JohnnyBGamer

From Across the Net – “Rotten STEM: How Technology Corrupts Education”

The sciences and mathematics have a historic place in the curriculum, and technology does not, for the simple reason that the latter is not inherently “about” anything. Absent human contributions on specific topics, cut off from the subject matter of academic work, technology is nothing—an electron microscope without any samples, darkened VR goggles, an empty spreadsheet. Specializing in techne as such means trying to teach people to be good at “making” without having any idea of what to make, or why to make it.

You can read more here

Be Excellent – Listen

Woke up this morning and laid in bed for awhile. Peace.

Got out of bed, grabbed my phone, and I started scrolling through twitter.

A Southern California pastor dying of suicide filled my feed. As well as discussions on:

Checking on friends
Listening
Anxiety and depression

Being greeted by a brother in Christ’s suicide, first thing in the morning, just sucks. But I can’t imagine what his wife and children are feeling.

A few years ago, over a lunch with a pastor, I confessed that I wasn’t doing well. My depression was trying to drown me, and I admitted it out loud. The pastor half listened and eventually changed subjects/blew me off. He had no clue how close I felt to doing something… and yet he didn’t care either. There was never any follow up. Nothing. I cringed when I heard friends were going to talk to him. Afraid of the damage his lack of pastoral care could bring about.

I get that we are not all gifted in all things. But I do think we all have the capacity to listen and empathize.

Bill and Ted have said it best:

“Be excellent to each other.”

Listening and empathy are but a level of excellence worth fighting for. I’m not sure where you are today; not sure what side of the bed you woke up on. I want to encourage you to find someone trustworthy who will listen before/after things get bad, someone who practices what Bill and Ted preached. Be excellent.

From Across the Net – “Is Your Church Frantic or Focussed?”

This is worth the read:

It says a lot about church culture that above anything else we fear “white space”, we fear a lack of noise. It says a lot about church culture that everything has to run smoothly to the point that a gap in the service is viewed as hellish. I expect my eleven year old son to be that little bit bored in church.

You can read more here

Something I Enjoy – The Geek to Geek Podcast

I enjoy commuting with the Geek to Geek Podcast. Hosts Void and Beej do a fantastic job talking about movies, TV Shows, apps and video games. There is something about their rapport that reminds me of geeky dinnertime conversations in college. Granted, they haven’t talked about the return of zeppelins for use in military applications… yet.

If you are looking for a solid geeky podcast, you can’t go wrong hanging out with Void and Beej.