Steve Cotler Steve Cotler

Category: History

High School Math in Middle School

— 2:11 pm · View all 2 comments

In September, my granddaughter Rhiannon (then 13) made an aggressive and courageous mathematical decision. Coming off acing ninth-grade Algebra 1 the previous year, she convinced her middle school to let her double up in math: her eighth grade schedule would include both Algebra 2 and Geometry.


Her mother (my daughter Emily) was concerned about the workload; her father was convinced it was foolhardy. To complicate the decision, scheduling conflicts made it impossible for her to take Geometry in her middle school; it had to be an online course. I volunteered to be her mentor. (Full disclosure: my last Geometry course was 1958-59.)
Continue reading “High School Math in Middle School” →

In Praise of Children’s Librarians

— 9:59 am · Comments Off on In Praise of Children’s Librarians

When I was a boy, elementary schools did not have libraries. We didn’t know what we were missing because our town had a Carnegie Library.

Oxnard Public Library

Beginning in 1889, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie built homes for books. Eventually his philanthropy erected 2,509 public libraries, two-thirds of which were in the United States. The one in my little California farming community was by far the grandest structure in our town. The stairway on the left led up to the adult library. I was not permitted to pass through those doors. But there was a entry Continue reading “In Praise of Children’s Librarians” →

Royal Thirds

— 3:19 pm · Comments Off on Royal Thirds

In 1762, just 14 years before his American Colonies declared their independence, England’s George III heard news of Peter III’s accession to the Russian throne. George III declared, “Well, there are now nine of us in Europe, [each] the third of our respective names.”

He was referring to:

  • George III, King of England
  • Charles III, King of Spain
  • Augustus III, King of Poland
  • Frederick III, King of Prussia
  • Charles Emanuel III, King of Sardinia
  • Mustapha III, Emperor of the Turks
  • Peter III, Emperor of Russia
  • Francis III, Duke of Modena
  • Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha

This one-of-a-kind, but meaningless,  coincidence was, and is, unprecedented in European history.

North Korean Unicorns: Lost in Translation?

— 3:31 pm · Comments Off on North Korean Unicorns: Lost in Translation?

Last week, the official North Korean news agency (KNCA) released a report stating: “Archaeologists of the History Institute of the DPRK Academy of Social Sciences have recently reconfirmed a lair of the unicorn rode by King Tongmyong, founder of the Koguryo Kingdom (B.C. 277-A.D. 668).” The Western press took this as another in the continuing series of North Korea’s inability to stay in  touch with reality. Example: in 1994, a state-issued news story reported departed leader Kim Jong Il shot 38 under par on the 7,700-yard Pyongyang Golf Course!

Unicorns are real? Once again the world laughs at North Korea.

I am no apologist for their nonsense. But did the press get the unicorn story right? Was it state-sanctioned prevarication or trigger-happy mistranslation? Continue reading “North Korean Unicorns: Lost in Translation?” →

Promontory Summit & the Golden Spike

— 10:00 pm · One comment

I stand astride America’s Transcontinental Railway, looking east, then west.

Initiated by Lincoln, overseen by Johnson, and completed under Grant, the undertaking called for the Union Pacific Railroad to work westward from Omaha and the Central Pacific, eastward from Sacramento. They met, as most schoolchildren learned in my day (do they study this anymore?), at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, in 1869, where a laurel tie was laid and ceremonial golden spike was driven to link the two coasts. With that linking, a cross-country journey abruptly dropped from six weeks to five days. Moving people and freight and the telegraphy that paralleled the tracks changed America forever. The immensity of the undertaking (the equivalent of a 19th century NASA moon shot) captured Continue reading “Promontory Summit & the Golden Spike” →

The Market Falls–Then and Now

— 4:13 pm · Comments Off on The Market Falls–Then and Now

I glance at the headline of an old newspaper that had been used to insulate one of the old log cabins that make up the museum in Frisco, CO.

“Bankers Blame Tax Laws for Securities Drop” (The Denver Post…November 7, 1937).

The Great Depression had been ongoing for over eight years.

Yesterday the Dow fell over 500 points. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Sigh…

Steve with students at an author event

Posts by Month

Categories

Tags

AAUW Abraham Lincoln Altarock Energy Argosy Music Barack Obama Bernard Madoff Capitalism Cheesie Mack Cheesie Mack Is Not a Genius or Anything Connecticut Dennis Hopper EGS England Enhanced Geothermal Systems evolution Final Four Florida George W. Bush Harvard Harvard Business School HEARTWOOD Hy Zaret It Could Be a Wonderful World Lake County Lincoln Little Songs on Big Subjects Lou singer Madoff Martin Luther King MLK New York Times Obama Oxnard Pobba Prius racism SSP st. croix Summer Science Program The Geysers The Jesters Tolerance Traveling Broadens One wine country Wyoming