On Welcoming March 2015

Why? Because everybody knows that one can count on John Phillips Sousa for a good march.

March in other languages includes Marzo (Italian), mars (Albanian), Hlyd-monath (Anglo Saxon), mart (Armenian), br’ezen (Czech), Marts (Danish), and dawa-ssumpa (Tibetian) … so feel free to contribute others

March was named for Mars, the Roman god of war, who was also the guardian of agriculture

The name of March comes from Latin Martius, the first month of the earliest Roman calendar

Martius was the beginning of the season for both farming and warfare, so and festivals held in his honor during the month were mirrored by other festivals in October, which closed the season for farming and warfare

March in the northern hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent to September in the southern hemisphere

March starts the same day of the week as November every year, and February – but only in common years

March ends on the same day of the week as June every year

Because this is 2015 (preceding a leap year), March 2016 will start on the same day as September and December 2015. However, March 2015 ends on the same day of the week as May 2016

March’s birth flowers are the daffodil and jonquils

March’s birthstones, which symbolize courage, are aquamarine and bloodstone

March’s Zodiac signs are Pisces (until March 20) and Aries (March 21 and thereafter)

Full Moon on March 5th (6:05 pm UTC), and the New Moon displays on March 20th (9:36 am UTC)

March moon are called Crow Moon, Lenten Moon, Sap Moon, Seed Moon, and Worm Moon

Solar Eclipse on March 20 with the total eclipse of the sun being visible in Ireland, Europe, northern Africa, Europe, and Asia

The March equinox on the 20th at 10:46 pm UTC, which means sometime March 21st for many of the world … thus the day marking the transitions of winter to spring or summer to autumn

March has national celebrations in Australia, Bangladesh, Gibraltar, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, and South Korea

March 1st celebrations include Compliment Day, Daughters & Sons Day, Black Women in Jazz & the Arts Day, Wear Yellow Day (Endometriosis Day), Go Bowling Day, Horse Protection Day, Fruit Compote Day, Peanut Lovers Day, Pig Day, Plan a Solo Vacation Day, Refired not Retired Day, Seals Day, Self-Injury Awareness Day, Share a Smile Day, Zero Discrimination Day, Namesake Day (mine is after my Dad’s Army buddy from SF – we went sometime in the 1990s)

March promotes adopting a rescued guinea pig, expanding girls’ horizons in science & engineering, women’s health, dietetic nutrition, cheerleading safety, color therapy, eye donors, literacy, social work, women’s history, fire prevention, transgender healthcare equality, singing with your child, saving your vision, and playing the recorder

March celebrates crafts, child life, deaf history, ideas, mad for plaid, athletic training, kidneys, on-hold, supply management, and American Red Cross

March embraces credit education, employee spirit, Honor Society, expecting success, Irish-American heritage, music in schools, optimism, small press, spiritual wellness, youth art, hexagons, March Madness, and Francophones

March increases awareness in Alport Syndrome, brain injuries, colic, colorectal cancer, deep vein thrombosis, endometriosis, listening, malignant hypertension, caffeine, chronic fatigue syndrome, ethics, essential tremor, multiple sclerosis, nutrition, poison prevention, Trisomy, vascular abnormalities, and epilepsy

March appreciates humorists as artists, mirth, frozen foods, kites, peanuts, umbrellas, quinoa, maple sugar, sauces, flour, noodles, no meat, moustaches, hamburger & pickle, and dolphins

Which music did you enjoy? Do you have any personal celebrations in March?

On Short Hops into Winter Break

Here’s some background music for this post from a long-time, regular visitor here. I know no better way to thank Marina for her kindness while wishing her the best in latest studio project. Go ahead, click to get the music playing while you read.

I’ve learned that blogging breaks are good. For me (this time) I hope to visit/comment at other blogs – so I’ll be around …. plus I want to write, reorganize these pages, select a new header, and prepare the next musical … but, time will tell what I achieve.

As I head into my winter blog break, here is a collection of odds and ends.

Many thanks for the birthday wishes. For whatever reason, greeting from around the world and across my country warm my heart. Tuesday was a good day! The Arctic cold blast kept me inside most of the day, but we got out in the evening as friends for dinner and a touring Broadway production. Anything Goes (music and lyrics by Cole Porter) debuted in 1934 and has been revived multiple times.  Older musicals surround a corny story with outstanding song and dance, so we it was an enjoyable evening … and sitting sixth row center was delightful! For those who enjoy musicals, here’s a montage with the production company we saw.

Hooray for me for being selected to volunteer at the Cincinnati Wine Festival – which also means I get an event for free! I’ve attended many times, and look forward to volunteering at this fundraiser

With Fifty Shades of Grey (the movie) receiving a lot of attention, I offer some advice. If one thinks they will get offended, don’t go! … and just because you don’t want to go, it doesn’t mean someone else can’t or shouldn’t.

Yesterday’s post was the last in the series featuring my comments I wrote about certain aspects of education. Although each stands on its own, they can be woven together into a coherent theme.

I’ll return as John Phillips Sousa to order to ring in a good March – after all, you are accustomed to me ushering the new month with a post about the month. After that, I may ease myself back into the swing with less-frequent posts, but time will tell.

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Your rest-of-the-month celebrations

20Feb – Women in Blue Jeans Day, Cherry Pie Day, Clean out Your Bookcases Day, Love Your Pet Day, Northern Hemisphere Hoodie Hoo Day, Day for Social Justice, Post Office Day

21Feb – Mother Language Day, Locomotive Day, Card Reading Day, Sticky Bun Day

22Feb – Margarita Day, Woolworth’s Day, Thinking Day, Cook a Sweet Potato Day, Golf in America Day, Pebbles Flintstone Day

23Feb – Curling is Cool Day, Tennis Day, Diesel Engine Day, Tootsie Roll Day, Iwo Jima Flag Raising Day, Dog Biscuit Day, Rationalization Day, Museum Advocacy Day, Banana Bread Day

24Feb – Cupcake Day, SIngle Tasking Day, Bartender Day, Spay Day, Tortilla Chip Day, Trading Card Day, Nylon Toothbrush Day

25Feb – Inconvenience Yourself Day, Quiet Day, Let’s All Eat Right Day, Chocolate Peanuts Day, Clam Chowder Day

26Feb – Chili Day, Person Chef Day, For Pete’s Sake Day, Levi Strauss Day, Chili Day, Tell a Fairy Tale Day, Thermos Bottle Day, Bacon Day, Pistachio Day, Cartoon Movie Day

27Feb – Polar Bear Day, No Brainer Day, Day of Action Day, Read Me Day, Strawberry Day, Kahlua Day, Snow-Shoes Day

28Feb – Sword-Swallowers Day, Public Sleeping Day, Floral Design Day, Tooth Fairy Day, Pockets Invented Day, DNA Day, Rare Disease Day, Car Keys & Pocket Change Day, Chocolate Souffle Day

Last week of February: Entrepreneurship Week, Engineers Week, Future Farmers Week, Bird Health Awareness week, Invasive Species Awareness Week, Eating Disorders Week, Texas Cowboy Poetry Week

To send you into my blogging break, here are two songs celebrating a February 20th joy. Have a safe rest of the month, and in the words of Garrison Keillor, Be well, do good work, and keep in touch. Plus remember, blogging breaks are good … see you soon.

On View of Education: Vol. 5 – Curriculum

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As a member of a teaching staff, I marched to my own beat as a believer in need for reform across many aspects of education. In discussions, I was often the contrarian in the group. One person described me as, the best devil’s advocate she had ever been around. Of course, I countered her comment that I wasn’t being the devil’s advocate, thus being myself.

In the world of educational conformity, I was often the voice in the wilderness. I spoke my mind, and a few of my past colleagues who read these pages will think – Yep, he said that.

Packing to move provides an opportunity to sort, discard, and organize. I kept some of my writings from my teaching days, thus recently gathered some of the quotes, most of which were written between 1987-2001.

Some will cheer while others jeer. Some will detect a passion, others will think Oh no, he’s one of those. You may disagree with some, all, or possibly none … and that’s OK – after all, I’ve handled dialogue on sensitive subjects before. But keep in mind, because we may disagree, it doesn’t mean I’m wrong – thus it just means we disagree.

Below is a collection of quotes with each standing on its own so I’ve numbered them only for reference.

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Today’s Topic: Curriculum
1) Educational curriculum is trapped in the dogma of traditional segregation and academic topics based on times past. Conceptualized applied learning seeks to prepare students for the workplace and life in a global society. Education must selectively abandon topics for the sake of conceptual, applicable knowledge.

2) Educators hiding behind the “they need it for college” banner is nothing more than an excuse to not change, thus continuing to promote the status quo.

3) Only in education do disciplines remain in isolation of one another, whereas in life whereas subjects are integrated. This isolation is like an hour walk in the woods divided into 15 minutes of plants, 15 minutes of animals, 15 minutes of earth materials, and 15 minutes of atmosphere. No wonder students define math (or any given subject) as 3rd Period.

4) Our school’s curriculum needs to be integrated to promote useful information in the world of life; not academia. The educational institution fails to realize that people trained in applicable conceptual frameworks of subject matter and higher order thinking skills will be able to learn the necessary content of the future.

5) Integrated curriculum is an important vehicle for problem-solving, life-based application of content. Life is not divided into specialized time slots as no subject in life is limited to third period. Integration increases student effectiveness and leads to increased use of quality performance-based assessments involving practical situations. Continual use of individual department curricular development support the status quo and the industrial-based educational setting that we proclaim to change.

6) We biology teachers stress the stages of a cell’s live, especially those of cell division (prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase). On the other hand, I haven’t heard any of those terms on the evening news or anywhere outside of my classroom other than a conference of biology teachers. Therefore, which is more important: to teach the details of cell division, its phases, and all the parts and activities or to teach the basic essentials of cell division, then followed by focusing on cancer? If given a choice, what would students select?

7) Innovative textbooks/programs exist – the ones that incorporate content standards, teaching standards, assessment standards, and research about teaching and learning. So, why do teachers and school districts avoid them like the plague?

Previous posts in the series

Reform

Change

Administrators

Teaching and Learning

On 62 on the 62nd

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1) Sixty two is also written as Soixante-deux (French), Шестдесет две (Bulgarian), Sessantadue (Italian), Εξήντα δύο (Greek), Tweeënzestig (Dutch), LXII (Roman numeral)

2) Sixty second should not be confused with sixtieth second

3) 62 is a composite number, and the sum of the 3rd, 5th, and 10th Fibonacci number

4) 62 is only divisible by 2, 31, and 62

5) Binary for 62 is 111110

6) 62 in base 5 is 222 (but Karen Valentine did not star in Room 62)

7) 62 is the only base-10 number whose cube consists of 3 different digits occurring twice … 238328

8) 62 squared is 3,844, but 62’s square root is 7.87400787401

From Wikipedia

9) 62 is the atomic number of the element samarium, whose neutral atom has 62 protons and 62 electrons

10) The 62nd day of a normal year is March 3rd, but during a leap year it’s March 2nd

11) 62 is the code for international direct dial calls to Indonesia

12) Sigmund Freud had an irrational fear of the number 62

13) 62 has not been retired by any team in Major League Baseball (MLB), National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), or the National Basketball Association (NBA)

14) In 62 BCE included the founding of Florence (Italy), Julius Caesar divorcing Pompeia, and the birth of a future Egyptian pharaoh – Ptolemy XIII

Year 62 CE

• 15) a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar
• 16) A great earthquake damages cities in Campania, including Pompeii.
• 17) Paul of Tarsus is imprisoned in Rome
• 18) Nero’s first wife, Claudia Octavia, is presumably executed, but Nero marries Poppaea Sabina later that year … (so does that make Poppaea the second fiddle? )

19) Car #62 has only won one NASCAR race (out of 292 races) – driven by Frankie Schneider (1958)

20) 62 designates a star in constellations Aquila, Andromeda, Sagittarius, Ophiuchus, and probably a few more

From PortfolioCollection.com

21) Click to see images of Messier Object M62

22) Highway 62 can be found in United States, India, Iran, Malaysia, Canada, Taiwan, Mexico, Greece, UK, South Africa, 32 US states, and the US Virgin Islands

23) US Route 62 runs from the northeast/southwest connecting El Paso, Texas, to Niagara Falls, New York … 2248 miles (3618 km) … and comes within 30-40 minutes of my home

24) Although too numerous to list, various guns, planes, helicopter, missiles, submarines, and other weapons included 62 as a model number

25) These people died at age 62 include Aristotle, Louis Pasteur, Martin Luther, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John Wayne, Linus Pauling, and Robert Goddard

26) Musical compositions include Symphony No. 62 (Haydn), Opus #62, No. 1 – Nocturne (Chopin), Song Without Words – Opus 62 (Mendelssohn), Cantata #62 (Bach), and Coriolan Overture, Opus 62 (Beethoven) … (Do any of the piano players here play these?)

27) Fabric 62 is a 2012 album by DJ Sneak

28) James Madison wrote Federalist Paper No. 62 about the organization of the US Senate

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29) 62nd parallel south only crosses land on King George Island – which is claimed by Argentina, Chile, and the United Kingdom, but not by Turkmenistan or this blog

30) 62nd parallel north crosses Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, United States, Canada, and Greenland

From Wikipedia

31) 62 meridian east crosses Russia, Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and India

32) 62 meridian west crosses Canada, Greenland, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and Antarctica

33) “The Class of ’62” is an episode of the BBC sit-com Only Fools and Horses (the fourth episode of series 7, and first broadcast on 20 January 1991)

34) William Shakespeare wrote Sonnet 62

35) 62 is the Retirement Age in Azerbaijan, Colombia, France, Hungary, Latvia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, and Turkmenistan, yet within the retirement age range in Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, and United States

36) 62 kg is a men’s weightlifting division in the Olympics

37) Television channel 62 is found in Burbank (CA), Detroit (MI), and Greenville/Spartanburg (SC)

38) Mature Wasabi plants have 62 leaves

39) In temperature, 62 C = 143 F, but 62 F = 16 C

40) Melting point of Acetic Acid is 62 F, but the boiling point of chloroform and Arsine is 62 C

41) 62 is the molecular weight of nitrate and boric acid

42) Barcelona has a SixtyTwo hotel

From Wikipedia

43) The 62nd street bridge crosses the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

44) The 62nd Academy awards were held in 1990 with Driving Miss Daisy winning Best Picture

45) HP Ink Cartridge #62 is used on 5 different HP printers

46) The Montreal Alouettes won the 62nd Grey Cup by defeating the Edmonton Eskimos 20-7 in 1974

47) 62nd US Congress served during the third and fourth years of President William Howard Taft (a Cincinnatian)

48) The 62nd Golden Globe (2005) winners included The Aviator and Sideways

49) 62 West 62nd Street is the address for The Allegro condominiums in New York City

50) NYC 62nd Street subway station (at New Utrecht Ave) is in Brooklyn

51) Google Images of 62nd Street (Lame to verify)

52) 62nd episode of Seinfeld (“The Handicap Spot”) aired May 13, 1993

53) Rane 62 is a performance mixer (electronics) that can be bought on Amazon

54) 62 miles = 100 kilometers

55) The Karman Line, the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space is 62 miles (100 km) above sea level

56) Here’s someone thoughts about 62 questions to ask on the first date

57) 62-word short stories are found here

58) 62nd Floor is an independent art-zine, printed six times a year. (from their About page) We are dedicated to analogue photography, nostalgia, crazy characters and a bit of weirdness. 

from http://www.sacred-geometry.es/?q=en/content/archimedean-solids

59) The numerology values of each of these word & combinations add to 62: philosophy, beauty knowledge, divine enneads, pearl spirit, silver light, Mercury Uranus, wisdom return, mind in itself, space time earth, love beauty truth

60) The Greek-based numeric prefix dihexaconta- means 62

61) 62 is the sum of the number of faces, edges and vertices of icosahedron (20 faces) or dodecahedron (12 faces); the number faces in the rhombicosidodecahedron (20 regular triangular faces, 30 square faces, 12 regular pentagonal faces) and truncated icosidodecahedron (30 square faces, 20 regular hexagonal faces, 12 regular decagonal faces) both of which are Archimedean solids. (Yep, expect this on the quiz, so the links help you study, as will this post.)

62) 62 years ago (February 17, 1953) I was born in this city. The best birthday present I could receive here is to have many birthday wishes from my blog friends and their friends. Thanks for stopping by and cheers to your kindness.

 

 

On Black and White for Monday

Greetings for cold Cincinnati. Then again, a blast of bitter cold is upon much of America. As Boston and much of New England continues to get hammered by the white stuff, Cincinnati could be about to receive the first significant snow of the season … and then the storm moves toward Boston. Yikes!

How was your weekend? The cold limited us a little, but hey, one night on the ballroom floor and another at a dinner-dance by the Cincinnati’s Italian-American Society. Otherwise, it was low-key for us, but we’re looking forward to watching the 40th anniversary show for Saturday Night Live.

Those commenting of this weekend’s Explore post received a surprise from me. Did anyone pass it on to others?

Posts may be a bit out of kilter this week, but time will tell. Sometime soon (either this week or next), I will start my winter blog break. Those who take blog breaks know their importance. For me (this time), I hope to still be around visiting and commenting, but I want time for writing and reorganizing some of the pages here.

Celebrations for Your Week

• (Week) Through with the Chew Week, Condom Week, Nestbox Week, Alzheimer’s & Dementia Staff Education Week, Justice for Animals Week, Brotherhood/Sisterhood Week, Date (the fruit) Week, Pancake Week
• (Mon) Do a Grouch a Favor Day, Nylon Day, Almond Day, 9-1-1 Day, U.S. President’s Day, Family Day
• (Tues) Who Shall I Be Day, Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), Random Acts of Kindness Day, Champion Crab Races Day, Human Spirit Day, Cabbage Day, My Way Day
• (Wed) Cow Milked While Flying in an Airplane Day, Battery Day, Crab Stuffed Flounder Day, Thumb Appreciations Day, Drink Wine Day (a rule of thumb for me)
• (Thurs) Chocolate Mint Day, Chinese New Year, The Great American Spit Out, Iwo Jima Landing Day, Friendship Day, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood Day

To start your week, Cynthia shared this with me several weeks ago. Although it’s a viral hit, maybe some of the readers here haven’t see it. Enjoy … and have a great week.