About 3 years ago I posted a entry about a joke I heard at my job. It was one of those cheezy jokes on a math page where if you work out the problems you can decipher a hidden message. This morning someone actually sent me a message saying what the answer was. For those of you interested in figuring it out on your own I will have a link to the post containing the answers in the comment.
Here is the joke:
What is the difference between a cheap hamburger and a pulled tooth?
ANSWER
One person found something pretty close at one point, but this contains the actual answer. As a fan of silly jokes I found it tres amusant. Even after 3 years.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving and as always enjoy.
I am 50% Left Brain and 50% Right Brain. Interesting...
| You Are 50% Left Brained, 50% Right Brained |
 Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports. |
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Evans Family Christmas
I haven't posted anything for a while. Not that my life has been dull or exciting, but mostly because I just haven't felt like it. But something transpired this past week that is worthy of at least a few words. I know I've told people about how my family likes to celebrate holidays at random times of the year, but this year we really took it to the next level and I have pictures. Not only did we celebrate Christmas the first week of October, by listening to music, having decorations, and presents, but everyone who called the house knew of our psychosis and they said Merry Christmas as well. It's spreading.
I thoroughly enjoyed singing familiar Christmas carols while it was 95 degrees outside. I like being different and this is as different as it gets. At least as far as my family is concerned. The major question is will we be celebrating Christmas again. And the answer is a resounding yes. Of course we are. My mother said that the tree won't be coming down until June 2008. There's at least 5 more Christmas celebrations yet.
As always have a good day adn enjoy.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Sometimes I forget
I was thinking the other day about getting older since my birthday is in a couple of weeks. I was thinking about what point in your life do you stop improving with age and start going down hill. I know, I know depressing thought, but I was thinking that most of the time you don't really notice it until after it happens.
I've noticed that my recall isn't as good as it used to be the other day. I mean I have a really good memory. Especially if I see something. I can recreate a mental picture and see what it is I'm trying to remember. I've noticed recently that I struggle to think of the word I want to use. Instead in it's place I find a vague notion of what I want to talk about. Maybe nobody notices because I'm so absent-minded as it is.
Argh!! Anyway that's it for now. As always have a good day and enjoy.
I've noticed that my recall isn't as good as it used to be the other day. I mean I have a really good memory. Especially if I see something. I can recreate a mental picture and see what it is I'm trying to remember. I've noticed recently that I struggle to think of the word I want to use. Instead in it's place I find a vague notion of what I want to talk about. Maybe nobody notices because I'm so absent-minded as it is.
Argh!! Anyway that's it for now. As always have a good day and enjoy.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Quotes...
Today has been a very crazy day. Whenever I'm about to go on vacation 1001 tiny things come up that seem "so" important. Luckily one that came up today required my signature. It's best that it came up today instead of Wednesday though. But anyway, I wanted to read something lighthearted and I found one of my favorite quotes from the movie "Orange County".
Firefighter: What's your name?
Lance: Uh, Joe... John... uh, Joe-John.
Firefighter: Your name's Joe-John?
Lance: John-ston, Johnston. Joe.
Firefighter: You wanna tell me what happened here?
Lance: Uh, there was a fire, I dunno, I came by and it's... checkin out the fire.
Firefighter: Well that lady uh, Mona? She said that you two were in the building together when the fire started.
Lance: Yeah, she's a liar, cuz I dunno her so whatever, whatever she says is a lie, so... Firefighter: K, so you're saying you weren't in the building with that woman?
Lance: No, not I! Aright, she started it, aright? Because she was like "I hate my job, I'm gonna burn this mother down!" And I said "You better not... you better not!"
Firefighter: She said it was an electrical fire.
Lance: It was. It was a total electrical fire, it was like uh, the switches had sparks comin out, and the sockets, and uh it was like the 4th of July, man!
Firefighter: Why aren't you wearing your pants, Joe?
Lance: I tripped, and uh then I had to take 'em off to run faster out of the flames... [coughing] Lance: I think I inhaled some smoke, will you excuse me one second, I'll be right back. [runs away in the background]
Firefighter: [into walkie talkie] We got a sprinter. Five foot five, no pants, unkempt... portly.
As always have a good day and enjoy.
Firefighter: What's your name?
Lance: Uh, Joe... John... uh, Joe-John.
Firefighter: Your name's Joe-John?
Lance: John-ston, Johnston. Joe.
Firefighter: You wanna tell me what happened here?
Lance: Uh, there was a fire, I dunno, I came by and it's... checkin out the fire.
Firefighter: Well that lady uh, Mona? She said that you two were in the building together when the fire started.
Lance: Yeah, she's a liar, cuz I dunno her so whatever, whatever she says is a lie, so... Firefighter: K, so you're saying you weren't in the building with that woman?
Lance: No, not I! Aright, she started it, aright? Because she was like "I hate my job, I'm gonna burn this mother down!" And I said "You better not... you better not!"
Firefighter: She said it was an electrical fire.
Lance: It was. It was a total electrical fire, it was like uh, the switches had sparks comin out, and the sockets, and uh it was like the 4th of July, man!
Firefighter: Why aren't you wearing your pants, Joe?
Lance: I tripped, and uh then I had to take 'em off to run faster out of the flames... [coughing] Lance: I think I inhaled some smoke, will you excuse me one second, I'll be right back. [runs away in the background]
Firefighter: [into walkie talkie] We got a sprinter. Five foot five, no pants, unkempt... portly.
As always have a good day and enjoy.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Limits...
This week I've been reading about limits like physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Whether they actually exist and if they do how do I feel about them and it reminded me of a conversation I had at my last book club meeting. We were discussing whether or not there exists and end of "science" or rather is there an actual end to all knowledge in the universe and if it is possible for humans to actually acquire this knowledge.
We talked about whether there are physical limits that prevent people from actually having the ability to possess this knowledge. I'm of the opinion that human intelligence is a limiting factor on knowledge and others in the group are of a differing opinion.
When I came back from the meeting someone made a joking (I hope they were joking) comment about our group finding some grand unified theory of the universe (in case it hasn't dawned on you yet it's a science book club, most specifically physics). I said I don't think there is a grand unifying theory of the universe. I think there are some approximations that account for some things (i.e. string theory). I feel like this is one of the areas where we have hit our limiting factor. We can approach this knowledge repeatedly from infinitely many directions and still go asymptotically off to zero knowledge of an actual unified theory.
I could try to explain why, but I think few people would truly appreciate the irony of the practice of searching for something that ultimately leaves you with less than you started with.
Anyway that's all that's rolling around the old noggin today.
As always have a good day and enjoy.
We talked about whether there are physical limits that prevent people from actually having the ability to possess this knowledge. I'm of the opinion that human intelligence is a limiting factor on knowledge and others in the group are of a differing opinion.
When I came back from the meeting someone made a joking (I hope they were joking) comment about our group finding some grand unified theory of the universe (in case it hasn't dawned on you yet it's a science book club, most specifically physics). I said I don't think there is a grand unifying theory of the universe. I think there are some approximations that account for some things (i.e. string theory). I feel like this is one of the areas where we have hit our limiting factor. We can approach this knowledge repeatedly from infinitely many directions and still go asymptotically off to zero knowledge of an actual unified theory.
I could try to explain why, but I think few people would truly appreciate the irony of the practice of searching for something that ultimately leaves you with less than you started with.
Anyway that's all that's rolling around the old noggin today.
As always have a good day and enjoy.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Professional Jugglers
One of my favorite personal jokes I use to describe myself with is "I don't multitask, I parse." (parse: definition - To analyze or separate (input, for example) into more easily processed components. ) With the exception of involuntary functions, I'm just not capable of doing two things at once. And if by some small chance I am doing two things at the same time one or both are invariable ruined. The girls who work for me always laugh because if I'm typing on my computer and they start talking to me at some point I realize someone is next to me making noise and turn and look at them with a vacant expression. Now they know to wait until I'm done. Sometimes I look up and a little line is formed for people who want to talk.
I give a pretty good impression of multitasking at times especially when I'm working with children, but what I'm actually doing is scrolling through everyone in the room in my mental database and checking to see if someone needs attention if they don't I move on to the next. Or I take note of hands put in order of priority and scroll. I was talking to a friend on Saturday and he at least agrees with me that multitasking seems impossible, but for some reason by today's standards is held up as the ultimate achievement in success. While my mind boggles at how people are successfully capable of doing more than one thing at a time. I can barely walk and talk at the same time. Sometimes I actually have to stop walking in order to finish a complete thought.
Yesterday I amused my students greatly by a comment I made when I was helping a girl with her physics homework. The problem was a particularly tricky one and I needed to focus all my attention to it so I said, "Hold on a minute I need to go to the bathroom so I can focus on this problem completely." Not realizing that this would be very funny, but everyone started laughing. But the truth is I couldn't focus on the problem while thinking about having to go to the bathroom.
Then I read an excerpt from the July 19, 2004 edition of the Los Angeles Times written by Melissa Healy that read:
------
Multi-tasking, for most Americans, has become a way of life. Doing many things at once is the way we manage demands bearing down on us at warp speed, tame a plague of helpful technological devices and play enough roles - parent, coach, social secretary, executive - to stage a Broadway show.
But researchers peering into the brains of those engaged in several tasks at once are concluding what some overworked Americans had begun to suspect: that multi-tasking, which many have embraced as the key to success, is instead a formula for shoddy work, mismanaged time, rote solutions, stress and forgetfulness. Not to mention car crashes, kitchen fires, forgotten children, near misses in the skies and other dangers of inattention.
So turn off the music, hang up the phone, pull over to the side of the road and take note: When it comes to using your brain to conduct several tasks at one time, "there is no free lunch," says University of Michigan psychologist David E. Meyer. For all but the most routine tasks - and few mental undertakings are truly routine - it will take more time for the brain to switch among tasks than it would have to complete one and then turn to the other.
When the two get squished together, each will be shortchanged, resulting in errors.
And a prolonged jag of extreme multi-tasking, warns Meyer, may lead to a shorter attention span, poorer judgement and impaired memory...
------
The article goes on to talk about studies in people in their 40s and 50s who are struggling with forgetfulness and realize it's a result of depression, stress, and "role overload". I guess my brain has it's own fail safe. It won't let me multi-task full stop unless I feel like tripping over my feet and hitting the ground every 20 - 30 minutes.
Feel free to tell me what you think. As always have a good day and enjoy.
I give a pretty good impression of multitasking at times especially when I'm working with children, but what I'm actually doing is scrolling through everyone in the room in my mental database and checking to see if someone needs attention if they don't I move on to the next. Or I take note of hands put in order of priority and scroll. I was talking to a friend on Saturday and he at least agrees with me that multitasking seems impossible, but for some reason by today's standards is held up as the ultimate achievement in success. While my mind boggles at how people are successfully capable of doing more than one thing at a time. I can barely walk and talk at the same time. Sometimes I actually have to stop walking in order to finish a complete thought.
Yesterday I amused my students greatly by a comment I made when I was helping a girl with her physics homework. The problem was a particularly tricky one and I needed to focus all my attention to it so I said, "Hold on a minute I need to go to the bathroom so I can focus on this problem completely." Not realizing that this would be very funny, but everyone started laughing. But the truth is I couldn't focus on the problem while thinking about having to go to the bathroom.
Then I read an excerpt from the July 19, 2004 edition of the Los Angeles Times written by Melissa Healy that read:
------
Multi-tasking, for most Americans, has become a way of life. Doing many things at once is the way we manage demands bearing down on us at warp speed, tame a plague of helpful technological devices and play enough roles - parent, coach, social secretary, executive - to stage a Broadway show.
But researchers peering into the brains of those engaged in several tasks at once are concluding what some overworked Americans had begun to suspect: that multi-tasking, which many have embraced as the key to success, is instead a formula for shoddy work, mismanaged time, rote solutions, stress and forgetfulness. Not to mention car crashes, kitchen fires, forgotten children, near misses in the skies and other dangers of inattention.
So turn off the music, hang up the phone, pull over to the side of the road and take note: When it comes to using your brain to conduct several tasks at one time, "there is no free lunch," says University of Michigan psychologist David E. Meyer. For all but the most routine tasks - and few mental undertakings are truly routine - it will take more time for the brain to switch among tasks than it would have to complete one and then turn to the other.
When the two get squished together, each will be shortchanged, resulting in errors.
And a prolonged jag of extreme multi-tasking, warns Meyer, may lead to a shorter attention span, poorer judgement and impaired memory...
------
The article goes on to talk about studies in people in their 40s and 50s who are struggling with forgetfulness and realize it's a result of depression, stress, and "role overload". I guess my brain has it's own fail safe. It won't let me multi-task full stop unless I feel like tripping over my feet and hitting the ground every 20 - 30 minutes.
Feel free to tell me what you think. As always have a good day and enjoy.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
The Dangers of Banlon and Dimples...
For those of you not familiar with BanLon it's an evil material fabricated as part of a sinister plot to unmask all of a person's physical defects. And knowing this people still willingly wear this "stuff". Ok so if you're a supermodel with the perfect body then it's not that big of a deal (not that a supermodel would ever be caught dead wearing banlon). As you can see from my picture here is a couple that is wearing banlon, not bad. If you are more than 200 pounds with more dimples than a newborn babe, then you should not subject other bus riding passengers to the visual assault of having to watch you stand in full view of everyone with nothing underneath a next to transparent banlon ensemble. It's just not right. How is a body supposed to keep food down in those conditions? It's enough just trying to keep from fainting. Luckily I could resort to my trusting book. The problem was having to look up intermittently to make sure I hadn't passed my stop.
I'm sure there was a "Seinfeld" episode about this.
O.k. I'm done venting, back to my real life.
As always have a good day and enjoy.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
The BLACTOID is back!!!
After an extremely long hiatus from the world of the writing I'm diving back in during my favorite month of the year Black History Month. I know it's a little late in the day to start writing blactoids again, but it wouldn't be February without them.
Over the past year and a half of working with the wonderful children and teachers of the Culture and Language Academy of Success I've definitely come to a deeper understanding of the black culture and how it has shaped and continues to shape our people both in the United States and abroad. What I enjoy most is the under pining of the education program which which is teaching to under performing black students in a culturally relevant way.
As a teacher and trainer in Mathematics I've always believed it to be culturally neutral because, while numbers have history they are accessible to anyone from any background at any level. However what I have discovered both in working with the students and teacher training sessions is that when teaching math in a way that makes sense, which is the main focus of the Mathnasium program, it's important to realize that culture plays a very large part. Like any other subject true understanding comes from making a real connection to the subject and being able to place what you've learned in the context of everyday life. For most students in low performing school finding the solution for a system of equations makes absolutely no sense to them however making sure you have enough money after they have taken the sale discount percentage off an item does.
It's been a really great year with CLAS and I look forward to the continued academic progress of all the students. To that end I've decided that Mathematicians should be my blactoid focus.
Blactoid: Their are many great mathematicians of the African Diaspora, not least of all myself who are impacting both the mathematics and science world today. As you know I love focusing on women and one who has done well recent is Katherine Okikiolu, Born to Nigerian and British parents, but educated in the U.S., (was once on Princeton's faculty) received special distinction in 1997 when she was the first Black to win a Sloan Research Fellowship. Later in 1997, she won the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers for "Innovative research in geometric analysis, particularly the determinant of the Laplacian under smooth perturbations, and developing student workshops and mathematics curricula for inner-city children." This particular award is worth $500,000 and is only granted 60 scientists and engineers in the U.S. per year. Okikiolu's work on elliptical differential operators is considered a major contribution, going well beyond what experts had considered feasible, given the current state of knowledge. Her 2001 publication Critical metrics for the determinant of the Laplacian in odd dimensions in the Annals of Mathematics, is receiving high acclaim. She is Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of California at San Diego.
As always have a good day and enjoy.
Over the past year and a half of working with the wonderful children and teachers of the Culture and Language Academy of Success I've definitely come to a deeper understanding of the black culture and how it has shaped and continues to shape our people both in the United States and abroad. What I enjoy most is the under pining of the education program which which is teaching to under performing black students in a culturally relevant way.
As a teacher and trainer in Mathematics I've always believed it to be culturally neutral because, while numbers have history they are accessible to anyone from any background at any level. However what I have discovered both in working with the students and teacher training sessions is that when teaching math in a way that makes sense, which is the main focus of the Mathnasium program, it's important to realize that culture plays a very large part. Like any other subject true understanding comes from making a real connection to the subject and being able to place what you've learned in the context of everyday life. For most students in low performing school finding the solution for a system of equations makes absolutely no sense to them however making sure you have enough money after they have taken the sale discount percentage off an item does.
It's been a really great year with CLAS and I look forward to the continued academic progress of all the students. To that end I've decided that Mathematicians should be my blactoid focus.
Blactoid: Their are many great mathematicians of the African Diaspora, not least of all myself who are impacting both the mathematics and science world today. As you know I love focusing on women and one who has done well recent is Katherine Okikiolu, Born to Nigerian and British parents, but educated in the U.S., (was once on Princeton's faculty) received special distinction in 1997 when she was the first Black to win a Sloan Research Fellowship. Later in 1997, she won the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers for "Innovative research in geometric analysis, particularly the determinant of the Laplacian under smooth perturbations, and developing student workshops and mathematics curricula for inner-city children." This particular award is worth $500,000 and is only granted 60 scientists and engineers in the U.S. per year. Okikiolu's work on elliptical differential operators is considered a major contribution, going well beyond what experts had considered feasible, given the current state of knowledge. Her 2001 publication Critical metrics for the determinant of the Laplacian in odd dimensions in the Annals of Mathematics, is receiving high acclaim. She is Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of California at San Diego.
As always have a good day and enjoy.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Happy Holidays...on to '07!
I decided to do a post in reflection, capturing the essence of '06 Tanika style by discussing the highs and lows of 2006 in the most rapid fashion possible. Here goes...AHHHHHHHH!
And there you have it :)
But seriously it was definitely a very hectic year, between my work, personal life, social life, and family I'd be hard pressed to keep the events under 10, 000 words, but I will.
Highs...
-Trying new things such as knitting, ice skating, mahjong (ok so I'm not that wild, I'll be crazier in '07 give me time), and going on a cruise with my family to the Caribbean (I'm officially addicted)
-Making more of an effort to engage people socially
-Personal breakthroughs that if you know them good and if you don't, you're better off
-Personal breakthroughs that if you know them good and if you don't, you're better off
-Having my family come visit for the holidays
-Visiting college roomies in DC and learning all the PTO lingo and having an incredible time (I will discuss in my next post)
Lows...
-Health issues (refuse to elaborate)
-Work Stress (not the kids, but learning how to balance work and personal)
-Work Stress (not the kids, but learning how to balance work and personal)
-Struggles in my personal life that I'm still working through
Since my highs outnumber my lows it must have been a great year. To finish off my recap of both the year and the holidays I'll leave you with some pictures of the family. Have a great day and as always enjoy.
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