from Arts & Letters Daily:
Every child in every society creates song and dance: it’s a fundamental activity of Homo sapiens. Why and when did music evolve?... more»
Monday, October 17, 2005
Sunday, October 16, 2005
talented youth
Our son has done really well on the standardized tests that the kids take each spring. So this year he has been invited to do some more testing, to further "categorize" him (so he can "be all that he can be").
During the information night at the school, the teacher was really discouraging the parents from accelerating their studies in a particular area (like math), because they would eventually "run out of" topics that could be tought at the school. I didn't like that answer, because if the kid is so excited by the topic that he/she needs to study more and more, he/she should not be discouraged from doing it. Especially in the area of math, where topics of study in college and grad school are not even fathomable in grade school.
So, I've bought a book (suprise!). One of the first things it says, in the section meant to "dispell myths", is that one of the myths is that the child will "run out of curriculum" before they graduate high school. This hits the nail right on the head, and really makes me hesitant to trust the opinions of this teacher whom my son is likely to have in a couple of years. Man . . .
I guess one of the big points of this learning exercise I've been going through is that any child who is not of the mainstream learning capability needs extra attention from his/her parents in order to be nurtured properly. But, I wonder, does any child really fit "the mainstream"?
During the information night at the school, the teacher was really discouraging the parents from accelerating their studies in a particular area (like math), because they would eventually "run out of" topics that could be tought at the school. I didn't like that answer, because if the kid is so excited by the topic that he/she needs to study more and more, he/she should not be discouraged from doing it. Especially in the area of math, where topics of study in college and grad school are not even fathomable in grade school.
So, I've bought a book (suprise!). One of the first things it says, in the section meant to "dispell myths", is that one of the myths is that the child will "run out of curriculum" before they graduate high school. This hits the nail right on the head, and really makes me hesitant to trust the opinions of this teacher whom my son is likely to have in a couple of years. Man . . .
I guess one of the big points of this learning exercise I've been going through is that any child who is not of the mainstream learning capability needs extra attention from his/her parents in order to be nurtured properly. But, I wonder, does any child really fit "the mainstream"?
Saturday, October 15, 2005
more war thoughts
war on terror - goal: eradicate terror so that the world may live in peace and not fear
Does anyone really believe that the US war against Iraq can ultimately end in there being no more terrorism in the world?
Does anyone really believe that the US war against Iraq can ultimately end in there being no more terrorism in the world?
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Houses that Swim
from Utne Web Watch:
Dutch Answer to Flooding: Build Houses that Swim
Translated from the German by Gareth Davies, Spiegel Online
The Netherlands' first amphibious houses sit floating and bobbing on the Maas dyke. Moored by steel posts driven into solid ground, 37 new homes with watertight cellars can move up and down as water levels fluctuate. The company that built these ship-shape domiciles touts them as a housing solution for delta regions prone to flooding. -- Archie Ingersoll
http://tinyurl.com/arrzs
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Narnia, Etc.
from ChristianityToday's Books & Culture:
Narnia Etc.
A chronicle of reading.
I've lost track of how many Narnia-related books have arrived in the office in recent weeks. (I stopped counting at a dozen.) Easily the standout so far is The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis (HarperSanFrancisco), by Wheaton College's Alan Jacobs. You may have seen some of Jacobs' essays and reviews in B&C, First Things, The Weekly Standard, and elsewhere (last week he had a superb piece on James Agee in the Ideas section of the Boston Globe) or heard him on the Mars Hill audio series. If so, you won't have to be persuaded to check out his new book, his finest to date, which takes the Narnia series as a point of departure for a penetrating study of Lewis' imagination.
| more |
Narnia Etc.
A chronicle of reading.
I've lost track of how many Narnia-related books have arrived in the office in recent weeks. (I stopped counting at a dozen.) Easily the standout so far is The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis (HarperSanFrancisco), by Wheaton College's Alan Jacobs. You may have seen some of Jacobs' essays and reviews in B&C, First Things, The Weekly Standard, and elsewhere (last week he had a superb piece on James Agee in the Ideas section of the Boston Globe) or heard him on the Mars Hill audio series. If so, you won't have to be persuaded to check out his new book, his finest to date, which takes the Narnia series as a point of departure for a penetrating study of Lewis' imagination.
| more |
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Old Fort Niagara
http://www.oldfortniagara.org/
This is where we went this weekend. It's 7pm the next day and I still feel hungover (we got there at 1pm yesterday and left at 11am this morning). We slept on the wooden bunks that the solders from the late 18th century slept on, minus the "tick sacks" (mattresses that happen to have loads of ticks in them - they're the original bed bugs).
This is where we went this weekend. It's 7pm the next day and I still feel hungover (we got there at 1pm yesterday and left at 11am this morning). We slept on the wooden bunks that the solders from the late 18th century slept on, minus the "tick sacks" (mattresses that happen to have loads of ticks in them - they're the original bed bugs).
Friday, October 07, 2005
Elevator to Space
from Utne:
Have you ever dreamed of riding an elevator into space? Well, now you are just that much closer, as recent tests of a new technology enabled a climbing robot to scale a ribbon 1000 feet into the air. The LiftPort Group that executed the test hopes to build a working space elevator by the year 2018. -- Rose Miller [the story]
Have you ever dreamed of riding an elevator into space? Well, now you are just that much closer, as recent tests of a new technology enabled a climbing robot to scale a ribbon 1000 feet into the air. The LiftPort Group that executed the test hopes to build a working space elevator by the year 2018. -- Rose Miller [the story]
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Gospel of Buddha
as seen in the mystic bourgeoisie blog:
The Gospel of Buddha -- "Compiled from ancient records by Paul Carus, 1894" says the full-text online version -- has sold over three million copies in its long life. And who knows how many times it's been downloaded. [the rest of this entry]
The Gospel of Buddha -- "Compiled from ancient records by Paul Carus, 1894" says the full-text online version -- has sold over three million copies in its long life. And who knows how many times it's been downloaded. [the rest of this entry]
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)