[ExI] chain rule

[spike]

That last post took it out of me, so now I will treat myself to a lighthearted story about an uplifting event from yesterday.  This post is not political, with one minor exception for which I ask your indulgence:

 

 

 

>... we know that average ​immigrant is more likely to be anti-Trump than the average Republican, so the average immigrant must have a higher IQ than the average Republican… John K Clark​

 

John the Republican party bitterly opposed Trump from the start, and refuses still to unify around him, even after he is the last one standing (of 17, at least 16 of which were more qualified) even after the party has been shattered into unrecognizable shards, self-immolated to ashes.

 

 

 

 

But this post is not about that.

 

Yesterday I had the experienced the joy of teaching my son how to use the chain rule.  I pulled up Sam Cooke’s memorable song Chain Gang, where he manages to take a most somber topic and turn it into a lively and pleasantly danceable tune.  

 

Younger friends, do soak in Cooke’s mellifluous voice:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBn5aIfZElE

 

My baritone/bass goes low enough to do the “…well don’t you know”s.   Of course I know the dance well.  We had way too much fun with that back in my own tragically cheerfully misspent youth.

 

I Weird-Al-Yankovic-ed the lyrics to make it about calculus:

 

“… that’s the sound of my son working out the chain rule…

 

And so on.  After being entertained by spontaneous song and dance, my son innocently asked “Dad… where do you get all this… stuff?”

 

{8^D

 

Oh the joy, the mirth.  Children do not understand what five and a half decades can do to a mind, enabling it to accumulate… stuff.

 

This part is no joke.  I have a nine-year-old child who daily demonstrates a good handle on calculus, what it does and how to use it.  If anyone is interested, I will freely share how he got there, and give credit to the one man who is most responsible (I am not that man.)  This boy has talent.  

 

I have not figured out how to leverage that talent and drive, but the urgency to do so increases steadily.

 

spike

 

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20160519/6a86dbda/attachment.html>