First Blog

In the recent soccer match between Manchester United (MU) and Leicester,  MU won the game 3-1.  This means they get three points in the standings.  Good.  In their previous match, Leicester won 5-3, meaning MU got zero points in the standings. So you might conclude they broke even.  No gain no loss.  MU gained and average of 1.5 points for each game  BUT... MU was suppose to have won both games, based on their talent and win-loss records.  So, MU should have six points.  This gives a ratio of 6:1.5, or a factor of four.  1. Really bad math this is. Why? 2. But there is a correct mathematical interpretation of this "factor" of four.  What is it?

The brain and the mind For most chordates, the brain is a neural system of nodes firing as they will. The brain is comprised of several systems, sensory, regulatory, and otherwise, each competing for system resources. These systems create the brain state.    The mind controls, or attempts to control this system.   This is a duality, a form much discussed for millennia. Here we attempt a functional approach, with the brain and the mind each maintaining independent, though highly dependent roles one upon the other.   Of the mind and brain, we ask ·          How does it do it? ·          Why does it do it? It comes to The Task .   The task is the fundamental extraordinary function of the every single organism.   Extraordinary because the simplest organisms exists and respond to stimuli in a programmed manner.   They exist and survive or not on the basis of the programs within it.   Aside from such, all existence is centered on tasks.   This is their fundamental duty, whether

A Most Common Mistake If I make things for you just like they are for me, you will be happy, wealthy and wise. This is the mistake made by the Bush administration in Iraq. Let's democratize these people.  They will see the new institutions grant them security, and wealth, and with that will come happiness and stability just like we have. The catch was they didn't want it.  They did want peace and also their religion, but their religion was intolerant of everything unlike their religion.  Their religion allows wide latitude on maintaining its dominion over all citizens. Their religion is threatened by the distractions of wealth. Their religion demands a continuing effort toward perfection of its precepts. Their religion is the most important channel to local and national power, and those seeking power always gravitate toward the instruments of it. Zero is the once removed and diminished cousin of one. :) Strategies for the next election cycle.  The Democrats: We will continue to

If you follow posts on the Internet, you know some of those most avidly followed posts have the titles related to: The five best ways to nutrition The best seven ways to finding a new job. The ten most irritable things you can do on an interview. Twenty ways you can improve your lifestyle. Five keys to buying a house. Eight easy steps to retirement. Often the lists are far ranging.  Mostly they offer a fix to your putative "miserable" existence. Even worse are the "top ten" lists, where the order is significant.  This implies you need remember only one or two morsels of wisdom.  For some reason we live in an era where numbered lists of items have a profound attraction. It seems as though we wish to quantify in finite and even in few numbers those quick fix items that will change our lives. We want to be successful,  happy,  find love, or simply to understand the world around us.  Lists provide this in our oversimplified world.  There are no longer essays,

Abstract. In this post, we show how the MOOC can inform classroom teaching by giving exemplaries of model instruction.   Toward this end we review what the ideal classroom is, and how the MOOC (massive, open, online course) has superseded it at many institutions.   We then indicate that what the MOOC offers does have significant merits and advantages. The Ideal Classroom . The ideal classroom is what MOOC opponents imagine when they make objections to this new mode of teaching and education.   In the ideal classroom, students encounter an enlightened professor, giving inspired lectures, engaging students, teaching students, and creating a true learning community.   The class is given at desired times, in a well designed classroom, with adequate lighting and comfortable seating. The class is relatively uniform in background, age, and learning experience.   The class is small, say 10-15 students.   This allows a closer community, allows instructors to know students, allows st