On doing ordinary things
Maybe it’s because it met my need so perfectly at the moment, but I think this is one of the best articles Tim Challies has ever written.
He descended into Hell
Before I came to Grand Rapids, I have to admit I’d never given the Apostle’s Creed a second thought. Now I read it or hear it read every Lord’s Day. And of course, it’s got that ambiguous and oft-argued-about phrase: “He descended into Hell.” Aaron Armstrong introduces us to J I Packer’s explanation.
Online friends
I put my “Amen” to Anne’s thoughtful meditation on the positive value of online friendships.
The Joy of Quiet
How does the perennially cutting-edge designer Philippe Starck stay so consistently ahead of the curve? “I never read any magazines or watch TV,” he said, perhaps a little hyperbolically. “Nor do I go to cocktail parties, dinners or anything like that.” He lived outside conventional ideas, he implied, because “I live alone mostly, in the middle of nowhere.”
What’s wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology
I’m pretty excited about the expected Education Announcement from Apple later today, and especially hopeful that they will provide a tool for creating and distributing digital textbooks. I’ve looked into this again and again and unless you are a real geek, the tools are just not there. It’s so ripe for an “iPod moment.” However, I also agree with the late great Jobs that the problems with education are deeper than technology. When you read paras like this, you so much wish he was still alive to push his vision:
If we gave vouchers to parents for $4,400 a year, schools would be starting right and left. People would get out of college and say, “Let’s start a school.” You could have a track at Stanford within the MBA program on how to be the businessperson of a school. And that MBA would get together with somebody else, and they’d start schools. And you’d have these young, idealistic people starting schools, working for pennies.
They’d do it because they’d be able to set the curriculum. When you have kids you think, What exactly do I want them to learn? Most of the stuff they study in school is completely useless. But some incredibly valuable things you don’t learn until you’re older — yet you could learn them when you’re younger. And you start to think, What would I do if I set a curriculum for a school?