On Celebrities

Do you ever find yourself standing in front of a row of magazines, or even looking at an advertisement on the Internet, and wondering.. 'Who in the Heck are these People?' Sure.. sometimes they even have names under the pictures.. but still, that doesn't help me much.

I guess I'm really out of touch with 'popular culture.' But then -- maybe that is a good thing, considering these magazine covers!

I mean.. why do I really want to smell like some pop song singer or drink a soda just because a rap singer likes it? I don't. I'd like to think my life is more interesting than that.

Browsing around

Routinely I browse around for stuff - like everyone, instead of spouting off on some topic. Here is my fun 'browser cruise' today.

cool stuff:

Wikipedia: List of Problems Solved by McGyver very cool. also check out the article on the St. John's College - the college attended by MacGyver's creator Lee David Zlotoff. Now I wish my college had been more like that!

'Heavy' Rain reveals age of Sierra Nevada Mountains

King Tut's Mummy's Mummy?, maybe not, but still cool.

Skeleton on Coral marine creatures can be made out of varying materials - cool creature! U.S. marine geologists say they`ve determined corals can change their skeletons, using different minerals depending on the seawater`s chemical composition.

Response to Hawking's question on Yahoo Answers, article by FOX News

Law of Supply and Demand in real lifebaking bread can be geeky?

We used to buy four loaves of fresh-baked bread at our grocery store every Monday night. They raised the price from .90 to 1.28 three months ago. We dropped down to buying only two loaves of bread each week.

After two weeks, there was a gap there that needed to be filled. But - we didn't like paying more for the bread, because over time, .68 a week (for no extra gain) adds up quickly. Instead, we invested a little extra money in yeast and flour. We now bake bread, biscuits or pizza at least twice a week. The price of the bread fell back to .98 cents last week. This Monday we still only bought two loaves.

Our demand went down. If we hadn't started making more of our own supply (which admittedly, took effort and investment), it probably would have went back up. But now, we spend that extra two dollars on a packet of yeast and a bag of flour.

So, maybe the store's net profit is the same (we are still spending two dollars, just not on bread), but our net gain has went up, as we can choose what to make, when to make it, and usually, make more than one thing out of it.

You might ask - but what about your time? Doesn't it cost you a lot because you could be watching TV or something? Isn't it a lot of hard work? Well... we are geeks. We don't watch TV - we appreciate things like the multiplication of yeast and analyzing different recipes. Breadmaking is hard work - but it is interesting hard work that involves natural chemical processes and that 'look what I did' phenomenon. :o) Who'd have thought baking bread was geeky?

Who wants to be a House-nimare? or is that House Nightmare?

The House that Swallowed its Owners

Yet another reason to live below your means, and be happy with less.

My view: Kentucky doesn't get it when it comes to critical thinking in math

In response to article:
Kentucky: Math aid program would be expensive Should they spend money on an expensive computer program for students instead of on more traditional methods?

My View (*on their message board*)

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Actually, this goes for all schools, not just the state of Kentucky.

They should spend the money on teachers and time in the classroom. Students like computers - but they view them as games, not as education tools. They will forget 'playing' the computer program much sooner than they will sitting down with a real person and finding out why the math problem is so hard for them.

This coming from a computer programmer -- programs make good visual and calculating tools and reinforcements but are not a replacement, by any means, for a real person when it comes to the fundamentals.

I am 26 years old - and learned best from a teacher who taught algebra in several different ways at once. He showed that there was more than one way of visualizing a problem - in numbers, graphics and words He then related the specific math process we were studying to previous chapters, science and business. Critical thinking skills like these are what our students need in all of their subjects - to "learn how to learn"(not how to punch keys and look at the screen to see if they got it right).

By the way - that teacher was my stepfather, an ex-Marine and truck driver. He saved me from repeating the seventh grade by looking at WHY the math wasn't sinking in - what mistakes I was making over and over - then finding a way to show me the key steps I had missed in the school teacher's explanation.

Interacting with your kids when they want to learn something will last a lifetime. Otherwise, they will simply be frustrated and feel like no one cares whether they pass or fail.

**Without my dad, I wouldn't have cared about learning math. Without math, I would have never continued on to a career in computer programming and web development.**

Stephen Hawking at Yahoo Answers

First off: Yay for space shuttle Discovery and her crew! Take-off on Independence Day! Godspeed to them and safe journey home.

Stephen Hawking is asking the question: How will the human race survive the next 100 years? Yahoo Answers blog post about the subject.

My answer is on this page. (Rhelynn)

This is a remarkable opportunity - even to think about answering a question posed by this great physicist (and inspiring person all-around!). Even if he doesn't get to read every answer personally, maybe just reading what everyone else thinks around the time you post - and contemplating yourself on the idea, will set something in motion.

I hope it does.

I'm reading: The Metropolitan Opera Murders, and the two high school math books ordered as a comparison to the 1953 Third Course in Mathematics book. This topic really makes me want to get out by Brief History of Time, however, and take another read through it.

Japanese book of tea text at Gutenberg

The Book of Tea -- to read later.