Science Humor, As Told by Science Comedian Brian Malow

Science Comedian Brian Malow

As many people know, viruses like to enter cells, and take them over, turning them to their own ends. Here are three clever jokes, as told by Brian Malow (more in his video):

Joke 1:

A virus walked into a bar.

The bartender says, “We don’t serve viruses in this bar.”

The virus REPLACES the bartender, and says, “Now, we DO.”

Joke 2:

Two bacteria walk into a bar.

The bartender says, “We don’t serve bacteria in this bar.”

The bacteria say, “But we work here!  We’re staph!”

Joke 3:

A neutrino walks into a bar.

The bartender says, ” We don’t serve neutrinos in this bar.”

The neutrino says, “That’s OK.  I’m just passing through!”

A great write-up on Brian Malow can be found at Philosophy of Science Portal, and tells all about how he came to specialize in science humor.

Little Mosque on the Prairie

I just discovered this delightfully-entertaining, half-hour episode comedy series about a diverse group of Muslims, set in a small Canadian town on on the prairie.  The 20-minute video above is the first episode.

The diverse group of Muslims in the town have the same disagreements among themselves that different groups of Muslims have in their own home countries, or even that different Muslim countries have with each other (between conservative and liberal views of Islam)–but all in an entertaining way.  Of course everyone in the town misunderstands things, in the same ways people misunderstand in real life.

Try this first video.  It’s a very cleverly done Canadian sitcom, filmed in Toronto, Ontario, and Indian Head, Saskatchewan.   The first episode (above) was filmed in Regina.  Little Mosque is the most popular sitcom in Canada and has been syndicated in France, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Finland, Turkey, Israel, the West Bank, and African countries.  It is light-hearted, and family-oriented.  Expats who have lived in Muslim countries will especially enjoy this humorous series!

Links to all Little Mosque on the Prairie episodes (Seasons 1 – 4) can be viewed HERE (scroll down the page).   The links are free.

Will Amazon’s Global Kindle Work in YOUR Country?

Amazon's Global Kindle Reader

I heard that Amazon now has a global version of Kindle. I was disappointed to find this morning that the new version still will not work in my country.

Since I’ve wanted one for some time, but have been waiting until they got a version that would work in my country, I checked out their website this morning, only to be disappointed again. Apparently the new global version will only work in SOME countries.

In case you are thinking of purchasing the new Global Kindle for a Christmas gift this year, since the new version will only work in SOME countries, I thought it would be helpful to most expats to have a complete list of which countries it will, or will not work in.

STARRED (*) countries marked below indicate that Kindle needs to be ordered from a SPECIAL PAGE on the Amazon site.

The Global Kindle version DOES work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Aland Islands, Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Australia*, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Boznia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Liberia, Leichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Moldovia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mozembique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands – British, Virgin Islands – U.S., Wallis and Futuna, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The Global Kindle version does NOT work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Afghanistan, Algeria, Antarctica, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, Chad, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, French Southern Territories, Gambia, Guinea, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Isle of Man, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea – Democratic People’s Republic of, Korea – Republic of, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco (including the Western Sahara), New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pitcairn, Qatar, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tokelau, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uzbekistan, Yemen.

Homeschooling Humor

From the Sonlight Humor Forum:

Someone started a thread: “You know you’re a homeschooler when . . . “

You know you’re a homeschooler when . . .

. . . your kids are in the kiddie pool playing Lewis and Clark, paddling down the river with lacrosse sticks. –Jen

. . . you find yourself and your guests at your birthday party, at 10pm, embroiled in a lively discussion/explanation of the heart’s size and function…with your five year old, who just had to get out of bed and ask because she couldn’t sleep until she knew! –Eddie

. . . people ask to borrow books from you because it’s closer than the library with almost as varied a collection. –Christine

. . . your son asks to listen to the Geography Songs CD every day at lunch. –Sherri

. . . you can SING the countries of Africa! “Algeria, Ethiopia, Liberia . . .” –Cindy

. . . you stop in the church parking lot to pick up a big Rhinoceros beetle. It is dead and actually smells a bit bad, but you lay it carefully in the back seat, because your kids have never seen one before, except for the one in “Bug’s Life.” –Anna

. . . you go to the greenhouse in the summer to buy herbs and start talking to the kids about the different kinds of plants . . . and then one of the workers asks if you work there!!!! –Donna

. . . you’re out with non-homeschooling friends and they expect you to know the answers to everything–like the difference between a vegetable and a fruit and whether certain things like cucumbers are veggies. –Melissa

. . . your daughter’s dance bag has more books than dance shoes in it. –Carla

. . . you find yourself saying, “We were studying last week, about . . .” and people look at you funny, and you don’t know why. –Melinda

. . . you don’t think about, but your friends are all talking about, school registration next year . . . or how many days until you go back to school. –Carrie

. . . the doctor’s/dentist’s/hairdresser’s office is happy to schedule your child’s appointment because you don’t want one after 3pm or during a school holiday . . . or you can take advantage of off season rates because you make your own school holidays. –Carla

This great email was sent to me by Sarita Holzmann, President of the Sonlight Homeshcool Curriculum, based in Denver, Colorado.  I recently sent away for the catalogs of several homeshcooling curriculums, and found the Sonlight catalog the most impressive of all.  If you are looking into a hands-on, parent-involved approach to homeschooling, I recommend visiting their website and requesting their homeschooling catalog.

Third-Grade Secrets! Same Problem All Over the World…..

Every year I taught Grade 3, my third-graders had a big problem with their friends telling others their secrets.

For example (no real names are used, and the students’ own words are used–accounting for the grammar), one boy said, “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 said, “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 said, “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 said, “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?

Time to Come Out, and Go Public

Mary Mimouna

OK, here I am. It’s the real me, although the photo was taken a few years back, in Egypt.

The main reason I felt compelled to previously write this blog under the pen name of “Eileen” was to protect my sudents’ privacy. Before going public, I carefully checked through my blog and removed anything which might compromise privacy if I were known publicly.

Two months ago I started a new home-based evening tutoring business, EXPERT ELEMENTARY TUTOR. I’m pleased to say that it’s going well.  I’ve decided to go public and attach my blog to my LinkedIn profile.

–Mary Mimouna

Amazing, Easy Chinese Multiplication Method

This two-minute video  shows how to multiply 21 x 13, and  123 x 321, with an easy line-drawing and angle-counting method.  No times tables needed!

Here is another very clear example showing 432 x 312, done with the same method.  However it shows a way to “carry” digits.

Seeing these videos makes me wonder anew whether math is really about “shapes,” and about describing all the “shapes” in the universe.

If there is anyone from China reading this blog, I’d really appreciate knowing how extensively this method is actually used in schools.

–Eileen

“Counting On” Is An Important Math Strategy

“Counting on” is the name of the strategy given to what I will describe in this post ( as named in the Grade 3 teachers’Houghton Mifflin textbook I used at our school).

Counting on can be done with young children using fingers, but it can also be done in a rhythmic way which is an ideal stategy auditory learners.  It was only when I was required to teach a lesson in “counting on” that I came to realize it is the strategy I till use myself while adding, and that I am actually an auditory learner myself.  I had never heard of “counting on” before I came upon this lesson in the text.

I figured out while teaching Grade 3 that I am an AUDITORY learner, and that I use myself “counting on in rhythms.” For example, if I were adding a column of numbers and had gotten to the total of 39, and the next number were 7, I would break (auditorily) into a group of 4 + 3. So I’d say to myself, “39; 40-41-42-43; 44-45-46.”

I realize that if I added using a more advanced strategy I could be faster, but I’ve never felt the need to be faster; at least I’m always able to get the right answer (which I think is most important for anyone, no matter what strategy they use). The reason I’ve described this to you in detail is that I realize it is just an oral version of counting up totals using one’s fingers.

–Eileen