Welcome to my home page

https://sites.google.com/view/kirbyvariety2/home Click here for my blog: fear, fun and filoz(ophy)

This site "Kirbyvariety" has almost reached its allowable size. Click here for my continuation site "Kirbyvariety2".

I taught testing, statistics and research design in education for many years. There are many excellent web pages and other sources on these topics. However, the page and related ideas that are probably most important these days are expressed in The Animal School (Reavis, 1937). Note how old the piece is

I have found that helpful writing and ideas can be found in all sorts of locations, those touted as helpful and those ignored. As a young man, I found the writings of C.S.Lewis and Jacques Barzun, two very different but insightful and inspiring writers, to be helpful. Use Google or other good search engines to find out more about the Englishman noted for his children's books and Christian apologetics and the Frenchman noted for his wide range of books and peppery language and for being a dean at Columbia University.

I am starting this Google site on September 2, 2008. The Democratic convention has ended and Barack Obama is that party's candidate for the US presidency. The Republican convention began last night and John McCain is that party's candidate. Louisiana has just faced the storm called Gustav and appears to be much less damaged than it was after the storm Katrina three years ago.

This is a time when the internet, the world wide web, the cell phone and many related developments and innovations are affecting the American society and the world. The wikipedia, with its pages open to editing by anyone, the bank credit card and paypal for a widely accepted form of monetary payment, the connection between cell phones and computers and services such as Google Maps, the dwindling world supply of oil and the rising demand for consumer goods in China and India are all playing a part in a new situation for human beings: new ideas, new hopes and ambitions.

My life has been strongly related to books. My blog includes a long list of books that have mattered to me over the years. Currently, my reading and also thinking about reading is affected by my Kindle, Amazon.com's electronic book gets books in a type of cell phone call . That ability allows for downloading books Amazon has in electronic form to the Kindle in about a minute, without connection to a computer or other device.

Essentially, I see little difference so far between this web site and having a blog. I have created very useful web pages for my teaching and have been looking for a public place to put pages that relate to the little teaching I still do and my other interests. Google Sites looks like it fills the need well but so might my Google blog.