I read the math illiteracy blog. There is a line that says "The standards have gone down." I think it is talking about lovers in the song, but to me it means that the reason we are math illiterate is because people don't have the same expectations as they used to. We can slack more today then mathematicians in the olden days did.
What people think of as "normal" has changed like hair styles and clothes do through out time. The "norm" today is to be lazy overweight people because "exercise takes up too much energy." The people that love to workout are shunned because their tastes are different from others around them.
We are math illiterate simply because we are lazy. The 3 quarters in a basketball game sounds "cooler" than three thirds of a game or four quarters of a game. I bet in the olden days when freezing water was discovered to be used to cool drinks, where the water was frozen was a cube like shape and the name just stuck. To give 120% is to give it all you've got and more. To try your hardest at everything you do. That is how to live life: at it's fullest.
(BTW the house numbering problem is also a problem to NM, WA, NY, and CO. How do I know? I have visited all these places and it is a recurring theme. I don't know why.)
Monday, August 26, 2013
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Peace
Well.... How do i start this? I know talk about kindness and peace! To "err in the direction of kindness" is what George Saunders proclaimed in his commencement speech at Syracuse University. That is what I feel that John Lennon of The Beatles, Davy Jones of The Monkees and Elvis Presley, The king of rock and roll did.
First of all Elvis. He was mega popular in the '50s and '60s. He loved his wife and daughter lots and lots. Yet, he always gave flowers to one of his lady costars before a show and bought his mom cars. This goes to show that he was a very self-less person. Yes this is not very much evidence, but it doesn't have to be the big things that count. The little things do too and show that there is not just peace and war in this world. RIP.
John Lennon was the first Beatle to die. He and his wife Yoko Ono were huge advocates for peace. John's most well known song, "Imagine" was about a world of peace and friendship with no dividing lines. Some call him "pacifist", but I admire the way that he stood up for what he believed in and wrote a song to emphasis his point. For someone who hated violence, was killed by a violent act. RIP.
Davy Jones. He died on February 29, 2012. He died at 66 of a severe heart attack after riding one of his 14 horses. That is not very old. He was not a big enforcer of peace, but kindness. Yes he was kind to humans, but his first love was horses. He took care of his horses like he took care of his 4 daughters. He was a teen heartthrob and was very kind to his fans.
These three were examples of kindness and peace in our society.
First of all Elvis. He was mega popular in the '50s and '60s. He loved his wife and daughter lots and lots. Yet, he always gave flowers to one of his lady costars before a show and bought his mom cars. This goes to show that he was a very self-less person. Yes this is not very much evidence, but it doesn't have to be the big things that count. The little things do too and show that there is not just peace and war in this world. RIP.
John Lennon was the first Beatle to die. He and his wife Yoko Ono were huge advocates for peace. John's most well known song, "Imagine" was about a world of peace and friendship with no dividing lines. Some call him "pacifist", but I admire the way that he stood up for what he believed in and wrote a song to emphasis his point. For someone who hated violence, was killed by a violent act. RIP.
Davy Jones. He died on February 29, 2012. He died at 66 of a severe heart attack after riding one of his 14 horses. That is not very old. He was not a big enforcer of peace, but kindness. Yes he was kind to humans, but his first love was horses. He took care of his horses like he took care of his 4 daughters. He was a teen heartthrob and was very kind to his fans.
These three were examples of kindness and peace in our society.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Peaches and Roses
Wow... I feel that there is a connection from roses and peaches to math. Peaches. One of the tastiest fruits, yet so hard to come up with recipe to use peaches. All you can do with peaches is eat them. Math is the most interesting, yet most difficult of all of the school subjects. There is no way to sugar coat a math lesson. All a teacher can do is teach it and all a student can do is take notes on the material presented for later.
This blog is really about math and our approach to learning it. The over load of peaches is how our life will look like if we fall behind and fall behind some more. We end up getting an over load of homework to catch up on and we really aren't internalizing the information at this point. We are just memorizing it for the test/ final. If you made something everyday from those peaches, you would not have such a large amount in the long run. And peaches make great smoothies, to boot. Your friend Barbra is like the teacher. Insisting that you do more than the bare minimum. The best that you can do. That way your grade (the rosebush) doesn't go downhill from there. The thorns on the roses are the problems we have in math. We have to get through those before we get the beautiful rose in our house.
I approach math the cautious way: unsure and pricking myself with every thorn possible. In spite of that I love math more than some other subjects. The rigorous note taking in class and being able to ask questions in class helps me do the best in class.
This blog is really about math and our approach to learning it. The over load of peaches is how our life will look like if we fall behind and fall behind some more. We end up getting an over load of homework to catch up on and we really aren't internalizing the information at this point. We are just memorizing it for the test/ final. If you made something everyday from those peaches, you would not have such a large amount in the long run. And peaches make great smoothies, to boot. Your friend Barbra is like the teacher. Insisting that you do more than the bare minimum. The best that you can do. That way your grade (the rosebush) doesn't go downhill from there. The thorns on the roses are the problems we have in math. We have to get through those before we get the beautiful rose in our house.
I approach math the cautious way: unsure and pricking myself with every thorn possible. In spite of that I love math more than some other subjects. The rigorous note taking in class and being able to ask questions in class helps me do the best in class.
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