look up here

chekhov's gun

"One must not put a loaded gun on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it." - Anton Chekhov
 
"If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there." - Anton Chekhov
 

neil postman on technological change

"Technological change is not additive; it is ecological. I can explain this best by an analogy. What happens if we place a drop of red dye into a beaker of clear water? Do we have clear water plus a spot of red dye? Obviously not. We have a new coloration to every molecule of water. That is what I mean by ecological change. A new medium does not add something; it changes everything. In the year 1500, after the printing press was invented, you did not have old Europe plus the printing press. You had a different Europe. After television, America was not America plus television. Television gave a new coloration to every political campaign, to every home, to every school, to every church, to every industry, and so on." (Neil Postman)

The same can probably be said for many new things that get introduced into a culture or group.  For instance, a basketball team doesn't add an all-american seven foot center to the starting line-up and remain the same team plus a seven footer.  The team is transformed.  I don't introduce Lolita  as a required novel in my World Literature class and it remain the same class plus one incredibly beautiful, clever, and very controversial novel.  It becomes a different class altogether.  I attended college prior to the proliferation of networked computers.  That college--and college education in general--is not now a college or a college education plus networked computers; it's a different college, a different education entirely. 

Likewise, I don't decide tomorrow to purchase a gun to keep in my nightstand for protection from intruders intent on evil and have my home, my family, and even my very self remain what it, we, or I was plus the gun.  Home, family, and self are transformed.

The question is, will I be happy with--can I live with--what the new technology transforms it, us, and me into? 

The whole article is worth reading.

http://www.mat.upm.es/~jcm/neil-postman--five-things.html

the dwight shrute approach

opening day is thursday

And there's no crying in baseball.

rob bell and pope mohler

Hilarious.

this is spinal tap

Just for fun and since I've not been writing much at all lately, the next few days (until I get bored with it), I'll be posting some of my all time favorite movie scenes, in no particular order. This is classic; I cackle every time I see this.