A Doll Comes To Visit

You are a fifth-grade girl who comes home from school to find a doll on your front porch. The doll looks like you, is dressed like you, and there is something about the eyes. Who left it? Why is it here? And what makes this doll so special?

Read More

With a Little Help From My Friend

Jim Jenkins is an ace detective who solves the most difficult crimes. Yet he always works alone. Or does he?

Read More

The Boy Who Could Wiggle His Ears

Learning how to wiggle your ears is really hard. But you can do it if you keep trying. And if you learn to keep trying, no problem is too big. So if you can wiggle your ears, you can do anything!

Read More

Cleanliness is Next to…

Today, as I’m putting the finishing touches on this year’s marathon training, I’m sharing one of my running stories.   This is true, and was published in Runner’s World magazine in the December 1981 issue.   The county had just finished widening the principal highway near my house.  It also put in a bicycle path,

Read More

Another School Year Starts

Thus starts another year of substitute teaching.  This should be my ninth if I can still count.  Last year I decided to slow down and I only taught in one district.  I’m doing the same this year.  The weather is too nice and there’s a lot of yardwork to catch up on.  And yet… I’ve

Read More

Where Did Algebra Come From, Anyway?

I should know better than to discuss mathematics, but I thought this was going to be easy. I have always thought that algebra originated in the Middle East, algebra being an Arabic-derived word (al-gabr).  Recently I was listening to a Science Friday podcast from July 2nd (http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/sciencefriday/scifri201507031p.mp3) that corroborated that viewpoint.  According to the podcast, the

Read More

The Little Things in History

Many times in history, it’s the little things that are critical.  You may know about how at the Battle of Gettysburg, Union General G. K. Warren found a critical spot in the Union line that was unoccupied and organized its defense on his own initiative.  Otherwise, the battle could’ve been lost.  Also in that battle,

Read More

The Psychology of “Inside Out”

I’ve seen the latest Pixar animated feature Inside Out twice now, and I thought it was a remarkable film.  As an adult, it gave me a lot to think about, yet if I was a kid, I would’ve enjoyed it just as much.  It’s a great starting point for explaining emotions and memories to children.

Read More

Happy Birthday, Snoopy!

I don’t consider myself particularly creative, so I certainly admire creativity in others.  But I know the creative process can be long and evolutionary. I guess this is why a post entitled “Snoopy at 65” on Facebook caught my eye.  This beloved cartoon dog’s origin can be traced back to a sketch about a pup who

Read More

A Quick Math Trick

School is about to start, so — Here is a math trick I just learned about.  If you added up all the numbers from zero to 100, what would be their sum? Sounds daunting, doesn’t it?  Well, there’s an easy way to do this. Imagine a column of numbers from 0 to 100.  How many

Read More

The Logic of Logic

Is there anything in this world that’s completely logical? How about mathematics?  This is one area in which every problem has a precise, finite solution. Or so many people thought.  The seminal work Principia Mathematica by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell  sought to describe a set of axioms and rules which, in principal at

Read More