Melange

• Once upon a time there was a non-conforming sparrow who decided not to fly south for the winter. However, soon the weather turned so cold that he reluctantly decided to fly south. In a short time ice began to form on his wings and he fell to Earth in a barnyard, nearly frozen solid. A cow passed by where he had fallen, and crapped on the little sparrow.The sparrow thought it was the end, but the manure warmed him and defrosted his wings!
  Warm and happy, able to breath, he started to sing.
  Just then a large cat came by, and hearing the chirping he investigated the sounds. The cat cleared away the manure, found the chirping bird, and promptly ate him.
  The Moral of the Story:
  Everyone who craps on you is not necessarily your enemy
  Everyone who gets you out of crap is not necessarily your friend.
  And if you're warm and happy in a pile of crap, you might just want to keep your mouth shut.
• For those of you who invite persons onto your property for the purposes of a yard/garage sale, note that many jurisdictions classify these invited guests as "invitees." This is different than social guests, who are classified as "licensees." The owner of land owes to a licensee the simple duty of making sure that the social guest is not harmed by the owner's activities. The owner owes no duty to investigate and identify concealed dangers. However, invitees (those yard sale folks) are owed a higher duty. The owner owes to them a duty to warn of known and unknown defects. Therefore, the owner also has a duty to discover potential risks. Failure to fulfill the duty owed may lead to a nice little civil suit if the guest is injured.
• A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy." "Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. "They're packed with nutrients." The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree. Management Lesson: Bull shit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.
• Math Teaching Over The Years

Teaching Math in 1950: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

Teaching Math in 1960: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

Teaching Math in 1970: A logger exchanges a set "L" of lumber for a set "M" of money. The cardinality of set "M" is 100. Each element is worth one dollar. Make 100 dots representing the elements of the set "M." The set "C", the cost of production, contains 20 fewer points than set "M." Represent the set "C" as a subset of set "M". Answer this question: What is the cardinality of the set "P" of profits?

Teaching Math in 1980: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

Teaching Math in 1990: By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the forest birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down the trees? There are no wrong answers.

Teaching Math in 2000: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $120. How does Arthur Andersen determine that his profit margin is $60?

Teaching Math in 2009: El hachero vende un camion carga por $100. La cuesta de produccion es ….