For those who haven’t heard, Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis will be debating Bill Nye the Science Guy tonight. You can read more here. Note: When I give a name and colon afterwards, I’m loosely quoting the general statements of the presenters. If it is an exact quote, I’ll put it in quotation marks. My own side comments are either addressed to a specific presenter or put in parenthesis. [liveblog] If all goes according to plan, I will attempt live-blogging the debate, so check this post tonight for updates. I am bit disappointed the whole event will last only 2.5…
This song has been on my mind lately. It is one of my all-time favorite songs and I’m perpetually amazed by the abundance of references to ancient Greek literature and philosophy. “The Cave” It’s empty in the valley of your heart The sun, it rises slowly as you walk Away from all the fears And all the faults you’ve left behind The harvest left no food for you to eat You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see But I have seen the same I know the shame in your defeat But I will hold on hope And I won’t…
I don’t belong in this place… where umbrellas and raincoats shelter us from the cold, stinging wetness of life. Where we protect ourselves from the bombardments of rain— tiny, brutal reminders that we exist. Where we wear gloves to avoid touching the rawness of the world. Where we scurry through life in our cocoon of comfort— not thinking perhaps coccoons are really coffins and comfort means we aren’t actually here. That which hurts is alive. – 12/15/12
You are enough. Today is enough. Stop demanding perfection. Sometimes you’ll be happy with your success. But more often you’ll confront your failures. Then what? Will you condemn yourself? Will you bury yourself in accusations? Or will you take a deep breath and try again? You can’t help but make mistakes. You cannot ask perfection of a fallen human. So let go of your judgement and criticism. Take life one day at a time. Do your best at this moment and find satisfaction in that. This world is not the end for we journey towards eternity and freedom from our…
This morning I braved the snowy roads (the city apparently decided to not bother plowing even the major roads) to hear Matt Bianco, the national director of education for Classical Conversations speak on what classical education means. It was very informative, as well as entertaining, and I wanted to share what I learned… To make decisions about education, we have to know what our goal is. This really goes for anything in life. And as an aside, this fits perfectly with the human action axiom. We act to achieve ends, and it makes sense that we ought to consider what…
This is an interesting article arguing that it isn’t necessary to formally teach math. Who invented writing? This charming video from TED Ed describes the development of writing. This looks like a neat writing curriculum, Brave writing. What does it mean to remember? I haven’t watched this TED video yet, but it looks really fascinating. I enjoyed reading about a Day in the Life of a Waldorf Kindergarten. Some thought-provoking ideas about reading from Albert Mohler. I haven’t completely watched this video either (for some reason I have a really hard time watching videos) , but the subject, why MOOCs still matter,…
There’s so much that could be said about Sherlock, I keep thinking, “where do I even start?” But before I even attempt to start, let me fill you in on the background. Sherlock is the current BBC adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle. These stories have been adapted to film many times, both in the UK and in the US. This BBC series is written and produced by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. Moffat is currently producing Doctor Who as well, and Gatiss has been involved with some Doctor Who episodes as well. In fact, it was during…
Believe it or not, I had not actually the Narnia movies until this Christmas. While they are nothing like the books, the adaptations were decently done, at least in my opinion. One of my favorite aspects of the movies is actually the soundtrack. And this song is one of my favorites from the soundtrack! It definitely has an epic and grand feeling and fits in perfectly with my playlist of Doctor Who and Lord of the Rings soundtrack music : )
This is an essay I wrote last semester for my Ideas of the 20th Century course. The assignment was to explore two modern artists who had contrasting views about progress and modernity. Robert Frost, a 20th century American poet, opposed the disintegration of tradition. He called for a return to convention both in the content and structure of his poetry. Some poems directly confront the erosion of civilization; others indirectly support his conservative tendencies in the overall structure. Mending Walls is an early poem by Frost, published in 1914. The poem tells of two rural New England neighbors who meet…
