Flipboard for iPad is UNBELIEVABLE! CLICK on the picture above to read about it!
My daughter Karen first turned me on to FLIPBOARD; but unfortunately for me, at the time, flipboard was swamped! It was like a million people trying to rush through a very small door… and they put me on their waiting list! Today, I was sent a kind email saying that my turn came up… and I rushed to the iPad to log it all in!
With Flipboard you can read all of the social media sites you wish to keep up on! For me that is twitter and facebook! On facebook, I can keep up with friends and family… and then follow a small group of friends and other culinary folks on twitter!
zooming in on a picture or a message is easy! Here I am reading a comment of Laura's
However, iPad jealousy is a sad thing! The critics of the iPad sound all too much like the folks who originally dissed the personal computer, the lap top and the smart phone. Some people just hate technology and the social connectivity that it offers all of us. Some understand that information is power and they really don’t want us to share and connect… let’s face it, some folks just don’t want you to have fun! In the meantime, flipboard for ipad is a wonderful addition to the social media experience!
Image of a Budge Book in the 1999 movie "The Mummy!" CLICK on the picture above to read about this fun movie!
Book recommendations come from some fun places. In the 1999 movie the “Mummy”, our heroine was carrying a book by Sir Wallace Budge that I had avoided. I think it was an arrogant presumption on my part that the book was too elementary; but as a primer — I would learn — it was fantastic. “The Dwellers of the Nile” is not a particularly long or expensive book as rare books go, so it was fun to pick up a first edition (1885). In the movie “Mummy”, Evelyn ‘Evy’ Carnahan can read and write heiratic, demonic and heiroglyphics and this book is a bit out of place as it addresses none of this; however, it does discuss how ancient Egyptian was finally decifered. Part of the fun was Sir Wallis’s amusement that the reason it took so long to decifer the language is that so many academics were approaching the subject with much bias and superstition.
However, if Evy was indeed joining the many British travelors of the time, she might actually have ‘The Nile” by Sir Wallis Budge for those taking ‘the Cooks Tour” with Thomas Cook and Company.
Want to take a modern day 'Cooks Tour" then CLICK on the picture above and see where they are going today!
“The Nile” is a wonderful and virtually complete little book that reminds even the most steadfast travelors to bring their ‘block and tackle’ before venturing to some of the more remote locations!
One can find history, travel and adventure …. in a book!
I can’t think of hardly a subject more debated today by the general population that the current state of our public schools. There appears to be recognition from all political perspectives that our schools are a disaster, yet a profound hopelessness exists in how to treat the problem. More is known about the workings and ways of our world and yet, far less is taught or expected from our students in our schools than is possible. Unfortunately, what schools proclaim as ‘good enough’ really isn’t.
I think George Washington summarized the dream of public education best:
“Promote then as an object of primary importance, Institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.”
– George Washington in his farewell address
Clearly, we have failed in developing institutions that adequately disseminate what we know, with the minor exception of questionable political indoctrination. In any case, what was education like say in the early years of the young Republic? Grabbing a book or two of ‘Goodrich’s School History’ gives some insight into what was expected from students in the early 1800’s.
Here are some thought provoking questions from the ancillary book of questions that would not likely be found in textbooks today:
1) How does the study of history affect the imagination?
2) What is the first reason why the history of the United States be studied?
3) With what pictures does history present us?
The questions in the text are exacting and many require the student to exercise a deal of critical thinking ( as above) which is something lacking in today’s texts. Some of the questions will also bring a smile:
1) How many brothers and sisters had he? (Christopher Columbus)
2) What privileges did his mother-in-law allow him? (Christopher Columbus)
3) Where is West Point? How far from N. York? Who obtained command of this fortress in 1780? With whom did Arnold enter into negotiations to deliver it up? Who was the British agent in this negotiation? What became of him? What became of Arnold? ( few today know the story of Benedict Arnold)
So, you are wondering if there is a moral to my story? Only that for a young person to be broadly educated today requires far more than is offered thinly by a public education.
Sam Harris advocates that the difference between science and moral values is an illusion. He believes that the first step in answering important questions on the human condition starts with a recognition that there are right and wrong answers. Hearing a speech normally put forward by religious leaders was refreshing coming from the scientific perspective.
Sam Harris’s central theme — to me — was challenging the audience to consider whether or not we know so little about the human condition that we have to accept without question the cultural values of other societies.
A very thought provoking 20 minute worthwhile presentation.
History is often written by the victors and so is the case of Sparta. Only now is Sparta recognized as the real birthplace of democracy and home to two of Greece’s greatest philosophers. Much has been made of Spartan’s military, however, this was a challenging time in the world and culture, society and civilization could not exist without protection.
Here are some of my favorite stories and quotes on Sparta:
1) Queen Gorgo ( Leonidas’ wife) asked why the only women in the world who could rule men were Spartan women ,said “Because we are the only women who give birth to men.”
Message for today: Choose the mother of your children wisely.
2) A beggar asked alms of a Spartan, who said, “If I should give to you, you will be the more a beggar; and for this unseemly conduct of yours he who first gave you is responsible, for he thus made you lazy.”
Message for today: charity comes at a cost to one’s soul
3) One man who came to Sparta, and observed the honor which the young render to the old, said, “Only in Sparta does it pay to grow old.”
Message for today: Honor & respect comes only to those who earn it.
4) When Philip of Macedon sent some orders to the Spartans by letter, they wrote in reply, “What you wrote about, ‘No.’ ” When he invaded the Spartans’ country, and all thought that they should be destroyed, he said to one of the Spartans, “What shall you do now, men of Sparta?” And the other said, “What else than die like men? For we alone of all the Greeks have learned to be free, and not to be subject to others.”
Message for today: better to die on your feet than live on your knees.
5) A Spartan, being asked if the road into Sparta were safe, said, “That depends on what kind of a man you are; for the lions gang about where they will, but the hares we hunt over that land.”
Message for today: don’t be a soft target
6) Some people, encountering Spartans on the road, said, “You are in luck, for robbers have just left this place,” but they said, “Egad, no, but it is they who are in luck for not encountering us.”
Message for today: there are reasons some folks have no fear.
8) When two brothers quarreled with each other, the Spartans fined the father because he permitted his sons to quarrel.
Message for today: parents are responsible for their children and their behavior
9) Someone on seeing a painting in which Spartans were depicted as slain by Athenians, kept repeating, “Brave, brave Athenians.” A Spartan cut in with, “Yes, in the picture!”
Message for today: history is often depicted inaccurately…. even today.
