Reinforced Learning

To teach is to learn twice.
—  Joseph Joubert
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On This Day In:
2016	I Choose To Believe
2015	What They Don’t Teach You At School
2014	Still Trying To Die (5)
2013	Honest Doubt
2012	Choice
2011	Ownership Of Thought

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Approval First

I believe that every human being with a physically normal brain can learn a great deal and can be surprisingly intellectual.  I believe that what we badly need is social approval of learning and social rewards for learning.
—  Isaac Asimov
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On This Day In:
2016	In Search Of Words
	Day 2 – Blending
2015	At What Price?
2014	Intricate And Subtle Order
2013	Attention To Detail
2012	Aequanimitas!
2011	Consider This

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…And With It Civilization

Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes.
—  Peter F. Drucker
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On This Day In:
2016	Just Like My Mother
2015	All Omissions Are Mine
2014	Precise Order
2013	Uh, No. Not Really…
	Deep Regions
2012	A Pre-Valentine’s Day Message
2011	Easy Like Sunday Morning
	May I Have A Little More, Please…
2010	Valleys and Peaks

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Learning Subtle Differences

After A While
After a while you learn
the subtle difference between
holding a hand and chaining a soul
and you learn
that love doesn’t mean leaning
and company doesn’t always mean security.
And you begin to learn
that kisses aren’t contracts
and presents aren’t promises
and you begin to accept your defeats
with your head up and your eyes ahead
with the grace of woman,
not the grief of a child
and you learn
to build all your roads on today
because tomorrow’s ground is
too uncertain for plans
and futures have a way of falling down
in mid-flight.
After a while you learn
that even sunshine burns
if you get too much
so you plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone
to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure
you really are strong
you really do have worth
and you learn
and you learn
with every goodbye, you learn…
©1971 Veronica A. Shoffstall
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On This Day In:
2015	Dog Eat Dog World?
2014	And Sometimes Blogs About It
2013	Outside-In
2012	They Are All Perfect
2011	Delegation – The “How-To’s”
2009	Diet Update and Other Bits & Bobs…

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Happy New Year — 2016!

Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful.  Man has no nobler or more valuable possession than time.
―  Thomas Jefferson
There isn’t time, so brief is life, for bickerings, apologies, heartburnings, callings to account.  There is only time for loving, and but an instant, so to speak, for that.
—  Mark Twain
[Hopefully you did not wake too late this morning or regain consciousness too painfully from last night…  Happy New Year, all!!  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2015	Happy New Year — 2015!
2014	Happy New Year – 2014!
2013	Another New Year’s Thought (In Case It Rains)
	Happy New Year – 2013!
2012	Best Wishes For 2012!
	Where Did You Spend New Year’s Eve?
2011	Happy New Year (2011)!!

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Of Two Minds

Today’s book review is: “The Aims Of Education” (1929 ©), by Alfred North Whitehead.  The book is a collection of papers and presentations (speeches) given by the author on a number of topics: education, freedom and discipline, science, the function of universities and the nature of thought itself.  Although a relatively small work, it is quite deep and scholastic / academic in tone, which will not be to everyone’s taste.
Whitehead was a mathematician who emigrated to America and became a philosopher in his later years.  Apparently, Cambridge had a lecturer time limit of twenty-five years and he was forced into retirement.  He lectured in London for another dozen years before moving to Harvard where he also spent a little over a dozen years.
The book is really in two parts for me: the parts I understood and agreed with wholeheartedly (the first half of the book) and the later part (mainly dealing with the “organization of thought” and “the anatomy of some scientific ideas“) which I believe I understood, but which I disagreed with.  Metaphysically speaking, Whitehead poses that reality is what we (individually) perceive it to be and the normalization of perception is (what we agree on collectively) what we “scientifically” say is the “real” world.  In a strange way, the only things which can be real are those which we perceive to be real and on which we can agree with others in their perceptions.  This “relativism” of a perceived real world has consequences, but I’m not sure I have ever been able to get my head around them.  (I went through this in a political theory class back in my own university days.)
While I feel I understood what Whitehead was trying to express, I found it extremely dry reading and in the end (after several weeks of having the book on my bedside table), I had to force myself to read the last 30-40 odd pages.  My difficulty was less my “disagreement” with his proposition, as the general feeling of its irrelevance in “my” real world.  I don’t really care if all the universe is really changing and even mountains are eventually reduced to sand.  For my lifetime, they are mountains.  I recognize that in a billion or so years, the Earth will no longer be here (or the mountain), but for now, I still need to climb it, ski it, or build a train tunnel through it and I (we) can still ascertain (agree) on it’s location, height, circumference, etc.  It is as real as I need it to be.
If this review seems a bit negative, let me also high-light the books strengths (or at least the parts I agree with), too.  The book’s title refers to the first lecture in the book and describes what we as a society should hope to gain by educating our youth.  It describes the “rhythm” of education in a person’s life.  It also relates Whitehead’s views on subjects to be taught and their order of learning.  As mentioned above, he goes on to discuss the value of a liberal education, the use of classics in education, and the role of a university in developing the leaders society requires.  Whitehead does not neglect the necessity of practical and technical training in the spectrum of education .  He simply notes they will be sufficient for the masses and remain a minimum standard for the well developed (pre-) university graduate.  This seems an extremely elitist view until one recognizes that education is a lifetime endeavor and returning to school (university) is not (or it should not be) prohibited for those who start their working lives as tradesmen and technicians.
Final recommendation:  moderate to strong recommendation.  This book is a definite “classic” and I feel I am “better” for having experienced it.  But, and this is a rather large qualification for me, it isn’t a book I left feeling many others would be interested in.  Primarily because of the nature of the subject matter, but also because of the way it’s expressed (extremely erudite language), this is not a book (I believe) many will force themselves to wade through.  Very reminiscent of a description I once heard of the book “A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking, this is a book you want people to see on your coffee table, but which nobody ever actually reads.  Stick to the first bits on education, liberal arts and the purpose of a university, and leave the rest for when you tire of insomnia.
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On This Day In:
2014	Sums
2013	Memories & Binging
	Admiration Due
2012	Choices Matter
2011	Acceptance Is The Key
2010	Just A Permanent Crease…
	Bodily Functions

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Defining Maleness

What Every Boy Should Know
 

I love reading great lessons that mothers should impart to their sons!  My college roommate has 2 boys older than our son, and she has often shared her advice to me.  She insisted her sons always ring the doorbell when picking up a girl, rather than the texting method most used by teenagers these days.  And as the mother of 2 girls, I must say that would have been refreshing.  So not only for the sake of your son, but also for the sake of the girl who captures his heart, teach him well.
 

1. Play a sport.
It will teach you how to win honorably, lose gracefully, respect authority, work with others, manage your time and stay out of trouble.  And maybe even throw or catch.
 

2. You will set the tone for the sexual relationship, so don’t take something away from her that you can’t give back.
 

3. Use careful aim when you pee.
Somebody’s got to clean that up, you know.
 

4. Save money when you’re young because you’re going to need it someday.
 

5. Allow me to introduce you to the dishwasher, oven, washing machine, iron, vacuum, mop and broom.
Now please go use them.
 

6. Pray and be a spiritual leader.
 

7. Don’t ever be a bully and don’t ever start a fight, but if some idiot clocks you, please defend yourself.
 

8. Your knowledge and education is something that nobody can take away from you.
 

9. Treat women kindly.
Forever is a long time to live alone and it’s even longer to live with somebody who hates your guts.
 

10. Take pride in your appearance.
 

11. Be strong and tender at the same time.
 

12. A woman can do everything that you can do.
This includes her having a successful career and you changing diapers at 3 A.M.  Mutual respect is the key to a good relationship.
 

13. “Yes ma’am” and “yes sir” still go a long way.
 

14. The reason that they’re called “private parts” is because they’re “private”.
Please do not scratch them in public.
 

15. Peer pressure is a scary thing.
Be a good leader and others will follow.
 

16. Bringing her flowers for no reason is always a good idea.
 

17. It is better to be kind than to be right.
 

18. A sense of humor goes a long way in the healing process.
 

19. Please choose your spouse wisely.
My daughter-in-law will be the gatekeeper for me spending time with you and my grandchildren.
 

20. Remember to call your mother because I might be missing you.
 

Found at:  http://www.tropicalspiceliving.com

The original posting is at:  http://www.tropicalspiceliving.com/?p=4114
 

[This is not a blog I follow, but it’s a posting I enjoyed stumbling on.  —  KMAB]
 

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