Whelp, I cdan now say I passed a course on-line at M.T.T. and am thrilled....

Took the final today, and really had to sweat it out on a couple of the problems to solve.  Gawwd, I hate the charts to fill out per drag and drop.....   Renembering dates is not my storng point.  But concepts and completing floor plans..   a breeze.

So to sum up my experience with the EdX program.  The concept is fantastic, the interactivity is first rate.  

i dumped my two courses at the university of Texas.  The first one was only doing it by rote and was so terrified of the camera, he was distracting...   looked like a deer in the headlights and the content was so superfluous, wasn't learning much I didn't know.  

The second had me stymied for weeks.  I thought it was my fault, till he got to the eras I know about.  First he pissed me off by trashing Freud, then Wittgenstein, and represented theories in such a vague way, I thought...   this stuff is just masturbating your brain, going in circles and never coming to a conclusion about things soague, they are insignificant.  

But when he got to the Soixties, I knew he was a charlatan, and a racist to boot.  He dissed Kennedy, praised McCarthy, and sorta praised Johnson, and then came to the only thing he thought was interesting about the era, and that was the race riots in 1968...  and said of Johnson, 'He'd given them (the african Americans)  everything they wanted, and they rioted.  And went sanctimonious theatrical, and with hands up, said, 'Why?  Why?   Nobody knows.'

And which point I finally exploded and yelled at the screen and shouted, you sanctimonious ASSHOLE!'

Point one..   he's near my age and grew up in Philly, so should know better.  Point two, I had a course in Salzburg just on the year 1969 alone with a socioligist who is world renowned, it was so important, because it nearly came to a world-wide revolution, and there was mcuh more happening, so I was incensed that he would be teaching young people such revisionist and racist drivel.  

So I got hold of myself, and said...  'Ren, think.   You don't want a flame war.'  So I dropped them both.  The people of Texas are not being served well, if those two are typical of what is being taught.

The course at M.I.T. was balsam.  It was fresh, it came from an unexpected viewpoint and gave a historical view of the world around us and how moments and buildings in history have left legacies in society that have echoed down through the centuries to the present time.  

It was demanding, but fascinating, and that professor was so passionate, and was able to pass on his love of the subject and knowledge in such a way that the way you see the world slants in perspective and seems new.  And THAT is the difference between education and 'edumacation', as Atrios an economist calls it.

.

So...  with EdX, it's a case of picking and choosing   The M.I.T. courses are demanding, but if you have a solid background, very valuable.  Forget Texas at Austin.  

At any rate, I passed the final and fucked up one problem because the icons were too small.    You had to drag and drop the tiny pictures on a world map, but even with my reading glasses, three of them were so vague, I couldn't recognise them even using a magnifying glass.    That was the pits...   so I sort of guessed and got it wrong.

There was a final video from the professor this week.  Thanking for everyone's participation.  Twenty four thousand people enrolled in the course and followed it.  Four thousand will get a certificate, as he set the bar high at 80 percent correctness.  I ended up with a 93 percent overall, and 95 per cent on the exams.  

This made me very happy and satisfied.  But more importatntly, I learned a lot and feel enriched by the experience.  He's going part 2 next year on-line, and can't wait to sign up.  

So to reiterate....  one has to choose.  But hey, it's all free.  But one should try to stay away from the ones who waste your time.  Really terrific professors are rare as hen's teeth.  Professor Mark is a gem.

A requium for a good man..

I had just finished the post below, and got bad news.  Or news...  whatever.  The only one of my former bosses whom I truly liked and respected had just died.  And he was younger than I am.   

Seeimingly he'd had something with his gall, maybe stones, then it was acute, then they operated, then he got sepsis, and died,  

He was from Iran.  

I know, I know, there is a mess of stuff in the right wing media nowadays and for a long time now about Iran, none of it good.   But there is a difference when you know someone from that country, and they consider themselves Persians with a long history of which they are very proud.

Mr. N. was very kind to me, which I found odd...  because we came from diametrially opposite cultures.  He had the Tunesian board of tourism people stay with us, and was explicit about wht he wanted in their hotel rooms.  First time West went contra East hey.  He wanted me to put alcoholic beverages in them.  I said, 'sorry, I can't do that.'  #'And we had this Ausrian guy in the lobby pering up his ears.  

Mr. N. said, listen, there are 55 mph signs on the highway, but people still go faster.  

(His references always made me nearl laugh outright)

When Peter messed up and I left our home, he drove all the way from 'Vienna just to let me know in person that he was supportive, and that if I needed anything, anything, I should just call him, which perplexed me to the max.  

And surely flattered, but, I thought, hey, people of islamic faith aren't like that...   But he definitely was...   He said, I really admire your loylty.'  I thought he meant to the company, but he repeated it with emphasis, and I knew he meant mine to Peter's and it blew my mind.

I know that he was very kind.  And that he lvoed his family above everything on earth.  And I know that he had it bad with his partners, because they treated him with less than the respect he deserved.  So it doesn't surprise me that they galled him to death..,s  so to speak.   

He was very small in stature.  Such tiny feet.  Delicate in frame, and somewhere along the line, had had is eyebrows singed off.  they were just darker red lines above his eyes, which was a bit distracting.

I assume he was Sunni in his religious faith, although he never talked about beliefs.  I recently learned the difference in my M.I.T. course about that.  If so, their beliefs come parallel to what real christians believe.   I found him to be more 'christian' than a lot of people who run around touting their supposed superiority and proselytise their ignorance and try to force it on others.  He lived his faith, and was very kind.

And tolerant.

He leaves a very beautiful and cultured wife behind, and his beloved children.  His eyes danced when you were in favor, and if something rankeled, they turnd to deadlights.  no light, no sparkle, and you knew you'd overstepped a boundary.  He was an artist in a kitchen.  

Paradise is as persian word, I recently learned.  It means a wonderful most beautiful garden you get to live in in the afterlife.  So I hope that Mr. N finds his paradise.  and may he rest in peace.l  and for the war mongers....  well, they really don't know what they are talking about with all their hate.  

He meant much to me.   



                                   

Things you remember.... regretfully...

Props to Jo for the New orleans mardi gras swag...   It really isn't how I thought I would look at sixty four, but I got this present, you see, and  I COULDN'T resist....  

But have waited since I was eighteen for the day, so why not....    Was never a fan of the beatles, and this song drove me absolutely nuts.       Now it makes a bit of sense.  Have fun.   I  was certain I would never reach this age, so happy birfday to me....   or something.....                                                                  

Odd...  when you're eighteen or nineteen, you think you will live forever.  Then you turn around twice, and hey!  you're sixty-four.

Time can be like that.


I was watching the film Logtime Companion last night on YouTube and thought...  'acturally Ren, you shouldn't BE here.   So for what it's worth:    enjoy.