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Joanne C. Wasserman's avatar

I swear that hand wiritng is going to restore the culture of human relationships. Mind-eyes-and-hands are engaged in unison to the purpose---the harmony of the making, and of the reading---like a work of chamber music between musicians and their audience. I am a calligrapher. Here is the base page of one organization which has reached out to calligraphers for help in transcribing manuscripts from late middle ages, Victorian era estate letters and documents, and even private cookbooks and recipes, as well as any other kind of hand written documents that are housed in museum collections, insitutional archives, and university collections from anywhere in Europe and North America during the 18th and 19th centuries. ...https://fromthepage.com/landing

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Mark Wauck's avatar

There are numerous studies that maintain that taking notes by hand is a much more effective learning technique than taking typed notes on a laptop. Do a search on it.

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Manul's avatar

Clicking on a keyboard is noisy and distracting to others. Taking notes on paper is quiet and more efficient. Cursive writing is several times faster than printing.

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Joanne C. Wasserman's avatar

You are right, it's true. It's the mind-eyes-hands melding to the intended purpose. A person can never draw the precise, exact vision which he sees in his mind's eye; he will make a first attempt, then, necessarily make another and another drawing in order to put it down on the paper what he sees in his mind. This is good. Whenever that "work" is deemed absolutely complete, that person will have created something unique and obviously original, but yet still not quite like the shape/form/picture imagery that he can see within himself. But he will most definitely love the "work" he has made in physical form. ABOUT WRITING BY HAND, it's the same principle of seeing one's thoughts within oneself, formulating some structure of assembly as to what those thoughts mean to him---in his own words (thinking, still); and then, writing those worded thoughts on paper, while choosing different words, sequence of order of thoughts, et cetera, on the fly, while his whole hand and arm are transferring it through electrical pulses of his nervous system (a physical sensation, as is the touch of the pen/pencil, texture of paper, and the object surface/table.

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Mimi Alberu's avatar

Spelling (and grammar) proficiency are definitely not required as seen in the call for volunteers. Among the misused words that drive me nuts are "peak/peek/pique," along with "rain/rein/reign," "their/there/they're," and "its/it's."

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Mark Wauck's avatar

Pilkington on Newsom:

Well, this guy’s presidential run is over. He was touted to be leader of the “resistance” but will spend four years begging the Trump administration for money because he defunded the fire brigade.

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Manul's avatar

I have never heard a reason why students are no longer taught to write in cursive. There must be some good reason. Instead of teaching second graders to write in cursive, what do they teach now? Have they also stopped teaching long division? Memorization of multiplication tables?

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D F Barr's avatar

My step kids cannot read the cards written to them by their grandparents. It’s crazy.

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Manul's avatar

Wow - can't read cursive? Do they print everything? Or do they even know how to write a letter? I have relatives who are young who don't know how to address a letter. They are smart, but it isn't something that is done often now.

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Manul's avatar

Maybe they shouldn’t build these towers so darn ugly. Then maybe no one would want to tear them down? Is anyone clamoring to demolish the beautiful Empire State Building?

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dissonant1's avatar

Well, it does seem to be (since the '60s anyway) that we are much better as a nation at tearing things down than building them up. I suppose it is good to be good at something.

Many of us will always refer to the Sears Tower as the Sears Tower. Maybe that is a bit of "old-fogey-ism" reminiscence about better days. But I think it is also a bit in honor to the days when families built businesses on honest labor and on a contract of trust with their customers. At any rate, I always thought the Willis Tower should have been called the “Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” tower - and still think so.

Finally, can we maybe just for once repurpose something instead of levelling it? Or does progressivism demand that we don't progress based on anything already done?

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Jeff Cook-Coyle's avatar

Longs Peak is outside my window. I will have a fit of pique when the National Archives can neither read nor spell.

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Tamsin's avatar

Nowadays, when diffuse is accepted for defuse, and reticent for reluctant... I suggest we remain unphased and nonplussed.

My interest in writing in cursive peaked in sixth grade, but I'm glad I can still read it!

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Jeff Cook-Coyle's avatar

And yes, that is how they spell the name of the mountain.

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Manul's avatar

It’s a great climb too!

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NFO's avatar

$70 million is shocking for that property. For a good 15-20 years, seemed like every Chicago business trip ended up in 311 South Wacker, home to all the fancy-pants law firms like Jones Day, Skadden, Morgan Lewis, Cooley, etc. Really posh space and not as antiquated as most 35-ish year-old buildings. I guess COVID and telework really "created some opportunities" for the creators of the next "billionaires' row" of full-floor residences.

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Retired FL LEO's avatar

Learn to code! Err, how about learn to read cursive. Having read some of Washington’s correspondence for a school project ages ago, this will be no small undertaking and should be on a pay scale of, oh, perhaps a LA Water Resource Director.

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ML's avatar

Make America Literate Again!

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Mark Wauck's avatar

LOL!

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