Well if you ask me...

Great Ideas – 1/9/2012

• ONE	‘Stove Man,’ a reality show for cooking fires – link

• iPad Arcade Cabinet ~ Chris Pirillo – link
• Freakonomics » A Solution to Car Accident Rubbernecking: Setting Screens – link
• ‪Dyslexie is a typeface for dyslectics.‬‏ – YouTube – link

• BillGuardâ„¢

  Free protection for your credit cards and debit cards – link

• Homepage

  I Had Cancer. – link

• Save Our Inboxes! Adopt the Email Charter! – link
• Bing New Airport Maps for Bing – Bing Maps Blog – Site Blogs – Bing Community – link
• Draw – Google Correlate – link
• A Call to Men – link
• Code Year – link

see more great ideas

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Interesting Sites – 1/8/2012

• A visualization of US debt (credit card bill) stacked in 100 dollar bills – link
• Infinite Mario – HTML5 – link
• U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time – link

• Learn to code

  Codecademy – link

• TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA NOSES – Page 1 of 15 – link
• Common Sense Jesus – link
• Surviving the World – Daily Lessons in Science, Literature, Love and Life . . . Updated Seven Days A Week – link
• S05E03: The Pulled Groin Extrapolation « The Big Blog Theory – link
• Resolution ‘12 – link
• Slavery Footprint – Results – link

see more interesting sites

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Everything I Need Is Right Here in Front of Me

*

The Muppets
*

No drums! No drums! Jack Black said no drums!

This movie was nothing but a good time. It had all the same goofiness and silly self-awareness of the muppets TV show. I can’t remember the last time I felt so good after a film.

*

Super 8
*

Oh, drugs are so bad!

Not a big fan of alien movies, but this was a blast. I’m a film lover myself and I would have been just about the same age as the main characters in the film, so it was a nostalgic ride.

*

Buck
*

Rather than helping people with horse problems, I’m helping horses with people problems.

A moving story about how one man turned his own personal tragedy into a passion to help people and horses. A must see documentary for anyone who loves animals or personal stories.

*

Monsters
*

You mean, like a doctor?

Much better than I expected. A story about human nature supported by the immanent threat of danger. Thoroughly enjoyable.

*

Life in a Day
*

What do you fear?

It simply felt right to watch something put together by people all over the world. Some of the scenery was fantastic, and it was a blast to connect with people at that level. Unfortunately, I didn’t like some of the realism – people on toilets, animals slaughtered, surgeries, etc.

*

The Recruit
*

Everything is a test!

I enjoyed watching this, but that’s the only positive thing I can say. Forgettable and predictable.

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Favorite Films Seen in 2011

As usual, some of them were not released in 2011. Unfortunately, I suspect I missed many of the best films of 2011 – even more than 2010 – so next year’s list will be whacked again. Links below are to my previous thoughts on the film (however brief they may have been).

My favorite 11 films of 2011 …

• Of Gods and Men (2010)
• The Tree of Life (2011)
• Flipped (2010)
• Source Code (2011)
• The Muppets (2011)
• Black Swan (2010)
• Winter’s Bone (2010)
• Hotel Rwanda (2004)
• The Stoning of Sonya M (2008)
• Inside Job (2010)
• Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

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Two Cents Each – 1/6/2012

Political Animal – The worst possible idea at the worst possible time

I could not agree more - balancing the budget right now is one of the worst ideas at precisely the wrong time.

Class Warfare My Ass || kuro5hin.org

Excellent post! Who is waging the war, really?

Maybe stick to novels, dear. – Jeffrey Zeldman Presents The Daily Report

I couldn’t agree more – about the books and the website.

Alex Jones is not our ally and not our friend « theConverted

"Jones is, to put it bluntly, a paranoid conspiracy theorist whose grasp on reality surely needs to be questioned."Exactly!

Wall Street and Silicon Valley « The Baseline Scenario

An excellent rebuttal to the claim that "without Wall Street we would not have had Silicon Valley."

Occupy Wall Street: The Most Important Thing in the World Now | The Nation

The most important thing in the world now. Agreed.

Dear GoDaddy, it’s not just SOPA, it’s you | Joris Van den Broeck

"It’s like that wrong girl you meet in the club, you know you shouldn’t go home with her but you still do if she tries hard enough."EXACTLY!!

The Bait and Switch of Contemporary Christianity | Richard Beck | God’s Politics Blog | Sojourners: Celebrating 40 Years of Faith in Action for Social Justice

Wow, what a great way to describe what has been going on. Many people, it seems to me, use faith as an excuse.

IP Feudalism and the Shrinking of the Public Domain

"and it could be well into the 22nd century before we get Star Wars prequels worthy of the name."

Coding Horror: On Parenthood

"Your children, they ruin everything in the nicest way."Exactly!

Santorum wants to impose ‘Judeo-Christian Sharia’ – CNN.com

People don’t get it. A government built on religion – even the correct one – is a bad idea for so many reasons.
First, who decides which one?

America Beyond Capitalism: Is It Possible? | | AlterNet

Some might scream SOCIALISM! To which, I respond "So?"Socialism is not necessarily the same thing as big government.

more

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Lessons Learned – 2011 Edition

At this time last year, I wrote about four lessons I learned in 2010. This year I thought I’d look back at those lessons and consider what I might have learned in 2011.

2010

• Things Aren’t Always As They Seem
  No evidence in 2011 to overturn this theory.
• Life Is Hard
  No question about it!
• I Need to Play More Video Games
  I’ve played more this year, and it really helped. I enjoy it and I’ve actually learned quite a bit about gameplay mechanics.
• My Kids Are Growing Up
  Still the hardest thing for me to deal with. My daughter is a teenager now and my son seems to be doing just fine a hundred miles away from his parents.

 

2011

While I certainly learned some things last year, nothing stands out as much to me. What does stand out is a few lessons reinforced.

• There Is A God
  Those of you familiar with my thinking know that I’m not the kind of theist who believes because he wants to. I believe in God because I simply know he exists. I don’t have a philosophical problem accepting a world where God doesn’t exist, but I just don’t think that’s the case. I’ve never felt more strongly about it.
• There Is a Lot of Hate in the World
  The economic and political climate in the U.S. and the death of Osama bin Laden brought this to the front of my thinking. I love my country as much as anyone, but I don’t hate anyone – even if they disagree with me.
• The NBA Is a Waste of Time
  I know this is not a serious issue, but it was worth mentioning. I think Basketball is flawed game to begin with, but the NBA is the worst kind of basketball. Just to be clear, I am not just a jaded fan who is mad at the players. I actually sided with them during this last dispute.

 

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2011 Resolutions

UPDATE: Please find a list below this post of my updates every month.

Like most recent years, I read a lot about new years resolutions in the week before the new year. This year, a couple things caught my eye.

Jacq from fitarella.com shared her take on new years resolution which reminds me a lot of Matt Cutts 30 days project. Years ago I actually bought my first digital camera specifically for the purpose of doing a pic a day like Matt had done.

Anyway, I like the idea of replacing traditional resolutions with individual thirty day challenges.

I agree with Derek Sivers about keeping goals to yourself so I’m not going to share my goals with you right now. I will tell you two things …

One, I am drawing some inspiration from Matthew Might’s 12 resolutions for programmers.

Two, I am NOT switching from Vim to Emacs!

1. Jan - One Down, Eleven to Go – a morning routine
2. Feb - 12 in 12, February Update – my diet
3. Mar - A Kick Ass Philanthropist – backing KickStarter projects
4. Apr - The Wall of Shame – writing daily pages
5. May – Failure Friday – no goal set (kinda ruins the suspense, doesn’t it?)
6. June – We Don’t Need No Stinking Widows

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2011 – Exciting and Terrifying

I’d like to write more tomorrow about lessons from the old year and resolutions for the new, but 2011 brought much change worth reflection.

On the one hand, things seemed to have just happened in a whirlwind. On the other, it seems as though I have taken back a certain amount of control. With the exception of 1992-1994 and 2002, in no other year have I felt like I made as many key decisions for the benefit my family.

It was tough getting through 2011 without my parents. My birthday is on January 1st, so on the first day of 2011 I celebrated a birthday without my parents. I think I saw my mom on every one of the 43 previous birthdays. It didn’t matter that I didn’t see her as much as that I couldn’t. Through the rest of the year I was reminded of my parents’ many times. They would have been so proud of Billy and Becky’s growth and accomplishments this year.

The little things made it hard too. I would have very much enjoyed talking to my dad after the earthquake in August – especially a few days later when it was followed by a tropical storm. My mom would have loved seeing my Christmas trees. I’ve always wanted to have more than one in the house. Now I have the room, she would have loved it.

In January through March we were consumed with school issues. We had always expected Billy to apply for early decision at NYU. Since he changed his mind about that, we waited until March to know where he would attend (he ended up at NYU after all, of course). Becky was having a rough year dealing with a teacher that simply wasn’t prepared or fair.

In April the focus switched to my work. I’ve been self-employed since the mid nineties, but most of that time I also had a “real job” as a safety net. Over the last few years I’ve reinforced that net with a couple of long-term clients. Long story short – in April I made significant changes to my safety net. It was scary but it felt good to take control and eliminate the stress – well, to replace one kind of stress with another.

In June, I celebrated Father’s Day by driving two hours to the airport to pick up my German son, Flo. He wanted to spend his summer break with us, and we are glad he did. He spent six weeks with us and it was nice seeing him again.

The whirlwind I mentioned earlier started in August. Billy would turn 18 on the 27th and then we planned to take him to Manhattan on the 28th to start school. The weeks before that were filled with phone calls to NYU, phone calls and visits to the IRS, discussions with the bank, etc.

During one trip to the bank, we were sitting in our car and it started to rock back and forth. I thought one of my son’s friends had seen us and started rocking the car, but then I noticed all the other cars in the parking lot rocking and the look of confusion on faces in other cars. It seems silly now that we know how far we were from the epi, but I was really scared.

A few days later we had a visit from Irene. It was bad enough that we practiced our tornado drill, Billy’s move to NYU was postponed one day, a few nearby streets were flooded, and we spent Billy’s 18th birthday inside the house.

Then, of course, the new school year started. That’s always a lot of fun for me.

A month later, we were moving. A bigger home in a nicer area was available and it was very close to school. It certainly wasn’t a great time to move, but we did. By the time we settled in a bit, it was time to prepare for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And, of course, we were hosting the festivities for both at our place this year.

Meanwhile, we are adjusting to life without our oldest son around all the time.

So, it was quite a year.

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Remembering Steve Jobs

In memory of Steve Jobs I thought I’d post here some of my favorite finds from the days just after his death. I did not agree with everything Jobs did but he inspired me a great deal. I don’t have anything else to add to what has already been said but I wanted to have an archive of all of this stuff somewhere I could find it.

Favorite Articles

Steve Jobs: The Secular Prophet

The Power of Taking the Big Chance

The Man Who Inspired Jobs

Favorite Quotes

Apple has a page which displays tributes to Jobs which have been emailed from around the world. You can see it at www.apple.com/stevejobs/.Some of the best quotes I saw from tributes online are listed below

Favorite Pics

Some of my favorites from the pics posted in the days afters Jobs death.

Favorite Videos

… and a few videos. I’ve watched his Stanford speech many times over the last few years but it really gets to me every time.

Colbert’s tribute is very funny and yet still very moving.

The Colbert Report	Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Tribute to Steve Jobs
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

Stanford Commencement Speech

Steve Jobs prank calls Starbucks

Woz Remembers Steve

Here’s to the Crazy Ones

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10 Things I Love About Google+

10. Huddle {#10_huddle}

Huddle by Google+ allows me to group chat with my friends via texting. I’ve tried group texting before but it has always been a let down because of differences in phones, etc. Huddle fixes that – so far.

9. Nearby {#9_nearby}

If you enable location services and access Google+ via mobile, you will find a stream labeled Nearby. I love browsing through that and finding new friends right around the corner.

8. Sparks {#8_sparks}

I was disappointed to learn this didn’t search Google+ itself, but more about that in another post. I love having these saved searches ready to view and I love being able to share directly from Sparks.

7. Drag and Drop Sharing {#7_drag_and_drop_sharing}

I resisted using a mouse for years and still prefer the keyboard for a lot of things but dragging and dropping files is one thing I’ve really come to love. It just seems so intuitive to me. Love that I can drag something into Google+ and share it.

6. Unlimited Photos on Picasa {#6_unlimited_photos_on_picasa}

I actually just learned about this today. Thanks to Chris Brogan for pointing that out. I pay for a Pro Flickr account and never used Picasa a whole lot because of the limit. Well, that’s gonna change.

5. Integration with Google {#5_integration_with_google}

Speaking of Picasa … I love how Google+ is integrated into most (all?) of Google’s products and services. I’ve used Gmail since 2004, pay for extra storage, and use the Docs, calendars, and contacts. I even switched to using the web UI a while back.

4. Hangouts {#4_hangouts}

Group video chatting and YouTube integration is awesome. This has potential for collaboration on creative project, business meetings, and just plan “hanging out.” Awesome!

3. Re-Sharing {#3_re_sharing}

I like being able to share content I discover with my friends easily. I am still sorting out all the etiquette, privacy, and noise issues, but I love this feature.

2. Circles {#2_circles}

I’ve read a lot about how these are no better than lists on Facebook and Twitter. I disagree! Using circles allows me to share selectively, read selectively, share by email with people not on Google+, and even set up private circles for sending content to Evernote or whatever. I’m not a big fan of using a circle to pretend to be friends with someone, but if that’s your game you can do that too.

1. No Farmville! {#1_no_farmville}

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10 Things I Hate About Google+

I love Google+ but there are a few things I am not enjoying. The order of this list may not accurately reflect my hatred or annoyance level. I know some of these things will change so I’ve factored that into the order.

10. Not Enough Friends Using It {#10_not_enough_friends_using_it}

Yes, I can share via email but I can’t wait until more of my friends and family use it. Or can I?

9. No Vanity URL {#9_no_vanity_url}

Why can’t I have http://plus.google.com/bsoist instead of http://plus.google.com/105464499358582882628? I can use http://plus.google.com/me but that only works for me.

8. Too Much Talk About Google+ {#8_too_much_talk_about_google}

I like talking about Google+ but I’d like to talk more about other things too – like baseball, economics, and politics. More of my “real life” friends on board will help.

7. Makes Chrome Unresponsive {#7_makes_chrome_unresponsive}

Probably just a Chrome thing (which is ironic, isn’t it?) but annoying anyway. I am planning to try other browsers today.

6. No Nested Circles {#6_no_nested_circles}

I want to put circles inside of circles. I know I will regret doing it but that’s not the point. Let me try.

5. Reading Circles is Limited {#5_reading_circles_is_limited}

Nested circles might solve this but I would prefer the ability to read my stream minus one or two circles. I was shocked to learn they didn’t work that way. I assumed those little circles next to the names of the circles were radio buttons.

4. No Search? {#4_no_search}

I know I can search Google+ posts using Google but why it is not built right into the UI is perplexing. I guess I can think of a reason or two they would purposely leave it out but they can’t go on like this. Isn’t search what people do?

3. Mobile Limitations {#3_mobile_limitations}

I still can’t re-share or +1 a comment on mobile. Why?

2. the @#%$&! Scrolling! {#2_the_scrolling}

I desperately need Google to add some kind of aggregation of content or a pause button for live updating. I constantly have it scroll on me while trying to read or comment. It is a @#%$&! pain.

1. Too Many Animated GIFs {#1_too_many_animated_gifs}

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Harry Potter

In 1999, at age 32, I decided to read the first Harry Potter book (reviewed in 2009 after our last Potter marathon). I was mesmerized. It had been some time since a book transported me to another place the way this one did. I couldn’t wait to read the others and when the films arrived, I was thrilled.

As a family we watched the first seven films in the series before we went to the theater to see the last. In the four days before the movie release we saw the first six, and we saw number seven right before we went to the theater for number eight.

Here are my thoughts on each one.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

I’m a what?

I’m a little biased on this one. When this movie first hit the theaters I remember asking a friend if he was going to see it. His response – “A movie about a school for witches and wizards? Um, yes!” I was excited too but a little worried. I know how great books are sometimes ruined in the movies. This one was different. While the first part of the story is “fast forwarded” a bit, I found myself very surprised how faithful the film was to the book.

I was also surprised to hear Hermione’s name pronounced. It was the firs time I’d heard it. I had no idea how to pronounce it when I read the book, but nothing I came up with was even close.

Still my favorite of the series to watch – but that’s my nostalgia kicking in.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Never try to save my life again.

In my opinion, this is one of the weaker films but we do meet a couple of fantastic characters and learn details of the Potter universe that are very important to the final conclusion of the story.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Yeah… him I’ve heard of.

I always thought this was the best of the films but never quite enjoyed it as much as the first. I’ve watched it in marathon context like this twice now and I realize that there are parts that confuse me a little bit. I do like how Harry, Ron, and Hermione have begun to grow up in this one.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I don’t want eternal glory, I just wanna be…

I can barely sit through this one. The tournament is a silly idea and Ron is a whiny during much of the film. The only redeeming quality is that we really meet Voldermort in this one.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I must not tell lies.

I know stories need conflict but this one has too much of the kind of frustrating conflict I hate. The kind of conflict you see a lot in sit-coms – you know, where someone is misunderstood and all that needs to happen is for everyone to see the truth, and it seems so obvious to us how to solve it, but we are not there. Ugh! I hate that.

I did really like the way Dolores Umbridge was portrayed and I very much enjoyed Harry putting her in her place.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

But, I am the chosen one.

Two things are clear in this film. First, Harry and his buddies are in real danger. Second, our heros are starting to deal with puppy love and all of the fun that comes along. The film opens with Harry flirting with a very cute girl and I found myself sorry for him that he never gets to see her again.

I enjoyed this one a whole lot, probably because it features Snape so prominently (Alan Rickman’s brilliant performance of Snape still makes me laugh out loud when I watch the films), but I find myself wondering how much good this installment did for the overall story.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

No one else is going to die. Not for me.

I purposely avoided seeing this until the last film was released because I didn’t really want to watch what both my kids told me was “half a movie.” I saw the last two films on the same day, July 15 (which, btw, is my wedding anniversary) with only about 30 minutes between them. I thought it wasn’t bad as a story all by itself – and this series needed a film where the bad guy seems to have won in the end.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

It seems despite your exhaustive defensive strategies, you still have a bit of a security problem, Headmaster.

A spectacular conclusion to a wonderful film series. This one started with a very short recap of the film before it but it was still too much. I hated it. Either the two films can stand on their own, or they can’t. I was also not a big fan of the ending. I can see where it provided information we wanted to know about the fate of Hogwarts, but I didn’t like it.

It also leaves the door too wide open for a sequel, if you ask me. That would be a bad idea!

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Christianity and Liberalism

Last week I finished Christianity and Liberalism for a Reading Classics Together series. This was my second reading of the book and what fascinated me was how apropos the book is almost 90 years after it was written. Truly there is nothing new under the sun. The struggle for truth is still the same as it always has been.

In chapter one, Introduction and Doctrine, Machen proposes that Liberalism is not simply a “flavor” of Christianity but a different faith. He reminds us that Christianity is based on history and fact. It is more than the realm of ideas and philosophy. Historical truth matters.

In the remaining chapters, God and Man, The Bible, Christ, Salvation, and The Church, Machen defends his assertion by reviewing how Liberalism presents each topic differently than historical Christianity and how the difference is substantial enough that Liberalism should be regarded as a different religion/faith/ideology altogether.

Though the book was more then 60 years old the first time I read it, its longevity did not grab me in the same way. I saw the similarities but I guess my idealism had me convinced that “we” could do something about it. Reading this book again more than twenty years later was enlightening. It is as if nothing has changed.

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Great Ideas – 7/18/2011

• DonorsChoose.org: An online charity connecting you to classrooms in need – link

• Experience Corps

  Home – link

• National Lab Network – link
• Citizen Schools – Expanding the Learning Day – link

• ONE	‘Stove Man,’ a reality show for cooking fires – link

• iPad Arcade Cabinet ~ Chris Pirillo – link
• Freakonomics » A Solution to Car Accident Rubbernecking: Setting Screens – link
• ‪Dyslexie is a typeface for dyslectics.‬‏ – YouTube – link

see more great ideas

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Interesting Sites – 7/17/2011

• Digital Resistance to Political and Cultural Manipulation and Indoctrination – link
• Create floor plans, house plans and home plans online with Floorplanner.com – link
• I Can’t Find My Phone – link
• Everything is a Remix – link
• Kickstarter – link

• Google Plus Search, Google Plus Directory

  Find People on Plus – link

see more interesting sites

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Two Cents Each – 7/15/2011

Do Christians, Muslims and Jews worship the same god? – Quora

| American McCarver. Your Sports Blog.

It is the perfect holiday, isn’t it? I never thought of it like this.

Texting in a darkened theater – chicagotribune.com

I sometimes wonder about this myself. Some life experiences are so cool that you feel like you must share them but doing so sometimes requires turning your attention away from the real life experience.

I’m less concerned with whether it is rude. I try to use my phone rarely in the presence of others because I don’t want to be rude but I don’t care that much about offending performers on stage. 

more

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Leftover Movie Reviews

I’ve seen a few movies lately that I may not have time to review but I wanted to share a few thoughts anyway.

The first two probably deserve a full review, perhaps if I have time someday.

Tree of Life

Tell us a story from before we can remember.

This is a brilliant film that tells the story of life from the beginning of time until the very end while exploring the very essence of human existence. The characters take a back seat to the imagery in the film, but the acting is all very solid. Pitt and Penn are both fantastic! Of course, right?

The Company Men

My life ended and nobody noticed.

The film is almost depressingly realistic and timely. If the economy has hit you hard and you need a film to escape from that, be careful choosing this film. The film features three men who at different ages and positions in life must deal with a dose of reality. Affleck, Cooper, and Jones portray these men expertly and the different reactions of the men raises interesting questions about the nature of ambition, self-worth, and passion.

Kung Fu Panda 2

But how can kung fu defeat something that destroys kung fu?

I enjoyed the first one and could make the argument that this one was even better – until the last scene. I don’t want to spoil it but something is added just at the end which appears to be material on which to base a sequel. It may be very popular with mainstream audiences (probably a good movie for an animated film), but I wish they would not have done it.

I Am Number Four

I hope you can throw with your left arm.

The trailer made me want to see it (mysterious women showing up to raise hell, etc.) but I didn’t expect an excellent movie. The real thing turned out to be better than I expected, but not a great film.

The A-Team

I love it when a plan comes together.

Make no mistake. This is a bad movie – just not as bad as I expected.

The Tourist

You’re ravenous.

The plot is ridiculous but the stars look great and the scenery is fantastic.

The film reminded me of the films of the 50s and 60s and I enjoyed that very much. It is not your typical modern thriller with non-stop action but the mystery, romance, and silliness of it all was a lot of fun. It would have been a fabulous movie but for one major flaw – Johnny Depp.

Hereafter

maybe it’s better to hold stuff back

This film absolutely surprised me. I expected nothing but disappointment.

The film deals intelligently with the subject of life after death but it does so while leaving many questions unanswered. Instead of tackling the issues head on or in a way that sensationalizes, Eastwood focuses on how traumatic events affect real people. In my opinion, he does a masterful job.

I was pleasantly surprised at the ending too. Though any serious film buff will see the multiple stories being woven together to reach some serendipitous conclusion, that conclusion didn’t turn out to be exactly what I was expecting – but it was close.

X-Men: First Class

Don’t touch my hair!

I was looking forward to this one since I like creation stories and prequels most of the time, but this one was disappointing overall. The only redeeming feature is the over-the-top, James Bond type villain played by the always excellent Kevin Bacon. If you like a good villain, this film is worth watching.

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Great Ideas – 6/27/2011

• Selling Wants to buy Haves – link
• The Paint-Less Coca-Cola Would Save Earth One Can at a Time – Naked Coca-Cola Can – Gizmodo – link
• YouTube – Derren Brown – Miracles for Sale – link

• Why Atheists forsake not the gathering together (LifePoints)

  al.com – link

• Readme Driven Development – link
• Man Vs. Debt — Sell your crap. Pay off your debt. Do what you love. – link
• http://www.ncccusa.org/pdfs/neighbors3.pdf – link

• WELCOME

  National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East – link

• Interfaith Relations — Mission and Ministry — GAMC – link

• Welcome to Change the Story

  Change the Story – link

see more great ideas

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Interesting Sites – 6/26/2011

• Digital Resistance to Political and Cultural Manipulation and Indoctrination – link
• Create floor plans, house plans and home plans online with Floorplanner.com – link
• I Can’t Find My Phone – link
• Hacker Typer – link
• Man Vs. Debt — Sell your crap. Pay off your debt. Do what you love. – link

see more interesting sites

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Movie Review: Waiting for “Superman”

Waiting for “Superman” is very well done documentary film about a very complex problem which faces our nation and threatens to affect all of us – even those who do not send their own children to public school. There most certainly is something wrong with our system. This film does an excellent job pointing that out but unfortunately it does not present a real solution.

Either the kids are getting stupider every year, or something is wrong in the education system.

The Good

Davis Guggenheim and Participant Media teamed up once again to produce another documentary that, like An Inconvenient Truth before it, told two different stories. I wrote about this on Thursday but the filmmakers did an excellent job of telling both stories in such a way that the viewer is left emotionally connected to a problem that is sometimes ignored because it seems unsolvable.

The film also does an excellent job of defining the problem. The film makes several points, and I agree with all of them.

• Bad teachers exist.

  • Teachers’ unions are part of the problem.

    • The single most important factor in improving student achievement is great teaching.

      The Bad

      Unfortunately, the film left me with impressions (which may have been unintentional) that teachers’ unions are the problem and that the only thing necessary to solve this problem is better teaching. In my opinion, that simplifies the problem too much. It’s also too easy. Guggenheim writes in the book that it was not an easy decision to challenge teachers and unions the way he did but I don’t really buy it. Are there bad teachers? Of course. Do the policies of teachers’ unions hurt students? I think so. That, I think, is what makes this “too easy” – we’ve found someone to blame for the problem.

      The film also doesn’t really present a solution. The implication is that some schools have figured out the solution and all we need to do is copy that. Unfortunately, it is not that simple. I plan to write more about this in the coming weeks.

      I understand the issue is very complex and I understand that a documentary must distill these issues and present us with a story. Waiting for “Superman” does that. I just wish it could have done more, but I think that is too much to ask.

      If you care about education, you should see the film AND read the book.

       

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