This is too close to true to be funny.....

Edit 6-19-07 I meant to mention this was copied from a circulating e-mail and is not an actual personal experience. Sorry for the unintentional misrepresentation.
Math 1950-2007


Last week I purchased a burger at Burger King for $1.58. The counter-girl took my $2 and I was digging for my change when I pulled 8 cents from my pocket and gave it to her. She stood there, holding the nickel and 3 pennies, while looking at the screen on her register. I sensed her discomfort and tried to tell her to just give me two quarters, but she hailed the manager for help . While he tried to explain the transaction to her, she stood there and cried. Why do I tell you this?



Answer: Because of the evolution in teaching math since the 1950s


1. Teaching Math In 1950
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?


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2. T eaching Math In 1960
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

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3. Teaching Math In 1970
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?

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4. Teaching Math In 1980
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

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5. Teaching Math In 1990
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes?

(There are no wrong answers. )

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6. Teaching Math In 2007
Un hachero vende una carretada de maderapara $100. El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuanto dinero ha hecho?

The name's Daddio, Sweet Daddio....

I have an infatuation with James Bond. It may stem from the fact that my life is so anti-Bond. By 30 minutes into each movie he has slept with more women than I have my whole life (that number for me btw is 1). Exotic locations for me means Tybee Island, or Sylvania. The closest thing I've come to saving the world was helping to develop a new lightweight bullet/flak proof fabric that wouldn't weigh down pilots if they ditched in water. Most of the crises I face involve bad bearings, bent rolls, or raw material shipments that are late. Sometimes I get to work on a problem as threatening as girlfriend problems for #3 son. My ability to fix things with minimal resources has in the past earned me the nickname "McGyver", but it's Bond James Bond I really want to be.

I own all the original Ian Fleming novels. The fascinating thing about the novels is that they take place starting in the early fifties, and most of the bad guys were former Nazis or other displaced persons of nefarious background for whom all records of their existence were destroyed in WWII. They then give themselves new identities with fanciful names like Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Auric Goldfinger or Hugo Drax. Of the movies, only Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and On Her Majety's Secret Service follow the novels of the same name.

Rootietoot and The Boys have been gifting me with 'The Ultimate James Bond Collection' for Christmas, b'day, etc. With the boxed set I recieved for Father's Day I have all but one set. I've been watching the new movies today between Nascar and the U.S. Open golf tournament. So, for today I get to vicariously be a dashing handsome secret agent.

Tomorrow I go back to being plain old Sweet Daddio.

Things that make me laugh

I can't say I have a favorite movie- but this one is certainly on my top 5 list



I think "Creature Comforts" is the most creative enterprise of the last 25 years





And 8 year olds working on developing their comic skills as detailed here:
http://beacuseitspersonal.blogspot.com/2006/04/4-at-genesis-of-his-comic-career.html

Music

(This post is not intended as arrogant as it will start out. Bear with it)

God has given me many gifts. I can, and have, build a Duncan Phyfe sideboard (or Gustav Stickley, or Shaker, or a style known in a small circle by my own name), rebuild a Chevy small-block and make it purr like the proverbial kitten, develop new industrial processes which become patented, build a frame house from a stack of lumber or a log cabin without a kit, or completely change the inside of a house by removing walls and redsigning the interior. My services have been sought for designing kitchens in half-million dollar houses. I have a quantifiable good eye for color, and have influenced seasonal color pallets for 3 major houses of fashion (get this kids- I used to do color design for Victoria's Secret!) I can repair virtually anything that is broken, and I was at one time a certified pipe welder. I have been told I am an empath, and somehow become the company therapist every where I have worked.

But human nature being what it is, I deeply covet the one gift I am most lacking- musical ability. There are days I would trade all my other skills to be able sit and play the guitar with 1/2 of Dickie Betts' skill. Why?

Music is probably the single best way to make a large population happy. Even before today's mass communications, music was available to large groups. Moods of an entire nation can be influenced (Josef Goebels new this and used it for nefarious purposes). Even the worst day at work is softened when a happy tune with personal memories attached comes on the radio during the evening commute. Fussy babies are comforted by a lullaby. Hearts are won by a serenade (o.k. being able to repair the voltage regulator in a VW helped me to win Rootietoot's heart, but how much better could it have been to play and sing "Blue Sky?"). When a small group is together for an intimate gathering, the experience can be made better by one member strumming gently on a 6 string, but saying "come on gang, let's go to the shop and tune the Chevy or make a piece of case furniture" doesn't really have the same effect.

And every one of us has at least one song which brings memories (hopefully good, but sometimes unpleasant) pouring in when you hear it. Mine are an eclectic collection, from mine and Rootie's "special song" Blue Sky by the Allman Brothers, to Pyromania by Def Lepard and Ravel's Bolero (doesn't that make you curious?).

I can influence my own mood by music selection. If I'm angy when I get in the car in the evening, the Allman Brothers can always make me happy. Led Zepplin (select songs) can be uplifting too. If I'm feeling mellow, Lynyrd Skynyrd is good to pump me up on my morning commute. That's a powerful medicine.

You have to understand how bad my lack of musical ability is. Even trying to sing or humm to the boys as babies made them cry harder.

363 days a year I am satisfied with everything about my life, but what I do brings satisfaction to a very small circle. Some days I wish I could reach out to a larger group, and music would seem to be the best way to do that.

So- 2 questions: 1)What songs evoke strong memories for you and 2) What skills do you not have that you desire deeply?

Allman Brothers - Jessica

Another song that makes it impossible for this redneck to have unhappy thoughts. If a genie were to grant me 1 wish, I believe it would be to be able to play the lead on this song.

ALLMAN BROTHERS BLUE SKY

This is mine and Rootietoot's "Special Song". It is impossible for me to listen to this and have unhappy thoughts.

Ummm a pool

So, G (owner of the company) decided I would get an extra day's pay for working Memorial Day (my jerk boss had originally declared I made enough already and wasn't going to pay me like he was the others). Rootie and I decided we would use the windfall to buy an aboveground pool. So, she and the boys went to Wally World today and bought an 18' by 4' deep pool. We will assemble it tonight and fill it some tonight and finish it tomorrow. Then we will swim! And I can come home in the evenings and cool off with a dip.

I hope it turns out to be as nice as I'm anticipating.