This will be followed by a sharing and brainstorming session as to how you, as parents, can best support your middle school student negotiate these exciting years. Please join us!

I came across this interesting letter of Abraham Lincoln's, which is currently being auctioned off at Sotheby's.  It is currently valued at between U.S. $250,000 and $350,000.  I really enjoyed seeing it!

Since  I teach cursive writing, I'm always interested in looking at handwriting samples.  I showed this lettter to my daughter to see if she could read it.  She could read some of it.  However,  some certain specific flaws, paticularly with proportion of letters, make certain bit hard to read (especially if you're not used to deciphering handwriting, as most teachers are used to doing).

Here are some examples of problems in Lincoln's cursive writing.  Most d''s are missing their tall stems (for example, look at the words understand and husband's, both in the second line of the body of the letter).  His y's at the end of words look almost like u's with a scratchy tail (see the word enemy in the fourth line of the body).  Most of his l's are no taller than his other small letters (see the word helped at the end of the third line of the body, where the l should be as tall as the h, but intead, barely surpasses the e in height).

Lincoln's slant, however, is good (correct amount of forward slant).

This particular sample of cursive writing would not pass my third-grade class.  However, it might not be his "best" writing--few of us use our "best" writing on a daily basis, as it's too time-consuming.

The reason I'm so particular in teaching handwriting (I'm sure some of you are wondering) is that in our American school, the teachers often change from year-to-year.  Sometimes we never know who we'll get until almost the last minute, or even what country they will be from.  (We've had teachers from English-speaking counries all around the world.)  Often the teachers from other countries don't even know cursive (much less American cursive), and sometimes the younger teachers now arriving from America don't know cursive either!  So of course they don't give their classes any instruction in it, nor do they use it on the board.  So whatever cursive my kids get in Grade 3 is often all they will get, ever.  That's why I teach them well in Grade 3, and get them to a standard that will serve them the rest of their lives before they leave my class.

Eileen

Eileen

First of all, there's my singing lesson yesterday. My singing teacher is completely barmy, for a start. Last week, all we did was write a list of songs I could sing for my grade 6, which we did at the end of last year. Apparently she'd lost the sheet. So, after twenty minutes of that, she finds the sheet in her folder. A whole lesson, which I'm paying for, wasted. Then yesterday, she turns around and says we're not doing anything she said we would last week, instead we're going to learn some jazzy christmas songs which I already know, for a concert I don't even want to do (and it now turns out I can't do it, but I didn't know that yesterday.) She even gave me another grade 6 piece, but didn't run through it with me, just expected me to learn it at home. This would be fine if I wasn't also expected to teach myself all the theory I need to know. She can hardly been called a teacher.

Then there's the school choir. I don't really have any problems with the teachers or the songs, it's just the other people there. They just seem to act like it's a social thing, leaving the couple of us who care to struggle through the songs ourselves. We've got another choir visiting in a couple of months, and they are going to show us up so much. It just annoys me.

Check it out, and let me know what you think:

...WAR Flags!

Here were the top cars for 2007 - 2008  (in order):

The first year we used these same survey questions was 2002.  Here were the top cars for 2002 (in order):

Ferarri

Mercedes

Jaguar

Porsche

4 x 4

--Eileen

I yelled at them several times, but they just start talking again 5 minutes later.  I'm really pissed at my coteacher too who does nothing to try and quiet them down.  I'm sick and tired of having to talk OVER them by yelling into a stupid microphone.  This fat kid was looking at me in a bad way and I almost snapped his neck in half.  I would have went ballastic on him had my coteacher had not stepped in.  Ughhh, I fucking hate this.  I hate this class and I have no idea how I am supposed to teach them.  Every Thursday at 3 pm, I am in the shittiest mood ever.  I am still fuming right now.  This is so frustrating.

After this week, I'm just going to stop trying.  I'm not going to scream or shout.  I'm just not going to do anything anymore.  They piss me off too much.

When I read about this experiment, I thought it would be really easy to do with my third-graders.  But some unexpected problems developed this week.  See a description in my previous post.

I had to think about a way to keep the experiment so that we could control the odor when putting it away in the classroom at night.  I also had to think about the safety issue of not having glass containers out where they could get broken by students.  Also, if we left the experiment outside at night, the uneducated (and illiterate) night guardians would surely throw it away as trash!

So, I came up with the idea of using individual plastic boxes, with tightly-closing lids, to solve both problems.  We set out the three completely covered boxes, the three completely exposed boxes, and the three gauze-covered boxes (each set of three containing one piece of meat, one piece of chicken, and one piece of fish).  We observed to see if flies were landing on them.  Generally, a few flies landed on the the exposed fish and gauze-covered fish the first day, and one or two landed on the exposed meat briefly.  But oddly, the flies didn't seem very interested in the meat, and not at all interested in the chicken! The second day, the interest in the fish continued, with little or no interest in the meat and fish. Also on the second day, some small black ants came and crawled around inside the top of the gauze-covered chicken, but they were not going down into the chicken.  Oddly, they did not touch anything else, even though everything was set out together.

Every night we closed the boxes up tightly, put them in our classroom, and came in each next morning to find the classroom smelling to high heaven (exactly like a trash truck).  We opened all the windows, and set the experiment back out side.

The third afternoon, the exposed meat completely disappeared.  We didn't see it disappear, but my assistant proposed that it had been stolen by a bird.  The fourth morning, the exposed fish disappeared, and a black bird with a bright orange beak was seen stealing it. The fourth afternoon, the gauze-covered meat disappeared (gauze ripped off the box, and meat gone), and I think it was the same bold bird!  We continued the experiment to the fifth day, as we were hoping to see some maggots (having never seen any except in pictures).

On the fifth morning (Friday) several dead flies were in the fish box (which my assistant had apparently closed in the box when he closed it the night before), but still no maggots.

So in five days, we got no maggots.  I haven't thrown away the rest of the experiment yet, but I have a theory as to what might have happened.  If anyone else has any knowledge as to whether my theory could be correct, I would appreciate the feedback.

My conclusion:

When I saw the dead flies, it occurred to me that the bad smell (or perhaps poisonous gases given off by the decomposition of the contents) had killed the flies.  If the flies were killed, perhaps any maggots hatching out would have been killed by the same thing, which might be why we got no maggots.  A friend of mine also suggested that the germs which were decomposing the contents might have used up the oxygen in the box and produced a box full of carbon dioxide, which would have suffocated the flies, as opposed to having poisoned them.  Please, what does anyone else think about this?

I realized that Redi's experiment did not say he closed his jars at night, which would have let any gases escape.  He also used a different-shaped flask, which birds would not have been able to penetrate (if the illustrations I've seen in science books are not just some artist's conception of the flask shape).

I'm undecided as to whether or not I should try this experiment again.  I think we'd need a cage that birds could not penetrate, but which flies could, and containers which could be left open outside for one week.

Eileen

Related Posts by Me:

Today I Will Do Francisco Redi's Experiment on Spontaneous Generation with My Third-Graders

This term as you know, the Unit is called the "Creative I"....so naturally it is pretty easy to approach this topic from a musical point of view, being a subject that is all about creativity.

• Discussing the links between Music and painting and how the movements in each correspond....e.g. Impressionism, Expressionism.
• Creating Images and pictures using Music as a stimulus
• Creating Music using Paintings as a stimulus; this will be done as a group composition
• Exploring and studying musical techniques and structures to create and perform our group compositions (rhythm, beat, pitch, call and response, polyrhythm, texture and ostinato)

I read about Redi's experiment to disprove the idea of Spontaneous Generation (abiogenisis, the idea that life can arise from non-living matter) in my daughter's high school biology text book.  I thought, "I could do that with my third graders, and they would really learn something!"

Since the time of Aristotle, who originated the idea, many people have believed that living things arose naturally from non-living matter. People thought rotting meat produced flies, that logs at the bottom of a body of water produced crocodiles, and that old mouldy grain produced mice, to name only a few of these ideas.

So today we will recreate Redi's experiment, for which I was able to piece together a lab procedure from internet articles.  What I can't understand is why I didn't find any lab procedures for students to follow, already prepared.  I am surprised that more students are not doing this experiment.  It's easy and interesting.

We will have nine plastic boxes.  Each group of three will have a sample of meat, fish, and chicken (provided today by classroom parents).  One group of three samples will be set out in the open, exposed to flies.  The next group of three samples will be covered in gauze.  The last group of three will be kept tightly closed.

What should happen is that lots of maggots will come out in the open sample.  In the gauze-covered sample, a few maggots may pop out due to eggs or hatched maggots falling through the gauze.  In the closed sample, no maggots should hatch out.  (If you do this experiment, wash carefully and keep boxes in different locations to reduce risk of cross-contamination with students handling them.)

Are any other teachers out there actually doing this experiment?  If not, why not?  Who has any thoughts on this?

Eileen

Mr. FitzSimons will be coaching Flag Football. Practices will be on
Monday and Thursday. Practices will start this Thursday. We are still trying to find and confirm soccer coaches.

If you are a middle school student and interested in any of these sports, please sign up. Sign-up sheets are located on the Parent Board in the main hallway.

My third-graders have a big problem with their friends telling others their secrets.

One boy says, "My big problem is with Mohamed, because I tell him my secrets, and he tells them to other students, and I don't like that."

A girl says, "When I say a secret to Yasmine, she tells it to everybody.  She promises not to say it, and then she tells it."

Another boy says, "The person I have a problem with is Marouane.  When I say to him a secret, he tells me he will say it to everyone.  Sometimes we tell him a secret, and he doesn't way to say to us his secrets.  He always says to us, 'I don't have a secret.'  He keeps saying to us that he will tell us his secrets if we say ours.  And then he will never say his secrets."

Another girl says, "My other big problem was about when I tell my friends my secrets, and they tell me, 'If you don't do what we want, we will say your secret to everyone, and to the people you are talking about.'  So I have to do what they tell me to do. "  (blackmail)

I think third-graders all over the world are having these problems with secrets.

Comments?

Eileen

Related Posts by me:

Elementary Students' Problems at School - A New Series

Scary Teachers Who Give Exaggerated Punishments to Third-Grade Boys

This year, I have three students who will be coming to my class, but who are not back yet from vacation for the first two days of school we had this past week.  This happens every year.  We now have most of the organizational tasks out of the way, and will start seriously working on Monday.  Yet these other students will not have all their notebooks and classroom affairs organized, and will have to play "catch-up," meaning that it will take my planning periods for about two days to work with these students to catch them up.

Do other teachers have this problem?

In most cases, the children's families have decided that the first day of school is too "early," or "inconvenient for the family to return from vacation by that day," reasons for not showing up.  As the teacher, I find this extremely annoying.  It feels to me like these families are not respecting the school's, or the teacher's time.  (But as I'm writing this, I realize this is a common problem throughout the Middle East--everyone shows up late for appointments without calling, or perhaps not at all, because no one respects ANYONE's time--they only respect their own time!)

What do other teachers think about this?

Eileen

Here are a few quotes from various third-grade boys.  My own comments follow.

"I have a problem with Mr. Jones.  He is very mean.  When I see him angry, I often get scared.  My hands get shaky.  He always gives lines.  If you tell him something, he tells you, 'NO' with a VERY LOUD VOICE."

"In the library, Mr. Jones makes us go to the back of the line for nothing.  If somebody talks--not us--he still tells us, 'Go to the back of the line.'

"I hate Mr. Jones because he gives me lines and I did not do anything."

"Mr. Smith is very, very, very, very strict in soccer.  We are tying our shoelaces in the changing room, and he told us, 'Out in two minutes!'  When two minutes passed, he says, 'Out for soccer!'  He said, 'If you're not playing, your team is disqualified for the whole year!'  He isn't fair, because he likes Team B more than any other team.  If something is wrong, and we tell him, he shouts at us. Sometimes he gives us 10,000 lines; he exaggerates A LOT!!!  We don't like that.  If Team B does something he likes, he gives them 100 extra points; that's why they're always winning.  He does that every time.  This is my very big problem."

"Every time, Mr. Black chooses Mehdi to be the monitor in video.  It's not fair.  One time I asked him,'Can I be monitor?'  Then he said, 'Mehdi can be monitor.'  Also, in sports, he always asks Jim to demonstrate everything.  He never chooses anyone else."

The men above are teacher assistants (except for the sport teacher).  They all have two things in common.  First, they are all young, and have just a couple of years experience with kids.  Second, they are all natives of the country I teach in.

I have noticed that natives of this country (and some other countries, such as the British--sorry British readers!) generally relate differently to the kids than American teachers do.  I'm not saying the American way is always better, but I do think the American way is both kinder, and more friendly.  The foreign way, AND the younger teacher's way (me, included, a few years ago) is to be really strict in terms of trying to maintain control--in other words to become a control freak.  No matter how hard you try, you just cannot control the behavior of some students.  You try to use intimidation, lines, detentions, punishments.

The older I've gotten, I use a different method.  First, I try to make the class as INTERESTING as possible.  Second, I DON'T treat all students the SAME in terms of discipline anymore (as I used to try to do).  Consequences, of course, have to be fair to all students.  But now what I try to do is to bring each and every student to his best performance--some by threatening, others by cajoling, others by entertaining, and others by asking their help.  In other words, I give different incentives, pressures, rewards to different kids.  One kid I might threaten to email his parents that day; another kid I will ask to stay in at lunch to talk with me and eat together, another kid I will tell a story to, and make a supportive comment.  Third, I smile at the kids, and talk to them often about my experiences as a kid (and how I felt), and how those might compare to their own.  I develop a personal relationship with each child.

The younger teachers are still using automatic punishments, whereas I am tailoring to each child whatever I think will bring out his best performance in that class.  In order to do this, you must get to know each and every child as an individual.  I find the native teachers of this country (and teachers from some other countries, such as British teachers) like to keep a wall up between themselves and the students, and do NOT want to get to know students individually.

I think students learn better from teachers when they have a personal relationship with their teacher, and feel like their teacher both likes and cares about them.  The students who have commented above do not have a personal relationship with their teacher, and don't feel like their teacher cares about them.  When they DO feel this way, they are much more willing to behave with only minimal punishments, if and when necessary.  They are much more willing to cooperate.

But it takes time and effort for a teacher to know his students.  It seems to me that in secretive, or "shame" based cultures, it's normal for a wall to exist between teachers and students.  I think American culture is much more open, and fewer American teachers erect such a "wall."

Comments?

Eileen

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My students often talk to me about problems they are having at school.  Some of these problems involve problems with a teacher, but most often involve problems with other students. I'll be treating each problem separately, in subsequent posts.

Often, parents (and many teachers) either don't realize the problems their kids are having at school, or they just don't know how to help their kids with these problems.  I don't always know how to help with these problems, either.

If your child confides in you, make time to listen.  Listen sympathetically, as you would to a friend.  Make the same kind of comments that you would to a friend.  Tell the child how you would feel, if you were in their shoes.  Finally, you can make comments like, "Have you tried saying this..." or, " What about this?"  Sometimes, when I can't think of anything better, I suggest giving the person "a taste of their own medicine," as that is the only thing some people understand.

Sometimes I suggest to the child that she talk with her parents about some issues (such as if a boy is bothering a girl).  I also suggest things I can do as a teacher to help, or bring up issues to discuss with the whole class, in general.  I ask if they want me to talk to the whole class, and get the child's permission first.

In one case, I felt a girl should talk with her mother, but her mother never made time to listen to her privately, without the girl's sister being around.  I got permission from the student to call her mother, and ask her mother to make time to speak with the girl privately.  The girl felt much better afterward.

Sometimes, there just isn't a solution.  But just as you feel better sharing your problem with a trusted friend, students also feel better just having someone listen sympathetically, and hearing another person's thoughts about the problem.

Eileen

Related posts I've Written:

One Girl's Problem - Stalked Since Nursery School!

Young Children Have Serious Concerns That Can Interfere with Their Lives and School Work

This morning I woke up at 4:30, and was trying to get back to sleep, when I suddenly got such an exciting idea about a new way to teach writing that I had to leap out of bed and run down to the computer (yes, I'm normally a morning person). This is often how and when I get my best ideas, after a good night's sleep, when my mind begins to think, before I've gotten up. The complete idea, in its entirety, came to me within a thirty-second period.

The new idea I got today was a different way of introducing writing principles to third graders. I thought I would start by having the third graders make several lists in their writing notebooks. These lists might be entitled Things I Like to Do, Things I Like to Imagine, Games I Like to Play, and Important Thoughts I Have. Each list might be done on a separate day. I might demonstrate on the board my own example lists.

Subsequently, I plan to introduce the idea of giving a speech. As with writing, a good speech has to have the thoughts well-organized. I thought I would demonstrate by having each student pick a topic they like off of their lists, and say, "Today I'm going to tell you about....." Then they would have to think of three important things they want to say about that topic, and at least one example of each of the three points. In order to remember what they want to say, I thought I would teach them the method the ancient Roman orators used to be able to speak without notes: imagining the rooms of a house, and equating each with a main point. Then, I'll have them restate their main idea at the end.

Once everyone in the class has given a short speech (over a period of days) and everyone understands the format, I'll introduce the same ideas in formal writing. I will explain that the idea we say in, "Today I'm going to tell you about...." is the THESIS SENTENCE. Each of the three main points (by room) is a TOPIC SENTENCE. The restatement of the main idea at the end is a CONCLUSION.

I will show them how to take a topic, and make a brief outline (in their notebook, to refer to while writing), and how to write the introduction, body, and conclusion based on that outline. I will also teach them the alternate method of a tag cloud to organize their ideas.

Then we'll look at a handful of those short essays as a whole class to see if all the parts were included.

One difficulty I've had in the past in teaching writing, is that many eight-year-old children are not ready to understand the concept of how an essay should be organized. By tackling that idea FIRST (through the fun speeches), it will give them PRACTICE and bring the topic down to a very CONCRETE level (where most of them still are in their thinking).

So, what do others think about this idea? I'm really excited to try it!

Eileen

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Interested buyers, please contact Sharon at iynixl@yahoo.com.sg to negotiate terms of purchase.

My delay in posting Part IV of this series was that I had to get out to our school to verify the compass direction (on of twenty-four precise Chinese directions). Now that I surveyed the site two different times, and took very precise compass measurements, I am very certain that the facing direction of our building the direction receiving the most energy) is to the rear. I also checked the facing direction of my own classroom, which also has it's facing direction opposite the entrance.

I've been studying Eva Wong's book A Master Course in Feng Shui. It's an EXTREMELY well-written book (but would be difficult for beginners).

The first thing you should determine is how is your school building's position on the city streets? Is it in a favorable or unfavorable situaiton? Secondly you should determine your school building's facing direction, which is NOT necessarily the same as the building entrance direction. Eva has whole chapters both on building sites, and on how to correctly determine a building's facing direction. The third thing to determine is the facing direction of your own classroom (again, not necessarily the direction of the door).

I used Eva Wong's method of calculating the flying stars on our entire building (built in Period 7), and I also did a second chart for only my classroom. After looking up Eva Wong's interpretations for the flying stars, I looked up more detailed interpretations which I found in my brand-new book by Stephen Skinner. Did I ever have some surprises!

I will tell you about the surprises in my own classroom first.

In the area of the class where my male assistant has sat for the past two years (two different assistants who both had their desk in the same place), the flying stars indicate gastro-intestinal problems, stomach pain, and digestive problems. For the past two year, my assistants have developed this problem. Now I will test this out. Again, I have a new assistant. I am not going to change the place of his desk. But if he starts to develop stomach problems, I certainly will!

The next thing I noticed was that in the part of the class where I used to have my desk several years ago, gossip, arguments, and legal entanglements are predicted. The Feng Shui of the entire building also indicates gossip, arguments, and legal for where my classroom is located in the building!

During the year my desk was in this place, I had severe problems with politics involving students, parents, and the administration. Anyway, suffice it to say that the happenings that year certainly fit the criteria for gossip, arguments, and legal entanglements!

That particular year, I had one of the most difficult classes ever. It had two new and extremely disruptive third-graders placed in it, who spoke not one word of English. Half the class was constantly out of their chairs, and others were passing nasty notes about girls in the class (and we could never find out who was doing it). Those were just a few of the things that happened that year. Meanwhile, since I changed the location of my desk to the "command" position, things improved dramatically (before I knew about Feng Shui).

There are two areas in my class that are indicated as extremely harmful to the health of eldest sons. So now I will have to revise what I said in my earlier post, about not worrying about students' Feng Shui. I see that some areas of the class are more helpful/harmful. Perhaps this is a reason to move students' places every few weeks, or so. My thoughts are that stronger students can support more difficult areas, at least for a short time, than weaker students, who should be placed in the stronger areas. I will try to keep eldest sons out of the two bad areas.

I was dismayed to see that the corner of our room where we normally keep lunches can promote stomach problems, but the only possible place I was considering moving them to is even worse for digestive problems! So I guess I will leave them where they are..

During the same year I had the difficult class and problems with workplace politics, that previous position of my desk additionally indicated good for wealth, especially in real estate. At that time, I was able to make a very auspicious purchase of a piece of land (in fact, it was the same day that the twin towers were attacked, when the U.S. dollar was at its highest point against the local currency). Since that time, the value of the dollar has dropped in HALF (which I attribute to the War and deficit spending).

Where I currently have my desk is apparently good for wealth in real estate (I purchased a house for a good price since I moved my desk here). It also indicates joyful activities, and marital harmony. But it does indicate lung problems (which I never had before, but interestingly have developed some breathing problems in response to pollens, just since I've sat here). I'll have to look for a remedy for that...

In my flying stars chart for our whole building, I found some very auspicious areas (in fact, the Elementary Principal has his office located in the most auspicious area for academic achievement, fame, wealth, a good marriage, and joyful activities! Just wait until I tell him....

On the other hand, in our main office's area, I found quarrelling, fighting, jealousy and cheating are indicated!

So, in conclusion, I really feel I've chosen the correct facing directions and got the stars in the right places on the charts (as backed up by the events that have been happening in those areas of the school). I think it's important to do both chards, and see how they interact to support each other.

Part Three of this series.

Reactions?

Eileen

This is the swimming pool I attend. There is a mixture of all types of people here. Some mothers sit around in Islamic-style clothes, while their children swim. Some Muslim mothers wear bathing suits and swim also--maybe about 20 percent. But most of those who choose to wear hijab (Islamic hair covering in public) at the pool DID swim as girls before they started to wear the hijab.

Some girls swim only until puberty, and take the hijab, after which time they can no longer swim (generally by choice), unless it's at a women's-only facility (and many mothers choose to swim at only this type of facility). Two-thirds of girls wear bikinis (even three-year-olds) that by American standards, look very risquée, especially on young girls. Although they aren't in these pictures, there are plenty of teenage girls and boys who swim, too. Most girls wear bikinis. When they aren't in the pool, the girls and boys generally sit around in a large group and play cards, or just visit and laugh together.

I tell my kids at school when then tell me, "Everybody's doing it," to go by the two-thirds rule (my own invention). This means that if two-thirds of the people are doing something, then it's generally accepted. (I tell them half is not enough.) So when my own daughter wanted a bikini at six years old, I did let her get one, and that's what she's worn ever since. She fits right in. (She's a teenager now.)

The reason I did this post is so that people realize that the entire Middle East is NOT like the image we see on TV of the Taliban-controlled areas.

It is in the Middle and Upper classes that both boys and girls go to swimming pools. There are some VERY crowded public pools available, with extremely badly-behaving wild kids, and generally the poorer boys (lower middle class) go there. Some poorer girls go, too. It's expensive to belong to a private club, of the type in this picture, which offers the pool and tennis, and a small restaurant that basically gives snacks, or sandwich lunches.

In the lower classes, few children would have the money to go to even a public pool. In the lower classes, it would not be considered respectable for a girl to go swimming, although it might be all right for a boy. But most of the lower classes would only swim at the beach.

There is no thought among the middle and lower classes here of teaching children to swim for safety reasons, although the upper classes (who travel abroad) do think of it.

Islam does not prohibit swimming for women and girls. It does encourage women and girls to be modest, which is why some women stop swimming at puberty, and other women choose a women-only pool. Taking good care of your body with correct nutrition and exercise is encouraged in Islam.

Eileen

In this video, Stephen Hawking explains that he thinks that alien civilizations have most likely evolved on other planets, but that most alien civilizations reach a certain level, and tend to destroy themselves. He says the human race has now reached this level of danger. Hawking does not think there are aliens visiting Earth, and doesn't believe any alien civilizations at our level exist within a radius of several hundred light-years from Earth.

The video below is ten minutes, but if you don't have time to watch, I've typed a complete transcript below.

Quoting Stephen Hawking: There is nothing older or bigger than the universe. The questions I (Stephen Hawking) would like to talk about are:

1.) Where did we come from?

2.) How did the universe come into being?

3.) Are we alone in the universe?

4.) Is there alien life out there?

5.) What is the future of the human race?

Up until the 1920's, everyone thought the universe was essentially static and unchanging in time. Then it was discovered that the universe is expanding. Distant galaxies were moving away from us. This meant that in the past they must have been closer together. If we extrapolate back, we find they must have all been on top of each other about fifteen billion years ago. This was a big bang, the beginning of the universe.

But was there anything before the Big Bang? If not, what created the universe? Why did the universe emerge from the Big Bang the way it did?

We used to think that the theory of the universe could be divided into two parts. First, there were the laws like Maxwell's equations and General Relativity that determined the evolution of the universe, given its state over all space at one time.

And second, there was a question of the initial state of the universe. We had made good progress on the first part, and now have a knowledge of the laws of evolution and all, but the most extreme conditions. But until recently, we have had little idea about the initial conditions for the universe. However, this division into laws of evolution and initial conditions depends on time and space being separate and distinct.

Under extreme conditions, General Relativity and Quantum Theory allow time to behave like another dimension of space. This removes the distinction between time and space, and means the laws of evolution can also determine the initial state.

The universe can spontaneously create itself out of nothing. Moreover, we can calculate the probabilities that the universe is created in different states. These predictions are in excellent agreement with observations by the W-Map Satellite of the cosmic microwave background which is an imprint of the very early universe.

We think we have solved the mystery of creation. Maybe we should "patent" a universe, and charge everyone royalties for their existence! I now turn the the second big question, "Are we alone, or is there other life in the universe?"

We believe that life arose spontaneously on the Earth, so it must be possible for life to appear on other suitable planets, of which there seem to be a large number in the galaxy. But we don't know how life first appeared. We have two pieces of observational evidence on the probability of life appearing.

The first is that we have fossils of algae from 3.5 billion years ago. The Earth was formed 4.6 billion years ago, and was probably too hot for about the first half billion years. So life appeared on Earth within half a billion years of it being possible, which is short compared to the ten billion-year lifetime of a planet of Earth-type. This suggests that the probability of life appearing is reasonably high. If it was relatively low, one would have expected it to take most of the ten billion years available.

On the other hand, we don't seem to have been visited by aliens. I'm discounting reports of UFO's. Why would they appear only to cranks and weirdos? If there is a government conspiracy to suppress the reports, and keep for itself the scientific knowledge the aliens bring, it seems to have been a singularly ineffective policy so far.

Furthermore, despite an extensive search by the SETI project, we haven't heard any alien television shows!

This probably indicates that there are no alien civilizations at our stage of development within the radius of a few hundred light-years. Issuing an insurance policy against abduction by aliens seems a pretty safe bet.

This brings me to the last of the big questions, the future of the human race.

If we are the only intelligent beings in the galaxy, we should make sure we survive and continue. But we are entering an increasingly dangerous period of our history. Our population, and our use of the finite resources of the planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good, or ill. But our genetic code still carries our selfish and aggressive instincts that were a survival advantage in the past. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million.

Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward-looking at planet Earth, but to spread out into space.

The answers to these big questions show that we have made remarkable progress in the last hundred years. But if we want to continue beyond the next hundred years, our future is in space. That is why I'm in favor of manned, or should I say "personned" space flight.

All my life, I have sought to understand the universe, and find answers to these questions. I have been very lucky that my disability has not been a serious handicap; indeed, it has probably given me more time than most people to pursue the quest for knowledge.

The ultimate goal is a complete theory of the universe, and we are making good progress. Thank you for listening.

Interviewer question: Professor, if you had to guess either way, do you now believe that it is more likely than not that we are alone in the Milky Way, as a civilization of our level of intelligence, or higher?

Hawking: (this answer took seven minutes for Hawking to type out on his computer) I think it quite likely that we are the only civilization within several hundred light-years. Otherwise, we would have heard radio waves. The alternative is that civilizations don't last very long, but destroy themselves.

Interviewer: Professor Hawking, thank you for that answer. We will take it as a warning. Professor, thank you for the extraordinary effort you made to share your questions with us today. Thank you very much, indeed.

They DON'T dress like this! (Near the bottom of this post you can see several pictures of how typical women DO dress.)

Everyone in the West THINKS most Muslim women are forced to dress like the woman in black in this picture, throughout the Middle East. (I apologize for the fuzzy image, but I took the picture from a moving car, and using a telephoto lens!) Notice the woman walking NEXT to the woman in black. The first one is wearing a black scarf (rare in this country) and a brightly-colored blue and white tunic, something like you might commonly see here these days.

I live in a very moderate Middle Eastern country. When I first came here in 1991, you NEVER saw any sort of dress like this. In fact, you never even saw black. This style of dress is a recent import from Saudi Arabia, and is only worn by a very few women (maybe one woman in 250). The women dressing like this are practicing the fundamentalist, Wahabi version of Isalm. (Wahabi Islam could be equated with the fire-and-brimstone sort of Christian fundamentalism.)

When this style of dress first began to appear in my Middle Eastern country, around 1999-2000, a lot of people were really shocked. Westerners were afraid. I have since found that some educated women of this country that I know personally look down on that form of Islam as misguided and wrong; while those who follow it, do everything they can to promote it.

Now people are less nervous about seeing this sort of dress. Which sort of dress a woman follows is mostly viewed as her personal choice, and is not imposed by the society. The exception to this is in poor neighborhoods, where according to my former maid, neighbors make snide and derogatory comments about women who choose to follow more modern forms of Islamic dress (as is the case in her own neighborhood).

I had a couple of opportunities over the years to talk to women who dressed like this, and in one case, the husband of a woman dressed like this. In one case, I saw a woman in the post office who came in with her husband, and was covered in black from head to toe. She was wearing black gloves, black socks, and a black face veil that only showed her eyes. I had to wait at the counter next to this woman's husband for about ten minutes, and so finally got up my nerve to talk to him. He was an extreme fundamentalist type in a skullcap with a long beard. I asked him (as politely as I could) if his wife was dressed like that because he asked her to do so. He replied, making sure not even to look at my face (as a very correct fundamentalist man would do) that no, it was his wife's choice to dress like this.

My other big chance to talk with a woman dressed like this happened in a doctor's waiting room. I was the last patient, when in walked two young women (aged 20-22); one of whom was dressed conservatively, while the other was dressed in black from head to toe, again even with black gloves and face veils. After about fifteen minutes, I got up my nerve to ask if I could ask the lady in black a personal question. She said of course. I asked if she was married, and if she was dressed like that because her husband required it. She told me that she was happily married, and that it was she, herself , who chose to dress like that. Then she pulled up her face veil to talk (keeping it ready to lower again in case a man entered the room) and told me her story.

Her story was that a few years before she had just been a normally-dressing girl, going to the local French school, wearing shorts and sleeveless blouses, and even having a boyfriend. But when she eventually gave in and slept with the boyfriend, she found he no longer respected her or wanted to be with her. (And yes, I was very surprised that she would tell me all this!)

She fell into a massive depression that lasted more than two years. She had no psychological help during this time (and most likely could not tell her parents either about the boyfriend, or that she was no longer a virgin). She said the only thing that got her out of her depression was that finally one day, she picked up the Koran. She began reading. She read each day.

Little by little, due to reading the Koran, her depression began to lift. She decided to begin dressing Islamically. She began by wearing the typical, traditional street wear of our country, but she found that men were looking at her speculatively on the street. So next, she started to wear a headscarf, but found that men were still looking at her. Next, she went to a more conservative dress, and found that men were still looking at her! So she finally went to black from head-to-toe, including a black face veil, and FINALLY found that men were no longer looking at her. Since that time, she got married (very happily). She probably told me how she met her husband, but I no longer remember, as this conversation took place several years ago.

Later, I separately related this woman's story to several other middle-aged women of my country, and asked them what they thought about it. They all said that in their opinions, that most women who were dressing like this had something traumatic in their backgrounds.

Now here are a couple of pictures of how typical (traditional or Islamically-minded) women are dressing these days:

Quite a few women choose entirely modern Western dress. Many times they are dressing in a manner even shocking to Western standards--low-cut necklines displaying cleavage, miniskirts (some Islamically-minded girls wear mini-skirts on top of jeans, as in the picture below), extremely tight blouses, and extremely tight jeans or slacks.

Comments?

Eileen

Knowledge of rope strength safety is important for P. E. teachers, playground planners, administrators, homeowners installing safety ropes as a means for escaping from higher stories, and anyone on a field trip or using ropes for any purpose. I never thought about this important issue, until I was reading an article on this issue written by

http://xtremesport4u.wordpress.com/

The article is so good, and so important, that I felt I could not do it justice rewriting it. So, I am reproducing most of this short article here:

What You Might Not Know About Your Rock Climbing Rope:

http://xtremesport4u.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/what-you-might-not-know-about-your-rock-climbing-rope/

July 16, 2008, by lolajones

Every rope has a "breaking strength," which means that if you place a heavy enough strain on a rope then it will eventually break. The Safe Working Load of a rope is generally considered to be one-fifth of the rope's breaking strength.

So, how is the average person going to know which knots are the best and safest to use? After all, using the wrong knot, or using a poorly-tied knot, has led to many accidents, injuries, deaths, and destruction of property.

Knots almost always lower the strength of a rope, sometimes by 25%, 50%, or more.

The highest-rated rope has a safe working load of 450 pounds, but most ropes are rated at under 300 pounds. If a rope has a Safe Working Load of 300 pounds, then we might assume that the rope should be okay to use for lifting an injured 200-pound man to safety, right? But if we tie a knot in the rope to help lift an injured man, and if the strength of that knot is rated at 60%, then the Safe Working Load of our rope has suddenly been reduced to 180 pounds (60% of 300 pounds). The injured 200-pound man is now beyond the Safe Working Load of our rope because of the knot that we tied.

This is worth bearing in mind!

Modern ropes used by rock climbers often have a breaking strength of several thousand pounds when they are new - but they deteriorate with wear and tear and long-term storage. What it once was, is not what it will be after use.

Don't be blasé about your rope. It is probably the most important piece of equipment you have got. Your life depends on it. Look after it and be aware of its limitations.

For more information, including a short video on what kind of knot you SHOULD use (and how to make it) see the full article:

http://xtremesport4u.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/what-you-might-not-know-about-your-rock-climbing-rope/

--Posted by Madame Monet

This week, I 've been thinking a lot about prime numbers, and what makes them be primes, about why they can't be divided like composite numbers. My curiosity is not yet satisfied, but I did find out a few interesting facts.

I read about the Sieve of Eratosthenes. My daughter and I used it to hand-calculate the primes to 110.

According to Wikipedia, Euclid said that there were infinitely many prime numbers.

It's only been in the last few days, as I taught factoring of large numbers to my daughter, that I realized myself the importance of primes (as one uses progressively larger primes to factor with).

Until 1951, the number 1 was considered a prime, but has since been taken out of the prime list.

The largest prime number know known was discovered in June; 2008. It is 9,808,358 digits long, and here it is:

2^32,582,657-1

(That's TWO, to the power of 32;582;657), minus ONE)

it is the 44th known Mersenne prime (sorry, I don't know what that means). The discoverers were mathematicians Curtis Cooper and Steven Boon, professors at the University of Central Missouri. To discover this prime, they worked on up to 700 university computers for nine years!

The main use of prime numbers today is in computer security encryption.

Eileen