Tesla the Genius and Peaches

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Opinions expresssed are solely my own and are not those of anyone else, or any business.
My Blog began January 1 2015.

Sufficient time has passed since November 2013, for plenty of wounds to heal.  Natalie went to the Dermatologist today - and next week will actually be the one week anniversary of my visit after the melanoma surgery, and able to see my doctor after sitting in Alabama.  Because of the melanoma  experience, I am now very pro-active about spot and dots and moles, and so I made appointments for Greg et al to be screened when they came to Florida.  It is so easy to get to see qualified people, not like back in Ontario!!! BOO Hiss.

Greg is fine, thankfully all of his dark spots were thought to be OK, but Natalie did have an 'ugly duckling syndrome' removed: translation?  A mole that does not look like any other on your body is thought to be an ugly duckling and should be investigated.
Based on my own personal experience, I am not worried as I know we are on top of this concern.
But I digress.

I went to Barnes and Noble last week to pick up a copy of "America's Test Kitchen - The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook" and while wandering about the brick and mortar store I saw a 20% discount sticker on a book titled "TESLA", and of course I purchased it after reading the rave reviews featured on the back cover.  Actually, it was with some degree of difficulty that I actually found what I was looking for,  and I had to ask a store clerk to help me.  Her hours were cut after the Christmas season, apparently sales were not as good as they expected at the store, and so she cannot organize everything alphabetically, in the less than 20 hours she is given weekly. Of course B and N  can't compete with Amazon - but I sure will miss all of the old fashioned experience of wandering aimlessly and the accidental discovery (much like used to happen in the library with index cards), of a fascinating book,  a new trajectory for an attention defficit syndrome brain and explorer!  I pine away for the dead - those were great mental gymnastics, were they not?  Natalie and Karina never experienced the imaginary travels thanks to well thumbed corners of some of the cards in the index that co-incidence might trigger.
But I digress.
So I bought the Tesla book - a novel written by Vladimir Pistalo, translated from the Serbian.
Although I am actively trying to return to funny subjects - I must say that last year's experiences do make me think about the past, and I recall that in my youth, Eastern Europeans were  not so respected. Today I realize that EASTERN EUROPE would include Poland and Chopin - and I guess Latvians and Serbs like Tesla.
The book is difficult to read - but it certainly is clear that those poor Eastern Europeans were taught the keystone philosophies.  Even poor children attending school would be given synopses
of the great thoughts and discoveries since the time of cave men who learned how to make fire. I know for a fact that Spinoza, St. Augustine (long list of names found thoughout the lines of the book) are not familiar names in Canadian or American grade 5 social studies classes.  I had to think that perhaps, just perhaps, some of our modern problems, as written about by famous Pulitzer prize winners, and respected journalists and 20th Century novelists, recently mentioned in my BLOG, might be related to the fact that school curriculum really has been silly for over a hundred years.  Surely, some educators should be able to present a topic in such a manner, that the student would understand that to put your hand into the flame might not be the best option.  Surely we can teach 'ideas' that are not tainted by prejudice and biases - but just teach ideas that seem to work!

 And the Tesla book is how I learned that I know diddly squat, and kids in school will know even less!