Being a social vampire

I think vampires are supposed to want or need human blood.  I have my own blood and it suffices.  But books and people both have their own stories. I find that I enjoy the stories from books and people equally.  In high school and being male, there were plenty of prompts to decide "what I wanted to be".  Over time, I found that people's stories gave me almost as much pleasure as a good story from a book.  Getting to know what a person has done, whether they are 12 years old or 83 is fascinating.  Ok, I thought I wanted to be a clinical psychologist, along the lines of Bob Newhart.  Finances and friendships sent me into teaching and schooling but the weird, damaging and helpful beliefs, feelings, fears, etc. were still fascinating.  They sustained my interest and do so still.

"Megan Leavey"

Megan Leavey is a living woman but there is also a movie by that name about her on Netflix.  I post about the movie because we watched it and I recommend it.  It is the living woman's story about a disgruntled teen girl who decided she could be more gruntled as a US Marine.  She enlisted and became a guard dog/ bomb detector dog handler.  I think it is a memorable exploration of femininity/masculinity and their differences and similarities.

CNN Photos of the week April 18

It's Sunday, a good day to catch up on sights around the world.  

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/25/world/gallery/photos-this-week-april-18-april-25

I have read...

The phrase "I have read…" comes to mind often.  For instance, I want to write about the personal value of being able to read and the history of reading.  As I think about my gratitude to the taxpayers who supported the schools and the teaching of reading, about what I have learned about the history of reading, the French king Charlemagne ("big Charles") comes to mind.  Many of his ministers could read and he wanted to learn.  He had difficulty and thought that maybe keeping a book under his pillow while he slept would help the process.

Most of the time, when I think of where or how I learned some fact or idea, I don't know WHERE I read it.  So, like a student writing a research paper, I need to note my sources.  I have mentioned the book "Why Learn History When It Is Already on Your Phone" by Sam Wineburg.  (Right now, that book in Kindle form is available for $4 from Amazon.) To me, that story about Charlemagne emphasizes that I did learn a second form of communication after learning to speak English at home.

I wonder how much that is in my head came from reading.  I wonder how many books I ever borrowed from the Enoch Pratt libraries of Baltimore.

Popularity vs. me

I have discovered repeatedly that I am not typical. I don't look typical, I don't think typically, I don't act typically. 

I am not a typical size, I don't have a typical job history, I don't spend my time typically. I don't read typical books.  I don't have typical tastes and preferences.

Given all that, I can't even count on being a atypical.  Sometimes I find that something popular is terrific and I like it very much.

Golden or challenging?

I am reading "Man Overboard: A Medical Lifeline for the Aging Male" by Craig M. Bowron, MD.  A reader might not feel that an author is trustworthy when coming to statements like "Doctors sometimes refer to the Nether regions of our bodies, named after Dr. Phil Nether, a British anatomist and explorer who discovered them on an expedition to the Central Groin region in 1833." But the comment I want to note here is that "aging is an extractive and reductive process and given its relentless and inevitable nature, it might be the hardest thing any of us will ever do."

I have noted before that Lynn's stepfather, a veteran of Patton's army in WWII, often snarled," Golden years - Hah!"

I would never have selected "extractive and reductive" to describe the process of aging but I find the two terms accurate and helpful.

Better intelligence, better education

(Lynn is doing well)

When I write in my title, the word "intelligence", the connotation is probably the innate sense that humans have of "smarts".  That sense has been recognized for a long time.  In graduate school, I studied attempts to test intelligence with paper and pencil tests.  I also studied attempts by Binet in France and faculty at Stanford University and Wechsler to create formal tests to measure intelligence.  But in this post, I am thinking of "intelligence" in the way the word is used in reference to military and national security, the concept of general knowledge about the world and what is happening.

It seems completely accurate to say that humans in general, all over, have better intelligence than ever.  The development of speech, writing, the telegraph, daily newspapers, radio, television and, of course, the internet, have all contributed to better communication between all sorts of humans in all locations.  

At the same time, information has improved its spread and richness, education has been changing too.  In grad school, I read about the slow, steady expansion of education.  Of course, Google Search and similar search engine software such as Duckduckgo are providing a wider, deeper amount of information to all sorts of citizens, inquirers and students. But don't forget nursery schools, kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, technical schools, master's programs, doctoral programs, post-docs, distance education, YouTube videos, Kindle books, loaning apps like Libby.

But what do I know?

I guess one of the best ways to see the limitations of one's knowledge is to get a PhD.  The usual description of the path to a doctor of philosophy degree is to get a bachelor's degree at a four year college, get a master's degree in a year or two (sometimes more) and get the doctor's degree in 3 or more years. 

Several people have described the final exam for a doctorate as an occasion of being quite aware of all the things one does not know.  That final exam is often an oral one.  One's advisor invites professors from one's major and minor.  I had two minors, philosophy and psychology.  I don't actually remember what philosophy and psychology professors attended my orals.  I do remember the realization that those men could ask me ANYTHING !  

The usual format is an hour or so of committee questions, then a short discussion while the candidate is not in the room.  If the answer is "yes, he qualifies", the person fetching the candidate from where he is waiting, often signals the candidate's success by greeting him with an extended hand and the words, "Congratulations, Dr. _____________"  Of course, there is no guarantee that the candidate will be able to answer all the questions.  There may be disagreements generally as to the correct answers.

CNN Photos of the week

Some of this photos may be of interest.   

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/19/world/gallery/photos-this-week-april-11-april-18/

Bill

Books that may be of interest

Of the books listed below, the one that seems to have been the most helpful for Lynn and me is Lisa Genova's "Remember".  It is about the human memory and it really helps quiet worries about poor memory and a deteriorating mind.

I enjoyed what I read of "Eve: How the female body drove 200 million years of evolution" by Cat Bohannon.

You may get intellectual payoffs from "This Explains Everything", a John Brockman book.  Brockman runs the website "Edge".  That's not the Microsoft browser also called Edge.  He tries to foster deep thinking and exploration of all kinds of intellectual exploration.

"You can't make this stuff up" by Laura Katz.  There are quite a few books about not being able to make up stuff.  This book is a summary of decades of work as a woman gynecologist and her cases.

I would not have thought I would enjoy "Eighty Days" by Matthew Goodman as much as I did.  It is about two New York City newspapers sponsoring two women who compete to see who wins in a trip around the world.  This true contest took place in 1889, when the world and human ideas were not what they are today.

"Brief Answers to the Big Questions" by Stephen Hawking, the very famous British cosmologist, told he had developed Lou Geherig's disease, related to Parkinson's nerve disease.  He was told at age 20 that he would live five more years.  He died recently at age 76.  He said that he had spent his life traveling through the universe, amid black holes, he is a clear, helpful, upbeat writer.

Children's books have been in the news lately.  Reading and being read to were among the best experiences of my childhood.  Whether you once read you once read "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White or not, it is time to read it again, maybe with a grandchild beside you.  School and children's librarians can help find the oldest greatest and the most recent greatest of kids' books.  Don't kid yourself: you are still pretty much a kid.

Two more: Any of Dan Buettner's books.  Try "The Blue Zones American Kitchen" but any of his will be helpful.  He is an explorer of places in the world that have consistently harbored groups of people who live longer, healthier lives than average, places he calls "Blue Zones".  More recognition is focusing on physical hydration as a major factor in good living at older age.  On that subject, try "Quench" by Cohen, MD and Bria.  Our bodies bug us less about thirst but it is very important to health to get the right amounts of water.

I have been accepted as a slave

My wife undergoes knee surgery in the coming days.  She is worried because, at first, she will be completely dependent on me for lots of unusual things.  She told me that she has been explaining to friends my coming debut as her slave.

5th grade to start

I found I could definitely afford teachers' college.  After a couple of years, they asked, "Are you aiming to teach in K-6 or 7-9?"   I said "7-9".  After all, I was too mature for little kids.  They handed me a sheet of course names.  "This paper lists the courses you must complete".  Me:"I thought I would get some choices."  They said,"You want choices?  Choose K-6" and I did.

I taught the 5th grade for four years. I liked it. I got the class with the lowest average of 4 classes.  I liked teaching them and discovered all sorts of skills and abilities they showed.

I got a warning: "This state requires an advanced degree beyond the basic 4 year degree within ten years of beginning teaching."  I began graduate school, attending at night.  I got a grade of A in my first statistics course.  My graduate school advisor told me about a program to get a PhD, the highest degree, with scholarships provided.  I applied, got accepted, got the degree, and we moved to another state where I taught teachers for 37 years.

Rusty years

Lynn's stepdad was a veteran of Patton's army in World War II.  In his later years, he would snarl every now and then, "Golden years - HA!"  I see so much optimism, cheeriness and smiles in ads and photos that it was a pleasure to read this comment today in "Man Overboard" by Craig Bowron, MD:

"Getting older is an extractive, reductive process and given its relentless and inevitable nature, it might be the hardest thing any of us will ever do."

A friend responded to my report of Stephen Hawking's idea that artificial intelligence can be expected to make such a capable assistant that it will be like being two people: "I certainly don't need two of me.  I can hardly stand one."

Recently coined words

The title of this post, "Recently coined words", can be used in search engines, such as Duckduckgo, to find some words that are being used by others but have just recently been invented.

I am interested in human imagination as well as sensitivity to language and connotations of words and signs.  I think recently invented words that show imagination and are also successful at conveying intended meanings show people's brains at work.  I should mention that I am only working in the English language.  The American linguist John McWhorter and his Great Courses and books have been a help in understanding the ups and downs of English language changes.

Just today, I saw there is a web site and associated products under the name "Techlicious".  As a person who spends much of his time reading, perusing book titles new and old by use of a computer, a tablet and occasional use of a smartphone, I admit that some "tech" has given me delicious thrills and knowledge. Great word!

Stephen Hawking

My book club is going to discuss Stephen Hawking's book "Brief Answers to the Big Questions".  You probably know Dr. Hawking:

He is the British scientist that was told well before his 25th birthday that he would die within 5 years.  He did die but at the age of 76, in 2018. I know that his "A Brief History of Time" has been a best seller but until recently, I had not read any of his writing.  When I did read his Answers book, I was impressed at how clear, down-to-Earth and readable his writing is.

I finished the Answers book today.  I read the most sensible and promising comment I have found about artificial intelligence.  He was discussing AI (the rapidly expanding field of artificial intelligence).  He asked if you have ever wished you were more than just one person.  I have heard busy women and men say just that: "I wish I was more than one person" or "I wish I was two people".  He says that AI will grant that wish soon when we have good robotic "assistants" available.

Steps

I thought about it.  I weighted my options.  I researched author and the book.  OK, I'll buy it. I clicked on it.  Up came the message "You own this book.  You purchased it in 2017."

Have a bite

We watched "The Poison Squad" about Dr. Harvey Wiley, a chemist.  The Poison Squad was shown, I guess, in episodes on the PBS show "American Experience" but after trying, we found it more convenient to watch it on Amazon Prime.  There, it is available as a single movie.  It's about going from food and drink manufacturers going about the business of selling their products without supervision to working with government oversight and laws to protect the consumer.  Harvey Wiley was born in 1844.  He became a chemistry professor and was appalled at what he could show about the American food supply and the chemicals and additives in it.  As an adult, he tried to complain and warn and was repeatedly told he had no right and no authority to question and publicize his complaints and warnings.  

The title, "The Poison Squad" came from the public after people learned he had engaged a group of young healthy men to sample the foods he knew were steadily given added substances that degraded the foods and made them dangerous or worse.  After years of work, the author Upton Sinclair, born in 1878. wrote the novel The Jungle in 1906, describing the conditions and practices in the Chicago stockyards. The outrage and disgust that followed helped Wiley's efforts to have the American food supply reliably cleaned up.

Attention and phones

I saw a boy practicing hoops in his driveway.  In one hand, he held his smartphone while he dribbled and shot and retrieved and shot with the other hand.   I stopped and said to him that I hadn't seen basketball players holding a phone in one hand.  Later, I saw he had both hands free. No phone.

Schools have trouble with phones stealing attention.  Many bar phones.  Some use signal jammers.

Heather Cox Richardson on Arizona abortion law

As I have mentioned here and there, I like to take a look at what historian Heather Cox Ricardson writes in her daily "Letters from an American". https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/

She is a historian that concentrates on current American government activity and some of the history involved.  She titles her more or less daily posts one day late.  Much of the time, I am not especially interested but sometimes, she seems very helpful and original.  For instance, you can click here to read or hear what she wrote about the Arizona law on abortion.  

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-9-2024-827

Her point is that the law was constructed for the purpose of improving the behavior of men.

Meanwhile

It is surprising how much is indicated by the word "meanwhile".   That word stresses that while our hero or our villain or just our attention was occupied with this subject, another event of importance was happening over there.  In a early morning hour, I read CNN's Five Things, Walt Hickey's Numlock News, take a glance at Heather Cox Richardson's take on what happened yesterday but meanwhile, surprising things are happening in Montana, Miami and Milan.  I can't keep up with it all.  All sorts of research, breakthroughs of great import and further research that utterly fails to show anything valuable, happen meanwhile.  I like to check NPR News Headlines for news that isn't picked up by other sources that I look at.  

I like to practice taking a cue from people's statements that Xers are Y by mentally adding that I could find some Xers who are anti-Y.

Re: The importance of "Eisenhower"

Far out.

Write On!

Apr 9, 2024 2:03:42 PM Bill Kirby <olderkirby@gmail.com>:

Not Dwight D.  Not the 34th US President.  Not the Supreme Commander of US forces in Europe in WWII.  But the handwritten letters that spell his last name.  Why are they important?  Because when written out in handwriting, they are an ideal selection of letters to get a modern ballpoint pen, working and writing clearly.

The importance of "Eisenhower"

Not Dwight D.  Not the 34th US President.  Not the Supreme Commander of US forces in Europe in WWII.  But the handwritten letters that spell his last name.  Why are they important?  Because when written out in handwriting, they are an ideal selection of letters to get a modern ballpoint pen, working and writing clearly.

Playing with heavenly bodies

Lynn's knitting group came over and many of them carried solar eclipse glasses.  They let me look through a pair during the eclipse and I saw just what I was seeing on NASA tv on my computer monitor.  There were warnings everywhere not to look at the sun and moon dance directly and I didn't.  When I looked through somebody's official viewing glasses, I saw just what I saw on my computer monitor on NASA live.

I wasn't scared and I didn't think an alligator was eating the sun but I may have been brainwashed.  Doesn't feel like it.

Fire, deaths and novelty lighters

There was an article in the Stevens Point Journal about a case where a fire that destroyed a home was suspected of being started by a child playing with a lighter.  It was a novelty lighter, maybe shaped like a truck or something, that seemed like a toy.  A child in a local 2nd grade knew her grandfather was involved in local politics and she said to him that he should pass a law against novelty lighters that look to little kids like they are toys.  

Sixteen years later, the governor came to her school and signed the new law banning novelty lighters.

Pens, etc.

It is no surprise that human memory has limitations.  Somebody in my book club recommended "Remember" by Lisa Genova.  I am reading that book aloud to Lynn now.  I like the way the author explains that being unable to remember something is part of what our memory is built to do.  When a husband and wife look through a photo album together, one of the pair often mentions memories of meals, comments, troubles and fun that the other person has not remembered.  

I taught a course over the years called Tests and Measurements.  It considers the job of structuring tests and grading of student performances on tests and projects.  I wrote a book "Grading, Testing and Instructional Format" for use by students in the class.  Sometimes, I would hold a copy in my hand and ask who had read a given chapter.  Hands would go up.  I would point to somebody with their hand in the air and ask "Did you read this chapter?"  The student would say they had.  I would say,"Ok, the first three words at the beginning are "Students have sympathized".  Then, I would ask: "What is the next word?"  They NEVER knew!

As Dr. Genova would say, "Of course they didn't remember.  They hadn't formed a memory of the next word."

Older people, like me, say, passed the age of 80, are famous for leaving behind a pen, a smartphone, a cup of tea or coffee in the living room while they walk into the computer room.  I know exercise is good for me and I tend to get up and walk back and look for my pen or phone or cup.  But, sometimes I preplan!  So, HA!  I practice leaving a pen in BOTH the living room and the computer room.  Now, I am working on NOT carrying the living room pen into the computer room.  Smart, huh?

Internet and then none

Last night, we watched "You've Got Mail" again.  It brought the excitement we felt when we first encountered email.  It was before texting was available.  It was amazing!

Today, we happened to lose our internet for 4 or so hours.  Ironic!  It certainly emphasized how much we depend on our connection.

Again!

It happened again.  I wondered about men's interest in being a mercenary.  I looked up "What mercenaries are available today?" I even used Duckduckgo, a search engine that advertises private searching and blocked trackers.  I don't play video games and I don't like or follow popular music.  Still, looking at the first page or two of results, I found that those results were about a video game.  Some links explained that I would love the game.  Others let me know about places I could buy the game, including less expensive second-hand versions.

Sometimes, when I have a question, I find that instead of answers or estimated answers, I get lots of information about a band with the name of some of the main words in my question.

Wading through more and more

Let's say that I am a politician and that I want to hold public office.  I am not saying I would be a good candidate, just imagining what it could be like.  I guess it helps if I have an idea for what seems like it would be an improvement in our lives and I want to explain my idea and that you and your friends and relatives should vote for me so I can work to make my idea a reality in my city or state or country.  I appear in some forums to explain my plan and to try to persuade you that my ideas and personality would be an asset to you and others. 

I guess this situation is similar to my owning a small business and being interested in convincing you to buy raisins or shoes or something from me.  It is just that the product I am advocating as a politician is me, my impulses, my approaches to questions.  I use my history and accomplishments.  A big factor is that problems and proposals and complaints that arrive later cannot be known now, although there can be attempts at predictions.

Politics and commerce seem to me to have fallen into a pattern of communicating what is on their agenda, not mine.  I am fairly elderly and if they hold the floor and stay with subjects they think will persuade me to buy their message and their product long enough, I may well expire before I get to explain what if anything I want from them.

This message comes from a citizen that is fatigued by the increasing load of messages and offers that are presented to me and my wife that we try to wade through.

"Who inspires me?", they asked

My daughter and her husband bought me Storyworth for Christmas.   That company sends me a question each week.  I write an answer.  They send it to her and collect my answers.  Later, they will offer me copies of the answers in a little book.

This week, their question was "Who inspires you?"  It has prompted me to think about inspiration.  I feel I am inspired by someone when I want to be like them, when I want to develop a skill they have or they make me think of having.  It can be tricky.  A serial killer or an arsonist can inspire me to avoid hurting or killing people or burning their property.  Some female faces make me immediately think of kissing them but I don't think that I am being inspired.  I'd rather use the word "attracted" or maybe "drawn".  

I looked up "inspire" and found that it is related to "breathing in".  When a person inspires me, I am breathing in something.  That something can be an intangible.  When I see a baby that seems jubilant about being alive and I realize I too am alive, I can feel jubilation from the baby's presence and my interpretation of what I see.

I don't have any doubt that much of my inspiration has come from reading authors.  Some has come from colleagues and friends.  I ended my list of inspiring people with these links to books that have been important inspirations:

https://sites.google.com/view/kirbyvariety1/reading-list-1983, 

https://sites.google.com/view/kirbyvariety1/recent-reading-2011

Daniel Kahneman 1934-2024

I did the research for my doctoral dissertation in the years 1965 -1968.  One of the most helpful authors were Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky.  Tversky died in 1996 and Kahneman died last week.  You might well have never heard of these two men but in certain fields of thought, they are quite famous. 

Kahneman's book "Thinking: Fast and Slow"  is about the same area as my dissertation.  Kahneman is sometimes said to have been an important founder of the subject of "behavioral economics", what makes people do what they do with their buying and selling.  My degree is in the subject of "educational research methods".  Deciding what to teach, deciding how to teach that material/subject and deciding how to assess the learning that takes place can be considered to be a matter of planning and expenditure of human energy and communication and assessment.