I was ambivalent about going to Las Vegas for the regional conference of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics because my time is pretty limited. I’m really glad I went. Some thoughts on fractions: What IS a fraction? Partitioning. A part of a whole. More than that, each part is equal. Are fractions numbers?…
There have been some interesting posts lately regarding the 100 Thing Challenge. In brief, the idea is to reduce all of your personal possessions to 100 things. Let’s be honest. That is never going to happen here at The Julia Group. When I brought it up, The Invisible Developer suggested that he could perhaps reduce…
Having taught math myself for the past 30 years, and with a brother who is a middle school math teacher, I am obviously not tarring all math teachers with the same brush, but I am really starting to get pissed off here. I have beautiful daughters, and it is not just me who says so….
Feeling confused and hypocritical. I have read a lot of sad posts lately about sexual harassment, by women in the technology industry who were sexually assaulted, women in science who were verbally harassed. The reaction to the harassers of many people (and I admit, my initial response) has been akin to “burn ’em at the…
Funny the things that can bring back memories. There is a store in the Promenade that sells niku-pan. If you don’t know what that is, you’ve never lived in Japan. Imagine a cheap biscuit filled with gravy and a tiny amount of some meat-like substance and you have the idea. It’s cheaper than ramen noodles,…
I have a meeting scheduled for Washington, D.C. that includes federal employees and government contractors. Many of these people are not working now and the building where it is supposed to take place is closed. I had to decide whether or not to buy my plane ticket today and take advantage of the three-week advance…
Maybe when I get even older than I am now, my retirement plan will be to go to really beautiful places and learn stuff. I could take a class in Hawaii, attend a workshop in Halifax or visit museums in Venice. Actually, that’s kind of what I’m doing now. Today, I had the opportunity to…
Hey, if you are a furloughed federal employee looking for something free to do on Thursday because you still haven’t received your back pay that Congress promised you, you can drop on into Salem, Oregon to the Oregon SAS Conference. I will be speaking on Categorical Data Analysis, Telling Stories with Your Data and How…
This past week was great. Like most weeks, I spent part of every day wondering what I ever did to deserve to be so blessed in life, and being grateful for the interesting, dedicated people I met, for the opportunity to learn more every day and aware of the real privileges I have. That I…
Okay, I have finally come to a firm opinion on Wonder Women (I know you are relieved). It’s a good book because it has caused me to think, a lot. As I mentioned in an earlier post, much of it is literally foreign to my experience. This certainly includes every reference to feminism in the…