I just got the following in an e-mail message from the Japan-America Society of Central Ohio (JASCO):

Hailed as one of the greatest Japanese filmmakers, Kenji Mizoguchi produced more than eighty-five films during his career, many of which were filmed during the silent era and no longer survive. The Wexner Center for the Arts will show six of his films over a two-week period in January, including Ugetsu, Sisters of Gion, Sansho the Bailiff, Street of Shame, The Life of Oharu, and Story of the Last Chrysanthemums. More detailed information will be available in a couple of weeks, but please mark your calendars now!

I sure am looking forward to watching these films!

Tags: Kenji Mizoguchi, Wexner Center for the Arts, Wexner Center, Japan-America Society of Central Ohio, JASCO

I just got a new chapter for the high-school textbook for which I’m writing mathematics problems. This chapter includes the following lessons: Fundamental Theorem of Counting, Compound Events, Permutations, and Combinations. Also, in addition to writing the problems for the high-school textbook, I’ve also been writing lessons for a middle-school standardized-test-prep book. The lessons I’ve written for that so far include topics such as differentiating between rational and irrational numbers, calculating the percentage of increases and decreases of a quantity, solving problems that involve discounts, markups, commissions, profit, and simple and compound interest, and computing the minimum, lower quartile, median, upper quartile, and maximum of a data set.

Tags: Math, Mathematics

As I stated a few times earlier, I’m currently writing mathematics problems for a high-school textbook. They’re word problems, and although I can’t post the actual problems on this blog, I can give you an idea of some of the things I’m writing about. In the chapter I’m currently working on, so far I’ve written about ergonomics, ultimate Frisbee, rowing, stock car racing, darts, barber school, a hamster wheel, paper recycling, financial advisors, radio traffic reports, organic farming, a farm combine, strawberry guavas, an MP3 player, a roller coaster, a vacuum cleaner, and computer viruses. Needless to say, I have the opportunity to be creative!

Tags: Math, Mathematics

I just saw the movie Fast Food Nation, directed by Richard Linklater. Even though it didn’t get great reviews, I enjoyed it. I can understand why the reviews weren’t stellar, because it goes off on a lot of tangents, but I liked the tangents it went off on. It’s based on the book of the same name, written by Eric Schlosser. The book is non-fiction, while the movie is a fictional account, which is kind of unusual. I haven’t read the book, but I may have to check it out.

Tags: Fast Food Nation, Richard Linklater, Eric Scholosser, book, books

I just started another chapter in the high-school textbook for which I’m writing mathematics problems. The lessons I’m currently writing problems for include Graphing Trigonometric Functions, Verifying Trigonometric Identities, Angle Sum and Difference Identities, Double-Angle and Half-Angle Identities, and Solving Trigonometric Equations. Phew—this is getting more challenging!

Tags: Math, Mathematics

Click here for an update on the two proposed smoking bans on the Ohio ballot during this year’s midterm elections that I talked about in an earlier post. The proposed constitutional amendment, supported by a group called “Smoke Less Ohio,” failed. It was less restrictive and would have allowed smoking in restaurants, for example. The proposed law, supported by a group called “SmokeFreeOhio,” passed. It is more restrictive and bans smoking in almost all public places. Had they both passed, the constitutional amendment would have made the law null and void, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.

Tags: midterm election, midterm elections, mid-term election, mid-term elections, mid term election, mid term elections

I mentioned before that I’m creating mathematics problems for a high-school textbook. The lessons I’ve written problems for so far include Patterns, Arithmetic Sequences and Series, Geometric Sequences and Series, Infinite Geometric Series, The Binomial Theorem, Right Triangle Trigonometry, Radian and Degree Measures, Evaluating Trigonometric Functions, Inverse Trigonometric Functions, The Law of Sines, The Law of Cosines, Matrix Operations, Matrix Multiplication, Determinants, Inverse and Identity Matrices, and Cramer’s Rule.

It’s interesting going back over these topics after all these years. I don’t remember studying about topics like determinants and Cramer’s Rule until I was at Hawaii Loa College. Maybe today’s students are getting smarter!

Tags: Math, Mathematics, Cramer’s Rule, Hawaii Loa College

Check out this article about Lance Armstrong’s New York City Marathon experience. Here are a few excerpts from the article: “He called the race ‘the hardest physical thing I have ever done’ — even more grueling than his worst days on the Tour…Will he be back? ‘Now's not the time to ask that question. The answer now is no, I'll never be back. But I reserve the right to change my mind,’ he said. ‘I don't know how these guys do it.’”

Tags: Lance Armstrong, New York City Marathon

This just in—Lance Armstrong finished the New York City Marathon in 2:59:35. It’s not as fast as many people predicted, but he achieved his goal of finishing under three hours. Congratulations to him and to all the finishers of the race!

Tags: Lance Armstrong, New York City Marathon

I just came across this article regarding Lance Armstrong's running of the New York City Marathon on Sunday. It looks like he's going to have some pretty famous people pacing him. (Famous in the running world, at least.) The article is actually generating some controversy on the Internet running forums—a lot of people feel he’s receiving special treatment.

I, myself, am neutral on the subject. I do have a lot of respect for all he’s done for cancer research, and as long as it doesn’t affect anybody else’s race experience, I don’t see any harm in it. With that said, with those pacers, he sure better beat my time in Columbus!

Tags: Lance Armstrong, New York City Marathon, Columbus Marathon