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Eight years ago on the Pasty Cam: 03/29/99 ^{Printed on Recycled Internet}

The Pasty Cam paid another visit to Ontonagon eight years ago and took this shot of the Gitchee Gumee Oil Company. It looks like Gitchee Gumee (aka The Big Lake) will take on additional water this weekend, with rain predicted as temps continue in the 40s.

Good Morning everybody!

Good Morning!

Good morning everyone!

Morning,
I have a person in Finland looking for the Gust and Mary Ahonen family that lived in Keweenaw county Michigan.
Children include:
William Ahonen 18 drill boy in copper mine
Benhart Ahonen 16
Julia Ahonen 14
Ellen Ahonen 12
Wilbert Ahonen 10
Ruth Ahonen 8
Homer Ahonen 6
Robert Ahonen 3
Melvin Ahonen 1 7/12
I have found death records on some of them. Also obituaries. Am looking for Patty Trautman who appears to be a grandaughter.I tried a phone # found in public records but she must have moved.
Living in Florida , perhaps.
If anyone who knows her , email me at home.
Alicia Marshall

By the shores of Gitchee Gumee, by the snining deep-sea waters, stands the wigwam of Nakomis, daughter of the moon, Nakomis,,....etc. 5th grade we had to memorize and recite that poem. Not all at once however. I guess those were good old days? Maybe not?

Tom,
It's funny you mention the old days and school. On my morning commute in today (I take a bus 30 miles) we were talking about education in the old days. The fella next to me brought up Latin, so I told him how Calumet schools used to require it, and how the Calumet Superintendent turned down Detroit for a job. I think that was back around 1910 or so. Painesdale also had a rigerous curriculum in those old days, and compared to what my kids have, I suppose Escanaba, where I went, did also. Today's teachers have to teach for a test instead of teaching to educate. I feel badly for them. It is not like when my mother taught.

Outside of Captain Paul, can anyone use a slide rule anymore?

By the time I was a senior at Ontonagon, they no longer offered Latin. I was disappointed. I remember having to memorize things like the Star Spangled Banner (all 4 verses) and things from the Merchant of Venice and such. They just don't do that anymore. I think I am going to make my high school freshman read some Longfellow and other American authors/poets this summer. I'm sure that will go over like a lead balloon. I remember my mom used to recite lines from the Village Blacksmith and Gitchee Gumee. Under the spreading chestnut tree, the village smitty stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands; And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron bands....

cherokeeyooper: You are right to be concerned about the test-driven education today. (just my opinion as a retired educator) If the 'test' could in any way evaluate the real education a student was receiving, I wouldn't complain. But some of the MEAPS have been laughable, and I don't care what other people think--it is state-driven curriculum for bragging rights. Sorry for those not interested, but this is an issue close to my heart.

I can still use my slide rule. Back about fifteen years ago, my brother and I did some rally racing. One type of rally is a time/speed/distance race, where you are given a route to follow and an average speed to travel. You have to arrive at checkpoints precisely at a certain time or you lose points. In order to arrive exactly on time you have to constantly calculate your average speed. My job as navigator was to read the map and do the calculations. I used my old slide rule for that. We won a lot of races and I'm happy to say that several times we beat racers who had rally computers in their car.

I don't know what students "learn" in schools these days. I just know most of the ones I see in my class are not prepared. I'd say about half of them don't have the skills needed for college (as in basic math and reading comprehension) and probably three quarters can't think critically. They seem to want to be told what to think rather than gather information and devise their own opinions. They want answers without taking the time to work through things themselves to solve problems. I don't mean to be cynical, but that's what I see every day in my classes.

I worked at a high school for a few years so I know that being a teacher is not an easy job. I do think we are not doing our youth justice by teaching to tests. The world of knowledge has infinite possibilities. Teaching to a test limits the part of that world students are allowed to see.

But Dr. Nat, tests create jobs. They also have made men very rich (H. Ross Porrot). Otherwise, this state would be rich and educated. I know that you know Captain Paul.

I have my slide rule, courtesy of my uncle, who got it from his uncle. All 3 of us used it at Tech. Do I use it now? No. I am re-learning it so my brain cells keep snapping.

I agree with Capt Paul. Too many of today's kids aren't ready for college. The pressure is on for everyone to attend college yet all kids aren't of that caliber or something. I had a lull in the math skills back in the 170s early 80s and then in the 90s those skills were somewhat better. Attitude is what go to me. Some of the students almost behaved like in high school. And, they do not want to be challenged into thinking. No wonder I had "pets" of those students who really took an interest in learning.

In my high school days people were taught how to find jobs, and not everyone was taught the college prep classes. I was a tradesman until I was in the service, people where I worked when I came home from the Army expected me to attend college. I was encouraged to attend, and with the college education came other perks, more money and easier working conditions, not the back breaking jobs. Now it seems no one wants to do the trade jobs, they just want to have jobs where they don't have any manual labor. The tradesmen make the same type of wage as the college educated, soon there wont be enough jobs for the people that have college educations, like the computer people from the eighties. They are finding it hard to get work. My two cents.

I used a slide rule all the way from high school throughout college. My sons don't use slide rules. Honestly, I'm not so sure that it all has to do with teaching towards tests. I think part of the root of it is teaching kids to use calculators too early in school, before they learn to do mental math, and never really requiring them to learn mental math.

I expect my sons to take the same course rigor that I did in high school. As long as we have lived in Michigan (since 1979), the course requirements for high school graduation have been inadequate, at least for science and engineering majors. What's more, even the new requirements that the legislature enacted that don't go into effect until the class of 2011 still do not meet my course requirements, yet parents & educators alike are yelling that those new requirements are too tough.

I simply expect my two able sons (not my disabled one) to take 4 years of math, 4 years of science, 4 years of English, 2 years of foreign language, 3 years of social studies (the school district has certain requirements that I don't like, but they have to meet those requirements), and some music. They have chosen to be very active in music. That gives them no time in their schedules for other electives. All of their classes are at least at the advanced level (except the crazy ninth grade social studies program), with many of their courses at the honors level. I took calculus in high school, and I expect them to. It's not like I am expecting them to do things that I did not do. So far, so good...my oldest son is doing well at Michigan Tech, and my youngest son is in the 9th grade. And, I have always been here to provide help when they need it. (My middle son is disabled.)

Won't stop snowing here!

Marcia--I'm really glad to hear that you have snow & not tornadoes, like they had in eastern Colorado. I had not thought much about Colorado getting tornadoes until I heard about the bad ones on the news this morning.

I still remember how to use my slide rule as well. I believe they are collector's items now, as they are no longer made. Years ago when my son was taking trig in high school he told his teacher that "my mom could solve that problems on her slide rule" and the teacher had the notion I was an engineer. During conferences I had to burst his bubble, being that I just loved math and working with numbers and was in health information mgmt.

Alicia, my uncle is Melvin Ahonen, and still living in Fulton.

Hi Uncle Chuck,
I talked to Homer's son yesterday and he gave me Patty's phone number. I am trying to figure out all of the children's "real" names. Who did Julia Ahonen marry? Was it a Beckman?
You can email me at home,
alicia@chartermi.net
Thanks,
Alicia

Had I ever seen and explained to me a slide rule, perhaps I'd understand what it is about these things that makes them so much superior to a calculator. That they're ecologically better, I simply assume. For myself, I don't see why I shouldn't use the technology - as long as it's faster than my brain, which serves quite well for all basic applications.

Danbury, technology is fine AFTER you fully understand and completely grasp all of the fundamentals of the subject, whether math or physics or chemistry or other science & engineering subjects. I mentioned earlier in this thread that kids aren't learning mental math very well these days. Slide rules, in a way, are an extension of mental math. A lot of this has to do with what I consider current misplaced teaching philosophies that are being taught to teachers in their education courses, as well as how the tests are being designed.

Testing in & of itself is not a bad thing---it is how they design the tests and the classes that is the problem. (And maybe I should mention here that I took all of the education courses required in college to teach grades 7-12 science & math, but I did not take the extra college semester required to do my student teaching because my father did not want to pay for an extra semester for his chemist daughter, to teach school. He thought I would do much better as a chemist in the industrial world.

Also, batteries do wear out, & we do have power failures. So, kids (and adults, for that matter) do need to be able to solve the problems without the aid of technology. If they can not, then woe are we for not teaching them how to.

'K-ay, I get that point, Marianne.
Enough not to discuss it any further.