A New Friend, An Old Game!
I found a website where they play a card game I learned many years ago at a Mensa Halloweem Party in Chicago. Smart People at play!
The site is: http://www.setgame.com/set/puzzle_frame.htm
A SET consists of three cards:
There are Numbers: 1-3;
Colors: red, green, purple;
Shapes: peanut, oval, diamond; and
Shading: outline, striped, filled in
Each feature in a Set must be:
ALL THE SAME as,
or ALL DIFFERENT from
the other cards in the set.
The little kids say, "If two are, and one isn't, it's not a set."
It is a game for all ages. Simple and difficult at once, three year olds can play, so can very old people. One needs vision to play this game.
I enjoyed that Mensa weekend. My partner and I won the Bridge Competition, which was interesting in that my only exposure to Bridge, the Card Game, before that day was being a little kid and counting points for Mama in a corner with four sets of 13 cards from a different deck. It kept me quiet, I guess. But My Partner, Eric Ziemer believed me when I said, "I will bid exactly, truthfully, what I hold in my hand." Nobody ever figured out my peculiar bidding system, thus we won! And for Christmas, someone gave me the website where anyone can register and play! Check it out!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Yes, Virginia
While an editor at The New York Sun newspaper, Francis Church was handed a letter on September 20, 1897, and asked to write a response for the next day's edition. His editorial reply has become legendary.
Francis Church's father, Pharcellus, was a Baptist minister and journalist who founded The New York Chronicle.
Francis was a war correspondent for The New York Times during the Civil War. After the war, he and his brother established The Army and Navy Journal and Galaxy Magazine. When Galaxy merged with Atlantic Monthly, Francis became an editorial writer for The New York Sun.
The editorial was reprinted every year. However, it wasn't until after his death in 1906 that it became publicly known that Francis Church had written the editorial reply to Virginia O'Hanlon's 1897 letter.
From the Editorial Page of The New York Sun,written by Francis P. Church, September 21, 1897
"Dear Editor--I am 8 years old."Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus."Papa says, 'If you see it in The Sun, it's so.'"Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon115 West Ninety-fifth Street
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the scepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no child-like faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Eight year old Virginia O'Hanlon lived on the Upper West Side of New York City and firmly believed in Santa Claus. However, some of her less fortunate young friends said there wasn't any Santa Claus and began to put doubt in her mind.
Virginia asked her father, Philip, a doctor who worked for the New York Police Department, if Santa Claus was real.
In the past, the O'Hanlon family had written to the "Question and Answer" column in The Sun to settle matters of fact. Philip recommended his daughter write to their favorite newspaper seeking an answer to one of the most famous questions of all time.
Having her faith restored, Virginia grew up and graduated from Hunter College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1910. She received her Master's degrees from Columbia in 1911. In 1912, she began a 47-year career as a teacher in New York City and later became a school principal. Virginia died on May 13, 1971, at the age of 81.
Francis Church's father, Pharcellus, was a Baptist minister and journalist who founded The New York Chronicle.
Francis was a war correspondent for The New York Times during the Civil War. After the war, he and his brother established The Army and Navy Journal and Galaxy Magazine. When Galaxy merged with Atlantic Monthly, Francis became an editorial writer for The New York Sun.
The editorial was reprinted every year. However, it wasn't until after his death in 1906 that it became publicly known that Francis Church had written the editorial reply to Virginia O'Hanlon's 1897 letter.
From the Editorial Page of The New York Sun,written by Francis P. Church, September 21, 1897
"Dear Editor--I am 8 years old."Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus."Papa says, 'If you see it in The Sun, it's so.'"Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon115 West Ninety-fifth Street
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the scepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no child-like faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Eight year old Virginia O'Hanlon lived on the Upper West Side of New York City and firmly believed in Santa Claus. However, some of her less fortunate young friends said there wasn't any Santa Claus and began to put doubt in her mind.
Virginia asked her father, Philip, a doctor who worked for the New York Police Department, if Santa Claus was real.
In the past, the O'Hanlon family had written to the "Question and Answer" column in The Sun to settle matters of fact. Philip recommended his daughter write to their favorite newspaper seeking an answer to one of the most famous questions of all time.
Having her faith restored, Virginia grew up and graduated from Hunter College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1910. She received her Master's degrees from Columbia in 1911. In 1912, she began a 47-year career as a teacher in New York City and later became a school principal. Virginia died on May 13, 1971, at the age of 81.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Stephen Caron
I contracted with Stephan Caron to build me a particular computer. I have a new computer, NOT according to specs, with clearly no warrantee. I don't have the backup Windows XP-Pro disk I paid for. I got Windows XP-Home Edition installed, instead of XP-Pro. I haven't managed to get the builder, Stephan Caron, to call me back since the day he delivered it. It's a very pretty computer, but when it has problems, there is nobody to call to look at it. He fell off the Earth! I would not buy another computer from Stephen Caron.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Utopian Robert Owen
More about my sis, Irene:
Her main topic of study for years was Utopian Communities, and their founders. Among her favorites Utopian Robert Owen, the Utopian who bought Harmony, Indiana from the Rappites, and welcomed the members of the Boatload of Knowledge To Indiana. Owen and his son, Robert Dale Owen, along with others, like William Maclure, (known as the "Father of American geology") Changed the town name to New Harmony and established a Utopian Community there.
Owen had revolutionary ideas about community and education: his ideas on the equality of men and women, the ability of each individual in a community having something to share with the community, that everyone had something they could teach or learn, and the currently popular concept, it takes a village to raise children. I've placed a couple of links here to sites with a bit more information, but mayhap Irene will edify us with a few details.
For reasons unknown to me, the New Harmony Community eventually failed, but American Philosopher Paul Tillich was drawn into the ideals of New Harmony. Tillich's ashes are enshrined under a tree in Tillich Park, New Harmony.
Boy! That was a big mouthful, for something I supposedly remember little about. It's all very interesting stuff, and the educators from the Boatload of Knowledge are listed at the site one reaches by clicking on Boatload of Knowledge above. I have always admired Irene's work uncovering the history of Owen and New Harmony. Hope these links get you started on knowing more about Robert Owen, the Boatload of Knowledge, and New Harmony, Indiana. It's great stuff!
Her main topic of study for years was Utopian Communities, and their founders. Among her favorites Utopian Robert Owen, the Utopian who bought Harmony, Indiana from the Rappites, and welcomed the members of the Boatload of Knowledge To Indiana. Owen and his son, Robert Dale Owen, along with others, like William Maclure, (known as the "Father of American geology") Changed the town name to New Harmony and established a Utopian Community there.
Owen had revolutionary ideas about community and education: his ideas on the equality of men and women, the ability of each individual in a community having something to share with the community, that everyone had something they could teach or learn, and the currently popular concept, it takes a village to raise children. I've placed a couple of links here to sites with a bit more information, but mayhap Irene will edify us with a few details.
For reasons unknown to me, the New Harmony Community eventually failed, but American Philosopher Paul Tillich was drawn into the ideals of New Harmony. Tillich's ashes are enshrined under a tree in Tillich Park, New Harmony.
Boy! That was a big mouthful, for something I supposedly remember little about. It's all very interesting stuff, and the educators from the Boatload of Knowledge are listed at the site one reaches by clicking on Boatload of Knowledge above. I have always admired Irene's work uncovering the history of Owen and New Harmony. Hope these links get you started on knowing more about Robert Owen, the Boatload of Knowledge, and New Harmony, Indiana. It's great stuff!
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