Your bias is forgiven, go and sin no more...

So, my first reaction to your second paragraph was, "Hey! What's wrong with video games!" I may have an inappropriate relationship with my XBox.

You're right, though; kids are being acculturated into a media environment that is wholly electronic. It's centered around TV, gaming, and computers, which each carry a message that opposes the message carried by the book. I'd recommend Postman's Teaching as a Conserving Activity. It's much less popular than Teaching as a Subversive Activity, but also much better. He discusses the media environment, and how it affects schooling in particular, but with implications for language and reading.

Thanks for the thoughts, and you'll see me soon, I'm sure!

Great recommendations...I definitely agree about Matt Chandler.

I just got a refurb Rebel XTi for $320, and an 50mm f/1.8 lens. I'd say go for any of the major brands of DSLR that are in your range (I'm partial to Canon controls and exposure quirks, but that's just me). Sony, Nikon, and Pentax all have great 2006-7 models under $450, if you're willing to buy a refurb. Then get a good non-zoom lens. I have a zoom lens, but I've probably taken 100 shots with it, versus the 600 or so with the 50mm. There really is no substitute for a great lens.

And you don't need a brand new model...a 3-year-old DSLR design will still produce great results.

Totally with you.

Do you think his election has caused more anxiety and discord than Bush 41, Clinton, or Bush 43?

How are we defining great? Is it to overcome our own shortcomings by relying on God? Is it to persevere through His power?

@Greg,

The things you describe as quiet "greatness", I would call good. Not "just good", mind you, but as in the good. But that's the thing...I call them good. What do we consider great? If we don't share a definition, can we really talk about this?

I don't say this simply to be contrary, but greatness, by its nature, can't be small. Neither can it be in the context of Tony's post. Small is good, but great is not small. "The great things are audacious. The great things have tons of risk." Those aren't small things.

I want to be clear that I'm not belittling the things you mentioned. I doubt I would qualify for your list, based on my own activities. But is that the "great" that we're talking about here?

To me, greatness is high achievement in the face of great odds, at a level that outdistances all other achievement in the same arena.

I agree with you to a point. But I think there's something missing.

In A Beautiful Mind, Nash skips classes, doesn't do assignments, and barely studies because he's in search of one "original" idea. He was looking for greatness in a single bound. He eventually found it, but the cost may have been great. Was it his isolation that brought out his psychological issues? Might he have been able to hold them back if he had built up to greatness while pursuing goodness and caring for himself? I don't really know. But I think about it.

In my mind to do something great you have to think in ways others don't, and execute in ways they're afraid to. Sure, greatness in athletics or music stem from singular focus, but in other venues it more often comes from a synergy of knowledge, skill, and experience. Being "jack of all trades, master of none" may not get you far in any particular industry, but it could provide you with experience and understanding that others lack. All of those "good" things could transform you into the person you need to be to achieve greatness.