People and Mathematics

I did an interesting summary of my activities. I do them in a computer program that inputs events in a code in an ASCII document and produces a calendar showing me the activities, with each day split into Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. I was able to input the document into Access, then Excel, where I made some pie charts. They were revealing. My occupation takes much of my time, about 168 days a year. In the rest, Toastmasters and my Unitarian Universalist congregation each come next with about a month of time each. Astronomy takes only half as much, and SUUSI half of that; that is only one week out of the year. Mathematics only takes two days - a convention every half-year. I broke out my SUUSI involvement and found that, compared to non-SUUSI times, I spend much more time on nature trips, especially to water, dancing, writing and personal growth, and some music. I also spend time on mathematics and astronomy, much of it my own workshops.

The problem is that if I want to be a mathematical columnist, writing and mathematics needs to dominate my time. But devoting time to math takes it away from people, because people are not too keen on mathematics. My activities have been drawn to people; hence SUUSI, UU congregation, and Toastmasters. It seems like my biggest problem when I retire is finding things to do during that time. It will probably have something to do with mathematics, be it teaching or applying it to something. But how to prepare? In any case I may want to go out into nature, dance, and write more than I do now.

Letter to Jesus

Today I heard of a case in Ohio where students were asked to send a letter to someone who had a big influence in their lives. One student wrote his to Jesus. His teacher told him that he could not do that because Jesus did not exist. The student replied that he existed for him, and his mother sued the school for $15 million. Ouch. People like to sue all over the place these days. I don't think the student or his mother have a case. Part of the assignment was to get a written reply, and it seemed unlikely in his case. Besides, if I was in that class, hearing that a student was writing to Jesus, I could have written to Santa Claus, or to Superman, or to Mickey Mouse, telling him how much I loved his TV show. Of course some people really think that he exists now; essentially these people would be writing to themselves, in my opinion, for only in their minds does he exist, just like Santa Claus exists in my mind. The assignment was to write a letter to a live person and get a reply, and this the student did not do. Give the student, and his mother, an F.

Praise be to Gourd

This morning at my church's Sunday service, I was given a real treat. It was not a service to God, but rather to Gourd. Instead of the usual Sunday service with sermon, hymns, and readings, the Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra performed for our service. This orchestra gave us uplifting music, the type that we want to hear to uplift us in a Sunday service. The music was not only created by this orchestra, it was grown out of the soil from which all of us eventually came. The orchestra grows its own gourds. This group would be a hit at SUUSI, and at many other places as well. For a good Sunday service or an entertaining evening, consider going to a concert from this group. I bought their CDs and will listen to it on my way to work. It's a great way to start the week, for as the group says, "In Gourd We Trust".