+ While returning from L.A. last week, Virginia and I still continue to wonder in awe about the spiritual trend taking place in our land. This trend follows common sense.
+ You see, if an ideological division does exist in America it reflects the world-view of different Americans. Virginia and I meet a lot of diverse people in our line of work.
+ If there is anyone in our orbit who has a natural perspective it is our pastor, Dick Bernal. Wait, --others with a selfsame natural perspective: farmers, ranchers, or even parents rearing their children understand the progression of planting seeds, cultivating growth and patience, oh so much patience, for the coming harvest.
+ These are the people who tended to vote for George W. Bush. Those who view the world as a thirty-minute situation comedy and a laugh-track in the background tended to vote for John F. Kerry. This difference is reflected in the geography of the red states and blue states; sort of earthy Americans vs. tinseltown Americans.
+ Another telling spiritual trend is that the other Party is no longer a mom-and-pop party, because the fertility rate in the Kerry states is 12% lower than in the Bush states. Vermont, (the home of Howard Dean and perhaps the most left state in the country) produces an annual average of 49 children for every 1,000 women of child-bearing age; in Utah, where most voted for George Bush, the figure is 91 for every 1,000. In deep, deep blue cities such as San Francisco (where I live) and Seattle you find more dogs than children.
+ These trends are all amazing to me, possibly the only long-term solution for Democrats may be a constitutional amendment enfranchising canine-Americans.
Friday, November 26, 2004
Monday, November 15, 2004
Teaching my nephew Geometry
MY WIFE AND I SPENT the entire Summer teaching my nephew, Michael Trejo, Geometry, as a requirement to fulfill High School credit to begin Algebra II in Fall 2004.
I HAD TO RE-LEARN all the theorems, postulates, nit-picking definitions, and dreaded proofs in order to transmit that knowledge to Michael.
YOU KNOW, GEOMETRY IS A very beautiful subject. But geometry, as it is taught, is filled with com-plicated trivialities. As a result, the first four to five chapters offer little insight into geometric ideas that matter in the real world.
I CONTINUALLY FOUND myself assuring Michael, "Don't worry, Michael, we'll be getting to the geometry soon; we're almost there." Poor Michael, I had to teach him proofs of statements that were obvious to begin with.
AT THIS STAGE, who could doubt the truth of such a statement as: "Given any 3 points on a line, one is between the other two." This silliness is called the Definition of Betweenness. Can you believe this? When shown this, the natural reaction of an intelligent student (and his uncle), is irritation and impatience. All this tends to kill a student's interest in geometry long before they reach the meat of the subject.
THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM is that High School math instructors are slaves --and they live on the plantation of Deductive Reasoning.
THIS IS THE notion that knowledge is somehow not valid until it has been organised into a highly formal system of theorems. All knowledge is deduced from something before it.
DEDUCTIVE REASONING is an interesting idea that educated people should know something about, just as they should know something about representative government; but everything in its place. This doctrine belongs somewhere else, not in geometry...
IF GEOMETRY IS CONSIDERED for its own sake, geometry students will study with greater efficiency, and they will love the subject!
I THINK HIGH SCHOOL geometry teachers know this, but they are stuck on the plantation.
I HAD TO RE-LEARN all the theorems, postulates, nit-picking definitions, and dreaded proofs in order to transmit that knowledge to Michael.
YOU KNOW, GEOMETRY IS A very beautiful subject. But geometry, as it is taught, is filled with com-plicated trivialities. As a result, the first four to five chapters offer little insight into geometric ideas that matter in the real world.
I CONTINUALLY FOUND myself assuring Michael, "Don't worry, Michael, we'll be getting to the geometry soon; we're almost there." Poor Michael, I had to teach him proofs of statements that were obvious to begin with.
AT THIS STAGE, who could doubt the truth of such a statement as: "Given any 3 points on a line, one is between the other two." This silliness is called the Definition of Betweenness. Can you believe this? When shown this, the natural reaction of an intelligent student (and his uncle), is irritation and impatience. All this tends to kill a student's interest in geometry long before they reach the meat of the subject.
THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM is that High School math instructors are slaves --and they live on the plantation of Deductive Reasoning.
THIS IS THE notion that knowledge is somehow not valid until it has been organised into a highly formal system of theorems. All knowledge is deduced from something before it.
DEDUCTIVE REASONING is an interesting idea that educated people should know something about, just as they should know something about representative government; but everything in its place. This doctrine belongs somewhere else, not in geometry...
IF GEOMETRY IS CONSIDERED for its own sake, geometry students will study with greater efficiency, and they will love the subject!
I THINK HIGH SCHOOL geometry teachers know this, but they are stuck on the plantation.
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Helpless masses
HOW FAR WILL liberty spread across the Earth? Positive changes occur every single day. People
watch America for indications about their own future.
IRAQ NOW HAS an interim government. Elections are planned in a country that had previously been run by a tyrant for over 20 years. Saddam's torture chambers and rape rooms are out of business.
The Iraqi people now exercise freedoms denied them for decades. Liberty and economic opportunity now exist.
INTERNATIONAL PARIAHS such as North Korea and Iran are now feeling the heat of liberty spreading.
AS MISSIONARIES, Virginia and I are saddened that
most Americans are unaware of the people world-wide who are yearning to be free from tyranny. We Americans cannot lose our resolve --as it could be a death sentence for many who simply want to enjoy the freedoms that the USA takes for granted.
THOSE WHO CONDEMN the removal of Saddam
energize other regimes with similar strangleholds
on their helpless citizens.
watch America for indications about their own future.
IRAQ NOW HAS an interim government. Elections are planned in a country that had previously been run by a tyrant for over 20 years. Saddam's torture chambers and rape rooms are out of business.
The Iraqi people now exercise freedoms denied them for decades. Liberty and economic opportunity now exist.
INTERNATIONAL PARIAHS such as North Korea and Iran are now feeling the heat of liberty spreading.
AS MISSIONARIES, Virginia and I are saddened that
most Americans are unaware of the people world-wide who are yearning to be free from tyranny. We Americans cannot lose our resolve --as it could be a death sentence for many who simply want to enjoy the freedoms that the USA takes for granted.
THOSE WHO CONDEMN the removal of Saddam
energize other regimes with similar strangleholds
on their helpless citizens.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Good spiritual sense of the American public
+ President Bush and Laura cast their votes in Crawford yesterday. Mrs. Obregon and I cast our votes down the street at Herbert Hoover Community Center here in San Jose's Rose Garden.
+ But our chads weren't hanging --we voted electronically.
+ President Bush's win last night was a ratification of the good sense of the American public. The public trusts the Republican party to wage the war on Islamo-terrorism, and about the Democrat party? --it has no such confidence.
+ I believe that the Democrats, including John Kerry, are known to have poor instincts regarding national security. Kerry has a deep distrust of American power as a force for good. Kerry spent the last year suggesting that the USA could return to a pre-9/11 mindset. Unbelievable.
+ This issue is not the only reason George Bush won. Americans respect Bush. Most also like him on a personal, emotional level. They think George Bush is a sincere Christian and that he's dog-gone likeable.
+ Although presidential campaigns are not a popularity contest, a candidate's ability to personally relate to voters is actually more important than where he stands on the issues. Virginia and I refer any doubters to the 2000 presidential campaign, when the likeable, clean-cut George W. Bush defeated Vice President AlGore --in a time of peace and prosperity.
+ It is precisely because voters trust Bush and see him as a strong leader that they are willing to stick it out with him even with shortcomings, for just a bit longer.
+ Call it a leap of faith, if you will.
+ Oh, and it's hard to believe, but the Vietnam War is finally over.
+ But our chads weren't hanging --we voted electronically.
+ President Bush's win last night was a ratification of the good sense of the American public. The public trusts the Republican party to wage the war on Islamo-terrorism, and about the Democrat party? --it has no such confidence.
+ I believe that the Democrats, including John Kerry, are known to have poor instincts regarding national security. Kerry has a deep distrust of American power as a force for good. Kerry spent the last year suggesting that the USA could return to a pre-9/11 mindset. Unbelievable.
+ This issue is not the only reason George Bush won. Americans respect Bush. Most also like him on a personal, emotional level. They think George Bush is a sincere Christian and that he's dog-gone likeable.
+ Although presidential campaigns are not a popularity contest, a candidate's ability to personally relate to voters is actually more important than where he stands on the issues. Virginia and I refer any doubters to the 2000 presidential campaign, when the likeable, clean-cut George W. Bush defeated Vice President AlGore --in a time of peace and prosperity.
+ It is precisely because voters trust Bush and see him as a strong leader that they are willing to stick it out with him even with shortcomings, for just a bit longer.
+ Call it a leap of faith, if you will.
+ Oh, and it's hard to believe, but the Vietnam War is finally over.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Terror-leader is fading
+ Yasser Arafat, the man who created modern terror is in a sickbed in Paris.
+ Arafat was responsible for the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics; most have forgotten these humble beginnings.
+ Arafat was the most frequent foreign visitor to Bill Clinton's White House. However, in the fullness of time, President Bush said enough is enough, declaring that a Palestinian state could never be established with Arafat in charge. That was amazing.
+ Arafat continually escaped accountability --he stole the Palestinians' money, and sacrificed their lives for absolutely nothing in return.
+ I wonder, can they seize their future after he's gone?
+ Arafat was responsible for the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics; most have forgotten these humble beginnings.
+ Arafat was the most frequent foreign visitor to Bill Clinton's White House. However, in the fullness of time, President Bush said enough is enough, declaring that a Palestinian state could never be established with Arafat in charge. That was amazing.
+ Arafat continually escaped accountability --he stole the Palestinians' money, and sacrificed their lives for absolutely nothing in return.
+ I wonder, can they seize their future after he's gone?
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