Dennis Goldwater

Has lectured to almost 15,000 people, in more than 180 cities, in 37 states of the U.S., and in 27 countries, on 5 continents, and in 5 languages. Has written, rewritten, edited, proofread, or translated in all some 17 million words. Has translated thousands upon thousands of pages of technical manuals, user guides, academic research papers, technical articles, patents, contracts, law, speeches, and business communication into English. Has interpreted from and into several languages in countries around the world, at international sporting events, trade shows, business meetings and negotiations, and other events. Worked in the VIP lounge and interpreted at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, and for the 6 months of preliminary events leading up to the games, was an authorized interpreter in Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish. Interpreted in several additional languages at the 1996 Paralympic Games. Holds a Master of Science degree, in software development. Taught public school bilingual Spanish 3rd grade in the U.S., taught Chinese in 2nd - 8th grade at the International School of Beijing, and taught computer programming in junior college and to adults. Has continually strived to discover ways to make learning simpler and more fun. Studied Chinese Medicine in China, and used acupuncture to treat several hundred people at 2 Chinese hospitals. Study of Chinese medicine is the most formal way to learn about the Dao, the Chinese model of nature that corresponds to Western science, in which I am very interested. Visited all 50 states of the U.S., multiple times, and more than 60 countries. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and to the top of Half Dome several times each. In Tibet, hiked for a week from a bus stop on the Nepal-Lhasa Highway to the Mount Everest North Face Base Camp. Volunteered for various organizations over the years, including 15 years with the Red Cross (First Aid/CPR instructor, Disaster Action Team Specialist, etc). Donated 50 pints of blood with the Red Cross. Has spent decades contemplating the evolution of our early ancestors to the awareness of various number systems and numerals. I believe that the structure of the human body, and particularly the hands, guided human mental evolution. Modern science, an Indo-European invention, recognizes a 4 dimensional world, with 4 states of matter and 4 forces. Finger signs help explain why all primary subdivisions of time and space, since before the time of the Indo-European ancestors of English, are subdivisions into 4, such as 4 directions in space, 4 tastes, 4 primary units of time, 4 seasons, etc. All corresponding subdivisions of time and space to the ancient ancestors of Chinese are subdivisions into 5. As a result of this interest in the structure of the human hands, I have discovered an incredibly simple, tremendously powerful, exciting way to do all the times tables up to 10 x 10 on the fingers. Young children can easily learn this technique, and discover amazing, fun relationships among the numbers at the same time. As well, I can count to more than 1,000 on my 10 fingers, without repeating hand positions. This is my favorite way of counting on my fingers, although I can demonstrate why the Chinese care about the number 60 and how they could count to 60 on the fingers, along with other counting systems. Chinese numerals, Roman numerals, and Arabic numerals appear to have evolved from finger signs. The above are some of the topics that I hope to write about on this website.