What should a camp do?


With cell phones, text messaging and more how do kids and families adapt to a week away at camp with no electronic connections?
Maybe the camps adapt instead.
Camp Chinqueka in Connecticut offered computers as part of a journalism program last year, but now they’ve taken them away. “The girls were staying indoors too much.”
Instead the camp now offers photos and information online for parents to check in on their kids (password protected of course). Other camps are offering services like podcasts and live video streaming
NPR has information on the camp and the online services the camp and others are offering.
One thing that intrigues me though is the idea of camp lasting more than one week. Apparently it’s more common than I would have thought – but growing up we were never at camp more than four or five days a week.
What about you? Did you stay longer than a week? What were the advantages or disadvantages?

The origins of Christian Rock

Slate has an interesting piece on the history of Christian Rock.
I didn’t see any mention of Larry Norman though – who many consider the father of Contemporary Christian Music.
If you’re a dcTalk fan, you may recognize Norman’s name as the author of the dcT cover, I Wish We’d All Been Ready.

Local columnist on the I-35W bridge collapse

A local columnist, Nathalie Guyol, had this to say about the I-35W bridge collapse.:

This week President Bush offered his condolences and prayers to victims of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. He assured the citizens of that city that the federal government would see that the bridge is rebuilt as soon as possible.
“We in the federal government must respond, and respond robustly, to help the people there not only recover, but to make sure that lifeline of activity — that bridge — gets rebuilt as quickly as possible,” he said.

Meanwhile, back in New Orleans . . .

Implant restores function in barely conscious man

By implanting electrodes into a man who has been in a limited conscious state for the last six years, doctors and scientists have now been able to restore function in the man.
From NPR:

Doctors tried the experimental treatment on a man left severely brain damaged after an assault more than six years ago. For years, the man barely interacted with people, only sometimes nodding yes or shaking his head no. Sometimes he would mouth a single word. Now, he can speak in phrases and even recited part of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Listen to the story online.
According to the story, some of his memory is still gone but his mother is thrilled that he can say “Mommy” and “Pop” and say “I love you Mommy.”
A similar implant did not help Terry Schiavo before she was removed from life support.
Speaking of medicine – 15 more minutes till I can take some more steroids. Let’s see if we can get some miraculous results from these pills as well.

Obama lays out plans for terrorism

This is a couple days old, but Barack Obama laid out his vision for fighting terrorism Wednesday, saying he was prepared to send troops into Pakistan if the threat warranted.
“We’ve got a color coded politics of fear.”
Obama maintains that the war in Iraq should have never been launched.
“Just because the President misrepresent our enemy does not mean we don’t have enemies… the threat is real.”
He also said the US should have all combat brigades out of Iraq by next Spring and the US should focus back on Afghanistan and possibly Pakistan where Al Quida is being safely harbored.
Hear the report from NPR.

Ryan Adams releases new CD


Ryan Adams has a new CD out, Easy Tiger, and NPR has the scoop.
The clips on the NPR piece sound great. Maybe a little different than Adams’ previous work I’ve heard. It sounds very layered with instrumentation. I’ll need to be sure and check it out.
What’s your favorite track by Adams?
I think I’ve got to say one of my favorite tracks is La Cienega Just Smiled off his Gold album.