The Mystery of the Octopus

On speaking a foreign language for business or travel

 One of the questions I asked as a judge at a masters degree contest at an international business university: "What three languages would you learn that you do not speak now--and why would you use them for international business?" (My answers, just for the record: "Spanish, Portuguese, and French." (I chose Spanish and Portuguese for South America, and French because it is spoken in so many other countries.)

I've also recommended for college-university credits that if someone is already fluent in a foreign language and it is offered by their college-university of choice, take it at the basic level and ace the class for elective credits.

The Creative Classroom Kitchen: food that prepares itself on command!

 (Sigh. THIS totally makes my efforts look like I'm out of my league in the kitchen.)

Panda punctuation: Eats, Shoots & Leaves book

 

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.
"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."
The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation.
"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots & leaves."

It's available on Amazon.com and also abebooks.com. Go get a copy.

This is also my defense of the Oxford comma. But in this case, the first comma is wrong and should not have been included.

Crafty commas cause commotions in creative classrooms

In a commotion over a comma? I agree that the comma is a VERY hard thing to understand, but try and be calm about it. (Just ask Grandpa, who has now realized that he's been invited for dinner instead of finding himself AS dinner.)
Try these rules (and spare the old man's life and your error in meal choice!)

Between words or word groups in a series
  Example: Medical supplies, food, blankets, and clothing were rushed to the flood area.

To separate parts of a compound sentence
 Example: Many homes were flooded, and owners had to be rescued by police. (You can make two sentences: the comma helps split them apart.)

  To separate a direct quote from the rest of a sentence.
  Example: “We’re going home,” said Nick. She answered, “No, I’m staying.”

  When you speak to someone, use a comma to set apart their name.
  Example:  “Alicia, please come and help me.” 

 IF YOU BEGIN A SENTENCE WITH “Yes,” “No,” “Well,” “Oh,”…..

1.  “Yes, I want to get better grades!” “No, I did not forget!”
2.  “Well, I’ll just try it again.”
3.   “Oh, I did my work yesterday.”

     * The “Oxford” Comma

 Used with three items:
Example:  “Peter, Paul, and Mary were a folk group during the 1960s.”
 *(This often appears as “Peter, Paul and Mary.”)
  (But this is the reason for the Oxford comma: otherwise, how do we separate the 2^nd and 3^rd members or items?)

 Transition phrases get help from commas

1.  Example: Generally, one can see a transition phrase followed by a comma.
2.  Example: Moreover, they are at the head of a sentence.
3.   Example: However, there’s always someone who forgets them!
4. Example: Therefore, use them with a comma!
5. Example:  In fact, they work much like transitions.
6. Example: On the other hand, they lend a big hand to a sentence.
7. Example: For that matter, they handle the work of a smaller phrase.
8. Example: All things considered, they are useful.

 BIG intro phrases get commas

1. Example: As far as I’m concerned, it’s just about obvious that a comma makes a difference.
2. Example: In spite of the best intentions, students still argue and fuss that they don’t understand them.
3. Example: After all the presentations are done, I’m sure everyone grasps the idea—or else.

If two or more adjectives describe or modify the same noun, make sure they work separately if appropriate:

1.   “He was a bashful, sleepy kid.”
2.   “The eager, radiant princess kissed the slimy, vile frog.”

  (Each adjective works by itself)

  Other uses of commas
In addresses, to separate smaller from larger units: Washington, D.C.
 Albertville, Alabama

 Date (if day/month/year is used. NO if only month-year):
 June 14, 2006, was a very good day for a wedding.

Rescuing Vietnamese refugees at sea: 1980 with the U.S. Navy

 Yesterday marked the anniversary 46 years ago when I raised my hand and entered military service. This is one of my best and most meaningful memories.

History lesson for anyone born after 1980 and for those who ask "what is freedom?" It is the right to choose and make decisions for the well-being of oneself and one's family. It is the opportunity to find success by the efforts that are made by the individual. It is the acceptance of one's beliefs, values, and standards as long as they are in harmony with society and one's chosen country, provided that there are no significant and unbiased restrictions on those beliefs or values. It is the ability to be accepted regardless of one's skin color, even though it may be disliked or not welcomed by those with shallow minds. It is the chance to live in the United States of America.

I was aboard the USS Blue Ridge, the 7th Fleet flagship, the day these people in the movie were rescued. It makes my throat close up with memories of how hard we searched for the people who fled Vietnam in 1979-1980 in these small boats. They crammed aboard with limited food and water, and some did not make it safely to rescue efforts. On my first ship, the USS Oklahoma City (CG-5), we worked 20-hour shifts in flag administration to get the logistics and coordinated efforts of the officers who were involved in planning these rescue operations, especially in planning the P-3 Orion planes who were sent out on reconnaissance missions. 

I remember the public address call that asked us for clothing donations. I gave up some dungaree pants, and I remember seeing them on one of the men who was rescued. I am so thankful that I was a sailor in the U.S. Navy.

Creative Easter eggs!

I know some teachers (and parents) like to do creative things for Easter. Just remember: if you want to eat the eggs, just swap out shaving cream with whipped cream--and enjoy the fun!

National Geographic Documentary - Prehistoric pig: the Enteledont

Fluid Learning as a way of creative thinking-organizing

 

I am a Fluid Thinker and Learner; this is my style of Intelligence. It's a phrase I've coined to identify how I think out-of-the-box; to be creatively original and yet be very detail-oriented and analytical. It's the upside of ADD, and it does work well for those who are very active up to hyperactive. It may also involve abundant mental and physical energy and ambidextrous abilities.

It is not one of the standard measurement systems; my intellect is extraordinarily higher than most people, but I don't test well. Yet I have an encyclopedic-photographic memory. I consume information with a left-brain format, but I'm very Creative & Quick with words, wit, and sound-images. 

 Fluid Thinkers use tangible and intangible ideas together in ways that are not always bound by structure: we extrapolate and juxtapose. This also reflects the dual-brain at work; with theatrical personalities that pop up in teaching skits. Teaching on multiple levels at once comes up with different ideas. For a demonstration, listen to the post with guitarist-military advisor Jeff "Skunk" Baxter on this site. (He is a legendary musician as well as a consultant to the Pentagon on missile defense.)

Jung would say I'm an Action-Intuitive, and I am very ethereal and empathic. I'm a medium (the ability to communicate with deceased entities; no, not "psychic"): sometimes when I've read heavily from an author and then start to mentally mimic his/her style. It gets complicated when I've found via reading that writers who passed away use my mediumship to get through ideas in writing. Some comics have also borrowed me: Groucho Marx, for one. O. Henry and Mark Twain--and Oscar Wilde, by birth claim of mine from a VERY recognized-by-friends past life association--have "taught" with me.

Not every Fluid Thinker is understood in his/her own land or time. It's because we can mentally travel in time. H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Ray Bradbury, among others, yes? Want a really wild and twisted great book: The Man Who Folded Himself. Wait until you meet time travel with yourself--as both male and female.

    

     I think with images and sound too; as a music journalist for classic blues, rock, jazz, and other styles, I wrote reviews that were filled with similes and metaphors that evoke the imagination. And I teach psychological astrology because the symbols are visual words that I can understand: like chess pieces that carry energy dynamics in their exchanges with personality and the psyche, and the board is the chart wheel.

    

     We're the New Students many of you are meeting in the classroom now--and our way of responding to and exchanging our awareness of ideas will be exciting and unique. We are Fluid Learners & Thinkers--and we are ready to share new methods of Understanding and Teaching with the world. We're Fluid Learners.

Academic sources need authenticity

 If you're in high school or enrolled in college or at a university:

Academic sources are important because they show research and proof of validation that the source is reliable. Better yet: https://nmsu.libguides.com/sources/types

By the way: NO, "Mailchimp" is not a reliable source. 

Neither is Wikipedia.

Types of Sources

Scholarly publications (Journals)

Popular sources (News and Magazines)

Professional/Trade sources.

Books / Book Chapters.

Conference proceedings.

Government Documents.

Theses & Dissertations

books and encyclopedias.

websites, web pages, and blogs.

magazine, journal, and newspaper articles.

research reports and conference papers.

interviews and surveys.

photographs, paintings, cartoons, and other artworks.

TV and radio programs, podcasts, movies, and videos.

Nudibranches - the beautiful and toxic (to other creatures) sea slugs

Something for the science-minded crowd (and your kid who is now begging you for one):  

the deadly colorful nudibranches 
(sea slugs) "(nudi-brinks")

The toxic snails of the sea.

APA formats explained (again) and TURNITIN for checking plagiarism on Canvas ONLINE

 

Mastery Criteria technique: four sites for the educator and student needs

 I'm mentioning this as a teaching technique not only for younger students in elementary level but also for adults. I've learned the hard way that each of us has his or her own learning style and pace of understanding information--and processing it. That also means RETAINING it so that it becomes part of the individual's capacity to make decisions and react to personal and social cues.

This is not meant by me for just an IEP. Instead, I am reminding everyone who has a role in education that learning is not a cookie-cutter process. Please consider levels of mastery criteria in your method of teaching. I am including a link for those with special "on the spectrum" needs. 

https://theautismhelper.com/writing-the-iep-goal-mastery-criteria/

https://www.theintentionaliep.com/determining-iep-goal-mastery-criteria/

http://dcmsspaces.weebly.com/uploads/5/2/6/9/5269188/_mastery_obj.pdf

https://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/jones/jones007.shtml

Jeff "Skunk" Baxter - ASYMMETRICAL THINKING IN A CONVENTIONAL WORLD.

This is for the higher education visitors--and that also goes for the online MBA students whom I have recently taught. When I tell you to think outside the box, I mean the box doesn't necessarily have to be a square. Try a trapezoid box--or even better, a box that's octagonal--and then give it the opportunity to take on other shapes. At least, my mind goes in places that the traditional thinker may not go--but I find it comfortable.

Oh. He said, "At a high delta-V, in the exo-atmospheric interception using an S-Ban radar, how do you guarantee a high PK in a threat cloud?" Want to figure out what that means? Just listen: YOU're an out-of-the-box thinking manager, right? Let me try: "At a high velocity {delta speed range} in the upper atmosphere range of interception using a specific missile defense radar system, how do you guarantee a confirmed {high-rate} percentage rate of destroying the target (PK or 'kill percent rate') in a scenario where the warhead is also accompanied by the flying junk pile of debris created by launching a missile as well as by decoys or other countermeasures designed to complicate the missile defense job. All of these objects move together through space as part of a threat cloud."

You're welcome.

Why do hammerhead sharks look like that?

Just because there's going to be someone out there who asks, "Why?" 

 https://theconversation.com/why-do-hammerhead-sharks-have-hammer-shaped-heads-184372

A tree lasts all year old

 

Deep space from the James Webb telescope

 

The patrons of arts and sciences: the nine Muses of Greek mythology

 

The Nine Muses were minor goddesses of Greek mythology, who were closely linked to the arts and sciences. They guided and inspired mortals in their creation of literature, music, drama and other artistic and scientific ventures. The Muses rarely featured in any major myths of their own, but they were often invoked and remained among the most important of the Greek pantheon of deities.

Analytically The Nine Muses Are:

1. Clio: The Muse Clio discovered history and guitar. History was named Clio in the ancient years, because it refers to “kleos” the Greek word for the heroic acts. Clio was always represented with a clarion in the right arm and a book in the left hand.

2. Euterpe: Muse Euterpe discovered several musical instruments, courses and dialectic. She was always depicted holding a flute, while many instruments were always around her.

3. Thalia: Muse Thalia was the protector of comedy; she discovered comedy, geometry, architectural science and agriculture. She was also protector of Symposiums. She was always depicted holding a theatrical – comedy mask.

4. Melpomene: Opposite from Thalia, Muse Melpomene was the protector of Tragedy; she invented tragedy, rhetoric speech and Melos. She was depicted holding a tragedy mask and usually bearing a bat.

5. Terpsichore: Terpsichore was the protector of dance; she invented dances, the harp and education. She was called Terpsichore because she was enjoying and having fun with dancing ( “Terpo” in Greek refers to be amused). She was depicted wearing laurels on her head, holding a harp and dancing.

6. Erato: Muse Erato was the protector of Love and Love Poetry – as well as wedding. Her name comes from the Greek word “Eros” that refers to the feeling of falling in love. She was depicted holding a lyre and love arrows and bows.

7. Polymnia: Muse Polymnia was the protector of the divine hymns and mimic art; she invented geometry and grammar. She was depicted looking up to the Sky, holding a lyre.

8. Ourania: Muse Ourania was the protector of the celestial objects and stars; she invented astronomy. She was always depicted bearing stars, a celestial sphere and a bow compass.

9. Calliope: Muse Calliope was the superior Muse. She was accompanying kings and princes in order to impose justice and serenity. She was the protector of heroic poems and rhetoric art. According to the myth, Homer asks from Calliope to inspire him while writing Iliad and Odyssey, and, thus, Calliope is depicted holding laurels in one hand and the two Homeric poems in the other hand.

The Nine Muses have been inspiring artists since the antiquity and there countless paintings, drawings, designs, poems and statues dedicated to them. All artists of the Renaissance acknowledged their importance in artistic creation,  dedicating their works to the Muses.

Today, the most famous depiction of the Muses in sculpture is in Greece, in Corfu; the Empress Sissi of Austria had their statues made for her, in order to ornament the garden of her retreat house in Corfu, the famous Achilleion.

From the mind of a child...comes awareness of skills and talents

 

Before you say "Oh, how cute," REALLY look at this image and consider: this kid's mind is already thinking on higher levels. His parents might not even realize it now. But he is taking his view of things--including spatial awareness--to a different point. This kid may be an artist in the making, or an engineer--or both. And he is showing his talents!!

The Biggest Little Farm - Sustainable farming