Creativity

I was doing some research for a class I will be teaching on Monday for the Advanced Communication Class. I found this video on Ted Talks that I found which is very interesting.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Also Ken Robinson has a website - his passion is encouraging creativity in education.

He has a link on his website http://www.sirkenrobinson.com/ to the Blue Man Group. It looks really interesting, very unconventional. Has anyone heard or seen this group? http://www.blueman.com/about/whatis

Check it out and tell me what you think.

Something interesting to read

Hi all

I know that it has been a long time since posting and for that I am sorry.  I was looking through a blog today and I ran across this article which I found fascinating and I thought that I would share it all with you.  Just to give you a heads up it is a little on the long side but it is a really good read, take a look and let me know what you think.  Becky I am especially interested to know what you think about this from a scientific view (things like genes and that I don't understand, give me some good old debt to equity ratios any day).

The Science of Genius: A Q&A With Author David Shenk

By DWYER GUNN

Photo: Heidi SchumannDavid Shenk

Practice makes genius? That’s the idea behind the research of people like Anders Ericsson. It’s also at the center of a new book, The Genius in All of Us, by journalistDavid Shenk. Shenk robustly disputes the popular belief that intelligence and talent are genetically predetermined, and methodically explains the thousands of hours of practice behind the “genius” of a host of musical and athletic superstars (and those amazing London cabbies).

Can anyone be Michael Jordan?  Probably not, but Shenk believes that most people are capable of a lot more than they realize. His book explores ideas similar to those recently covered in books like Malcolm Gladwell’sOutliers, Geoff Colvin’s Talent Is Overrated, and Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code, but there are plenty of new angles in Shenk’s Genius. He has agreed to answer a few questions about the book.

Q.

The idea that genes simplistically dictate both physical attributes and intellectual capabilities (or lack thereof) is pretty widespread, perhaps because of thoseMendel-inspired eye color charts everyone fills out in high school biology, but the truth is a bit more complicated. How do genes work? Most importantly of all, can two blue-eyed parents really produce a brown-eyed child?

A.

They really can. The key thing for people to understand about genes is that, while of course they substantially impact everything about who we are, the actual end results for any trait — eye color, height, athleticism, musicality — is the result of a dynamic interaction between genes and their immediate environment. Genes don’t contain instructions for eye color per se; they contain instructions on how proteins should be assembled. Exactly how those instructions get transmitted and subsequently become eye color, etc., is constantly affected by hormones, which in turn can be affected by nutrition, stress, activity, even thoughts. Genes are not blueprints — they’re more like switches that get turned on and off.

This may seem jarring to a lot of people who, as you say, learned the more simplistic Mendelian version. But the gene expression paradigm is widely accepted among geneticists.

Q.

So if intelligence isn’t predetermined by genes, what does determine intelligence?

A.

Genes influence intelligence, to be sure. But fundamentally, intelligence is an accumulation of skills — not an innate thing. We all have genetic differences that are going to impact how we develop and learn. But that’s a far cry from saying that some people are just genetically doomed to be lackluster and others are destined to be brilliant. Intellectual skills and the psychological motivation to develop them begin to develop not long after birth and remain in play until you take your last breath.

Q.

What about pure geniuses like Michael Jordan or Mozart? Those kinds of extraordinary people must just be different than the rest of us — more genetically gifted, right?

A.

That’s what it looks like from far away. Jordan flies through the air with such grace and abilities so far apart from mine that it seems he must be some sort of genetically gifted super-being. The rebuttal to this actually takes an entire book to convey, but it first involves helping people understand that everything about talent is a process. There’s the genetic piece, and then there’s the ability piece. When you look very closely at Jordan’s life, you see a rather ordinary teenage athlete with no particularly grand ambition until about mid-way through high school. (Don’t take my word for it – read David Halberstam’s Playing For Keeps.) After the deep disappointment of not making the varsity team, Jordan developed an unparalleled ambition that quite simply dwarfed that of his schoolmates in high school and later his teammates at the University of North Carolina. Jordan’s abilities developed according to what he demanded of himself.

The same is true of other super-achievers. From a distance, it looks like they’ve got something almost super-human about them. But when you look up close, at the moment-to-moment lives they lead, the sacrifices they make, the extraordinary resources they have around them, their abilities actually do make logical sense. If it’s documented closely enough, you can actually see how they went from mediocre to good, from good to great, from great to extraordinary.

This is not to say that anyone can literally became anything, or that we’re equal in our potential. But from my vantage point, the true genetic gift is the design of the genome itself — our bodies and our minds are simply designed to respond to environmental demands.

Q.

You give evidence in the book that child prodigies are often not successful as adults. Why not?

A.

Several reasons. First is that the skills are quite different. Child achievers are masters of a particular technical skill, which is impressive compared to other children; adult achievers have technical skill too, of course, but also a creative layer which is quite different. It often doesn’t naturally follow that the young technical achievers will also become creative masters.

The second reason is that early super achievers often get stuck in the psychology of their own success. Children who grow up surrounded by praise for being technically proficient at a specific task often develop a natural aversion to stepping outside their comfort zone. Instead of falling into a pattern of taking risks and regularly pushing themselves just beyond their limit, they develop a terrible fear of new challenges and of any sort of flaw or failure. Ironically, this leads them away from the very building blocks of adult success. Boston College’s Ellen Winner has written eloquently about this issue.

Q.

The Genius in All of Us is “not a instruction manual about how YOU TOO can become JUST LIKE WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE!” but you do offer some suggestions for how the average person can achieve greatness. Can you share a few of them with us?

A.

In the book, the suggestions are made specifically in the context of understanding the science that lies behind them. Without that scientific underpinning, they’ll likely come off as motivational pablum. But here goes…

BE YOUR OWN TOUGHEST CRITIC.
Nietzsche wrote: “All great artists and thinkers [are] great workers, indefatigable not only in inventing, but also in rejecting, sifting, transforming, ordering.” His observation was dead-on, and timeless. Hollywood movies suggest that genius is a series of Eureka! moments, that true greatness flows effortlessly. We live under the great myth of the perfect first draft. While moments of inspiration do exist, great work is, for the most part, painstaking and cannot happen without the most severe (and constructive) self-criticism.

DELAY GRATIFICATION AND RESIST CONTENTEDNESS.
In consumer culture, we are constantly conditioned to gratify our impulses immediately: buy, eat, watch, click— now. High achievers transcend these impulses. Like the Buddha who waits patiently at the gates of heaven until all others have entered before him, young Kenyans are content to run for many years before they can even dream of competing in a major international contest. The tiny violinist screeches out earsplitting sounds not because he thinks a dazzling concerto is right around the corner, but because there is something satisfying in the struggle and in the tiny improvements made along the way. The big prize is envisioned and appreciated as a far-off goal— it is not lusted after. Small accomplishments along the way provide more than enough satisfaction to continue.

Q.

What does this new understanding of genetics and intelligence mean for parenting? What can parents do to help their kids achieve greatness?

A.

In this limited space, let me just stick to one point, which is that parents need to model a life of delayed gratification and persistence if they want their kids to embrace those values themselves. Show your kids how hard you work, how often you experience disappointments and how you respond to those disappointments. If you blame others for your failures or simply give up, that’s what your kids will learn. If you take on a long-term challenge, show a deep commitment to the process and a refusal to give up in the face of adversity, your kids will pick that up instead.

Breakfast anyone?

I found a great breakfast recipe: Baked Oatmeal I (from allrecipes.com). Its quite easy and very delicious!!

½ c vegetable oil (can use applesauce instead!)

¾ c white sugar (can be cut in half)

2 eggs

1 c milk

½ tsp salt

1 tbsp baking powder

3 c quick cooking oats ( I used traditional cut oats - still works, just a little bigger)

½ c raisins ( can also use apples/craisins/ nuts etc.)

2 tbsp brown sugar

½ tsp ground cinnamon

Beat together oil and sugar. Mix in eggs, milk, salt, baking powder, oatmeal. Beat well then stir in raisins. Pour into a lightly grease pie pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Bake in preheated oven until firm, about 35 minutes

I like to eat this with a little bit of syrup on top and dosed in milk - delicious!!!

This tree is right behind our apartment - we look out at it from our back balcony windows. The other shot is the view of the drive up to our apartment buildings.

Are you really saved??

Hey family,

I listened to this message by Paul Washer and I was really challenged. Here it is, check it out. Its about an hour long, so long, but is a very needed message to listen to. Please do it!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cncEhCvrVgQ&feature=fvst

In our world, people always say that all you need to do is to ask Jesus into your life and you will be saved. But the Bible says that we'll be known by our fruit. If we live our lives like the world does, do we have salvation? If we eat, drink, dress, watch movies, listen to music, talk, etc. like the world, do we have the aroma of Christ? do we have the fruit? Not everyone who says 'Lord Lord' will enter into heaven. Where are we? We can't compare ourselves with other 'believers', or with even what some churches say. We must compare ourselves to the Bible. Are we living our lives like the Bible says? If not, why not?

This is a very important message I think that we need to listen to. Please, I hope that you'll all find an hour and watch/listen to this message. Then please, examine your lives in connection with the Bible. And I pray that the Holy Spirit will truely come and change us.

Love you guys LOTS LOTS LOTS!!!!!

Net

Being a man

Hey family,

We listened to this at our Ladies Bible study. Its about men, but its really interesting. Listen to it, and write what you think. Mark Driscoll is very blunt.

Thank you so much dad, that you taught us kids, and Wes, to grow up and get a job, to provide for a family. Thanks for teaching how to be a provider by how you lived your life. I'm very thankful for you!

Love you lots!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di9imh10Fc8

Which side are we on?

Leonard Ravenhill
Why Revival Tarries

PRAYER GRASPS ETERNITY

"No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. The pulpit can be a shopwindow to display one's talents; the prayer closet allows no showing off.

Poverty-stricken as the Church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of praver. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere.

The two prerequisites to successful Christian living are vision and passion, both of which are born in and maintained by prayer. The ministry of preaching is open to few; the ministry of prayer-the highest ministry of all human offices-is open to all. Spiritual adolescents say, "I'll not go tonight, it's only the prayer meeting." It may be that Satan has little cause to fear most preaching. Yet past experiences sting him to rally all his infernal army to fight against God's people praying. Modern Christians know little of "binding and loosing," though the onus is on us-"Whatsoever ye shall bind...” Have you done any of this lately? God is not prodigal with His power; but to be much for God, we must be much with God.

This world hits the trail for hell with a speed that makes our fastest plane look like a tortoise; yet alas, few of us can remember the last time we missed our bed for a night of waiting upon God for a world-shaking revival. Our compassions are not moved. We mistake the scaffolding for the building. Present-day preaching, with its pale interpretation of divine truths, causes us to mistake action for unction, commotion for creation, and rattles for revivals.

The secret of praying is praying in secret. A sinning man will stop praying, and a praying man will stop sinning. We are beggared and bankrupt, but not broken, nor even bent.

Prayer is profoundly simple and simply profound. "Prayer is the simplest form of speech that infant lips can try," and yet so sublime that it outranges all speech and exhausts man's vocabulary. A Niagara of burning words does not mean that God is either impressed or moved. One of the most profound of Old Testament intercessors had no language "Her lips moved, but her voice was not heard." No linguist here! There are groanings which cannot be uttered."

Are we so substandard to New Testament Christianity that we know not the historical faith of our fathers (with its implications and operations), but only the hysterical faith of our fellows? Prayer is to the believer what capital is to the business man.

Can any deny that in the modern church setup the main cause of anxiety is money? Yet that which tries the modern churches the most, troubled the New Testament Church the least. Our accent is on paying, theirs was on praying. When we have paid, the place is taken; when they had prayed, the place was shaken!

In the matter of New Testament, Spirit-inspired, hell-shaking, world-breaking prayer, never has so much been left by so many to so few. For this kind of prayer there is no substitute. We do it--or die!

Fun with Beans

Hi All

I am sure that you all remember that I am eating lots of beans, I like to see myself as semi vegetarian.  Anyways in an attempt to make dinner more interesting, and possibly because all the stores are close this weekend because it is Easter weekend, I came up with a new dish which was surprisingly delicious.

First take some left over crepes, if you don't have any leftover crepes make them.

Second make some delicious bean chili:

Instructions to make bean chili

Sauté onions (it does not matter how many you use just make sure you some some onions)
Saute peppers (again this is an optional add in, you can pretty much use any vegetable you like)
Add beans (again it does not really matter what kind of beans that you use because in my opinion they all pretty much taste the same)
Add tomatoes (I like to use quite a bit of tomatoes because I really like tomatoes)
Add cumin, curry and salt (just do this to taste there is no hard and fast on this)
Simmer everything for about 1/2 hour until all the flavors have combined, this dish will taste better the next day after being in the fridge overnight.

Anyways take a crepe or two and tear it up and place into a bowl and then spoon the bean chili on top, top with cheese and enjoy.

Anyways I will talk to everyone tomorrow have a great day all.

love

Wes

PS congrats on the decision Netty I am sure that it will be a wonderful opportunity for you.