Fairy Tales

I've always really liked fairy tales, and when I found out there were psychologists and philosophers who saw serious depth and history in them, I was thrilled.

The topic came up on the AlwaysLearning list, and this and that was said, some of which is worth putting here for further thought and discovery.

I'm grateful to those in that discussion who had the time and knowledge to find these quotes:

"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales.
If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales."

~Albert Einstein~ Scientist (1879-1955)

More Quotes Tomorrow I'm going to bed soon.

Some of the most commonly available fairy tales are

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
Cinderella
Rapunzel
Hansel and Gretel
Rumplestiltskin
Red Riding Hood

Many of them exist in several versions, and the main collections were in Germany and France. Some are related to traditional ballads.

Some stories are generally considered "fairy tales" but they're not of that traditional, passed-down-from folklore genre. The Little Mermaid is a literary story. Hans Christian Andersen wrote short stories, he didn't collect folklore.

I was going to explain more, but I found this and it's pretty good for anyone who cares about the technicalities and terminology:

http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/boardarchives/2001/may2001/definefairytale.html

Here's another recent article on fairy tales.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/09/21/fear_of_fairy_tales/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed6, in the Boston Globe. Fear of fairy tales, by Joanna Weiss
September 21, 2008

Natural Learning--The UnSchool

This is where the word "unschooling" came from:



At YouTube it says this is from the 80's and while it might still have been on in those days, it was first on in the early to mid 1970's. There really were glasses like that available, too!

John Holt said that's where he got the idea. And for years people have said, "There was this 7-Up commercial...." but there it is!

I love the internet.

Eye contact and ancient instinctive behaviors

In a discussion on the Always Learning list I came to a pocket of ideas too big for that list. It might be to big for this blog, but at least it can sit here and collect clues and links over the years. Bob Collier wrote the first part. He has an evergrowing set of links and commentary with some really great stuff, and I'll put that link and the link to the discussion from which this came below.

Bob:

It's interesting that maintaining eye contact is so often promoted as
the 'right' way to interact with another person. It clearly in my
experience doesn't produce rapport as effectively as interacting in
whatever way the other person is comfortable with even if that means
no eye contact at all.

Sandra:

I imagine there is something subtle going on as to primacy, something instinctive and inavoidable. Our culture has taught us (and our grandparents for a thousand years or more) that instinct is bad--ignore it. Strive to overcome it. Work through faith in juju, or logic as laid out by philosophers, or doing what your relatives tell you. Always let your culture be your guide—unlike that crazy Jiminy Cricket talking about thinking for yourself, only he WAS talking "conscience" and not instinct. Conscience is the collection of rules and messages and warnings we carry around to hold our problems up to (if we're lucky). Fetal alcohol syndrome can prevent that from happening. Some people harden early and have emotional scars where they should've been building a conscience.

So if "make eye contact" become part of our conscience—one of the things on the checklist to do to be a right and good person—that's not bad. If "be sensitive to others" follows pretty quickly, we'll probably all survive. I can be sensitive to others who would prefer less eye contact. They could be sensitive to me by at least looking at my ear or my hair a few times so I don't feel totally ignored. If that's harder for them than my part is for me I'm sorry, but the whole culture can't sway to accommodate people with problems making eye contact or shaking hands.

If gaze is part of the animal behavior we've been called on to ignore (but we can't, really, we can just be ashamed of it or accept it), then there's something to it that words and wishes can't take away. If I can make contact and someone else can't, then I'm alpha in that second, or I'm being challenging. It's the way bullies intimidate people. It's the way CEOs get ignored. It's why some adults let their mothers push them around.

It was my mention of handshakes that caused me to want to leave it alone or make it bigger.

So for people who come by here, what do you think about eye contact? What have you been told, or read?

What about cultures where people bow? Isn't gaze part of the formality there too, so it's taught?

There will surely be more written in that topic here (starting with July 12):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlwaysLearning/message/36354 (I think you have to join that list to see the topics.)

Bob Collier's site is http://www.parental-intelligence.com/ (You'll probably be there a while.)

Dragonflies and Snake Doctors

In my yard this morning I have some little bugs that move like dragonflies but they're maybe half an inch long, if that, and if they're colorful it's not apparent. They look like one little straight piece of bug with a blur of wings around it.

When I was little, in Texas, we lived by Benbrook lake. There were lots of snake doctors everywhere. Then we moved to northern New Mexico, where there weren't any around our house or the river. Later I learned the word "dragonfly," probably out of a book.

Are all snake doctors dragonflies? And why are there ANY "snake doctors"?
What are those bugs in my yard?

If readers send me photos of any such flying creatures from their own yards and what they're called where you live, I'd be glad to put them in here. Or if you've blogged about them, please leave a blogpost link!

I know I could google, but I didn't know how far the term "snake doctor" goes and I figure some people have never heard it.

The Churches of Book Worship, and other fantastic realities

A while back I brought pictures and a link to some REAL libraries, dreamscapes from the real world.

These appear to be similarly wonderful, only if you take a charge card or a sack of cash, they'll let you take a bunch of books home! Most Interesting Bookstores of the World


That site on which that bookstore collection resides is crookedbrains.net, and when you get there you will see a list of other topics such as chromed bikes, monowheels (those are somewhat related, as range goes), creativity with marbles, homemade submarine, alternate uses for containers... (I keep trying to make a list but I get all involved in another page.)

And there are links to other sites that will make it seem like no time passed at all until you realize you're hungry and need the bathroom and haven't turned the water off in your yard and... (ooops. brb)

There's an example of something I wasted spent several moments on and it's kinda sickmaking (once you click and go to its animated mama), but there's worse there for sure.

So back to uplifting...

Some artistic recycling of computer parts:


There's plenty of exploring to provide connections to last you a while! Thinking sticks. You'll never forget all of it (though you might forget some).

Mystery Art

Identify this if you can.



A clue, and a link to more photos (and a link to the answer, in the words of the artist): Mystery Art #3

If you're feeling sad that you might've missed Mystery Art numbers 1 and 2, here. I did the first two, but not this third one.

Numerals and Counting

At Always Learning some people talked about having had a pattern on numerals on which they did calculations in school because teachers wouldn't let them count on their fingers, and there was a request to bring that here. Can anyone who had a personal system like that describe it?


There was also discussion there of the history of numerals. An earlier post on this blog dealt with ancient counting (aloud, names of numbers: Score! and counting sheep in prehistoric languages) but now the question is about writing numbers down.

A link was brought to this explanation. Some of us were skeptical, and someone's looking into it:

Fun With Numbers (and an illustration from that page):
Pam Sorooshian found this: http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_numerals/Talk

Google will turn up tons of cool stories. Here are portals to a few:
If you have any theories or favorite stories on numerals, or sites about their history, or personal stories, please deposit those below!