janie

The Montessori experience is not only great for children but aduts as well. I recently became an assistant teacher in a wonderful Montessori school here in Anchorage, and so far it has been incredible. The children are so bright and eager to learn that it is sometimes overwhelming. I have three year olds in my class with better reasoning skills than most adults I know. I plan on becoming a certified Montessori teacher in the future, and would highly recommend a Montessori school to any family with young children. Stephen is very right to caution parents about how well a school adheres to Dr. Montessori's methods of teaching. Not only do you see disparities between AMS and AMI certified schools, but any school can use the Montessori name, even those that are not AMS or AMI certified. There is a chain of day-care centers here that use the name Montessori, but do not have one single certified Montessori teacher in all four of the schools. The difference between one of their classrooms and one of ours (we are an AMS school, but an excellent one) is night and day.

Hero has not been released in the U.S. yet. There will be a limited release of the film on August 20th in theatres. The only reason I have seen the film is that I have friends who spend a significant amount of time in Southeast Asia, and brought the DVD back.

Sorry Geist, senseless ad hominems and evasions don't make for much of a debate, and that is all that discussion consists of.

A friend of mine just gave me a copy of Hero last night, the problem is, it has no subtitles, and I do not understand a word of Mandarin. The movie is shockingly beautiful, and well worth watching even if you can't understand it.

I am not a huge Ben Folds fan, but I can't get enough of the Decemberists! Colin Meloy is an amazing song writer, and the music is fantastic, I just adore a good accordian jam in the middle of a pop record. Colin Meloy also gives excellent interviews, and is just as fun to read as he is to listen to.

Congratulations Stephen! I hope we see 1,000 more from you.

MisterSwig Very important actuallly. The Doctrine and Covenants is especially important because it is supposed to be a series of revelations given Joseph Smith and outlines the structure of the Church, it also sets out all of the rules and regulations that so clearly set Momonism apart from other forms of Christianity (no drink, no smoke, funny underwear, baptisms for the dead, etc). The Book of Mormon reads like another form of the New Testament, but D&C is where stuff gets really weird. Also, anything that the modern day prophets say (Gordon B. Hinckley right now) is considered scripture, because they receive "direct revelation". It is a very adaptable religion. BTW, I was raised very strictly Mormon. This is kind of a hard question to answer. You ask a Mormon and they will basically regurgitate the Articles of Faith at you. There is a link to them below. http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,106-1-2-1,FF.html Ask me and I will tell you that it is all about control, and they do it more effectivley than any other religion I have seen, or heard of. They also preach socialism very srongly. Before I left the Church (I still have seven practicing brothers and sisters) I was attending church meetings 8 times a week, and was greatly encouraged to spend time with only other Mormon kids. The church literally controlled every aspect of my life, including where my money went. They have a tithe of 10% of your income, and if you don't pay it, you don't get into the Temple, so, you can't join God in the afterlife. I could go on and on about how they recruit and control, but you probably get the basic gist of it. Also, the greatest sin a person can commit is the sin of Pride. I don't know how many times I heard this as a child, at least every day. It was taught that the reason people fail in life is because of their pride, and if you remain humble in spirit and love your neighbor, you will be blessed. I hope this at least partially answered your question.

The Office is hilarious, it is probably my favorite show on TV. Both the first and second seasons were recently released on DVD and I know BlockBuster carries them, so, no need for BBC America. If you like British Comedies these are a must see.

LOL. This literally just happened to me! I am at my office and two of my co-workers (one of them happens to be my religious sister) were kidding around about stealing office supplies and I said something jokingly about being "morally superior" because I never accidentally take home pens, or some such nonsense and my Co-Worker immediatley says "you can't be morally superior, you're an atheist, you don't have any morals!" As I am trying to respond to this statement my sister chimes in with "she isn't really an atheist, she still believes in the church, this is just a phase." I had to laugh and shake my head. I am just glad that she finally stopped trying to make me go to church. BTW- Great story Stephen!

F*ck Communism, I just realized that your name was Laura, so I apoplogize if I have offended in making assumptions about your gender. But I am still curious.

I was raised Mormon as well and had a really hard time breaking with the church and convincing my entire family that it wasn't something I was interested in. Mom has come to a point where she just prays for me and leaves me alone about religion, my Dad on the other hand gives the Missionaries my address and phone number every chance he gets. If you got married in the Temple, did you also go on a mission? How does your wife feel about your rejection of the Mormon Church? I assume that she was pretty devout, considering the Temple Marriage and all. I guess the question I am asking is how do you break it to your new spouse that you think the church is a "crock"? My family took it hard, to a point that when I left the church I no longer had a place to live, but I can't imagine how a new spouse would react.

I am also listening to Dr. Peikoff's Intro to Logic lectures, it was mostly your ideas that inspired me to brush up on logic, it has been a long time since my debate coaches made sure I knew my fallacies, it is a fun and interesting way to use my commute to work as well. Yesterday, I was listening to Lecture 3 and was really hoping that you were going to do something with "Ridicule", and I am thrilled that you are. Thanks so much for sharing, this is the best idea I have heard in a long time!

I think the look chosen for Consensus is perfect, after all shouldn't she adhere to society's beauty standards? A super villain with lots of plastic surgery, perfect. This way she is more fun to look at, and a bit more sinister, it shows how far she'll go to fit in. I think this is a fabulous idea and it just keeps getting better and better. This is something my 10 year old nephews would love! Keep up the good work!

In response to Tryptonique about my feelings on the Jane's Addiction's new album "Strays", I think it can't even hold a candle to their first three records, and I do not like it at all. Concerto of Atlantis, you have great taste in music! That Super Furry Animals record is great and Yoshimi is my favorite record of 2003. If you are looking for interesting good mood music I have some suggestions for you. Grandaddy - Under the Western Freeway (or any Grandaddy album will do) Beulah - The Coast is Never Clear The Shins - Oh, Inverted World Spoon - Girls can Tell, or Kill the Moonlight Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Pig Lib Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? If you don't have the Flaming Lips Soft Bulletin, you should go and buy it today, it is such an amazing record. I could go on and on (I'm a former manager of a record store and more than a little obsessed with music) but I will stop now.

As far as great music video I think there are a few, who could forget Michael Jackson's "Thriller"? You just can't beat dancing zombies. Then there is A-Ha's classic "Take On Me", that was a great video. Bjork has some pretty fantastic videos. I can't even decide which one I like the most, probably "It's Oh So Quiet". The White Stripes have also been doing some amazing stuff, especially "The Hardest Button to Button" video. Really, anything by directors Chris Cunningham, Michael Gondry, and Spike Jonze is going to be good. I have never been all that excited about Radiohead videos. I love their music, I think the O.K. Computer might be one of the greatest rock records of all time, but their videos just never seemed to fit for me. Jane's Addiction's "Been Caught Stealin" also a classic, but I am a ridiculous Jane's Addiction fan, for obvious reasons.