The task of homeschooling might be difficult, but it is an opportunity to discover new learning directions. Despite suffering from multiple sclerosis, as a former college teacher, I started designing interactive PowerPoint presentations for a hobby and then eventually for educational purposes. U Choose! (read more) is now available.

There is a lot of talk about animal euthanasia and anti-pet sentiment these days. Well, "Diary Of A Mouse Tamer" is an early log book I kept while raising my daughter's pet mice. I learned to love them and still cherish memories of them. Click on the mouse to view my dedication page and read the blog.

My chief research interest is ancient, number theory, particularly, the arithmetic of the ancient Egyptians, the Mexican calendar and the genesis of the moon. My original conclusions are summarized in Solving Life's Mysteries Just With Good Arithmetic. I am also researching the African American poetess, Phyllis Wheatley. here.

An exciting, new website, I've thoroughly enjoyed, concerns the historical, African-American song "Follow The Drinking Gourd" (i.e., the Big Dipper). Did it encode escape instructions used by the "Underground Railroad?" Click here.

Quirky, Kinky, Tacky & Homemade Laptop Managers For Homeschool
Describes the basic features of a selection of colorful PowerPoint presentations, useful for real-time data storage and for adorning the laptop screen.

Stars etc.
audio streaming

In A Chapel
Inspirational voice/piano.

Heart-felt Blog
This blog repudiates a racist letter to the newspaper. (Oh! It's in Dutch!) Since this blog was posted, the author (my daughter) has gone missing and foul play may be involved. Here is what it says. I will translate. The blog is written in answer to a letter to the editor of the Parool newspaper. I will translate it here: "Must we start with Ellen Robles or is it better to use our intellects? Sympathy is not the solution and remains immortalized in the absolute stupidity of Fats Waller: 'I am white inside' and 'My only sin is in my skin.' "It's probably controversial, but I can't say it more politely: A negro (neger) is not a white, who happens accidentally to be black. Another evolutionary branch, another set of genes, great capacity for sports, but no talent for abstract and conceptual thinking, no scientific culture, even after many decades of living in America. In short, in terms of knowledge and skills which have led to the present standard of civilization (stated "leven" or "living"), the negro has not participated in any significant way. "The problem is much greater than Rubles admits: a race that lags behind the other races and a continent steeped in under-development, for which no practical solution can be imagined. "I would truly be happy if, suddenly, the negro should make mind-boggling discoveries in physics, chemistry, biotechnology or nuclear physics, because it would lift the status of the negro to an immensely higher level. In that case, I would glory in the fact that Africa has some potential to be equal to the rest of mankind. "The words of Ellen Robes contain no logic, no analysis and no trace of a solution. We can do without this sort of article. Pitiful. P.C.M. van der Grinten (Grinten) Amsterdam" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now here is what Shayne wrote to the Parool newspaper Editor, in answer to this letter (I will translate it): Dear Mr. or Mrs Van Der Grinten: I am the daughter of an African American and a Scotsman, and I am presently studying at the University of Amsterdam. You state that the Negro has no scientific knowledge, even after many decades of living in America. Perhaps you are not aware of the fact that colored people, until the middle of the last century, also had no right to receive an education, unlike the whites in the US. This makes it truly remarkable that a number of [Negro] persons, despite this fact, managed to make mind-boggling contributions to science. Have you heard of Benjamin Bannaker (1731-1806) for instance? He built the first clock in the US and was the editor of an almanak, which was prized in America, England and France. Benjamin accomplished within an environment, which was encumbered with propaganda that Negroes are inferior to whites. If this does not impress you (after all, a single swallow does not a summer make), then I would like to direct your attention to Charles Drew (1904-1950), a doctor who discovered a new way of preserving blood plasma, that saved thousands of lives during World War II. Perhaps you would be surprised the learn of famous black writers like Alice Walker (The Color Purple) or Toni Morrison, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993. Or does a book, according to you, not qualify as an abstract, intellectual object? Then maybe one time, I can introduce you to my mother, one of the first 25 black women in the United States to receive a Ph.D in mathematics. Turn on the television and look at Oprah Winfrey, that will drive home to you that she hasn't earned her millions through great sport achievements. Down through the ages, there have been numerous investigations made to discover a huge evolutionary gap between whites and other races. These tests have never produced any conclusions as impressive as the ones you have come up with. Your opinions concur surprisingly a lot with those of the average, western man, a half century ago. I beseech you to increase you knowledge of the history of the United States, so that you acquire a more humane picture of your [non-white] contemporaries. Or if would you like, I'll come by and talk over a cup of coffee. Sincerely,

On her blog website, Shayne writes (I will translate it here): "Some days ago I was looking through the Parool to see if my letter to the editor had been taken notice of. It wasn't but later, on Voice mail, I received an unusual message: 'Hi, my name is Professor Kalman. I hope I am speaking with Shayne McCreadie? I enjoyed your fantastic article. The entire family of Van der Grinten, who live in Atlanta Georgia, is world-famous. They are one of the few Dutch families, who stood up to the Nazi's. I am the one who translated their book into English, because I have lived in Atlanta, Georgia for the last 42 years. My telephone number is 06-xxxxxxxx and I find it fantastic that you wrote this article to inform Mr. van der Grinten, albeit in a friendly manner, of just what you think. I find it fantastic. You have my respect. *click* "I staggered around the entire Music Building on the Ij in search of yesterday's newspaper. There was my letter, on page 31, filling half a page. All 389 words. "I decide to answer Professor Kalman's call by calling him back. He apparently got my number via the operator and he says he is very surprised that the Van Der Grinten family was very involved in the World War II resistence and ready to help everyone. He knows a large branch of the family from Venlo (Holland) and attended school with them. "I received more praise and flattery and then the good man remarks that he teaches at the University of Tel Aviv in Israel, where he has family. What a coincidence. I am sitting on a committee with two other persons, who run an Israeli Film Festival, which we started on our own initiative. "Professor Kalman offers us his assistance, where possible, in organizing the film festival. I, too, am invited to come along too, to offer advice. I promise to send him a copy of the first article and Professor Kalman concludes the conversation with these, for me already, legendary words: 'I think you are a good writer, you have talent.' "Right after that conversation, the director of the Music Building on the Ij company compliments me on the newspaper article. "This has been a great day!"

Since the above was published, the blog has been taken down. It appears, before she went missing, my daughter was an unofficial "official" employee of the UN, as, in her previous photo, she was wearing army togs.

I believe an increasing number of young people are recruited in unofficial capacities by the UN to carry out activities their parents would not approve of.