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It isn’t like I haven’t been home with my kids before, but I’m going to pretend like it’s something new. At least it’s a new state and Tiff is in an intensive class this week so she’s gone way more than normal. So here’s my average day so far as I can remember it.

My Day

Also, today I had my first disater.

I though it would be fun to go to a playground so we did. Then Asante had to poop, which he started on our way to a restroom (which was not super close).  As I attended to him Aly stuck her hand in a urinal. As I wasked her hand, Asante informed me he had pied on himself and the floor.  As I went back to him, Aly stuck her other hand in the urinal. Eventually everyone was clean. But Asante was sans underwear since I did not pack him clean ones (though I did check before we left, but the ones in there were not clean).

And this is how I spent the evening while Tiff had a meeting:

We’ve now been a few days in Wilmore, KY and are getting settled in pretty well.  Some of the pictures below are from our first days.

and here is a short (1:33) video tour around our house.

"So I know if I can afford more stuff"

At first I thought it was a joke, but, sadly, I don’t think it is.

Who would think this is a good ad? I want to buy more stuff? Really?

Then I started to change my mind and thought, “Well, some people do just like to buy a lot of stuff.” Then I remembered I was reading Real Simple magazine. I am hoping Real Simple was thinking, “Sure Microsoft. We’ll take your money for an ironic full page ad that our simplifying readership can mock.” I think Microsoft was too busy with stuff to think about the audience.

I apologize for an error in my original post.

I messed up the work on tax brackets. Her taxes on $45,410 would now be $6214, but her $52,440 would be taxed as $7962.50.

Here’s what I messed up: the first $11950 is taxed 10%, your money after that up to $45,500 is taxed 15%, and finally her remaining money is taxed at 25%.  This makes much better sense and changes the outcome significantly.

After 15 years (rather than 6) she will surpass her other tax contribution. If we pretend she starts her master’s program as late as 35 years old, she pays it off (tax-wise) by 50, then for 15 more years she is providing more taxes. $213,158 vs $186,420 or 2.73 times the amount she borrowed.

So, I apologize again.  You might be able to argue that 15 years is too long to wait.

Out of the Silent Planet

I’ve just finished reading through CS Lewis’s Space Trilogy. I enjoy science fiction and this was pretty enjoyable as well.  I particularly enjoyed the first two books featuring travels to Mars and Venus, respectively. 

Lewis does an interesting job of mixing mythology with science fiction.  He, of course, also has you thinking through his creations for their Christian expressions.

Perelandra

I did not enjoy the third book nearly as much, perhaps because I am not British, or perhaps because I was trying too hard to figure out what he was trying to say about our world, rather than the fantasy world.  The third book’s femininity theme perplexed me.  I welcome those who are into such studies to read it and let me know.

I’m glad I read the series.  If you only read one, read the second, Perelandra.

That Hideos Strength

I picked this book up from Columbia Public Library.  I kind of knew what I was getting into, but I thought the premise was interesting, so I grabbed it.  The idea is that all human beings are as suited for math and they are for language, as it is the same mental faculties that allow for each.  I liked that idea, but I couldn’t get through the book.  For me, it was too heavy on speculative evolution.  About half way through, I just started skimming, which I hate to do, but my checkout list is long and it didn’t keep me. 

I though linking language and math would be my kind of book, but my idea of humanity diverged too far from his to wade through so many chapters.

I started wondering whether it was wise for the government to offer food stamps to people forgoing normal full-time employment to pursue higher education.  So below are some numbers crunched.  This is simplified and some data is as old as 2006, but I think it gets the point across.

Average income by education: (2006)

Woman w/ bachelor’s: $45,410      Woman w/ master’s: $52440

If they are the head of household and only income the former would be in the (2009) 15% tax bracket and the latter 25%.

aside: That, sadly, means a $7030 income change produces a $6298.50 tax change for a net increase of only $731.50.

Therfore, the woman who continues working pays about $6811.50 in taxes.  If, instead, she decides to complete a two year master’s program and has no income but relies on food stamps (2007), her family of three will max $9792 support.  So, we could say she pays $-9792 in taxes those two years.

Then after those two years, holding a master’s, she pays $13,110 in taxes per year – making up her two years of support in less than one year.  Of course, her uneducated doppelganger has been paying in those two years, so how long will the education actually result in more total taxes?

We have a system of equations on our hands:

y=6811.50x  &  y=13110(x-2) – 9792

The minus 2 in the parentheses is for the two years of not paying, and the -9792 is the government (tax-payer) support. 

In six years from the start of her program, she will have surpassed the other’s tax contribution. Then, every year after she’ll give more than double. 

I know this would not be every case, but these are averages.  I think it becomes clear that supporting someone while they further their education is a good idea for the government, and they/we (since it is a government of the people) don’t have to wait very long to enjoy the benefits.

Developing Math Talent: A guide for educating gifted and advanced learners in math

A very informative book. A good reminder that gifted students need differentiation and often parents must advocate strongly on behalf of the child and that is not being pushy. I picked this up at Columbia Public Library.

131 role model must be similar to the audience.  Too much distance is not effective for they are viewed as other.  *like sainthood

228 essential topics:

246 way too much repetition in textbook series for gifted students

248 resource books (copy made)

255 manipulatives list soma cube

268 best teacher “model of the deeply interested life, a life of full participation in the world of challenges”

353-358 mathematical olympiad problems

 (copy)

click for a video

Most people know a pendulum, the consistently occilating arm that regulates a clock really well.

Therefore, those not acquainted  with a double pendulum would likely be surprised by the chaotic motion. The tiniest of variance in initial position creates strikingly different paths.  Therefore, two identical double pendula started at seemingly identical places would find themselves after only a moment to be in very different locations.

This made me think of divergent theologies/worldviews. Each of us has a different set of initial conditions (not to mention a different set of conditions along the way).  I am by no means a determinist, but I think it would be naïve to think we should all come to the same conclusions, when our premises cannot be the same. Even those of us who started under very similar conditions may diverge greatly, for an infinity of infinitesimal decisions influence us.

<video here>

This chaos makes simulated prediction very difficult.

It seems the older I get, the less I understand some things.  Salvation is one of those.  To me, the more I zoom in on it, the fuzzier it gets.  I read No Other Name several years back which opened my eyes to even more questions. Then having kids messed me up even more.

Take Asante (since he speaks in sentences):

He talks to God. He believes God talks to him.  He believes God heals. He enjoys hearing stories of God. He loves (God, Jesus, and other people). He has self-control. He forgives. He has all these characteristics that represent a relationship with God; I surely cannot doubt that he has one.

But whoever heard of a 2 year old being saved? And more than that, there wasn’t a moment where it all changed and he became that way.  From as long as we could communicate these characteristics existed. So what now? He must be a Christian. Of course, he isn’t perfect; we could say he has sinned – he has knowingly disobeyed – but I’m not saying he doesn’t need a savior, it just seems he has always had one.

He came to know God and Jesus like he came to know his parents, we’ve all been there interacting with him, raising him.  But that messes up what I thought I knew salvation meant.

What do you all think? Feel free to discuss openly, even though it regards my own children. If you can back it up, I’d like you to discuss the essence of salvation and the characteristics necessary for those saved.  I won’t for a second fear for their souls.

The only example of dialect shift (if it can even be called that) that I can recollect in my life is the word ramen.  I grew up pronouncing it like raymen, but sometime through college it became rahmen due to the influences around me. I don’t necessarily believe one is right or wrong and I don’t think I intentionally shifted.  As far as I recall, it just happened and now I find myself using a different pronunciation.

Can you think of any words that you now pronounce differently than earlier in your life?

I know it has been said many times over that oral cultures develop their faculties of memory more than literate cultures, but I am struck by it moreso through recent experiences. My two and 1/2 year old Asante sometimes memorizes books before I do.  I think this, strangely enough, means he is interacting with the text more deeply simply listening than I am reading.

Likely he knows (in a manner of speaking) that once memorized, he has unlimited access to the text and no longer must depend on my readings. This freedom gives him more access to the life of the book.  And though I have much freedom afforded me through literacy, memory has ceased to be a natural part of my engagement with the story. If I want the memory I must specifically apply effort, except in the case of extreme repeition (read: Where the Wild Things Are). 

The main point, though, is the internalness which allows one to really live within a story that is not fully our own (one that becomes our own with time) that literacy dependancy has made unnatural to us is a great loss. It prevents us from that instantaneousness in which most of life occurs. 

Some things are better referenced than memorized, but we have caused ourselves to default to reference, and our unawareness of this fact leaves us less connected with the world around us than we might hope for.