Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich
Tax the Rich
Website Wednesday
And sometimes, sometimes very rarely, all the schlepping of kids here and there and here again for all their activities since schools have cut extracurricular bus service because the idea of so many more "mom cars" in use for pollution transportation appealed to them, pays off.
The girl had a very short command performance of the marching band for all the school system's teachers who were gathered at the high school yesterday. The HS is by the library so the boy and I decided to go there and wait. Now if no one knows this, I own a zillion books because I never seem to leave all those book sales I've visited without an arm breaking load. So it was natural that I took a look at the library's used book sale ($1 per, unless otherwise marked.) I wasn't the first that morning as I followed a man who was perusing the sale most carefully. However, not careful enough since he walked past 6 brand new volumes of Spielvogel's Western Civilization, 7th edition (the student and the instructor edition.)
So I gathered them all up and went to a nearby carrel to check and see if I was going to buy all of them. With that, the girl arrives (I told you it was a very short show) and says: It's only $5, why don't you buy them all? Up to the counter I go where three women were very, very busy but one finally agreed to acknowledge me and I showed her that the books were not "otherwise marked", handed her my $5 and left.
I got home and started googling Spielvogel. He's PhD-ed from Ohio State University with a specialty in Reformation history. (Aside: Amazon shows the these books sell for about $125 each. But, adding to the Gone With The Wind advice: Never sell the land, I never sell books.)
Spielvogel has written top-notch texts on western civilization. You couldn't ask for a more understandable, more readable, more interesting (primary source selections. charts, maps, etc.) source of world history. The girl starts Advanced World History tomorrow and it was so serendipitous for these books to appear just now. With the dearth of knowledge about any history among most US students, I would love to see these texts as required reading in high schools.
Now, I'm not going to link you to Amazon to purchase these texts but here's a link for you:
This will take you to a a chapter by chapter review for the 6th edition of Western Civilization. You get interactive quizzes and tests (while you can't submit your answers - well, you can but I doubt you'll get a response - you can use the questions as a guide), flashcards, interactive maps, interactive time lines, etc. It's free to use and it's another example of why the internet is so great.
OK, sorry for all the enthusiasm but I am loving reading these books!
Let's start with something edgy and interesting:
It's pictures and text. It's edgy and makes you think. Be sure to click on the Categories link on the right and under Culture you get to see what Barbie and Ken are up to.
Their About says: Chic [French] meaning stylish or smart, as an element of art, fashion and design. Quero [Portuguese] verb. like, want; will, desire; love; list. An i n s p i r a t i o n a l place, created to vulgarize trends, expand beauty and share fashion thoughts!
It's not for everybody; definitely not for kids. For some reason, it reminds me of Altman's message in Prêt-à-Porter. Expand your mind and take a look.
Be sure to scroll through Angy Torro (love that name) but I'm really posting it for Einstein's Riddle which is a classic logic problem and is currently on Torro's first page. If it's not, be sure to find it, solve it and then please place a comment here. I love to work this type of logic problem and except for the multi-complicated ones of "If neither Jane nor Bob ate ice cream nor pickles but one of them liked onions......." where, if I had Alexander's sword, I would just slice through rather than solve as he apparently did when presented with the puzzle of the Gordian Knot. However, I think that Einstein's Riddle is missing a clue. I don't think it's solvable as written. Or if it is, you must make an assumption which only someone with Einstein's brain would see.
After you solve ER, take a longer look through AT and don't miss the section on "If child's drawings were made into toys." Its a hoot.
OK, I could go on because I have 100 nutrition tips also. But I've been discussing my diet on Knitting Friday so I think I'll post that site then.
My Western Civilization book is right in front of me and I'm going grab a few minutes with it before things get hectic around here. See you Friday.
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