To do list: dates in syllabus for HUM do not match those for the writing assignments. links on Logic syllabus are old and need to be removed.

Working on Mycenaean Greeks and see

Starting our History of Philosophy we can read about the pre-Socratics: http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205783856.pdf

Exciting new things

While class does not start until the 26th things are already happening here in the Eagle River Center as the Mat-Su School District is back in session and the young people participating the the Alaska Middle College School are here in the building. I got to meet them yesterday, though the opportunity was so brief I basically just had the chance to notice they are all taller than I am! Today they are listening to impressive discussions about the purpose of the program and what it offers them. Some really heavy hitters from the school district are here. I notice because of the location of my office - inside the area where they are meeting - I get to hear the briefings. Granted I am still trying to do work while listening - wrote my review of Daniel Goleman's book Focus and updated my review of Reza Aslan's book Zealot - and did some FB entries! But I still find what I hear to be impressive and it thrills me to be a part of it. Merging the college and the school district for this program is an exciting new thing.

Summer Break

So the summer sessions are completed and grades are all finished. And it is raining. So we are back to normal! I find myself still looking in about the same direction. My new office window faces Denali which I hope to be able to see on clear days. I will take pictures if it does. Heck, I will take pictures even if it doesn't. The camper is re-registered and insured again. All that is left, I hope, is a new battery and it should start right up. Fingers crossed! We do have an issue of a wasps nest in the heater vent. I am hoping that once I take it for a drive they will clear out. I would rather not have to take measures since the buzzing insect population is vital to our ecosystem and they appear to be very busy. Our roses are always full of them. Banging. They are doing construction underneath me. I am listening to Nuria Rial so can pretty much ignore it. I have noise suppression head sets. So what philosophical issues are of interest to me at the moment? Two. The first concerns the balance between close reading and modern technology. How much time must a person spend doing both in order to achieve a best balance between knowledge accumulation and IQ growth? As I look forward to working with young people at the end of this month I am curious how a solution will work out that is best for them. Second issue concerns the reconciliation of modeling or multiculturalism with the Hegelian Absolute. Of note is an essay by Charles Taylor, a book by Joseph Ratzinger, Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures, and Hans Kung in his book on Christianity trying to describe the essence of same.