Using tools

The smart bot ChatGPT is in the news.  I have looked in the Apple app store and counted 8 apps that say they use this new bot, which is said to be very intelligent.  I read that it has already passed tests in four different law school courses.  I have also read that some schools and colleges are worried that the app will produce very good essays for their students who may use them to get dishonestly high grades.  I taught distance ed courses, the sort of course where the test is answered at home by the student and the answers are sent to the professor by email.  I often wondered if a student might be a relative or friend who was an expert in the subject of the course to answer my questions and do my assignments.  

There was an occasion where a student handed in about 4 assignments which were terrible.  Then, here comes a 5th assignment that was really excellent.  Trying to ferret out what might be behind such an impressive jump in quality, I typed his first sentence into Google.  I immediately got his entire paper. He had given no information about aides and handed in the paper as his original work.  I described what I had done and stated that what he had handed in would receive no credit for the assignment.

If I go to a psychotherapist who uses that bot or other tools to get answers for my treatment, I don't think I would care or object if the treatment helps me.  I expect a professional who works for me to consult textbooks and maybe huddle with other professionals about my case.  If the bot can do as well or better for me, I hope it does get used.  Many courses require papers and the usual steps include requiring the writer to list sources used.  When I went to school, we didn't have computers or internet or search engines.  We didn't have email or texting.  Generally, we want and expect students at all levels to use all the relevant tools they can. We may require good use of tools.

I have been thinking about the use of modern possibilities.  I am sure I would not be received well if I said that students could not use horses or trains or cars or planes to get to test sessions but had to walk, as their far-back ancestors had to. 

Magic abilities we don't have

The first course I took in my graduate school psychology minor was "psychophysics".  I had just read that humans can hear vibrations between 20 and 20,000.  We were using devices that could give us whatever we wanted.  I tried those two numbers and couldn't hear a thing at either pitch. Now I am about 60 years older and I wear hearing aids so I am even less of a model of high-level human hearing.  

I am still impressed by what my neighbor, across the street (!), told me about her dogs hearing. Those dogs are interested in anything that moves and they have learned that they can see some actions if they look out the front window when they hear my garage door opening.  They can hear my garage door opening and closing!

Not long ago, I learned that Ed Yong, a prize-winning writer, has a book called "An Immense World" about animal senses.  I have just read a little bit but the book already emphasizes that the old idea of what we can perceive one way or another more or less limits what we can study, learn, know.  Many animals have sight, hearing, scent, balance and heat detection abilities far more elaborate that what humans experience.  Plus, old humans may be even more limited by aging, wear & tear and disease.

The two of us have both been charmed by the several episodes of "The Hidden Lives of Pets" on Netflix.  I recommend the show. 

Tricks

She is in her eighties and she is "always faced with tricks"!

I asked, "What tricks?"

"Like what day is it?"

She is not the only one.  I look at the calendar, the iPad, the computer, the newspaper to verify the day of the week and the date of the month repeatedly, even on the same day.  I have discovered that both the day and the date keep changing!

Child's drawing, loaded pistols and questions

Lynn showed me a Facebook item that included this drawing done in school by an elementary student.  Given the recent shooting of his teacher by a 6yr old boy using a loaded pistol, given far too many mass shootings in the US, given history of hangings and lynchings, the teacher was somewhat alarmed.  She called the parents in and they all had a meeting.  "What is this drawing?"  "It is our family's recent adventure scuba diving in the Bahamas."

Yes, weird and unexpected things happen.  Yes, some of them are very unpleasant but it is smart to be somewhat calm about them and try to understand.  

Skepticism and doubts

A typical phrase that comes up when educators discuss high school and college curriculum is "critical thinking."  My philosophy friends are schedled to discuss skepticism (a.k.a. scepticism).  As I think about doubt, misinformation, rumor both founded and unfounded, I think of three types:

1. Statistical doubt

2. Evidential doubt

3. Simple doubt

When authors state that the French this or boys that, I more or less automatically think "I might be able to find a French man or woman who does not do that or a boy who doesn't and didn't.  I gain from learning what some French people do but I realize that any large group many have members who disagree with the majority in that group.  I think the influences of science, scholarship and modern American emphasis on the individual and maybe other forces and sources urge people to doubt, use their imaginations and their ability to find and compare sources and ideas create doubters and disagreement.  When I add in the picture of heroically heading a different idea or group or faction, wearing unifying t-shirts, I think I spot a reason why it can be profitable or outstanding to disagree.

"Evidence" is a word that comes up often in discussions.  Sometimes there is a paucity of evidence.  What is presented may be, in my judgement, irrelevant facts or demonstrations.  The opposing attorney shows the man that shot my client in another location trying to make the jury think that the accused could not have traveled from that location to the place of the shooting in time for when the shooting happended.  If I can prove that the picture was taken a week before the shooting, the demonstration is irrelevant.  Still, I admit that the mass of the evidence is evaluated by judgment, not any kind of measurement.

Simple doubt may be very, very strong doubt, aside of any evidence or argument.  I just can't believe that my loveable grandma would ever do what you accuse her of doing.  "I know her too well.'

The schools do tend to arouse and praise critical thinking.  Maybe there should be a law against them doing that.

Have your DNA analyzed

We have had our DNA analyzed by the National Geographic Society's  Genographic Project and by 23andMe.  I have found it very interesting but I may not think about it typically. I think some people think of relatives and wonder if they have kings or nobles in the family tree.  Sometimes, DNA can seem frightening since it might show that your real parents are unknown and you were adopted secretly.  

It can be shocking to realize that earthly life is all related so that is why I sometimes say I am descended from blue-green algae and cockroaches.  If that turns out to be utterly wrong, I will take refuge in what I can remember of the official analysis results.  They didn't contain anything special or upsetting.  Northern-ish ancestors who emerged from Africa, slowly journeyed around the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, made their way west to the Atlantic coast, traveled north up to what is now Norway, came down along the same coast, leaving people in the British Isles, Ireland and Spain.  

I have been more interested in the overall directions and groups than in whether I am descended from Genghis Khan.  I read 

• The Seven Daughters of Eve - Sykes

• The 10,000 Year Explosion - Cochran and Harpending

• She Has Her Mother's Smile - Zimmer

• The Invisible History of the Human Race - Kenneally

People's natural assumptions about biology are sometimes far off.  I read a sobering article a while back by a Native American woman pointing out that the understanding that Americans had of genetics caused them to create rules for tribal membership and benefits that assumed a mother and a father contribute half of the genes each.  That assumption means that she needs to be cautious of marrying if she wants her children to be tribal members since the fraction gets halved over and over and she and her guy might produce a child who doesn't qualify for membership.

Many other problems and puzzles have emerged over the idea of inheritance.  It has been natural for humans to assume that if I am good at reading, my children will be, too.  Maybe and maybe not.  Skills, training and abilities are tricky.

Classified documents!

Let's all check our files and our basements and our offices and our former offices for classified documents.  I realize that documents which have been sorted and filed in named folders have been handled.  In a sense, they are classified but unless they bear a red stamp that says "Classified document" or "Top secret", we are too busy to worry about them.

If they do have a stamped message on them, take them to the nearest attorney and let him worry about them.  In the meantime, you can worry about the size of his or her fee for handling this matter.  

No doubt some organization can get a little cash by selling school essays stamped "Classified document" in red ink.  Some 3D printers can possibly be used to create semi-serviceable stamps that say "Possibly classified document" and others to clearly mark some of my innocent junior high essays "Not classified document".  

Give a little thought to this matter and don't forget your grandparent's attic.

Video doorbells and other cameras

I mentioned earlier in a post that when we went to Hawaii with my daughter and son-in-law, they got a ding on their phones whenever someone came to their door at home.  Not only that, they could instantly talk to the person.  When their grandson came to the door, he was surprised to hear his grandfather's voice asking what was up and reminding that the grandparents had gone to Hawaii for a visit.  

I have seen mention that crimes are being investigated by trying to have people look at recent pictures on phones and doorbell cameras and let the investigators know if they possess relevant photos or videos.  

My son-in-law recently had knee surgery.  I wanted to ask my daughter or him how he was doing but I didn't know if either of them were napping.  I thought I was quietly getting up to their front window to see if there were any signs of them being available.  Passing near the front door, my image triggered their video doorbell which sent a ding to her phone.  She was in the kitchen and heard the signal.  She came to the door and filled me in on current pain levels and conditions.

Watching out for overgrowth

I like to keep alert for things that grow too much.  My waistline can overgrow.  My library can, too.  As we age, we find, aside from our weight and girth, a somewhat separate issue is a diminished capacity for food.  We often know the portion we have eaten many times before and are surprised to find that we can not comfortably hold that much now.

We use a shared Google Calendar. Google features and services are available on just about any connected device, whether a computer, a smartphone or a tablet.  It is interesting to me that service.google.com is the form of just about every device.  I use the Firefox browser quite regularly and when I have it open, just the first letter of a service such as "news" or "calendar" brings up the full address immediately and intact.

One of the aspects of our lives that can overgrow is the number of events and organizations we have agreed to.  It is well-known that a church or a fraternal organization may notice that a person has now retired, a person with good organization abilities and computer skills and a pleasant personality.  As such a person retires, he or she may be a little worried about what they will do to occupy their body and mind in retirement.  So, the church or fraternal organization or whatever invites the new retiree to attend meetings.  They turn out to be fun and lively.  A further invitation is extended to be part of the social committee or the reorganization committee or the finance committee.

Of course, as aging proceeds, mobility may decrease.  Eyesight and hearing may diminish.  More naps per day may be needed, not to mention memory and other brain functions. 

Changing world

No blog yesterday because we went to a matinee an hour away.  We  saw "Six", a musical about the six wives of King Henry, the 8th.  I was curious to see what a musical about six wives in the 1500's would be about.  I looked up the show, the authors and the women.  I learned the six word summary: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.  Catherine Parr survived Henry's death.  

I noticed that I am getting older and I hear that the world changes.  I have been looking out for just what changes, if any, I can see. I have been lifted up by books since I was a little kid and I have learned from Tom Wheeler's From Gutenburg to Google, Gordon Howe's What Hath God Wrought and Elizabeth Eisenstadt's Divine Art, Infernal Machine about the spread of language through books and libraries.  My recent review of my younger reading included Jacques Barzun's "The House of Intellect" and he makes clear that literacy, a gift from education and schools, once divided those in power from those not, far more than it does today.  

You don't have to ask what these kids are doing.

I was struck when looking at books I remember fondly but not accurately that books I read with enthusiasm in college are "old".  As my businessman brother-in-law informed me, some things are "not in the demographic" of interest.  

I have read about current alternatives to marriage, alternatives to becoming a parent, greater longevity being forces and movements to reckon with today.  One of the results that matters of covid-19 has been Zoom, Facetime and other tools for meeting with others from home or office. 

No blog today

No blog today.  You can read some you missed here: https://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/

Child shoots teacher

t.ly/FJlS

I taught the 5th grade for four years.  I was obligated to teach at least two after getting tax subsidies for my college education.  During those years, I never saw a gun or a knife.  We didn't have fights, either.  I did read in the linked information above that children as young as the Virginia youngster committed crimes that were shocking in 2000, 2001 and 2011.  

The news report said that the teacher raised her hand and the shot passed through her hand and into her chest.  She was outstanding in the care she gave to her class, getting them to safety before seeking help.  I am confident that no course or lecture in her education and teaching courses explained a good procedure to follow after being shot by one of the students. 

No students, parents or other teachers threatened me or did me any harm.  I got on the outs once or twice with the administrators.  A magician showed up once and everyone was supposed to interrupt their class and go to the auditorium for his show.  There was no warning and my lesson was going very well.  The vice principal was annoyed with me for not getting my class there sooner and she barred our entry.  I had my students sit down on the floor where I supposed we would be able to at least hear what was going on.  I don't think we ever got admitted.  That class has been stunted in the magical arts ever since.  

I did help the principal out once.  He actually lived rather far from the school and I, by complete chance, rented an apartment in the house next door.  The school was in a semi-rural area.  One day, riding to school with him, our way was blocked by a good sized goat standing in the road.  My principal was some sort of military office in the National Guard or something.  He pulled up near the goat and gave an order:"Kirby, get that goat out of there."  I don't know goats but this didn't look friendly.  I approached gingerly and took hold of its impressive horns.  I rode the horns backwards to the nearby farm where there was a frayed rope on the ground.  Got to class without injury or further mishap.

Guys discussing writing and dating

My book group just met to discuss the Jean Shepherd's book "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters." We had planned to "meet" over Zoom and we did.  It has recently snowed and that can be a problem but it turns out that the roads are fine around here.  Still, the use of Zoom and similar meeting software enable people far away to participate easily and inexpensively.  Other local organizations have had participation by people in Arizona and in London.  We are 100 miles away from the lively capital of the state but experts of various kinds have delivered "live" presentations from there.  

I am the least member of the group.  I often skip the whole book, but this time, I did read the title story and it was good enough that I read it aloud to Lynn while she did a jigsaw puzzle.  During today's discussion, enough merry references to other stories in the book came up, that I have simply got to read some of the other stories.  

Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories didn't seem to be a disaster to me.  It was a first date between a high school young man and Wanda, a student at the same high school.  It seemed to go well.  Nobody was terribly embarrassed nor made any giant faux pas.  The line in the book that struck me was when the hero, his date and the other couple all stopped at a bar afterwards.  The waiter asked our hero if he wanted a drink and our guy said," Make it a triple."

My family wasn't big drinkers and alcohol was neither worshiped or hated.  I had a sip of my grandmother's drink at her dining room table when I was about 8 years old.  I wasn't impressed and I didn't long for more or for reaching the age when I could have more.  I have never even heard of a "triple", only a double.  If I took a girl to a dance at my all-boys, public high school, it was either by mooching a ride or by using public transportation.  But had I been driving, I would order a drink, maybe.  Definitely not a double nor a triple.

Thinking of apps

I assumed the first apps (a.k.a. Applications, that is, programs) were on the Apple iPhone but search service Duckduckgo let me know that the beginning of "smartphones" starts earlier and elsewhere than Apple.  

I was surprised after years of broadcast television when we got cable tv and found more selection and a better signal.  I can't remember whether an ad in the mail or maybe an email told me about Roku streamers.  I do remember that I had heard of Netflix and Amazon Prime tv and that ad said that a Roku streamer could use the wi-fi signal in our house to show Netflix and Amazon.  Soon after that ad, we went to our local Wal-mart and bought a Vizio tv, with the largest screen we had ever had. It was 35 inches on the diagonal.  I don't think there were "smart" tv's for sale among those on display but there may have been.  My good friends have snickered at our little teeny tv but they are used to a set the size of their whole wall.  

I was surprised when I visited the Spectrum store recently to get some question answered and during that trip, I was told that I might like to add the Spectrum app to the services already listed on our display when using the Roku.  Until installing that app, I had been changing the Input to our tv to get off of the broadcast possibilities and onto the Roku.  I was surprised that what I knew as a cable company, offering a wi-fi signal, a telephone signal and a tv broadcast signal would go to the trouble of building and offering an app for my Roku to get back to everyday broadcast content.  I had gone to the store to learn more about how I might see my Great Courses on our tv.  

In looking up information related to this post, I found information about other apps I didn't know about.  Of course, some programs, organizations, magazines, channels and "services" require payments, usually as subscriptions, which means they would usually like my permission and one of my credit card numbers.  Equipped with that information, they can quietly charge my account annually and the charge will be buried among many others. I am learning to pay attention to the Apple app store, the Android app store and apps that turn up wherever. 

Deceased daughter's birthday

Today is the birthday of our younger daughter, Jill, who died in 2008, after suffering strong mental illness for 20 years.  

https://sites.google.com/view/kirbyvariety1/jill-kirby-1963-2008

Women!

I am reading aloud The Roosevelt Women by Betty Boyd Caroli.  It is the current choice of Lynn's book group.  I wasn't sure I wanted to read it but I like it very much.  Before the actual text begins there is a genealogical chart but in the Kindle book, it can' t be enlarged enough to be read.  Here is roughly the same thing: t.ly/bgso

Between the PBS show "Downton Abbey" and this book, I feel as though I am getting a feel for life on large estates in post-feudal times in the Western world.  We just read that a household needs a starter set of six people to handle all the tasks.  I asked Lynn how well we could accommodate six servants in our little house but she doesn't advise trying.  The book is the best example of a history focused on the women I have ever seen.  I have been grasping the facts that women are very attractive to most men, that women can accept a man's little bit of goo and make a human being with it and that all humans (8,000,000,000 of 'em) were made by women. 

The human story is much more women-slanted than just that since women have those milk glands to begin the feeding of a squalling, out-raged and very confused baby.  Women's nature, their equipment and the long, long maturation/education/training period to grow a newborn into an adult - all mean that a woman or women are deeply, often indelibly, involved in the life of every human.  

Caroli concentrates on the women's influence, their children and on what becomes of daughters, granddaughters, greatgrandaughters and their tastes, energies and inclinations.  I remember my maternal grandmother and I spent much time with her.  The chart I linked about and the small books called your name: The Story of Your DNA along with DNA analysis we had done by 23andMe have been very helpful and inspiring to see who we came from.

Meditate for yourself

If you read this blog very often, you know that I advocate practicing meditation.  As Dr. Richard Davidson says, the term "meditation" is comparable to the term "sports" - there are many kinds and types of each.  

As you could find in other posts in this blog, years ago I saw in our university publication of available courses, a course labeled "Relaxation".  I chuckled.  What did they do?  Sit around and relax?  I looked into it a little and found lots of writing about relaxation, like the book that first helped me, "The Relaxation Response" by Harvard physician Herbert Benson.  Got my attention.  

I was on Semester Abroad when I came across three students lying on the floor of a study hall.  "What are you doing?"  "We are practicing our Transcendental Meditation."  What is this business?  I read and thought.  I read "The Relaxation Response".  I read Steve Hagen's "Meditation Now or Never."  I read Jack Kornfield books and Slyvia Bornstein's "Don't Just Do Something, Sit There!"  Evidence was piling up that being still and keeping my attention on a single spot, noticing when I wavered and returning to my spot, did good things for my awareness of me, my thinking, and the paths I used in my head.  I had read and taught W. Edwards Deming's ideas and immediately aimed away from a month or even a week of being still and meditating.  I went for 10 minutes of meditation activity a day.

Whether one is after more empathy or courage or self-reliance, practicing meditation is the single most valuable thing I know, after the basics of good eating, sleeping and exercise.  I am repeating all this to say that I just watched the 4th episode of The Mind Explained on Netflix, "Meditation".  It's 20 minutes and packed with explanation and valuable language.  You can lower pain, increase awareness of your powers and live better if you meditate.  As I love to repeat, author and software engineer Chade Meng-Tan says you just need a mind and a single, conscious deep, slow breath. 

A gut rule

I try to look into any book that friends mention favorably.  Sometimes, I have read it but sometimes I look at it again and maybe read it again.  If I read what a friend is reading or has recently read, I may get in tune with some of their mood or thinking.  I can't remember any books I have read because a friend mentioned them but I am pretty sure I have.  

My friend who got me into making and teaching the course Futures read the other day's blog and recommended "Therapy" by David Lodge. The blog post was about the GPTChat bot and the earlier pioneer "Rogerian therapist" bot named Eliza. I have a hold on "Therapy" at the local library.  That book involves a computer program that is a clever advanced bot that gives personal advice, a robotic Ann Landers.  

I am learning about holds.  Just because the website says there are no holds on a book does not mean I can walk in and get the book.  I haven't checked with a real librarian but I think zero holds only means that no new checkouts will be performed ahead of me.  

When I read aloud to Lynn, we often agree to drop a book after a while.  We do not feel more virtuous by reading to the end of a book.  If we are bored or fed up with a book, we stop reading and listening.  My interest and enthusiasm is usually stronger for non-fiction.  Non-fiction covers the world and all subjects, not just who-done-it or will-they-or-won't-they.

Both of our book groups alternate between fiction and non-fiction, by the month.  I would probably not have even heard of The Bell in the Lake by Miles Mytting but for reading Lynn's books to her.  I enjoyed the scenes, the scenery and the lives of the characters.  Another friend mentioned Ed Yong's "An Immense World" at lunch and that reminded me I had been telling myself to look into the book about the range of animal perception abilities and his mention did the trick. 

Hope it is not Friday or Tuesday or the 13th or the 17th

You probably noticed that today is Friday, the 13th.  From a few scattered sources I have seen today, I gather that the notion that Friday coming on the 13th is unlucky has an obscure history.  From CNN:

While Friday the 13th may feel like a rare phenomenon, our Gregorian calendar means that the 13th of any month is slightly more likely to fall on a Friday than any other day of the week. It is not, however, a universal superstition: In Greece and Spanish-speaking countries, it is Tuesday the 13th that is considered a day of bad luck, while in Italy, it is Friday the 17th that is met with fear. 

It makes me chuckle to read that in Spanish-speaking countries and wise old Greece, it is Tuesday and in Italy, I need to beware Friday, the 17th.  I suppose any day may be unlucky if something damaging or scary happens.  

What day of the week gets the most scheduled events?

From Google:

Science: This is the best day to schedule meetings—and it's ...

https://www.cnbc.com › 2019/04/01 › science-says-this...

Apr 1, 2019 — The most optimal time to book a meeting is on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m., according to a study conducted by YouCanBookMe, a U.K.-based scheduling firm …

When I had to select a day for a recurring meeting, I thought Tuesday would be good for the reason that Monday would be busy and people would want that day to get back in the working groove.  That was years ago, of course, way before we had heard of covid.

My wife and I have lived for more than 80 years but neither of us feel clear about selecting unlucky events in order to test days of the week for bad luck.  When we can land on something we feel secure in labeling unlucky, it turns out we don't really know what day of the week it happened.

Thinking about a book I read 60 years ago

Ever since a member of my book group asked if we had already read a book, I have been charged up about reading.  There are many, many aspects of reading.  The main question I have been thinking about is 

"What remains in me after reading a book?"

I expect whatever memories, habits, convictions I develop from reading a given book may be difficult to detect.  After all, there are many times when I hear about a book, think I might want to read it or at least look it over (table of contents, sample), look it up on the Amazon site only to read a little message "You already own this book".  I guess about half the time I read that, I didn't remember having ordered it or downloading it from Amazon.  

I am a fan of "Incognito" by Eagleman and "Seven and a Half Lessons about Your Brain" by Barrett and I realize that my aging brain is limited in its ability to recall, anything actually, especially in less than 10 minutes.  So, it helps me to stay aware that there are lots of other parts of me than just what I can consciously and quickly tap into.  For example, we used to keep a dish towel hanging from a kitchen drawer to the right of the sink.  For the last three or four weeks, we have placed it to the left. Most days, I turn to the right, find no towel, recall the new location and turn to the left.  

So, as much as I like me, I refuse to simply assume what I can't remember has left no trace in me.  My wife is steadily working with me to recall events that are clear in her mind, events I witnessed and/or participated in, that I don't recall, at first. 

The other reading anchor I use to mark my college reading is Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.  That book is readily available today and I had already purchased it in e-format, unlike The House of Intellect.  I read some and was struck, even emotionally, by the power and directness of the writing.  Lewis makes clear that he put the book together to use on the radio to British troops in WWII.  The writing is simple, direct and very clear.  I have never been convinced by the arguments but damn, it is good writing!

Bots

I have used electronic computers and devices since the late 60's.  One of the first that could do something other than process arithmetic fast was "Eliza".  t.ly/5rq-  You can use this shortened link to try Eliza out.  She is a "Rogerian therapist" and you can tell her your problem and she will help think of ways to deal with it.  I tried this version out just now.

I started with a complaint about how my mother bugs me and Eliza wanted me to be more polite, like by saying Hello.  

I got started on this theme of bots that seem intelligent because I read about ChatGPT.  I just looked in the Apple app store and I found many apps that claim to be powered by the ChatGPT.  Some publicity has it that OpenAI's language model has been fed hundreds of examples of text and that ChatGPT has a billion parameters.  Generally, "parameters" are variables that control or influence output or performance. So, for example, parameters relating to a college wrestler might be age, weight, experience, win-lose record and current level of condition.  

I have seen dire predictions that this superbot will eliminate higher education because of its reliance on a student's ability to write, which ChatGPT can fake.  I am not clear on the difference between sending students to the campus library and having them read texts, articles, opinions, etc. which then get quoted or summarized in papers and the use of a clever bot.  Cathy O'Neil (a.k.a. "Mathbabe") reacts to the subject here:

https://mathbabe.org/2023/01/11/chatgpt-neither-wise-nor-threatening/

Today's news vs. the hottest, most breath-taking news ever printed!

I often read CNN's Five Things, Google News, Numlock News.  All of that is written and all of it is read using the Firefox browser.  Browsing the internet, I see many headlines.  I have not counted but I think half or more are written in sensational language.  I am not trying to earn my living writing news articles or headlines but I think telling everything with excitement makes for an impoverished language eventually. 

Many of the events happening in the world are shocking and simply relating them creates shocking news.  Sometimes, the shock is best conveyed with a photo, as with a Ukrainian house or apartment building smoost to smithereens.  Sometimes, words will suffice, as with the news that a six year old boy brought a loaded pistol to school from home and shot his 25 year old teacher.

I don't tune into Fox News or any other source that I feel is purposely employing shocking or shocked language in relating an incident or event.  I appreciate the opportunity to make my own judgment about an event without being prompted by the tone of the words used.  With news as with living, I try to maintain an even keel and not inflate nor deflate the importance nor the implications of what happened.  I guess if I am trying to make a living or a reputation, this is the time of year that I might try to review last year or predict things to come in the next months.  I am impressed with the number of predictions I find in all sorts of places and sources.  

I was the chair at one time of a special interest group focusing on the future and my friends and I taught a college course on futures and possible futures.  I learned that from the old testament times to now, a common action is to imagine or deduce or dream some horrible, frightening event and annouce to all that it will occur in a few days or weeks or months.  Even when I am more or less fishing for exciting news or words to alarm (that may be in high demand), I recommend explaining the story as I understand it with plodding information and leave the faster pulse to the recipients.  

For some unusual aspects of news reporting, see this:

https://newsletter.theweek.com/optiext/optiextension.dll?ID=qYZq3M58rjwp4%2BUFh_0J8o6%2B%2BLmP3EPawN2b4XwZpiTztkQayvIXVg8XakUz70KfOzpD4cRtGQberfjBY6OZOXb0EUPOv

I think I read that book

Two books that I have memorized as icons of my college reading and ideas are House of Intellect by Jacques Barzun and Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.  Because my friend reminded me of Abebooks*, one of many sources of used books, I now have a copy and I have been looking it over.  I am very aware that with many books I have read on the Kindle reader, I could look at the highlights I might have made while reading the book.  I would usually take that collection of very brief excerpts to be my take of the book.  

Note that I am not, not, not asserting that I have memorized either book.  It is just that I take those two books to be anchors of my reading at that time, whatever a reading anchor may be.

I am surprised at how little I remember of the Barzun book, how hard it is to understand, how this man, born into an upper class Parisian family in 1907 and lived to be 102 years old, throws around stunningly broad generalities.  My own personality and my experiences have built a Me that automatically doubts and asks for evidence.  He was a specialist in ideas and their history and a very intelligent one.  Still, when he writes that the French this and the Americans that, I can instantly supply counterexamples.  

In my senior year of college, I read printed books to a Johns Hopkins professor who was blind.  When that man learned of my interest in and respect for Barzun, he strongly pooh-poohed the man.  The professor accused him of writing on far too broad a range of subjects, so broad that Barzun could not really know them well.  

I have looked over the book and found interesting and useful ideas but I didn't remember any of them from my reading sixty years ago.

1. Literacy, the actual, factual ability to read, used to be a much more basic divider of society than it is now.

2. It was basic in feudal times, to know the local lord and respect his power.  Some of the perhaps basic primate and biological habits and emotions of respect are still with us today.

3. Whether reading or playing cards or biking together, it is natural for us humans to develop respect and admiration for those who become familiar, especially those with power, money and position.

4. I don't have any memories of reading the book, even though I have often mentioned it as a basic component of my own reading in college.  I do know that carrying books that struck others as advanced or high-level impressed some young women enough for me to be of interest to them.

5. Jacques Barzun was a dean of humanities at Columbia U. I am impressed with a French-speaking man becoming a dean at an important American university.

*The House of Intellect was published in1959

Two shows we like

We don't always agree on what to read aloud or what to watch. But it can happen and when it does, the agreement by itself is satisfying.  Two streaming programs we have both enjoyed are "Recipes for Love and Murder," on Acorn TV and "All Creatures Great and Small" on PBS.  I find that we both think of scenes and themes from the two shows throughout the day, not just when we are watching.

Recipes is set in South Africa and Creatures in a small English town.  But the two shows do not draw on their time or place very much.  The heroine of Recipes is basically a cook who specializes in recipes but gets drawn into personal advice a la Abby.  The three main characters in Creatures are veterinarians, in an area and at a time when farm animals are important.  Of course, anywhere in the world, domesticated animals can be important to livelihoods and lives.  Sometimes, a doggie is the main focus of someone's attention and affection.

One thing that has gotten my attention in both shows is what strikes me as poor manners.  Some of the ways women are treated in Recipes seem atrocious and would definitely cause serious trouble in my family.  The way the senior of three men acts toward the two others in Creatures and all three act toward their woman housekeeper are noticeably poor.

I have never been female but I am a fan of members of that group.  I think men typically underestimate the intelligence, forbearance and range of female thinking.  My mother used to say that young women would be better off if they developed a bit more courage and confidence.  The general drive of men to try to win and to stand out enables them to attempt acts which are often foolish or offensive or damaging to themselves but occasionally they succeed where they would not have without trying.  

I get the feeling that young women try to be sensitive to the opinion of their female peers and that female peers are often critical and/or jealous.  As a male, when I add in female efforts to avoid anyone anywhere disliking or disapproving of them, their mannerisms, dress, ideas, etc., I am glad I can assume from the start that others, poor things, will disapprove of me.

Paying for a grade of A

When a child goes to school, especially in the primary years, usually considered kindergarten through third grade, that person is too young and immature to be much of a judge of the quality of the education received.  Even college students are generally just getting into life and often focus only on "getting a job", preferably one that is reasonably acceptable to perform and one that pays well.  Even college students may have trouble seeing life as a whole and developing a feeling for learning that may pay off in all the periods of life.  

What are the periods of life?  The author of one of the best selling books on college and good living afterward, Richard Bolles, author of the famous "What Color is Your Parachute?" divides life into "The Three Boxes of Life", early, work and retirement.  I often think it is pretty difficult to see the relevance of some art, music, literature and history courses when you are just entering your hormonal peak and looking to really get into life.  

I taught grading approaches to pre-teachers for more than 30 years.  The expense of college is a major hit for many people, even those who are quite wealthy.  Some numbers of dollars get involved that are big enough to get attention, maybe even to frighten or damage a person's future.  I purposely titled this blog post "Paying for a grade of A" since I guess many people react quite negatively to any idea of paying for grades.  However, I want to think that is exactly what happens.  Daddy or Mommy or rich Uncle Avery writes a check to cover tuition, room and board and then asks anxiously and repeatedly whether the student is "doing well", by which is meant "how are your grades?"

I advocate structuring a course in a way that maximizes the chance of a student getting and deserving the highest grade.  Some people think that grades should be a stand-in for heavenly judgment or evaluation of natural ability.  I don't.  I advocate teachers deciding or obtaining a valuable version of the course content and testing their students for good knowledge and application of that content.  When evaluating students, I like an approach that checks the student for grasp of, and facility with, the content and skills I have taught, not for my best estimate of how God feels about the student's life record. 

Books off the usual track

The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth and Power by Deirdre Mask

Lynn recommended this after some reading and some listening to the audio book.  When her hands get gooey with clay, she has Alexa read aloud.  If you don't have an address, life can be harder, especially in the developed countries.  How were addresses invented, who invented them?  How many people in the US live on an unnamed street or road?

The book has high ratings.  22 times as many commenters rated it highly as those who gave low ratings.

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Essential Errors: 21 Confessions of an Old Fool by XYScientist

This book attracted me for the honesty and intelligence of the statements.  The anonymous author, a Russian-American physicist, also asks for a grade for the reader's reaction to each "error".  I used to teach methods of grading and I am wary of all grades but he clearly is interested in data and reactions.

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How to be Miserable: 40 Strategies You Already Use by Randy J. Patterson, PhD

Again, surprisingly well-written.  Dr. Patterson is a Canadian therapist who has dealt with depression and anxiety most of his professional life.  Of course, he is not actually trying to guide people into misery but he knows the factors that tend to promote the feeling and its related problems and supports.  His first advice: Avoid all exercise.  I am reading this aloud to my wife.

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Get High Now - James Nestor

Nestor has written a best-seller about many aspects of personal wellness connected to breathing.  "Breath" is much better known than Get High Now.  High is well-organized and offers many possibilities of mind and mood altering activities.