Reading List on the Net {01.31.15}

Neat...scientists can un-hardboil an egg. The egg whites, that is. To those who are not science-y (that would be me), it does look like it's just a nice trick. But it actually could have some more uses in the scientific realm than a trick to entertain your friends. According to a short blurb about the whole thing, it could help speed up the process for creating cancer fighting drugs. I was going to link where I read this originally but clicking their linked sources was better.

Red fox spotted at Yosemite National Park. We have foxes here, and red ones too, so I didn't really think it a big deal. We've captured them on our trail cams we have posted on the tree in our back yard (yes, we are a little strange like that). However, it's been a very long time since they've been spotted in Yosemite. Love the image they captured with their trail cam at the site. Beautiful fox. "The Sierra Nevada red fox of California is one of the rarest mammals in North America, likely consisting of fewer than 50 individuals."

I am sure I've read this before, and probably shared it too! A School without Screens at the Imaginative Conservative. "For wise men of old, the cardinal problem of human life was how to conform the soul to objective reality, and the solution was wisdom, discipline, and virtue. For the modern, the cardinal problem is how to conform reality to the wishes of man, and the solution is a technique. (C. S. Lewis, quoted in the article)" "Excesses of technique dull the desire to see, and thereby the ability to learn. This immoderation occurs when the yearning for knowledge instead seeks titillation: enjoying the act of seeing rather than what is seen." I want to quote entirely too much of that article. Suffice it to say that even though in our time we have a plethora of technologies that afford much 'knowledge', we aren't necessarily the smarter for it. As a matter of fact, this plethora has deadened us to actually taking the initiative and time to learn, because there's always more to be 'learned', faster. However, getting rid of technologies isn't the answer. Instead this is: "an authentic experience of nature, friendship, and culture." In my latest class on technology and education, I'm torn between kicking out iPads and tablets, and using the latest and greatest apps. Sigh. I suppose they can have their place but there needs to be "authentic experience" first.

Another bit about technology and education. Last summer the kids and I were privileged to attend the Charlotte Mason Institute's Education Conference (unfortunately, I can find no links to share from CMI's website; here is a post I wrote about our time at the conference, and specifically about the technology plenary) where we heard of Lowell Monke for the first time. Today I went in search of his book(s). Instead came across two articles that he has written. Those I'm sharing here. They are both quite long. The Human Touch (for EducationNext, 2004) and Charlotte's Webpage. I will have to look for his books another time.