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I’m writing about censorship today.

A couple weeks ago the internet was ablaze with SOPA and PIPA and other acronyms. Everyone rallied together and defeated the big bad bills that would have let government direct who can say what.

I’m not talking about that kind of censorship.

I censor what comes into my house, what my kids see and hear.

Maybe a better word would be filter.

Or discern.

It is important for parents to protect their children.

People use the term shelter like it is a bad thing. Shelter is like anything else – too much of it is bad, and too little of it is bad too. Kids need to be sheltered for a while, until they are strong enough to withstand that from which the shelter was protecting them.

I like the analogy of the greenhouse. Why do seedlings need to be in a greenhouse? The greenhouse is there to protect them from the elements until they have grown enough to handle them.
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Inspired by yesterday’s post about bola, I am writing today about bolic.

“What is bolic?” you may ask.

It’s a word. Here it is:

That’s the standard word. Now comes the quiz part, where I draw bolic differently.

What are the words that each of the following drawings represent?

A.

B.

C.

D.

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Today, I will be demonstrating how to pluralize the word bola:

Now you’ll be tempted to switch the emphasized syllable the next time you see the word parabola. Remember, it’s paraBOla, not paRAbola.

You’re welcome.

“Today is opposite day!”

That’s what Alpha told me a while back.

I forget to what he was responding. Whatever it was, he said something and then said it was opposite day, in order to let me know that his answer was the opposite of what he said. I’m sure he heard that somewhere at school, because I know we had never used that phrase here before that point.

I decided to use his declaration as a teaching point, both in logic and in truth. “Truth” being to mean what you say and “logic” being to have your words make sense.

The truth part of the lesson is obvious, and I didn’t dwell on that. Mainly because that wasn’t the fun part. The fun part was the logic part.

“If today really is Opposite Day, then what you said is false, which means that today is not opposite day,” I countered. I then went on to explain that opposite day can never happen. Or, more specifically, if a day really were opposite day, you could never tell anyone.

The phrase “today is opposite day” is always false.

• If it were opposite day, saying “today is opposite day” would mean that it is not opposite day.
• If it were not opposite day, then the statement is false right off the bat.

And the phrase “today is not opposite day” is always true.

• If it were opposite day, you would have to say “today is not opposite day” to convey that information.
• If it were not opposite day, then the statement is true right off the bat.

So if the only phrase that is ever correct is “today is not opposite day”, how can you tell the difference between a normal day and opposite day?

According to the internet, most people seem to think that January 25th is National Opposite Day. However, that makes no sense. My vote is for 12/21. Although 11/11 would qualify, it isn’t as obvious and it is already taken, as far as national days go.

Maybe, if those 1/25 guys as too entrenched for opposite day, I could start lobbying for 12/21 to be National Palindrome Day every year.

H&R Block has a simple, recognizable logo.

I would dare say it’s in need of updating, mainly to appeal to those of us who like fonts.

To those who aren’t as well-versed in fonts: let me start by saying that block is a style of font. Sans-serif. Probably all caps.

So I updated H&R Block to use other styles of fonts:

That last one is not a font update, but rather a nod to those people who don’t like sharp corners. You never know – maybe there is a market for H&R Circle.

A problem with society today is impatience. Cable TV (a generic term that includes satellite and internet TV also) is part of that problem.

No, not the shows on television, although I’m sure they aren’t helping any.

The main problem is the name of their services:

On Demand

You want this show? Demand it!
You want that show? Demand it!
You want anything from your TV? Demand it!

And the problem is that you get what you demand, immediately.

It’s tough enough to teach children to wait their turn and ask politely. We don’t need another influence to teach impatience and rudeness.

If I ever own a TV or video service, I’m instituting an On Request service.

And you would have to say “please”.

In the business world, there’s a quality-control technique called “The Five Whys”. It involves asking “Why?” to solve problems. I am tempted to mock the concept (e.g. “my 3-year-old came up with that on his own”), but that is not the point of this post.

Rather, I’ve adapted the concept for learning how to play a new game. This was inspired by my attempt to play Seven Wonders recently. The guy who brought the game did a valiant effort of trying to explain how to play, but I didn’t really understand it until after we played.

I call my technique “The Five Hows”. Other people may want to learn a game differently, but I have found this is how my mind wants to work. When attempting to learn how to play a game that is new to you, ask “How?” five times:

1. How do you win the game?
2. How do you that?
3. How do you that?
4. How do you that?
5. How do you that?

Just adapt questions 2-5 to refer to the answer given in the previous question, and that’s all there is to it.

I’ll give an example, using the card game Hearts.

How do you win the game?
By scoring the fewest points

How do you score points?
By winning cards of the heart suit (or the queen of spades)

How do you win heart cards?
By playing the highest ranking card of the suit that was lead. You take all the cards that were played that hand and count any points.

How do you play a card?
By laying it face-up on the table, following suit if possible. If you are supposed to lead the hand, you decide the suit.

How do you end the game?
When someone reaches at least 100 points, the game is over. That person is the loser.

More complicated games might require more hows, but you get the idea.

But in case you don’t get the idea: the idea is to start with the big picture and work down. Don’t start with the details of how to play, start with the reason of why to play.

If all else fails, just play a practice round.