Quality interweb mischief from Jared Bridges
It’s not often that a novel undergoes such scrutiny as has Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code. Debunking the wildly popular thriller has become a virtual industry unto itself, and not without warrant. Brown’s fictional account of a “search for truth” was designed to push the buttons and step on the toes of the faithful. Controversy … Read more
A couple of years ago, I noted a photo essay that explored the “ghost town” that is now Chernobyl, Ukraine. It is a haunting, disturbing essay, and should be revisited today, the 20th anniversary of the disaster. Even more disturbing, is this photo essay that chronicles victims of the accident. It is difficult to watch … Read more
Three years ago today, April 25, 2003, I began this blog. Judging by the proliferation of blogging since that time, I’d guess that blogs three years old or older occupy a small slice of the pie. Remember the old standard of dog years, where seven or so dog years equaled one “human” year? Well, here’s … Read more
Teachers & Teaching: Part II
On every university campus, there exist certain professors who, at the very mention of their names, cause students to cringe with fear. At the University of Tennessee, Dr. Von Trapp* was one of these professors. Students who had survived his Western Civilization class told tales about him to other students much like the ones Marines tell of Parris Island: “I’ve been through Von Trapp’s Western Civ. class. It doesn’t get much worse than that.”
Journalist–extraordinaire Mark Steyn tackles the $64,000 question on whether or not Iran would use a nuclear weapon in his must-read City Journal essay, “Facing Down Iran.” Steyn argue that the fact that we even have to ask the question tells us much: So the question is: Will they do it? And the minute you have … Read more
The “news” that Katie Couric will assume the mantle of Dan Rather as CBS’s chief newsreader is no more interesting than that age-old debate of whether or not a tree falling in the woods makes a sound. If no one is there, does anybody hear it? Considering the ads that run during the evening news, … Read more
To begin our perusal of teachers, teaching, and the learning process, it is necessary to first establish some terminology for discussion. After all, the idea of teaching means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Using the “Googlism” tool, we find that Google says: teaching is as much about passion as … Read more
The ESV Bible blog has posted an interesting history of the use of “red-letter” editions of the Bible, in which the “words of Christ” are printed in red text to be set apart from the rest of Scripture. I wrote here about red-letter Bibles a couple of years ago, aguing against the practice. While the … Read more
Setting aside for a moment the subject of the story, the mere wording of the headline of this article seems a bit ridiculous: “Clinton vows to block bill criminalizing illegal immigrants” Doesn’t the fact that we have to have a bill to criminalize illegal immigrants make our immigration situation seem all the more absurd? If … Read more
Contrary to what today’s front page might say, my project funds are doing just fine, thank you very much.