It has been a long time

 Actually I came here looking for an old blog called Pundamentalist. But it isn’t here anymore. I can understand that as I haven’t posted to it in years. And obviously I haven’t made any entries here either. But I enjoyed the walk down memory lane. Thank you Blogspot for holing this so long. 

To teach in school you've got to stay in school

About two weeks ago I answered an ad from a local college looking for a part time speech teacher. Seemed reasonable. I have some hours in speech type courses, have already taught at the college level and for over two decades I’ve earned a living by preparing and delivering speeches.

Turns out that I’m not qualified to teach speech. According to the accreditation division for colleges one must have 18 graduate hours of speech courses.
I didn’t want to be head of the department. This wasn’t even a full time job. Sheesh.

Spider Solitaire

Was it Samuel Clemens who remarked that the difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and lightning bugs? I maintain that there’s an even greater difference between having something to say and having to say something. I’ve got a number of things to say so I hope to post more regularly. I thank Laughing Jack for not being pushy about this. Perhaps the duties of fatherhood have affected his online excursions, too.

When introducing folks to the computer I like to get them involved in the games. Not the fancy stuff – just the games that come with the operating system. I tell them that these aren’t just games they are simulation experiences to develop skills in mouse control. If I had a boss, I’d probably try that line on her, too.

One of my favorites is “Spider Solitaire.” I play the middle game with 2 suits. And I play the same game until I win or choose to move on to something else. In my book anything less than 130 moves is a GREAT victory.

I’m convinced that there’s an opportunity to learn about life from this game. Usually the connections are fairly obvious. But sometimes those obvious moves don’t allow ya to win. Sometimes you have to go in what appears to be the wrong direction in order to finish the game. This is like the switchbacks on a mountain trail.

"Psalm like it hot"??

It begins: "What Elvis was to rock'n'roll, David was to the Blues." Interesting point of view from U2.

"Psalm like it Hot"

Remembering the Alamo

I’ve been immersed in the Alamo. In searching for a connection to one of those hallowed Texians (James Northcross) I’ve been studying history. THE authority most often quoted by students of the Alamo is Dr. Amelia W. Williams who began with a Master’s Thesis on those slaughtered at the Shrine of Texas Liberty. At the urging of her professors in the early 1930’s she seems to have made the Alamo her life’s work. Her opus (a reprinting of her doctoral dissertation in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly) is titled “A Critical Study of the Siege of the Alamo and of the Personnel of Its Defenders.”

As a result of her extensive research in the state archives, Dr. Williams became the gatekeeper for the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. When the Daughters Alamo Committee was asked to add the name of Nathaniel Massie Kerr to the Alamo list, Williams responded: “I think Nathaniel Kerr was as true a hero as his brother.” Nathaniel Kerr died of an unknown illness in San Antonio on February 19, 1836, just days before Santa Anna’s army arrived. Nathaniel’s brother, Joseph, died in the March 6th battle and his name is enshrined in stone. The Alamo Committee was going to add Nathaniel Kerr to their list of defenders, but Williams’ words stopped them. “But according to my historical training, I am compelled to exclude his name from my roll.”

Note that in a 1941 letter to the editor of the Texas Almanac, she says of her own work: “I cannot vouch for all the names on my list being accurate. . . “ She further suggests: “In fact, it is my opinion that the entire list should be carefully and painstakingly worked through. Such a job will require a very great deal of work, a thorough knowledge of the problem, a complete verification of all former lists, or disproving certain names as belonging on the list.”

In 2003 the Republic of Texas Press published the painstaking examination done by Thomas Ricks Lindley. In Alamo Traces New Evidence and New Conclusions, Lindley affirms the contributions of Dr. Amelia Williams. But he also demonstrates her foibles. Stephen Harrigan says the work is “a methodical piece-by-piece dismantling of what we thought we knew. . . “

Walter Lord, author of A Time to Stand, claims: “in a way her [Williams’] thesis has been the worst thing that ever happened to the history of the Alamo. Not because she did so little work, but because she did so much. The sheer bulk of her research has discouraged later students from checking up on her and has led them all too often to take her statements at face value.”

Quotes

It seems that a large part of Jay Leno's monologue consists in quotes from and comments on current events. Tonight he mentioned that with all the hurricanes we've had this year that it might might not be a good time to be taking "God" out of the pledge of allegiance.

Henry Mintzberg a professor of management at McGill University noted that attention is now being focused on a leadership style called "quiet leadership." This led to: "Maybe really good management is boring."

Sunshine

What is the strange power of sunshine? In its glow the marvelously effective ideas of midnight melt into useless mush.