VALUING DIVERSITY OF IDEAS
Dump the stereotypes. Dave Barry and others ask if we really believe all red state residents are dumb, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, NASCAR-obsessed, gun-fondling, Bible-bullying, redneck, sweatshop tycoons who claim government doesn’t work, and then get elected and prove it; or that all blue-state residents are godless, unpatriotic, ear-pierced, Volvo-driving, latte-sucking, tofu-chomping, tax- crazed bleeding-hearts who presume people shouldn’t have to work and beg our enemies, “Please don’t hurt me.” Seek out people with different beliefs.Valuing Diversity of Ideas
THE DEMOCRATIC VIRTUES OF JOHN ROBERTS - ROSS DOUTHAT
I have all sorts of problems with the health care bill, and I found the constitutional case against the individual mandate relatively compelling. But the solution to faulty legislation is usually better legislation, and the Supreme Court isn’t the only branch of government that’s responsible for upholding the Constitution. The specifics of Roberts’ umpiring may have left something to be desired, but given the temptations associated with his office, there’s something to be said for the fact that he let the two sides keep on playing ball.Exactly so!
The Democratic Virtues of John Roberts - Ross Douthat
6 WAYS THE IPHONE CHANGED HIGHER ED | INSIDE HIGHER ED
The way to think about the iPhone in relation to higher ed is less as a single product but a new product category. This category, which includes Android/Google and maybe eventually the Windows 8 phones, equals smart phone plus an app ecosystem.6 Ways the iPhone Changed Higher Ed | Inside Higher Ed
JONATHAN HAIDT: HE KNOWS WHY WE FIGHT - WSJ.COM
Nobody who engages in political argument, and who isn’t a moron, hasn’t had to recognize the fact that decent, honest, intelligent people can come to opposite conclusions on public issues.Jonathan Haidt: He Knows Why We Fight - WSJ.com
CHECKING YOUR FACEBOOK PRIVACY (AGAIN) - PROFHACKER
Time to check the settings; one of those recurrent FB tasks that everyone should do on a regular schedule.
Checking Your Facebook Privacy (Again) - ProfHacker
MARC THIESSEN: OBAMA’S BETRAYAL OF PROGRESSIVE CATHOLICS CARRIES A PRICE
The fact is President Obama betrayed progressive Catholics who stuck their necks out for him.So very true, and the test of an honest progressive Catholic (e.g., Michael Sean Winters) vs. a partisan hack ( E. J. Dionne) is to recognize it.
Marc Thiessen: Obama’s betrayal of progressive Catholics carries a price
POLITICAL "SCIENCE" AND ITS FORECASTING FAILURES | RIGHTLY UNDERSTOOD |BIG THINK
Generally, political science does its best work when it begins with the perspectives of the statesman (or political leader) and the citizen and then goes on to refine and enlarge what’s seen about political life by those who are actually engaged in it. The attempt to impose a scientific perspective alien to the phenomena almost always leads us to see a lot less than is really there.Political "Science" and Its Forecasting Failures | Rightly Understood | Big Think
DIARY FROM VATICAN II
Good piece from Fr. Robert Barron looking back on the Council through Congar’s diary.
Diary from Vatican II
DAVID KARPF: UVA BOARD'S LAZY BUSINESS SENSE
A modern-day Good Will Hunting might gain his education through MIT’s online lectures rather than a Boston public library card, but the great mass of privileged 18-year-olds will keep heading off to college. Neither the University of Phoenix nor MIT’s online courses offer a replacement for the college experience that students are currently paying for. And competition does not equal disruption.David Karpf: UVA Board's Lazy Business Sense
THE NEW ATLANTIS » CHRISTIANITY AND THE FUTURE OF THE BOOK
Christians are, as the Koran says, “People of the Book”; in which case we might want to ask what will become of Christianity if “the book” is radically transformed or abandoned altogether.The New Atlantis » Christianity and the Future of the Book
RAIDERS OF THE LOST RELICS
many of the Bible-related archaeological claims made in recent years have been tainted with “exaggeration and speculation the likes of which haven’t been seen since pieces of the ‘true cross’ were found all across Europe in the Middle Ages.”Raiders of the Lost Relics
MEASURABLE OUTCOMES VS. HIGHER EDUCATION?
Reading tough books carefully—attending to textual details, considering the diverse ways of life of and predicaments faced by the characters, following arguments, writing accurately and thoughtfully about their contents, applying what what you’ve learned to your own way of life and personal predicaments—is usually justified these days by the outcomes of critical thinking and analytic reasoning. I, for one, am impressed by how murky these phrases turn out to be, and how questionable—to say the least—are the standardized devices that have been invented to measure them.Measurable Outcomes vs. Higher Education?
WHEN IT COMES TO RELIGION, EVERYBODY’S AN EXPERT
As I would not opine seriously on the best procedures to follow with respect to open-heart surgery (as I have absolutely no medical training), why are so many others who have never had anything to do with religion so quick to comment on serious matters of religion?So very, very many. Interesting answer in the piece as well.
When it comes to religion, everybody’s an expert
DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THEOLOGY . . . - WEIGEL
There is ample room for exploration on Catholic theology; for if theology is not religious studies, neither is it catechism. But for that exploration to be authentically Catholic — and thus of use to the Church — it has to take Scripture and Tradition as its baseline, and it has to begin from the premise that the doctrinal boundaries of the Church, rooted in Scripture and Tradition, point exploratory theology in the right direction.Don’t Know Much about Theology . . . - Weigel
ZUCKERBERG DIDN’T KILL PRIVACY
Question: ‘Why did Facebook go public?’Zuckerberg didn’t kill privacy
Answer: ‘They couldn’t figure out the privacy settings either.’
OF FLYING CARS AND THE DECLINING RATE OF PROFIT
Where, in short, are the flying cars? Where are the force fields, tractor beams, teleportation pods, antigravity sleds, tricorders, immortality drugs, colonies on Mars, and all the other technological wonders any child growing up in the mid-to-late twentieth century assumed would exist by now?A bit to the Left, but good questions all the same.
Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit
ENGLISH IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY - AN OVERVIEW : OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY
obfuscatory polysyllabic officialese
Phrase of the day!
English in the twentieth century - an overview : Oxford English Dictionary
THE REAL EQUALITY PROBLEM: NO ONE ACTUALLY WANTS IT
Good parents try to provide the best they can for their kids. Good employees try to advance as far as they can at work. Good athletes try to become the go-to player for their teams. Good entrepreneurs try to create and grow a business that is better than its competitors. In fact, it’s safe to say that no reasonable, diligent person strives for “equality” in their own personal circumstances — regardless of whether one refers to equality of opportunity or equality of outcome.
All of this is painfully obvious — or should be — but that doesn’t stop the Left from often wrongly equating inequality with inequity and seeking ever greater and more intrusive regulation to create a world than can never be and no one really wants.
The Real Equality Problem: No One Actually Wants It
THE FOURTH REVOLUTION (NEW CRITERION)
The United States has been shaped by three far-reaching political revolutions: Thomas Jefferson’s “revolution of 1800,” the Civil War, and the New Deal. Each of these upheavals concluded with lasting institutional and cultural adjustments that set the stage for new phases of political and economic development. Are we on the verge of a new upheaval, a “fourth revolution” that will reshape U.S. politics for decades to come? There are signs to suggest that we are.
The Fourth Revolution (New Criterion)
THE AMAZON EFFECT
The bookstore wars are over. Independents are battered, Borders is dead, Barnes & Noble weakened but still standing and Amazon triumphant. Yet still there is no peace; a new war rages for the future of publishing.
Worth noting.
The Amazon Effect
GOING PAPERLESS ON A MAC - PROFHACKER
It’s the 21st century, I really should try to do this.
Going Paperless on a Mac - ProfHacker
THE FIRST WIRED PRESIDENT
Lincoln saw his first telegraph key only three years before he ran for president, in a hotel lobby while riding circuit in Pekin, Ill. Always fascinated with technology, he peppered the operator with questions.
In the spirit of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, but entirely non-fictional!
The First Wired President
BXVI AD LIMINA TALKS
Every five years or so, by tradition, the bishops of a given country make ad limina visits to Rome. Centuries old, the practice is a way of maintaining communion with the universal Church. It also offers the pope a chance to comment on the state of the Church in that country.
The bishops of the United States are just finishing up their visits, broken up into five batches, which makes it a convenient time to tally up all five of Benedict XVI’s addresses to them. Thanks to Whispers in the Loggia, here they are:
- Whispers in the Loggia: “The Demand of a New Evangelization”: From B16’s Desk, Bench Talk 1
- Whispers in the Loggia: “The Most Cherished of Freedoms”: On Religious Freedom and the Public Square, B16 Talks The States
- Whispers in the Loggia: To the States, B16 Talks Sexuality
- Whispers in the Loggia: To the States, The “Professor-Pope” Talks Education
- Whispers in the Loggia: “New Signs of Vitality and Hope”: For US Church, The Pope’s Last Word