The Last Living Eyewitness of the Lincoln Assassination

It’s a rather corny/gamey/commercial format, but it’s still awfully interesting.

Good Work Well Done

“The Church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables…Let the Church remember this: that every maker and worker is called to serve God in his profession or trade–not outside of it… The only Christian work is good work well done.”

Dorothy Sayers

Got Windex?

From the “seemed like a fun idea at the time–and still does” department:

Sometimes We Can’t See Past Lunch

It’s 6:15a. I’m in my office and my tongue is ready; I’m already thinking about my lunch today at Swanky’s Taco Shop, where I’ll meet up with a friend. I’m pretty excited, because I’ve tasted it before, and the flavor can enchant my senses a month later…as can other foods.

At home, I think Christie and I do a good job of remembering that our children are not ours. They are God’s. We have them for a very limited time and that these 18 years with each of them are fleeing. It really hits home when we will take down the crib today or tomorrow. My Dad made it; we love it. After 5 kids, it’s in beautiful condition, and and we’re not expecting  to see it again until we set it up for our first grandson in 15-20 years [Karsten would be breaking a 7 generation (at least) streak if he has a girl first].

When I’m in school vision mode, I usually have enough gumption to mention how we are building this school not just for our kids but for our kid’s kids. People like the idea usually, but don’t know what I mean. I need to do a better job teaching them.

I love the story of New College Oxford’s oaken beams. The founders had a long-term (500 year plan) that I hope was on purpose. The stories are sketchy and inconsistent though.

Now Jeff Bezos (founder and CEO of Amazon.com) is part of a big project…a really big project. It’s a 10,000 year clock. Here’s a one-page website that shows the work being done: 10,000 Year Clock.

The clock should make us remember to stop wasting our life today dabbling in fleeting joys and inanity. Invest in eternal things: like schools, like kids, like missionaries, like big ideas. Yes, by all means play your video games, watch your baseball and hone your corn hole skills, as part of living today. But God and people live forever. Invest in them.

Apologia – At the same time, let’s be clear: you are not wasting your life if you don’t have a 500 year plan or aren’t involved in a 10,000 year project. But you must be remembering what things really last. Ecclesiastes gives us very simple instructions (set in a bigger context) for enjoying life: “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.”  Solomon says that these simple things are God’s gift to us. That which your hand is doing is what is best for today. Do it heartily as unto the Lord.

Here Are A Couple Friends and I Playing in a Tournament Recently

Why Google Can’t Compete With a Classical Education

To rear our kids to be learners and thinkers requires skills well-beyond information retrieval. We as moderns with our high-powered phones often feel well-educated because the facts we need are so close by; mere seconds of typing and waiting separate us from knowing all sorts of truths. I have more than once replied to an innocent fact-wondering family member or friend who asked a simple question, with a flick of my phone-filled wrist and a caustic,  ”Is my Google better than yours?” From the Chronicle of Higher Ed yesterday,

When it comes to the materials of learning, we should impress upon students the importance of carrying these materials around in their own heads.  Facts about the Civil War, scientific laws, poems by Emily Dickinson . . . these are not just items to retrieve when a situation calls for them.  They are rightly part of a youth’s character and sensibility.  The Gettysburg Address isn’t just a text on the syllabus to be invoked at test time.  The cadences and assertions should be internalized forever.

The danger of Google is that it’s so convenient that it turns the materials of history, science, literature, art, and politics into information, not learning.  In a Google-ized classroom, we lose the practice of education-as-formation.  And the more we let search engines function in student work, the less we can expect that students will remember our instruction once the semester ends. — Google Memory 

We have already left the abacus, the cubit, the slide rule and the butter churn behind. We have found efficiency in new things, and that’s ok. Today we have hard talk about what we must perhaps give up tomorrow (paper books, cursive, multiplication tables, spelling lists, fossil fuels!) and to educators, it hurts to say too much.

Technology is coming, and that’s ok.  But tech is replacing our knowledge-level, utilitarian hardware. It cannot replace our logic or rhetoric skills that make us more fully human, or at least give us the opportunity to do so. Technology is primarily efficient, not beautiful (though it be shiny).  Technology cannot instill virtuous childhood. A search engine cannot cultivate a child’s mind; it can only deliver the seeds.

A water wheel cannot grow crops, make bread or even grind wheat. It’s sole job was to receive product and deposit product. In so doing, it moved other parts. The water wheel did a great job doing what it was supposed to do. It was a great technological feat that saved lots of labor (though there were probably purists who continued to sell hand-threshed or oxen-ground wheat in the specialty stores). It came and went.

Our knowledge retrieval systems will come and go. 150 lb. encyclopedia sets came and now they are long gone. Google is here and will be replaced tomorrow with something better.

But let us not confuse these methods of retrieval with what they are not. They are not education, and an education that concerns itself primarily with facts and fact objectives and pounds towards its testing deadlines is missing the great bulk of what education truly is.

When History Finds You…All Rewritten On Its Own

I was looking on Google Maps Street View to find the hotel we stayed at in London in 2004 [I wasn't bored, I had a reason]. I don’t remember the name of it exactly, but could find it in a second on a map. So I was using Street View and Street View has taught me that the hotel was probably bought and remodeled and is no longer a hotel. But as long as I was there, I took a gander around and re-found this ancient plaque that was on the opposite side of the street and a few doors down from the hotel. It made Christie and me guffaw out loud when we saw it.

You can view the plaque here in this link.

And now follow this link to see a close-up picture I took in 2004, to show you what the plaque said. It’s just one word that makes the whole thing worthwhile.

Too Many Books? Could It Be?

No, TBAP isn’t dead. Just sleeping while it’s master toils and spins, toils and spins, toils and spins. The end of the madness is coming. Routine is coming. Rest is not coming, just routine. And routine allows for some productivity…and occasional opportunities to post. Please wait.

But I did want to post this in preview of upcoming regular postings again.

It’s a great story, a great problem, and I am almost tempted to offer the solution to her. Here’s a wonderful story…

A Canadian woman’s house is collapsing under the weight of the 350,000 books.

 

Work Hard!

The harder you work, the better your neighbors can eat!

The Art of Letterpress

Old ways were good, too.

HT: 22 Words 

Magnificently Awful

You have probably never experienced a worse church website that someone was so wholly dedicated to build. It starts off creepy and as you proceed it waxes worse and worse to the point where you hope that May 21st really is the end of it all.

Take a big breath…now enter:

Evangel Cathedral

“Watching” History Unfold

A fun story from the Smithsonian about the public disassembly of Lincoln’s watch.

A hush fell over the room as the watchmaker halted his work. A partially-dismantled pocket watch that once belonged to President Abraham Lincoln gleamed in his hands. He looked up from his task and pushed a visor, fitted with magnifying glasses for detailed work, up onto the top of his head. “The moment of truth has come!” he boomed. I waited, perched on the edge of my seat, for a verdict—was there really a secret message inscribed inside the watch? And if so, what did it say?

A Secret Message Inside Lincoln’s Watch

Hero of the Revolution

On this day in history…

[A] woman who distinguished herself in the Revolutionary War was 16-year-old Sybil Luddington. On the night of April 26, 1777, a messenger rode up to tell her father, a colonel of the local militia, that an attack was about to take place on Patriot munitions stored at Danbury, Connecticut. The messenger and his horse were too exhausted to carry the alarm further, so Sybil volunteered. She rode 40 miles that night, spreading the alarm to the surrounding militia.

– A History of US, Book 3, Teacher Guide, p. 49

Don’t Waste Your Life Sentence

Incoming Bookumentary

My favorite book is getting a documentary, and I am excited. Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl is loved and hated and incredibly difficult to explain and understand.

Click here to give the book a $10 chance. It has interesting reviews on Amazon. Feel free to start with the 1 star ones.

Life Saver

Christie’s second-cousin is a retired physician. He is Dr. Larry Miller of San Antonio, TX. He is a gracious and kind man who has lived a full and adventurous life.

One of his many contributions to the world is his invention of a sort of medical drill for inserting an IV. It’s called the EZ-IO. Wikipedia says about the EZ-IO that, “It is used by 90 percent of US advanced life support ambulances and over half of US Emergency Departments , as well as the US Military, and is available in over 50 countries worldwide.” I think it’s available in space, too.

A few months ago, Larry and his company donated drills and needles and hands-on training and took his invention to Haiti for the first time. Here’s what it looked like.

Until I can figure out why my links aren’t posting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB6l8CCpn8w

 

150 Years Ago Today

The Civil War began in earnest 150 years ago today at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor (SC). (Click pic for more info).

The conclusion of the war will be announced later (hopefully).

You’ve Not Heard it Like This

Plato’s Cave: An Adaptation in Clay

Hee-Haw Reruns

I watched Hee Haw (in syndication) some as a kid. It only slightly occurred to me why everyone was laughing. But now I live in Nashville.

Innovation + Desire

The Middle Tennessee Futbol Club (and most other Youth leagues in America are playing this morning) and already have pretty great fields, but this is a good story about those who wanted to play but couldn’t.

The Greatest Horse of All Time

The recent Disney release is spectacular…good for the whole family. Secretariat was more than just a good typist, he awed the world with his speed. Here is the actual last race being run…don’t watch if you don’t want to be spoiled by the ending.

In Today’s [And Yesterday's] News

Reagan called Qaddafi the “Mad Dog of the Middle East.” This clip is from the 1986 U.S. bombing of Libya.

Fashionable Headwear Among Rioting Youths

This is a shameless copy/paste job from a forwarded email. I have never done this kind of blog post to you, and I am a little miffed I’m willing to do it today. I just thought it was hilarious. The captions (not mine) add a lot to the already funny photos.

These are makeshift helmets made by the Egyptians while fighting in their current internal conflict. Gotta protect the old melon from rocks that your buddies are throwing at you.

Your classic 1979 Tribottle helmet  a must in any type of combat

A late 80s boxhat. The dude next to him doesn’t appear too sure of its effectiveness.

A Renaissance period piece of brickwear teamed with a black and cream scarf. Chic

I’m not sure that tuna sandwich he is about to lob is gonna cause too much destruction. Old school 60s broken bucket helmet. I love the fact he needs to lift it up to see does he spend the rest of the time walking into things?? Also – it appears all Egyptian men throw like girls.

Textbook saucepan with comfy chinstrap teamed with a protective life jacket/body armor combo. This guy hates pain!

I literally have no idea what this is. 

And the landslide winner by 100 miles. This clown is going to war with 2 hot dog buns strapped to his ears and a kaiser roll cellophane taped to his forehead. Natural born muslim suicide bomber material.

Rob Bell’s Heresy Is Getting Quite the Spotlight

…thankfully. And it’s not just the theologs doing it.

The Smooth Hacker

This plan has so many sinister applications. If someone less smooth/bold and more serious took hold of it…we might have less paid propaganda (commercials) and more free propaganda (“We are taking over the earth. You are now ours.”)

Happy Birthday, Dr. Silly

Dr. Suess, the Father of of Bloogs, Bims, Brown Barbaloots, Bellars, Billy Billings and the Blindfolded Bowman from Brigger-ba-Root, would be 107 today.

Dr. Suess is not remembered for truth, goodness and beauty. His works are not epic. They are not foundational inspirational texts, historical treatises, clear-thinking biographies or theologically astute tomes. His work will not stand on these merits. In fact, he used some of his children literature to convey political idea [the Butter Battle was about the arms race, for instance] and sometimes a strong liberal ideology.

Geisel (his real name was Theodore Suess Geisel) should be known though as epically brilliant as a poet and wordsmith. He was a creative giant who taught us that reading isn’t all Dick-and-Jane-dumb. Belly-laughing is allowed when holding a book of his creative tongue twisters and imaginative illustrations. His books teach us that words are important and very fun.

You may not know that the original pronunciation of Suess is not the pronunciation you know. He wrote these lines early-on to teach people the way it was pronounced:

You’re wrong as the deuce

And you shouldn’t rejoice

If you’re calling him Seuss.

He pronounces it Soice.

He did later change the pronunciation because it sounded more useful to children’s literature.

One of my favorite books of his is a compilation of his early writings–The Tough Coughs as He Plows the Dough. My other favorites are maybe Fox in Sox and Oh Say Can You Say?

Why Soccer Gets a Bad Rap

When Dad Walks In

My favorite book I’ve yet to understand (Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl) gets reviewed by the author’s dad.

Here’s what Doug Wilson (and his dad) had to say about Nate’s book. [Let me know if you have to be logged-in to read it. If you do, I will copy and paste it here.]

I’ve heard anecdotally that a professor at Southern Seminary said that the 19th century had Orthodoxy. The 20th century had Mere Christianity. The 21st century has Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl. I suppose we win then.

It’s only $6. Buy it…now.

The American Form of Educational Butchery

What’s going on in Detroit?

The state of Michigan approved a plan for Detroit to close about half of its public schools and increase the average size of high-school classrooms to 60 students over the next four years….

If the average class size is 60 (!), then this means that that there could be classes at times with what 80 or 90 kids?

“Anthony Adams, the chairman of the school board, didn’t respond Monday to a request for comment.”

Mr. Adams and Mr. Bobb obviously need a good dose of Whitney Houston in their lives.