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Category Archives: Observations
An Introduction to Mechanical Thinking
Whenever I give a talk on my past life as a professional orchestral musician, one of the most common questions I get is, “just exactly what does the conductor actually do?” Part of the problem in answering this question is, … Continue reading
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In Education, Maybe It’s Time to Think about Going Backwards
As a lecturer and, well, I hate to say it, de facto educator, I run into a lot of people who run various conferences and other educational events, and a fairly hot topic these days is different styles of “learning.” … Continue reading
Posted in Kid Shows, Observations
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Consciousness Vs. Compliance
When I was a junior in high school, I had an intriguing conversation with the dean of students. I was not doing very well in my algebra classes. A major problem was that I lacked motivation. I saw no use … Continue reading
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The Word of the Day Is: Ideology
When I was doing research on the meanings of the words liberal and conservative the other day, I was struck by the content in a wikipedia article on the topic of social and political ideologies. I have a somewhat personal … Continue reading
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Can Someone Please Explain Liberal and Conservative to Me?
Whenever I watch the news (which I confess, is mostly watching The Daily Show), I keep hearing these two words over and over again: Conservative . . . and Liberal. Now, I understand the basic concepts of conservative and liberal. … Continue reading
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It’s Time for Less Homework
I recently wrote an article for a national association of professionals. It was basically about various techniques for relating with an audience more effectively. I was astonished at the amount of feedback I received from readers. Consistently, they asked me … Continue reading
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Presentation Skills 101
In lieu of a blog post today, here is an article I wrote for the newsletter of the nat'l assoc of CPA's. I hope you like it, it's very different from the usual performance anxiety advice think! — jl … Continue reading
Truth in Advertising
Well I was a kid, I remember occasionally coming across the phrase, “you could be sued for false advertising.” How things have changed. I realize I’m a fairly cynical person generally, but I wasn’t always this way. I had to … Continue reading
Posted in Observations
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We Do Not Need to Teach Problem-Solving Skills
One element of the dogma of the academic industrial complex that really bugs me that no end is the constant mantra of “we need to teach children problem-solving skills.” I hear this phrase all the time. This is a classic … Continue reading
Following the Facebook Money
Like many people, I am a big fan and user of facebook. Anything that cultivates greater social connectivity is, in my opinion, a good thing, and facebook has delivered that in spades. However, there is one aspect of facebook that … Continue reading
Posted in My Books, Observations, Stupidity Science
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