If you’ve never heard of Classical Christian Education it’s probably not what you think it is. If you’ve not heard about it and you either a) are in the education field, b) have children in public schools, or c) care about the future of our children and the education that we provide for them, then you should do some reading on this topic.

I’m not going to post much on it here, but I will give these two sources. First, an excellent book written by one of the pioneers of this method of education called “Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning.”

Second is this short video about the Logos School in Moscow, Idaho. It is a brief, yet excellent, glimpse into what Classical Christian Education is all about.

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Yes, I know, I’ve been posting a ton of videos from the TODAY show… but they had such a great Halloween day show that I have to share these!

This one is of the Mel Brook’s new Young Frankenstein Broadway production. The cast was there at Rockefeller Center and did a few numbers, this one got put online… and Celeste and I can’t stop signing (slash yodeling) it.

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If you’re like me you LOVE Stephen Colbert and his brand of humor. It’s right up there with David Letterman, Amy Sedaris, Ted L. Nancy, and Andy Kaufman. And if he’s not your kind I’m sorry… you’re so wrong as to what is funny and you need to get over it.

I also like him because he is a character… not a “character” like, “That guy’s such a character,” but a character as in a persona that he plays. Much like Andy Kaufman, Alice Cooper, and even Marilyn Manson, the “Stephen Colbert” the world knows and loves is a character. It’s a performance. It’s not the person his family knows. It’s not the person his close friends know. It’s not really “him“… it’s “him” as a part or a role.

This is something that is often so hard for many people to distinguish that they end up believing the public character version of the person is the real person also. I know it happened greatly with Andy Kaufman… and has happened to some degree or another with many of the other people I’ve mentioned here as well as countless other performers.

The thing is, often people who are so well known as their crafted persona are very reluctant to show their real self in any way shape or form. I don’t blame them really. I can see how, for instance, it could help them be famous while allowing their true selves to remain private and normal. But, it is nice, every now and then, to see one of them give an interview, speech, or appearance as themselves… their true selves…

So who is the real Stephen Colbert?
Well… here’s a clip into his wonderfully blessed mind.

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I wasn’t going to post anything about J.K. Rowling’s announcement that Dumbledore was gay, but then I read this article in TIME magazine and thought, “That deserves a mention.”

My thing with Dumbledore “being” gay is that it doesn’t change the books at all. J.K. Rowling is a genius… and she deserves ever penny (or shilling) of the fortune she has amassed from the Harry Potter books… but she might as well have also announced that Lucius Malfoy was molested by his cousin when he was 6 years old, Madam Pomfrey has always fought with her weight, and Ron Weasley’s 2nd cousin by marriage really enjoys Elvis Presley sandwiches. In other words, it does not matter!

The reason I liked this article is that the writer basically says the same thing. Rowling had over 800,000 words to give us a hint that Dumbledore’s sexual preferences were of any import, but she didn’t do it once. Sure… now you can “go back” and read a lot into what’s already written, but I could read in a lot of things she never intended if I wanted to do so.

Again, I do not doubt nor discount Rowling’s genius. But the things she DID want to relay (even ever so subtly) she did so perfectly! To say it without saying it (in case some of you reading this haven’t read them yet) there were things that many readers missed in the first books that came out in later books that astounded people! The internet was chock full of message threads with every imaginable theory on every character, circumstance, and minute detail of the stories. And, with the completion of the series, some theories were proven right and some were proven wrong. I doubt, however, if anyone can honestly say that they thought Dumbledore might be gay. If they did they must’ve been reading a different version than I was.

So is he or isn’t he? Well, Rowling says he is, and it’s her world, so I guess he is. But does anyone really care? I don’t think so.

You can also download a PDF of the TIME article here.

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Porter Wagoner died today at the age of 80. There’s a story about it on OzarksFirst here, but I wanted to write a post about it because of his (small) relationship to my family. No, he wasn’t an uncle, or even any relative for that matter, but he did date one of my relatives… my mother’s aunt Mildred… my grandma’s sister.

Porter was from West Plains Missouri, where my mom’s family is from. When they were in high school (or sometime around then) he and Mildred dated.

I remember finding this out as a kid and picturing them driving around town in a big limousine with horns on the front of it (like Boss Hog’s car) and him wearing one of his sparkle rhinestone suits. I was, however, only a little disappointed when my mom told me that they dated long before he was famous.

Jason and I saw him about 13 years ago at the Grand Ole Opry and I was hoping they would sit on the edge of the stage after the show (like in Branson) so I could go ask him if he remembered Mildred… who had already passed on at that time… but, alas, they didn’t, so I never got to speak to him and ask him about her. I wonder if they’re riding around in a stretch limousine with sparkle rhinestone suits together now? I like to think they might be.

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I’ve got an idea! Let’s first assume the earth is billions of years old. Now let’s take data from the past 100 or so years. Then we’ll extrapolate a theory about the future 1,000 years based on that minute piece of observation and we’ll label it “global warming”. Sort of like looking at .001 second of my life and telling me what I’m going to eat tomorrow night for dinner.

Seriously… if you’re going to convince me that it’s getting infinitely hotter then you’re going to have to put a cap on what “infinity” is. You’re also going to have to convince me that in this case “survival of the fittest” isn’t going to be a good thing. Because hey… some people like hotter weather. We might just have a world that’s ran by the elderly. It can never be too hot for them!

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Seems that the SUV market has jumped on the great big green band wagon. Mercury is one of many who are soon to be releasing hybrid SUVs such as the Mercury Mariner. Now don’t get me wrong, I think “going green” is a great idea. We should all do what we can to make sure our grandkids can play outside and drink water or whatever. But if these major auto makers are willing to alter some things on their cars, trucks and SUVs, then why not go all the way? Here are a few suggestions of things I believe would make automobiles even better…

1. Remove the seats… then… put them back in!
2. Make four wheels standard instead of the current “three” plus “one”.
3. Place a sticker of a scary monster on the steering wheel to deter children from driving.
4. Make the automatic windows actually “roll-down” again. After all, everybody still says that!

With these few simple additions I believe the car makers of the world could see an increase of like $300 to $400 a YEAR! I know it’s been hard ever since Johnny Carson retired.

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