Yes, I doubt there are many over 50 who haven't worn that hair shirt :( especially in moments after some overheard exchange at the local 7-11-no-splitting-aces. Could I?/We?/They! have spent a little less time with the tomfoolery, the mesmerizing toys with blinking lights - and a bit more on Nation-building right chere in River City ?!

Clearly there aren't enough Jaime Escalantes to go around, and 'we' still make sure that any brilliant-Ones shall be nibbled to death by ducks. So (too-) many leave. This remains a primitive anti-intellect type of roadshow IMhO; just look at who we pay the most and watch the most. We watch. Most 'do' hardly anything - so Rilke's out too; imagine a Murican saying and meaning.. Always choose the difficult.. (!) (Unless the 'difficulty' is - maxing a profit, of course)

But as my teacher friends have observed, one way or t'other: nobody *can* 'teach'the doggedly unwilling. First must come the desire to learn, and that entails giving-up much precious junk acquired by osmosis into one's deliquescent wetware (But. but.. they were so sincere when they told me that __!) That takes a certain amount of guts.

Still and all, the umm world of duality appears to be running its normal course of Yes/No Right/Wrong, as designed. And swimming in those eddies is not so much about being gummed to death by toothless pira\ufffdas as

Why Bother? But then.. so soon we forget, and join in and..
What were we talking about? I get so confused.

I can only abjectly admire the intentional suffering (another Rilke fav ;-) of every dedicated teacher, faced daily with so much material - so much of which is malleable as Wolfram.. as they yearn to return soonest to the pocket Nintendo and cel-fone, to express everything not-new avoided today.

(OK- Tungsten; The Periodic Chart! - a mystery to the modern HS grad - is itself a fractal of inexpressible beauty, even without the little graphics on new ones, depicting 2s, 2p electrons and the like.. Liberty Valence? :)


Ashton