My sister

I don’t have any brothers but I have a sister.  She was a steady companion throughout childhood.  Here are some blog posts about this marvelous person:

• Still Have the Treasure 8/26/2009

• The Little Sweetie 1/1/2010

• What Does It Mean? 8/28/2022

• My Sister and Stairs 10/27/2023

• Bring Her Home 7/102024

All of the above are posts in Fear, Fun and Filoz.

Israel Loring, 1712

Israel was a Protestant minister in New England.  He was one of the ministers who refused baptism for a baby born on a Sunday since he was one who thought a baby was born on the same day of the week as he had been conceived.  Sunday was God’s day and must not be profaned by sex on that day. Then, his own wife delivered their child on a Sunday!  The couple knew they had not engaged in sex on Sunday so this idea of a duplication of the conception and the birth on the same weekday must not be valid. You gotta live and learn!

Advanced students lifetime reading

People who have master’s or doctor’s degrees have read much.  So, when teaching teachers who already have master’s but want further credits to qualify for a raise, the subject of all that reading they have done comes up.  I taught a course that focused on a review of all that a student had read, from the Little Golden book, The Pokey Little Puppy, to that horror novel that is keeping her up nights. I think it is fun to reflect on reading that has mattered.  

Attempting to recall reading done, following up on current ideas and habits and trying to nail down memories and authors that influence one’s present state and be useful.  The only assignment for the course was to make a list of all that one has read.  I was not able to check the list but longtime students of mature years were enthusiastically looking through grandparents’ attic at old jr. high and college books for titles they thought they had read, at least a little.

All A's ???

I taught a course about giving tests and grades in school.  For many teachers, giving grades is a distasteful job.  You like the students but you have to hurt some of them with a low grade.  I came to promote and use an approach to grades that resulted in 100% of the students getting the highest grade, an “A”.  Was I lying about them?  No, I advocated a slight change in the meaning of the grade.

I had earned merit badges as a Boy Scout.  Badges that could be earned were listed in the handbook.  Each badge had ten or so requirements that had to be completed before that badge was given.  It seemed a straightforward approach and I used it in my courses.  

Many people think of a teacher’s grade as something like I suppose St. Peter or one of God’s officers gives at the entrance of Heaven.  I say take a less all-seeing approach.  Lay out what a student is supposed to show an understanding of.  If all the understandings are shown, hand over the badge, I mean, award the high grade for complete achievement.

"More like this"

Books, movies and tv shows that I read often let me see on the internet other titles and possibilities that are said to be like the book or movie or series that I just finished.  I can usually find further interesting possibilities for myself but they are usually NOT very similar to what I just finished.  I reliably want a DIFFERENT type, however much I enjoyed or benefited from what I just finished.  So far, I haven’t noticed any business or service that offers a change. 

"Distance education"

The University of Wisconsin did not do the very first education by mail, but it played a massive and pioneering role in the movement—even coining the term “distance education” in 1892. [1, 2, 3]

The earliest recorded education by mail dates back to 1728 when Caleb Phillips advertised weekly mailed shorthand lessons in the Boston Gazette, and Sir Isaac Pitman famously taught shorthand via postal mail in England in the 1840s. In the U.S., Boston's Society to Encourage Studies at Home began correspondence education in 1873, and the University of Chicago established a major correspondence teaching department in the 1890s. [1, 2, 3]

However, the University of Wisconsin–Madison achieved several key milestones in distance learning:

1892: Professor Richard Ely directed the university's first formal correspondence study program.
1892: The university used the term "distance education" for the first time in a published U.S. pamphlet.
1906: The formal creation of the University of Wisconsin-Extension cemented the school as a premier national leader in bringing adult and non-traditional education directly to people's homes via the mail and later via public radio. [1, 2, 3, 4]

• 

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  A History of Correspondence Course Programs | Resources for Independent Learning Instructors

  Jul 25, 2019 — The history of correspondence courses includes: * **1728** Caleb Phillips placed an advertisement in the *Boston Gazette* for stud...
• 

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  Historical Timeline - University of Wisconsin–Madison

  1884 – John Stearns is appointed the first full-time education faculty member. 1885 – Marching Band is founded to accompany the Un...
• 

  Division of Continuing Studies| UW-Madison

  Innovation + access: The evolution of technology in continuing ...

  Apr 7, 2025 — It started in 1885 with a modest 6-week summer language program for just 14 students. By 1892, the idea of correspondence courses,

  
  

Googlegangers

Years ago, I read that “Kirby” is the 511th most common name in the US.  I mean last names, family names, not counting cartoon characters named Kirby.  I learned in the movie “*6888” that the US Army was swamped with letters to and from servicemen in the beginning of World War II.  Something like SEVEN warehouses of letters were filled with letters not delivered to the intended recipients.  The movie “6888” tells the story of the terrific backlog which was entrusted to the 6888 battalion of Black female soldiers who finally straightened out the mess, which included mail to 7500 men who were all named “John Smith”.

In German folklore, there is a type of character called a doppelganger who is your exact double and whose activities are not always kind and supportive. Somebody invented the term “Googleganger” to mean people with the same name.  That situation can be quite a bother for both people in this day of digital communication, with frequent invitations to “create an account”.

We can't allow ourselves to eat out

It isn’t money, it is refrigerator space.  The restaurants continue to serve more food with an order that we can eat at a meal.  So, we have leftovers.  We might try refusing the boxes and bags but so far, we haven’t.  We have leftovers from several meals and they take up room in our fridge.  I personally don’t mind leftovers.  They are often good but we need to go slow in accumulating them and right now we are out of space.

Where is that note I made?

I am reasonably good at making notes, at having pen and paper handy, and at jotting down important bits of information.  That is to the good and will credit me at the Pearly Gates.  But it does me very little good if I cannot find the durned piece of paper or cowhide or whatever when I need it.  I read that Mark Twain said,” Put all your eggs in one basket and WATCH that basket!”  That is like what I do.  For this blog, I use one notebook.  I let myself jot down up to five notes I might use as a subject for the day’s post.  Sometimes, more than five good ideas come to me and I mark the extras differently.  I only write on one side of each notebook page so I have the back of all used pages for extra notes.  I do WATCH that notebook and I can recognize it from across the room.  Makes it easy to find and use.

"The Week" by David Henkin

I am reading “The Week” by David Henkin.  It is about the week, a unit of time that seems to influence my life more than any other unit of time.  As the author points out, a week is an unnatural rhythm, not based on the sun or stars or clocks.  My watch and one clock we have do say what day of the week it is.  We do have calendars around to check the date for its day of the week.

Henkin says among other interesting comments that Puritans frowned on women who gave birth on Sundays since they thought it was a sign that the couple had conceived the child on a Sunday, “improper” behavior for “the Lord’s day”.

The first project we were given in graduate school was to write a computer program that our instructor could use to find how many days happened between any two dates.  We learned that Pope Gregory XIII was told by his astronomers that Easter had slid too far from its appropriate time.  They arranged for the day following Thursday, October 4, 1582 to be Friday, October October 15, 1582.  We learned there were riots in Paris from the Pope “stealing days from their lives!”