This lovely post by CDilly52 appeared earlier in the week in response to NEW MATH:
As the first generation (victim?) of that curriculum, I remember listening to all the chat at home (in a house full of teachers) antecedent to its introduction. Those were such exciting years, from Sputnik on through the Apollo program. I was never a good math student but space exploration excited me. Such fertile ground for my very active imagination! My earliest “viewing” experience was standing outside in the alley between my house and Mrs. Lewis’s using my thumb and first finger as demonstrated on the “Today” show to keep my eyes on the right place in the sky to find and track the movement of the satellite Echo I. It looked just like a star, but once I figured out how to hold my hand once I saw the satellite, I was truly in awe being able to see the movement and watch what looked like a tiny twinkling star move slowly across the night sky.
That experience created an aerospace fan. If I had had a better attitude and better teachers I might have had more success with mathematics and gone deeper into the sciences. To this day though, I enjoy following space exploration thanks to my husband’s avid interest in astronomy, his degree in math but mostly his true gifts as a teacher. He lit the learning fires for his most math-averse students, several of whom were among the many former students (math and music) who so kindly communicated their appreciation of his teaching skill to me after his passing. We need to attract, train, and provide wonderful learning facilities and materials for exceptional teachers in this country.
And Nancy, a much beloved curmudgeon (not to be confused with our own beloved Pennsylvania (nee Delaware) Nancy), writes:
Didn’t realize that NEW MATH came about because of Sputnik. I wasn’t taught NEW MATH; I was taught OLD MATH, and when NEW MATH came along I was out of school and it was incomprehensible to me. Problems that were once duck soup to me became Einsteinian. It’s the same way I thought I understood chess notation back in the 50s and 60s and then they changed it and now I don’t even understand which piece is being moved. Also there’s the matter of how they now predict who will win football games. They used to write things like “49ers favored by 14 points” and now they write some sort of gibberish where I can’t even tell which team is favored. (-7.5). (-3). From my Sunday NYT Sports Section. Do you have any idea which team is favored from THAT?
Rant over.
Hey Nance — It says Jets (-3). That means the Jets are favored to beat the Giants this week by 3 points. Kinahora. From my keyboard to God’s ears. It’s a big game.
Here’s Robert Saleh, the Jets head coach, in a moment of unbridled joy. He’s been on suicide watch since accepting the position.
Let’s get lurid.
Read any books by Anne Perry? I haven’t. It’s her birthday today, she was born in London in 1938 with the name Juliet Hulme. She formed an unhealthy friendship with Pauline Parker, a classmate, and when Pauline’s mom stood in the way of it, they murdered her. It was not the most brilliant of schemes. They invited the mom to take a walk in the park that turned out to be no walk in the park. They bashed her head in with a brick. The one flaw in their otherwise perfect crime was they returned home all covered in blood. D’oh! Those pesky little details always burn you.
It was a sensational trial and the girls were sentenced to indefinite prison terms. They were released after five years on condition that they not resume contact with each other and stay away from bricks. Juliet changed her name to Anne Perry and has published over 50 novels that have sold over 250 million copies. The film Heavenly Creatures was based on the murder case. Kate Winslet played Juliet and Melanie Lynskey played Pauline. Here’s the real Juliet/Anne, and then Kate and Melanie.
Today’s puzzle was a real bear and it defeated me. Small solace: Rex also struggled and rated it “Challenging.” Right off the bat at 1A, the clue was “Had kids on a farm?” and the answer was LAMBED. I was sure it started with a W from my crossing answer so I started thinking it was WOMBED, awkward, or eventually WAMBED, which is worse. And 1D was “Ultimately arrive (at)” which I thought was WIND UP but turned out to be LAND UP, as in “land up in jail.” Ouch — just couldn’t get to those two. Also, at 10A “Scan in neuroscience research, in brief,” was FMRI. What the f*ck is that F doing in there? It stands for “functional.” An FMRI measures brain activity via blood flow.
Also had trouble with “Oratorio highlight in A-B-A form:” ARIA DA CAPO. No chance. A Saturday grid for sure.
Otherwise, it was a satisfying puzzle to hammer out. CORNEL WEST was in it. He has only one “L” but has had five wives! His current one is Annahita Mahdavi, a 38-year-old Iranian woman who is a political science professor.
All four of his previous marriages ended in divorce. He has two kids.
Looks like we don’t have Mike Pence to kick around anymore. His campaign was not going well, so he decided not to hang around. Oops — sorry Mike — forgot you’re still a little sensitive about that word. It’s just a little gallows humor.
Here he is with his wife Karen (whom he calls “Mother”), dancing off the campaign stage. Philly — can you make up a bunch of wallet-sized for us? I have a feeling they’re going to be in high demand.
Owl Chatter is very happy to report that the great Canadian-born HOF pitcher Ferguson Jenkins is looking and sounding great at 80. He’s down in Texas for the World Series and we caught up with him doing an interview for MLB-TV. He pitched for Texas back in 1974-75. He was proud to note he was a good hitting pitcher: he hit 13 home runs. The interviewer asked if any were off of Hall of Famers, and he said “Two: Seaver and Sutton. Seaver tried to sneak a fastball by me, but ‘Thou shalt not pass.’”
Jenkins, fellow Cub Greg Maddux, Curt Schilling, and Pedro Martínez are the only major league pitchers ever to record more than 3,000 strikeouts with fewer than 1,000 walks.
But there was also much sadness in Fergie’s life. He had five children, but one, Samantha, was killed when she was only three when his girlfriend at the time killed herself with carbon monoxide poisoning with the little girl in the car. And Fergie’s mom lost her sight during her pregnancy with him, her only child. She would attend his Cubs’ games when she could, and bring a transistor radio into the stands with her. He participated in the making of a documentary film about his life in 2021. As he watched a screening of the final version, he wept.
Baseball was still overtly racist during the early part of his career. When he was in Florida for Spring Training in 1962 he couldn’t eat in the same restaurants or stay in the same hotels as the white players. Blacks were forbidden to use the beach in Miami Beach. He was okay with that. “I don’t need a tan,” he said.
A statue honoring him is in place at Wrigley Field. Canada issued a stamp in his honor. The Owl Chatter doors are always open for you, Fergie — we could use a good right-handed starter.
See you tomorrow, everybody. Thanks for stopping by!
The Wellington Files 