Three for the Week

Saturdays are my time to reflect on what I read, heard, and discussed throughout the week. It is my “exit ticket” for the last seven days. So here are three ideas that made me think this week. (They are not in any particular order.)

1 – Did you know there are three meanings of multiplication? I didn’t know them until a couple years ago. A blog post by Jeff Lisciandrello reminded me that the meanings are not widely known. They are: equal groups, rates, multiplicative comparison, rectangular array, and Cartesian products. Jeff has a great description of each meaning in his blog post.

2 – Michael Pollan is a food writer and the author of books like  “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” “The Botany of Desire,” “In Defense of Food” and “How to Change Your Mind.” His new book, which is only available as an audiobook on Audible, tackles our complex relationship with caffeine. Pollan explores the effects of caffeine in our society and how it impacts our bodies. I have not listened to the book, but read an interesting preview in the Washington Post. In his book, Pollan says, “Something like 90 percent of humans ingest caffeine regularly, making it the most widely used psychoactive drug in the world and the only one we routinely give to children, commonly in the form of soda. It’s so pervasive that it’s easy to overlook the fact that to be caffeinated is not baseline consciousness but, in fact, is an altered state.” That’s a pretty sobering thought.

3 – The third slot is again reserved for something which will put a smile on your face. I’ve never really believed in the whole idea of a spirit animal. Then I saw this video of a dog sledding down a hill. I now complete embrace the idea of a spirit animal and believe I’ve found mine.