Copasetic Flow

It was Christmas time when the kid and I started talking about number bases.  The air outside was more than normally chill for San Francisco.  In the winter here, thanks to the fog, the air’s still damp, so cold feels really cold, but the chill was compensated for by town being even prettier than usual; sporting all it’s holiday lights.  People on public transit were more tired than in other seasons; the holiday rush, and December’s early sunsets combined to make a sleepy, almost lethargic atmosphere.  The season also seemed to have made our generally friendly fellow bus riders even a little more affable.  Smiles swept across their faces a little more quickly.  People scooched and shuffled to help each other get into the crowded buses. The kid and I were on one of these buses, returning to the house from who knows where when, mostly just to liven up the ride, and with only the slightest hint of an ulterior motive, I asked her, “How many numbers can you ma...

An excellent thought-provoking book that's fun to look at and to hold. Yes, I'll steal the size of this book for my homeschool travel book, and well, that was one of the points! Austin Kleon who serendipitously came to live in Austin, TX wrote this book of http://austinkleon.com/steal/ missives on how to best experience being creative. The book covers more of the how than the what I'd say. Some of the advice Austin offers filtered through my reading: 1. Think of your heros' lives, not just their creative input. Let their lives inform yours. 2. Dress for the job you want. Keep being a kid, keep pretending. 3. Get bigger pockets if you need to but keep a journal(s) on you at all times. 4. Who influenced the people who influence you? 4.a. Who does influence you anyway? 5. Don't worry about your ideas being stolen. 6. Everything that needs to be said has been, but no one listened. 6.a. Say it again. 6.b. Say it your way. 7. Write not what you know, but what...

We practice minimalism in a different way. We’ve applied it to our out-and-about living.  We travel light, and I love it! Minimalism, and thoughts of living mindfully are in the air this week.  On Racheous , Rachel talked about her family’s recent move, and how switched to a more mindful set of possessions on the way.  At Jitterberry , Jessica discussed her family’s transition to a minimalism lifestyle . We practice minimalism in a different way, we’ve applied it to our out-and-about living.  We travel light, and I love it. Before we had kids I was spooked by strollers.  They inevitably seemed to be loaded with numerous items on their bottom tray.  They also seemed to inspire the use of diaper bags, or other parent-laden luggage.  My typical outing at that point involved throwing a collapsible fishing rod, a tackle box about a quarter the size of a shoe box, a few pancakes wrapped in a paper towel, and perhaps a cup of earthworms into a small...

Inspired by the Sara’s recent post about respectful parenting +Happiness is here  vis-à-vis Minecraft screen time .  The end analysis there?  Trust your kids, and parent respectfully. In electrical systems theory, we divide circuits up into two categories, differentiators and integrators.  Differentiators make circuits more sensitive to every little change.  The circuit doesn't miss much, but it might flail around quickly.  Integrators on the other hand cause the system as a whole to be less sensitive to small changes.  Systems with integrators won't respond to a small change, they simply add it to a total response, and wait for more information.  If the changes continue to happen in the same way, ultimately the system will respond, but it takes time and consistency. This is how I view Sara’s description of handling video game screen time.  I would have been inclined to shutdown all the screens after two days spent exclusively on a video ...

  Public transit…  Our living room activities mostly take place on the buses and trains of San Francisco.  If we get on a bus at an early enough stop, we can consume the entire back row of seats; there’s five of us and there’s five seats.  Our deepest conversations happen there, we talk about things like “How do number base systems work?”  “Why is it not OK to pick up food from the ground close to a train station,” (answer Pee).  “Where do puddles underground in train stations come from,” (same answer.)  Some of our conversations like the pee exploration gather other bus passengers.  A young lady with her one year old strapped to her chest figured she’d have to have the conversation with her kid soon enough, and wanted to get the youths’ take on public pee in the city.  This often leads to utter hilarity—our 4 year-old No. 2 wasn’t sure it was such a bad thing to pee on walls.  Most of our conversations draw more quiet audiences—the la...

The kids climbed this week!  Not metaphorically, although, I’m sure they did that too, but actually physically.  They all climbed things they’d never been able to climb before.  It started, I suppose, with the giant El Cid statue outside the Legion of Honor here in San Francisco, where the kids met their friends to go see the Monet exhibit one last time before it closed.  The statue is a huge brass affair mounted on top of a ten foot high concrete pedestal.  One of the kids started to climb up it.  Soon the other five kids followed suit.  There were beveled curves cast into the concrete that looked to have been created expressly for the purpose of defeating climbing.  The kids, however, quickly came up with a way of wedging their boots onto the concrete while grasping the bevel above and pulling.  They were making it up the side, but it was a bit too tall. Perhaps it was later that night—it might have been a few nights before—we found our...

One of the kids' friends asked about magnets a few weeks ago.  This led to three weeks worth of play dates on electric circuits, electromagnets, and last but not least, Motors!!!  (It's nice to have a physicist in the family). The motors were amazingly simple to put together, so I’m including the instructions.  Here’s a picture so we have something to talk about. The parts are: • 1 D cell battery • 1 pound of 18 awg magnet wire, (you don’t need the whole pound, but Amazon sells It by the pound… seriously) • 1 piece of cardboard out of the side of a box, • 1 magnet • scotch tape The How Tape the D cell to the cardboard so it can’t move.  Next, cut two 4 inch pieces of magnet wire.  The next step is a bit of work, but use a kitchen knife, or a piece of sandpaper to scrape off the red insulation until you just see bare copper wire.  Place a dime size loop in one end of the wire, and then bend it over at a right angle to the rest of the wir...