Sowing The Future

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
—     Robert Louis Stevenson
If you are thinking a year ahead, sow a seed.  If you are thinking 10 years ahead, plant a tree.  If you are thinking 100 years ahead, educate the people.
—     Kuan Tzu
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On This Day In:
2021	Unmistakable Progress
	Dom-De-Doo-Be Dom
	Reviewing Austen
2020	A Better Synthesis
2019	It’s Only Funny If You’re Old Enough To Know What “Film” Was
2018	Bourne Wicked Blonde
	First Things First
2017	This Explains A Lot
2016	Me Too
2015	A Proper Price
2014	Well Hard
2013	Because I Can
	Eloquence, n.
2012	Why Bother?
2011	Peculiar Notions

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Get Outdoors More

The trees and stones will teach you what you never learn from the masters.
—     Bernard of Clairvaux
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On This Day In:
2021	Re-institute The Wall Between Church And State
	Once In My Life
2020	Early Knowledge
	Seen Any Messages Lately?
2019	I Don’t Think We’ll Be Serving Them Cake
2018	New And Old
2017	Ever
2016	At The Center
2015	True Value In Life
2014	A Potential To Be Concerned
2013	Fine No More
2012	Have You Checked Your Height Lately?
2011	Are You Convinced?

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So THAT’s Why…

God created war so that Americans would learn geography.
—    Mark Twain
[Just over a week ago, I was discussing the Ukraine (at that time the Russian threat of invasion) with someone who said, he didn’t want the U.S. to get involved in the problems of some “tiny, insignificant country in Europe that I can’t even point to on a map”.  I replied Ukraine is bigger than California (almost twice the size) and just smaller than Texas (roughly 90%), and you probably can’t find it because it was part of the U.S.S.R. when you were studying world geography.  I added the Ukraine President is the guy who stood up to #45 when he (#45) tried to extort them into a announcing a bogus investigation of Joe Biden in exchange for military funding for Ukraine’s defense.  The funding had already been authorized by Congress and #45 was withholding the funds to try to “buy” the U.S. election with a made-up scandal.  Maybe Twain was only part right.    —    KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2021	I Welcome The Questions
	6:00 AM
2020	Increasing Importance
	And Now Joe
2019	But Yours
2018	And Smile More Often
2017	He’s Keeping The Light On For Us
2016	The Results Of Trying Too Hard
2015	Make Me Look
2014	Fresh Drink
2013	Good Business
2012	Unsure Spirit
2011	A Lost Valuable

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Desert Springs

A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people.  It is a never failing spring in the desert.
―     Andrew Carnegie
[Found at one of the blogs I follow:  “I didn’t have my glasses on….“
Located at:  https://ididnthavemyglasseson.com/
The specific post is at:  https://ididnthavemyglasseson.com/2017/03/11/im-a-reflection-of-the-community-tupac-shakur/
Please visit the original blog / site if you have a minute…    —    KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2021	And Usually The Former
	The Real Heir…
2020	The Doggie Dab
	A Fork In The Road
2019	#LyingDonald’s Problem With The News And Truth
2018	Oh, Hell
2017	No Welcome Mat Here
2016	Making It Up
	A Missed Beat
2015	We Are All Explorers
2014	Still Trying To Cope
2013	Dear Diary (A good chuckle!)
2012	Conveniently Sequential
2011	King’s Speech Number Four
	Rational Probability

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Does Blogging Count?

Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.
Seriously!  I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives.
—     Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From a letter to students at Xavier High School in New York City in response to an invitation to visit their school.
The quote is part of a larger response which was found on one of the blogs I follow:  https://news.lettersofnote.com/
The specific post can be found at:  https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/make-your-soul-grow
[Please visit the original site if you have a spare minute.    —    KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2020	Even Being President For Almost Four Years
	#45: Crying About The American Voters
	Dying Isn’t Much Of A Way To Make A Living Boy
2019	And Autumnal Foliage
2018	Up Hill, Both Ways
2017	Trump Carnivores – The Revolution So Far
2016	Election Results
2015	Speak Louder
2014	Why I Frequently Give In
2013	Am Remembering
2012	Sustained Fear
2011	Commitment

 

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Learning And Teaching

Feynman Learning Technique:
1)  Take a piece of paper and write the concept’s name at the top.
2)  Explain the concept using simple language (show examples to demonstrate you know how the concept works)
3)  Identify problem areas in your explanation or examples and then go back to the sources to review the material / concept
4)  Pinpoint any complicated terms and challenge yourself to simplify them.
Several days ago, I posted a quote and made a comment about excellence in teaching.  (Why We Have So Few Personal Favorites )  Basically, my proposition was that it is extremely difficult to evaluate the competence and productivity of a teacher because of the number of variables and an inability to control them to a point sufficient to determine what are the tools we could provide the “most effective” teachers to make them better (or any teachers for that matter).
I never gave much thought about teaching until I joined the Army and they insisted I learn, participate in and practice “Performance Oriented Training” (POTs training) when I attended the NCO Academy in Frankfurt, Germany.  Essentially, POTs stipulates that until the student can perform the task, the training has not been effective.  There were three elements:  1)  the instructor demonstrates the task to be performed / explaining the objective of the task, the reason for the task, and each step necessary to complete the task;  2)  the instructor then walks / talks the student through each step as they (the student) follows along with each step;  and, 3)  the instructor asks the student to perform the task independently.  If the student fails in performance (step 3), the instructor must return to element 2.  Re-cycle through elements 2 and 3 until 3 can be accomplished independently.  At that point, the student can perform the task and the training has been effective.  (Of course long term retention of the knowledge / skill is a different matter.)
This training methodology served me very well during my working life / career as I was frequently called upon to instruct on topics in the military, and then as a civilian:  from credit card fraud prevention, to correspondent banking, to numerous Information Technology topics (basic trouble-shooting, using spreadsheets, using word processing applications, server and network administration, setting up databases, conducting data analysis and creating web pages to display the analysis / data).
Rather late in my career, I “discovered” (i.e. read about) Dr Richard P. Feynman (PhD) and his personal learning methodology.  Post-employment (i.e. in retirement), I’ve now watched bits and pieces of Professor Feynman’s lectures (on YouTube) and I believe his methodology is a civilian / academic equivalent of personal POTs training.  That is:  how we should expect to teach ourselves and verify our own knowledge / competency in a subject.  I shudder to think of the number of lectures / classes / training sessions I’ve attended where the instructor either did not have this level of personal expertise or expect the student to demonstrate understanding at the end of the session.  Which, (again) is why we remember our few “great” teachers over our lifetimes.
Disclaimer:  The list of four steps above are available in several books and on the web and the exact wording is neither mine nor exclusive to any specific source so I have not bothered to cite any “original” source.  I apologize in advance if anyone reading this feels I have used their exact language describing Dr. Feynman’s technique.
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On This Day In:
2020	Does Anyone Else Look Forward To The Last Lawn Mowing ‘Til Spring?
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2019	10,000 Tries
2018	Keep America Great – Vote This Tuesday
2017	Old Style Ear Candy
2016	Next Tuesday
2015	Wanna Trade?
2014	Brothers And Friends
2013	So Suddenly
2012	At The Center
2011	Live Long And Thinner
	Got Health?
2010	SF Giants – 2010 World Series Champions!!!
	52 – 54 – 56 – 58
2009	Diet Update
	Pictures from Chicago Trip…

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Why We Have So Few Personal Favorites

Teaching is the only major occupation of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance.  In teaching we rely on the ‘naturals’, the ones who somehow know how to teach.
—     Peter Drucker
[One of the few times I don’t agree with Drucker…   I believe we rely on ‘willing to’ rather than ‘naturals’ to become teachers and then hope most rise to a level of competence and performance.  First, I’m not convinced “average” people are capable of being competent teachers.  I don’t think the ability to teach academic subjects is a skill the average person has.  I do believe that everyone can teach “some” things – just not academic topics, and certainly not at all levels.  Second, I believe “tools” make most people better at “some” things, but do not necessarily make average people competent or able to perform in academic areas.  I’m not convinced tools necessarily make a below-average (whatever that is) person average (whatever that is);  just better than they might have been otherwise.  Third, I’m not convinced we have adequate testing methodologies to rate an academic teacher’s competence and / or performance.  Students are living beings and not subject to controlled experiments as inputs or as outputs.  The “best” we can do is use statistics to estimate student competence / performance under very limited circumstances and, therefore, the results of the comparisons may or may not be widely applicable across wider groups in society.  Even the world’s greatest high school math teacher may not be good (or average) in a grammar school or at a university, let alone at another high school or in other subjects.  Finally, we believe we can use standardized tests to measure the students performance and, therefore, “measure / determine” a teacher’s competence.  This is an assumption which may or may not be valid.  In any case, my understanding is that social / economic banding is the most common important factor for economic progress / success.  This banding has very little to do with an individual teacher’s ability or a student’s performance.  The same teacher can teach multiple siblings at the same school and still end up with a wide variance of sibling performance success.     —    KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2020	Why We Must Vote #45 Out
	If You Believe
2019	Sometimes I Still Have Trouble Sleeping
	Public Ridicule For Office Holder
2018	And Flights Of Fancy
	Dodgers Lose 2nd Consecutive World Series!!
2017	By Their Acts Thy Shall Know Them
2016	Remembering
2015	One
2014	Sure Experiments And Demonstrated Arguments
2013	Irrational Complacency
2012	Why Criticize?
	Giants Sweep 2012 World Series With Game 4 Win (4 To 3)!!!
2011	Saying Just Enough
2010	Giants Win Game 2 Shutout of Rangers – 9 to 0!!!

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Three Or Four Elements

I have been learning to play guitar since January of this year.  Although I’ve always liked music and songs, I’ve never given much thought to what music is.  I mean, I’ve always considered it as “sound” (in a physics sense), but learning to “play” music (make sounds) as turned into a deep and enriching exercise in itself.  Last night, I read someone’s definition of “music” as a combination of three things: rhythm, melody and harmony.  I thought this was interesting, so, today I went on Google and Wikipedia to see what they had to say about it…
There seems to be a (little / minor) disagreement about what “makes” music.  Most of what I read agrees with the three parts above, but I also found other sources which added a fourth:  dynamics.
This is my simplistic understanding of each:
1)  Rhythm:  the beat and speed of the sound(s);
2)  Melody:  the grouping of the sounds (typically making it – the “music” – distinctively memorable) into start, order and ending;
3)  Harmony:  the mixing of sounds for effect (happy / sad, blending / discordant); and,
4)  Dynamics:  how loud or quietly / soft or hard something sounds.
I’m sure any readers who are “real” musicians will find my explanation / understanding of these elements of music simplistic, and I’m okay with that.  LoL!  I think it’s amusing (amazing) I’ve enjoyed music my whole life, but never thought about ANY of this.  And, to be honest, I have large blind spots about most things under “arts and culture”.  I know I don’t know about them, but I have no idea how much I don’t know about them.  It’s fun starting to learn!
C’est la vie…
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On This Day In:
2020	I Am Shocked! Shocked I Say!
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2019	…And Bullet-Proof Suits
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2018	What Do You Hear?
2017	I’ve Got A Pocket Protector
	Word Up!
2016	Better Value
2015	Any Port In A Storm
2014	Babies (II)
2013	Why The Young Stay In College Longer These Days
2012	Perceptions Of Worth
2011	Flavor
2010	Giants Win 1-0 !!

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How Learning Infections Begin

We destroy our children’s songs of existence by giving them inhibitions, teaching them to be cynical, manipulative, and all the rest of it…  You become hardened, but you can find that playfulness again.  We’ve got to find a way to get music and kids together, as well as to teach teachers how to discover their own love of learning.  Then the infectious process begins.
—     Leonard Bernstein
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On This Day In:
2020	Policies Not People
	Just Thinking To Myself
2019	Should I Start With My Religion?
2018	Fear And Hope
	Day 33: Good News & Prep
2017	Directions
2016	Handle With Care
2015	Nothing But Pride
2014	Go
2013	Well, Does It?
2012	Near Misses Aren’t Successes
2011	Uncomfortable Feelings
2010	San Francisco (favorites)…
	Bullets or Butter?

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Awaiting The Polisher

I consider a human soul without education like marble in the quarry, which shows none of its inherent beauties till the skill of the polisher fetches out the colours, makes the surface shine, and discovers every ornamental cloud, spot and vein that runs through the body of it.
—     Joseph Addison
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On This Day In:
2020	I Don’t Want To Get Any Older…
	Maybe I’ll See You There
2019	Free At Last!
2018	Some Basic Virtues
	Day 17: Fit In 48’s
2017	Too Soon We Part…
	Rigorous And Difficult
2016	Where And Why
2015	The Beauty Of Thy Voice
2014	Faith In Men
2013	An Average Verge
2012	Dew Drop Secrets
2011	Champion Freedom

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We Are More Alike

I would encourage us all, African Americans, Asians, Latinos, Whites, Native Americans to study history.  I long for the time when all the human history is taught as one history.  I am stronger because you are stronger.  I am weaker if you are weak.  So we are more alike than we are unlike.
—    Maya Angelou
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On This Day In:
2020	One Lesson In Diversity
2019	And Yet, I Believe
2018	Beats
	First Step: Starting Cleansing (Again)
2017	Effective Stimuli
2016	Dave’s Not Here, Man
2015	Blink
2014	The Struggle To Educate America Continues…
2013	On Elections
2012	Warm Smiles
	Pick Your Poison
2011	Straight Shooters

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Don’t Forget Luck

Inherently, each one of us has the substance within to achieve whatever our goals and dreams define.  What is missing from each of us is the training, education, knowledge and insight to utilize what we already have.
—    Mark Twain
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On This Day In:
2020	Plumbers, Philosophers Or Presidents
2019	Watching
2018	Even #45 Shall Pass To Sand
2017	Shedding Light
	In The Neighborhood
2016	The Responsibility Of Freedom
2015	Face It
	Birdfight
2014	Honoring Firefighters
2013	And Never Will
2012	The Human Adventure Continues
2011	Almost Never

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Best To Be Trained And Educated

To be prepared against surprise is to be trained.  To be prepared for surprise is to be educated.
—    James P. Carse
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On This Day In:
2020	Diversity And Uniqueness
2019	Ebb And Flow
2018	America: Paging #45
2017	Near By
2016	Maybe Someday
2015	How’s The Cow?
2014	Mind Made Up
2013	On Purpose
2012	The Dream
2011	What Could Be More Comfortable?

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Start Reading / Start Building

I conceive a knowledge of books is the basis upon which other knowledge is to be built.
―    George Washington
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On This Day In:
2020	Nurturing Trees And Plants
2019	Seeking Needs
2018	Not Sure Anyway…
	All Clear Nuclear And Burn
2017	Forms Of Conservation
2016	Oh, So Lacking
2015	e pluribus unum
2014	Nothing So Far Removed
2013	Positions
2012	Two Errors
2011	Long Live The King!

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Spending A Lifetime Learning To Draw

All of life is a constant education.
—    Eleanor Roosevelt
Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.
—    John W. Gardner
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On This Day In:
2020	Light And Dark
2019	My Dog Scratches At The Bedroom Door
2018	One Person Can
2017	Been There, Thought That
2016	Diligent Students
2015	Unanswered Prayers
2014	Pray, v.
2013	As I…
2012	But We Need Room
2011	A Definition Of Leadership

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