Am I Calvin's Dad or Stephen King?

Here's an actual bedtime conversation with my (then) 5-year-old, many years ago. I know, I'm a terrible parent.

HE:  Dad, I know I need to go to sleep, and I know this is kind of ridiculous, but I'm sort of afraid of bears.

Buffaloed by Buffalo

 Adapted from my original post on Google+, back when we were allowed to have nice things.

WARNING: English ahead.

One of the difficult things about learning a language is understanding that a word may have several different meanings. Sometimes those meanings are so different that they have absolutely nothing to do with each other. And sometimes they're even different parts of speech.

Consider the word buffalo:

buffalo: (n) an ox-like mammal; bison
buffalo: (v) to confuse or intimidate
Buffalo: (n) a port city in New York

OK, three different meanings and two parts of speech. How bad could that possibly be? I'm glad you asked!

Random Thoughts

Richard Feynman is one of my heroes, as much for his brilliance and creativity as for his sense of humor, his matter-of-fact view of the world, and his unassuming and, well, human personality. Years ago, as I read his autobiography, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, I couldn't help thinking I would have loved to work with him. Maybe, just maybe, I might have absorbed some of the Feynman genius (or at least some of the Feynman humor) through osmosis. But I also wonder if he'd approve of my curiosity and quirky thoughts, or if he'd just shake his head and wonder if I'd ever get it right. The first chapter of his autobiography is titled "He Fixes Radios by Thinking!" But my version, one of the highlights of my career, might've been called "He Fixed a Critical Product Flaw by Accident."

Stealth Education

A post stolen from one of my comments on this discussion from a LinkedIn group called The Math Connection.

My kids and I play games all the time. Not the formal, "official" kind, but little impromptu ones that present themselves throughout the day. We try to make words from the letters on license plates. We make up new lyrics to songs. We may very well be responsible for the Worst. Puns. Ever.

 We play "what if" all the time, which leads to fascinating discussions!

• What if nobody ever died?"

We talked about what it might be like to get older and older, and whether our bodies would age.We talked about all the things we could learn if our lives lasted forever. We even wondered if people would ever learn to get along peacefully, knowing they'd have to live with each other forever. And what would we do when the world filled up with people?

• What if ice were heavier than water?

We talked about lakes freezing from the bottom up, instead of from the top down, and how fish and the other plants and animals would need to adapt to survive freezing. We talked about ice cubes sitting at the bottom of a glass. We talked about carrying ice from place to place if it were much heavier than water, which is already really heavy.

We ask silly questions.

• How did Mommy and I know your name when you were born? Maybe we were wrong and your name is really Sandy.

• Aren't we lucky that the family dog understands English? What if he only understood German?

We ask questions about the way the world works.

• Why do we ask you to clean up your toys?

We talked about safety. We talked about the importance (and convenience!) of being able to find things when you want or need them. We talked a little about inventory, and how it's hard to know what you have if it's disorganized.

• Why does it cost more money to have a mortgage than to just pay for a house, and why is it worth it?

We talked about how expensive houses are, compared to salaries. We talked about investing, and about the time value of money. We talked about whether they'd pay a little extra for a toy if it meant they could have it sooner.

We play all sorts of math games.

One of us will pick a number and the others will try to guess it. We'll estimate the number of cars that travel on a highway in a day, or the amount of water we drink in a year. We figure out how long it will take to save up for a new toy.

My wife and I share the belief that learning is—and should be—fun, and our kids have never known differently. To them, learning is just another game.

One day I was trying to show them that they can multiply in their heads. 3 × 1 was easy, as was 3 × 5 when they remembered they have 5 fingers on each hand and 5 toes on each foot. But 3 × 100 baffled them. So I asked, "What's 3 times a hot dog?" They answered, "3 hot dogs!" Then I tried, "What's 3 times a giraffe?" Getting the hang of it, they yelled, "3 giraffes!" "Right. What's 3 times your sister?" Silence for a moment, then, "A big pain in the neck."