Blog Archives - ROBERT E DUNN

tac

8/31/2022

Thomas Aquinas College
California and New England Class of 2022
American and International Students 115
Senior Thesis Titles

I picked one from each of the liberal arts.

Music “Intrinsic Motion: The Cause of the Powerful Effect of Music on Us” Anna Therese Cecilia Santine [fraternal twin of Robert]

Visual Arts “In Defense of Film, the Imitative Art of Our Times” Robert John Santine

Mathematics “Pushing Euclid to His Limits: A Search for the Principles of Equating Curved and Rectilinear Areas” Marianna Lourdes Rodriguez

Science “On the Definition of Space-Time According to the Special Theory of Relativity” Timothy Aristotle Wassell

Political Science “A Classical Education Is Necessary for the Protection of the Primary Rights and Duties of the American Citizen” Hope Elizabeth Mary Ascough

Literature “Holy Wisdom Is Not Clear and Thin Like Water, but Thick and Dark Like Blood”: The Necessity of Poetry for Understanding Man’s Relation to the Divine As Illustrated by Lewis in Till We Have Faces” Olivia Joan Perry

Philosophy “The Friendship Between Male and Female Differs Accidentally Rather Than Essentially from the Friendship of Male and Male” Isaac James Filipi

Theology “My Ticket to Heaven: An Essay on the Nature of Suffering as Leading Us to Redemption” Kevin John Heffernan

There are no departments or schools or teachers but tutors who guide. After studying all these subjects, students receive a Bachelor of Liberal Arts.

moonstone mystery

8/31/2022

This is a 1953 radio adaptation of the 1868 detective novel. Now that you know the ending, I recommend another of his novels, The Woman in White.

rococo art

8/29/2022

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806), late Rococo artist, died in Paris … almost completely forgotten. "The Rococo style spread with French artists and engraved publications. It was readily received in the Catholic parts of Germany, Bohemia, and Austria, where it merged with the lively German Baroque traditions." 2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection.

tarantella

8/27/2022

Belloc’s poem contains two figures of speech.

Assonance is the repetition of sounds in multiple words. Assonance describes repeated vowel sounds in the middle of words with different consonant end sounds.

Consonance is the repetition of the same consonant sounds, i.e., what happens at the end of the word along with assonance. There is another figure of speech, onomatopoeia, a word formed to mimic the sound.

What is a tarantella? Rapid, whirling dance from southern Italy.

ghosts by alexander

8/26/2022

Alexander (8) gave me permission to post his answer to a writing prompt. The prompt was as follows: Imagine scientists have confirmed that ghosts do exist. What reason might they give for why people hang around after they die?

He dictated, and I went home and tweaked the response a bit. I brought it back to him, and he approved the edit. Here is the answer …

Scientists say that people hang around after death because their spirit is partly physical and that the physical part is trapped inside every cell of the body. Two scientists uncovered this brutal fact. Alexander, the head scientist, and Bob, his lovely assistant, found a ghost in the lab, but Alexander recognized immediately that the ghost was Bob’s doing. He had created the ghost to look like himself.

By entertaining the difficult task, Alexander managed to place the ghost flat on its back on a long, cold table and take an x-ray of it.

What Alexander knew and confirmed upon examination was that stored energy must have been added to the ghost or else the ghost might not have been formed. Ghosts hang around after death so that there will be more humans in the future, or there will not be any humans at all, because the ghost must return to the human dimension, or there will not be any babies at all.

He discovered that after the ghost stays in the ghostly dimension too long, it will return to the human dimension. Otherwise, well, you know the result: no more humans.

How can a human get into the ghostly dimension? If one develops a spaceship to break into the space-time continuum, and the spaceship accomplishes this most difficult and sublime task, the fabric of the universe is broken, and the butterfly effect takes place.

The interdimensional plane between humans and ghosts is set far apart.

If there are any complications on this journey between the dimensions, part of the ghost might not be there.

For, after all, ghosts are partly made out of the dead person but require stored energy, but what if there is not enough energy?

At the last session and today he explained the Butterfly Effect:
https://science.howstuffworks.com/math-concepts/butterfly-effect.htm

To accompany the answer, he drew three pictures of the ghost. Never mind the name of the long-nosed ghost. All in all, this exercise took him about 15 minutes!

1800s

8/26/2022

The 1898 photo shows three generations of women born in the 1800s.

Left to right
Great-great grandmother Louise Howe b. 1840
Grandmother Louise Perkins b. 1890 (in Tombstone, AZ)
Great grandmother Gertrude Perkins b. 1869

My great grandfather, a mining engineer, built the stamp mill at the Jamison Mine in Johnsville, where the photo was taken. Below is a picture of an actual receipt for delivery of a gold bar from the mine with my great grandfather acting as agent.

Grandma Louise and her twin delivered the gold bars, covered with a blanket, in a horse and buggy to the shipper. The gold was then shipped to Wells Fargo in SF. Their father rationalized that robbers would not suspect girls of 12 had gold in their buggy.

product of odd numbers

8/25/2022

An odd number can be defined as 2k + 1. What, what? Replace k with any integer, and the result is an odd number. Try 1, then 2, then 3, etcetera. He used FOIL, which is first outer inner last. Need help with math symbols?
https://www.mathsisfun.com/sets/symbols.html

canada

8/25/2022

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at Parliament Hill.

One is from Montreal, another is from Toronto, and the third is from Vancouver.

All three go with a Parliament official to examine the fence.

The Vancouver contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. “Well,” he says, “I figure the job will run about $9,000. That’s $4,000 for materials, $4,000 for my crew, and $1,000 profit for me.”

The Toronto contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, “I can do this job for $7,000. That’s $3,000 for materials, $3,000 for my crew, and $1,000 profit for me.”

The Montreal contractor doesn’t measure or figure, but leans over to the Parliament official and whispers, “$27,000.” The official, incredulous, says: “You didn’t even measure like the other guys. How did you come up with such a high figure?”

The Montreal contractor whispers back: “$10,000 for me, $10,000 for you, and we hire the guy from Toronto to fix the fence.”

“Done!” replies the government official.

And that is how the Government Stimulus plan works.

Three boxes keep us free:
- The soap box,
- The ballot box, and
- The jury box.

plain speaking

8/25/2022

Sitwell, poet

8/24/2022

1918 portrait of Sitwell by Roger Fry
British curator, art historian, painter, university teacher, drawer, art critic
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Edith_Sitwell.jpg

Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell (1877-1964) was unusual in appearance, standing six feet tall. She dressed in an eccentric manner with gowns of brocade or velvet, gold turbans, and many rings. That and her verse provoked critics. One was F. R. Leavis. She described Leavis as a “a tiresome, whining, pettyfogging little pipsqueak”.

In August 1955 she became a Catholic and asked Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966) to be her godfather.

the model millionaire

8/23/2022

A guinea or sovereign is about $1 in today’s money. A looking glass is a mirror. Tip for writers: have in mind what you are going to say at the end as you begin.

american indian

8/23/2022

Revisionists have it all wrong, but not the U.S. military!

presentation

8/22/2022

The fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary is Jesus’s presentation at the temple and Simeon receiving Him.

irrational number

8/22/2022

Can you get a rational number by adding irrational decimals?

Answered by Quora contributor, Manjunath Subramanya Iyer, Math teacher

Yes.

Two irrational numbers are
2 + √3
5 - √3

The square root of three is an irrational number. Adding a number like two or subtracting from five changes nothing. See note below.

Their sum

(2 + √3) + (5 - √3) = 7

Seven is rational. How do we know that? 49/7 = 7

Note:
From mathisfun.com – An irrational number is a real number that cannot be made by dividing two integers. Definition of an integer: it has no fractional part. “Irrational” means “no ratio” [Latin comes in handy.], so it isn’t a rational number. Its decimal also goes on forever without repeating. Example: π is an irrational number, as it cannot be made by dividing two integers. Same for √3.

five chinese brothers

8/21/2022

quidnunc

8/19/2022

“What a quidnunc she is!” – gossip. Quidnunc is a compression of a Latin question, “Quid nunc?”, meaning “What now?” Curious to hear the latest gossip, an inquisitive person might ask, “What now?” Men and women, it has been shown, gossip equally. Hmm. If you’ve been following my blog, notice how “qu” in Latin became “wh” in English, as in what, when, why. If you say the sounds aloud, they sound similar. Jacob was amused by the Latin word, quotquot, pronounced like “squat” and meaning “however many”. Squat is an awfully funny word, too.

one summer night

8/19/2022

“without cavil” – cavil, noun or verb, deriving from the Latin verb cavillari, meaning “to jest” or “to raise silly objections”, deriving from the Latin noun cavilla, meaning “raillery”

He raised no silly objections.

The oblong box

8/19/2022

A capsule, from the Latin capsula, meaning small box, is a three-dimensional geometric shape consisting of a cylinder with hemispherical ends. A capsule is used to contain pressurized gases.

fire

8/18/2022

A blue California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) helicopter sucked up water from the pond next to my house to extinguish two fires, about one mile apart and in opposite directions, possible arson against PG&E poles, fires extinguished. Water is drawn up into a tank in the fuselage. The helicopter sent a skunk in my shrubbery scurrying. Time 11:15 am. Temp 91 degrees.

Latin Lesson

8/18/2022

Here the teacher speaks classical Latin, and the connection to English words is so pronounced that the beginner, you, can guess without a big Latin vocabulary.

Credit: imperium-romana.org
Placing the verb at the end makes Latin potent.

joan of arc repost

8/17/2022

The YouTube poster responded to my comment. He said, “Merci le puy du fou pour avoir ramener cette medaile en france cest son pays.” Translated – “Thank you le puy du fou for bringing this medal back to France, its country.” Le Puy du Fou is a tourist attraction in France. Jacob (23) chose Joan of Arc (19), France’s greatest saint, as his Confirmation name. I recommend the film, The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962). The dialogue is the transcript of her trial in 1431. She outsmarted all the learned men.

The medal is a ring, a silver-gilt hoop featuring the inscriptions “IHS” and “MAR” as abbreviations for Jesus and Mary and is said to have been a First Communion gift to Joan from her parents. https://www.france24.com/en/20160304-joan-arc-ring-france-england-puy-du-fou That is President Macron speaking.

bennett

8/17/2022

I use William J. Bennett’s The Book of Virtues. It contains poetry and stories, mainly raw classics and translations, suitable for K-12, with sections titled: Self-Discipline; Compassion; Responsibility; Friendship; Work; Courage; Perseverance; Honesty; Loyalty; and Faith. One student is homeschooled, and his parents are able to take their California school funds into the charter school that monitors his homeschooling and the markers set for him by the school, his parents, and himself!

english to latin

8/16/2022

On May 29, 1453, it was Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire that ended the Byzantine Empire. The Ottomans breached Constantinople’s ancient land wall after besieging the city for 55 days. The anthem begins at Pulchras.

Firmly I pledge Firme nunc me spondeo
my loyalty to thee   Fidelis tibi maneo
Land of my Forefathers Bella priorum cara patria
forever brimming with glory   Nunc et semper florens gloria
A land of beauty   Pulchras terrae patriae
home of the courageous Fortes terrae pro homines
Our Eternal Rome Romae noster aeternae
the might of enemy ships   Vis cavire domum navium
Threatens us in vain Frustra ipsa impetur
it is a hopeless quest Sunt sine spe
Turn away from deceit Domus dulces portula
and sweet delusions   Fraudi ob sat
For the trumpets of War   Tubae militares vox
will call our Legions soon   Legionus procat mox
And across the fatherland Et in tota patria
a victory song will ring Cantus nicoliae resonat
And across the fatherland Et in tota patria
our song will resonate   Cantus nostrae resonat
A time of joy and pride   Tempus est in gaudium
for Eternal Rome. Superbia Roma aeterna.

climate change

8/16/2022

Per the New York Post, there is a mysterious fund called, “Resources Legacy Fund”, headquarters in Sacramento, CA, a dark money group that dishes out money, $5.2 million from 2017 and 2020, to law firms to file climate change nuisance claims nationwide.

heresy defined

8/16/2022

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum20.htm

First Vatican Council
Session 3: April 24, 1870
Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith
Chapter 2 on Revelation
Excerpted quotes:

The complete books of the old and the new Testament with all their parts, as they are listed in the decree of the said council and as they are found in the old Latin Vulgate edition, are to be received as sacred and canonical.
These books the church holds to be sacred and canonical
- not because she subsequently approved them by her authority after they had been composed by unaided human skill,
- nor simply because they contain revelation without error,
- but because,
  - being written under the inspiration of the holy Spirit,
  - they have God as their author,
  - and were as such committed to the church.
Now since the decree on the interpretation of holy scripture, profitably made by the council of Trent, with the intention of constraining rash speculation, has been wrongly interpreted by some, we renew that decree and declare its meaning to be as follows: that
- in matters of faith and morals,
- belonging as they do to the establishing of christian doctrine,
- that meaning of holy scripture must be held to be the true one,
- which holy mother church held and holds,
  - since it is her right to judge of the true meaning and interpretation of holy scripture.
In consequence, it is not permissible for anyone to interpret holy scripture in a sense contrary to this, or indeed against the unanimous consent of the fathers.