John Adams

I'm finding McCullough's biography of Adams very interesting. It has, among other things, confirmed my opinion that "1776" treats James Wilson unfairly; he was not the spineless ditherer depicted in the movie. In fact, he defected to the pro-independence camp well before the formal vote. He's not the only one who gets slandered; Stephen Hopkins was not the amiable sot who appears in the movie. (In fact, Adams claimed that Hopkins never drank to excess.) I have my suspicions about Rev. Witherspoon, too, although that may just be James Noble's performance. (Noble is unsurpassed at representing a good-hearted but terminally bewildered fellow.) But the worst libel may be of Adams himself, though it comes from his own mouth - the infamous "obnoxious and disliked" line. Adams claims, in his memoirs, to have delivered that line to Jefferson, but Jefferson explicitly denies it in his autobiography. In fact, according to McCullough, among the existing public and private papers of the delegates to the Congress, the only disparaging words about Adams appear in his own writings, many years later.

Anyway. Today was an otherwise undistinguished day, except that I began presenting the basics of group theory in my abstract algebra class. That was the first bit of abstract algebra I ever learned, and it's still dear to my heart. I'm going to try interweaving two or three topics in an unorthodox fashion, mainly aiming at showing my students what groups are good for, in addition to the rather arid abstractions that need to be dealt with early.

Ah, well. I'm a bit tired, and my hayfever is flaring up again. This is shaping up to be a bad year in that respect, I'm afraid. On the plus side, my weight continues its slow decline. At this rate, I'll be down where I should be in about... five years time. Patience, patience...

AUGGHH!

There are only four programs on network TV that I currently watch. (Wonderfalls was a fifth, but that bird has flown.) Is it really too much to ask that the local stations air them as scheduled?

I hate the St. Louis Blues, suddenly.

Fortunately, my sister Ellen lives two timezones down from me and regularly tapes all of her shows, Everwood and The Gilmore Girls among them. My viewing of the two will be delayed somewhat, but not as much it would have been.

Bugger.