Math Discussion

 There was a Mathematics Conference held in Portland back about  month ago....run by the University of Oregon.

So this one high school teacher (from Oregon, Jered Ratliff) came up to deliver a lecture with the topic....“Mathematics as a tool of oppression.” 

Basically, this whole presentation got into the topic of politicization of math, and then stepped into the idea of math being an oppressive tool.  

I read through commentary...at least he did note that it's an important part of education,  but he also laid out that efforts often 'inhibit discovery' (the learning process).

Around the 6th grade (this was a rural school going from the 1st to the 9th grade)....I went through a four-year period of crappy math teachers (four separate folks).  

What I came to learn from four years of wasted math instruction....there were four separate teachers brought in and 'attempted' (I use the word because I can't grasp how things could not get resolved or improved) math instruction.  

Oppressive?  Yes, it was a pretty harsh situation, and a total waste man-hours.  

I left the school and ventured into the 10th grade, with a totally different instructor, and simplified book.  The design of the class?  Here's the book....move at the best pace.  Week after week, I ventured a couple of pages ahead of the group.  By early December, I began to calculate that I'd have the book finished and completed all tests by mid-January.  

My own belief?  You probably should go and fire 75-percent of math teachers in America because they can't convey the topic, and they won't readily use the best designed books. 

I suspect if you tested a thousand 17-year old kids on general math skills....more than half would marginally pass the test.  In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if you tested 12-year old kids in the same group and discover that the 17-year old kids mostly maxed out on math skills in the sixth-grade.  

Should Hitler Be Banned Off Twitter/X?

 I noticed this week...some commentary....asking the question if Hitler was around....should Twitter/X ban his commentary?

First, the guy has been dead 28,689 days (up to today).....78 years.

Second, Hitler had a pretty smart 'PR-team' and they would have quickly created their own Nazi-social media platform....ensuring every single German (even teenagers/juveniles) had access to it.

Third, Hitler would have had a TikTok account and done weekly 'funny-things' videos....maybe riding horses, dancing, cooking a cake, swimming in the Rhine, repairing antique motorcycles, or reading stories to kids.

Fourth, I would imagine Hitler would have gotten smart and had some fake Jewish individual to run his pro-Jew commentary.  As much as he would have seemed to be anti-Semitic....there would be just enough doubt to believe he can't possibly be that stupid (kinda like Putin's propaganda unit).

Fifth, at least three-quarters of WOKE-intellectual young people (just out of college) would have bought into the Hitler chatter....thinking he can't possibly be that crazy.

Finally, in this though-provoking idea of banning Hitler....wouldn't Churchill, Marylyn Monroe, Charles Manson, Elvis, and Jesus likely be candidates to be banned off Twitter as well?

(Don't people have better things to contemplate?)

A Rough September 2024 To Bear

 At some point between 22 August 2024 and early September (a 20-day period), I expect President Biden having walked out of the Democratic Convention as the party candidate....to announce health issues (not bad enough to resign) and pull himself from the candidates list.

The new wording in the charter for the Democratic Party?  Oddly, in the past year (2022)....the party wrote text to cover this situation, and the DNC itself (the top level) would meet, and do a simple revamp on the candidate, and I believe California's Governor Newsom would be projected as the replacement.

Most states would have a text written....that you need 60 days out (5 November is the election day)....so I project this would happen.  

Biden having some fake hospitalization?  Yeah, that's pretty much the lead-in to this fake drama.

Text already written with Harris dropped as VP?  Yeah, I'm pretty confident that Newsom will be the VP choice at the convention.  

All of this....cranked up with Biden being ill but not ill enough to bring Harris up as a President?  Yeah, that will be the comical side of this story.

Text already prepared for CNN, NPR, CBS, AP?  Yeah, I would imagine twenty pages of hype and fake news already exist in some way.  

People to buy into this 'brand' change?  I'm not sure.  If you walk around California right now....I suspect half the state population has a negative feeling over what Newsom has delivered over the past couple of years.

This fake health condition?  It'll have nothing to do with dementia....it'll be a fake heart problem.  That's the only way that he would remain in office. 

Trump in the mindset to run against Newsom?  I think he's already taken to the idea and won't be spending much time talking over Biden.

Yeah, About That Bin Laden Letter

 With the hype of Osama Bin Laden's 'Letter to America' BS this week, I sat and read the text (4 pages). First, you discover that most of the sites have removed the text...for varying reasons.  Second, when I did find it....it's a long wordy piece, and you have to devote at least 30 minutes to get the emphasis of the 'message'.

I did this because of the number of TikTok and YouTube videos where young pretender-intellectuals felt gut-pain over what they read and lost respect for western values.  So I figured....what exactly was written?

Four observations:

1.  Based on words and context....I give it a 95-percent chance that Osama Bin Laden himself did not write it.  English for him was a second language, and this would appear to either be a totally different 'creator' or having a serious amount of 'word-smithing' going on with a partner.

Yes, very similar to 'Mein Kampf' by Hitler.....which most people now believe that a second figure actually wrote the Hitler book.

2.  There's some blunt point in the text where the suggestion is made that non-Muslims need to respect Quran and Sharia Law....not only in Muslim countries, but in the non-Muslim countries.  

I suspect a lot of idiot young recent college graduates missed that commentary, and have no idea what the idea leads onto.    

3.  Where was the document  'hiding' for the past couple of years?  Well....the Brit newspaper...Guardian.....had the copy.  Just now bringing this up?  Oddly.....yes.

Timing to bring this up now?  Yeah, and that's the funny part of the story.

4.  The chief problem in the text?  Well....as much as you talk lifestyles in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, and so on.....the moment you open up some door to exit out of the pro-Quran/Sharia Law lands.....folks seem lined up to leave. They leave because of various reasons, but they seem to want a non-Quaran/Sharia Law 'umbrella' for work and living conditions.  The letter doesn't mention that, but it's part of the whole story of reality.  

On the lack of understanding by western youth?  It's a constant thing now....almost daily....I'll note another stupid 'rant' by some 24-year-old college graduate....who seems to have missed half their college classes and unable to grasp reality in the world today.