Do you know what Boolean Logic is? I didn’t either until I discovered it is nearly, if not almost, impossible to use all the information floating around electronically. I also didn’t know what a Venn Diagram was. I have to confess, and I hope some of the miscreants I play golf with aren’t reading this, I don’t know as much as I used to, can’t know as much as I need to, and won’t live long enough to begin to. How sad!
Be that as it may, a recent text book declares that we are all victims of GNI or Galloping New Ignorance. People believe that if something is electronic, on the Internet, or televised, it has to be accurate, true and gospel. The fact is that any of us, realizing of course that computers are demonic and brain scrambling, can turn on a computer, type in WWW, and after a site guess can get an article by a professor, a fifth grader, or someone’s momma who decided to submit an intelligent report or some aimless rambling for the entire world to read. That means, if we are not critical, careful or alert, we could get anything from pure guesswork or opinion to some pretty good and useful information.
Since my classes will all have the wonderful privilege of visiting the brand spanking new addition to the Henderson Library, it is important that each student becomes aware of the possibilities as well as the pit falls of research.
Here is one of my famous and pithy stories which might be an apology,a metaphor, a simile, or perhaps and anchovy. Bill and I went camping. Bill decided to take a bathroom break and was unfortunately bitten on the bum by a snake. I call the doctor and he asks, “What kind of snake was it? I can’t give you any advice without knowing more detail. The wrong kind of information can be dangerous.” And so I find the snake and am ready to make my report. “It is a snake because it is long bodied, legless and has fangs. It has the marks of a coral snake. It bit Bill on the bum. What do I do?” And the doctor replies, at least this is the way he would have most likely replied 50 years ago, “Apply a tourniquet to keep the poison from spreading. Use your knife and cut an “x” on each of the fang marks and suck out the poison and get him to the hospital as soon as possible.” I run back to Bill who asks, “What did the doctor say?” “Bill, he said you are going to die.”
While many of my students fail to get this hilarious humor, the begin to realize that research must be in depth, accurate, and exact or it is nothing more than guess work, speculation or subjectivity.
Hopefully, after our library tour, each of 300 students will appreciate the extraordinary library that can be used to his or her advantage and help that student to achieve academic excellence and personal growth.
God has given us an inquisitive mind and a capable ability to live and work in complex and constantly changing world. The problem is that so often we use yesterday’s information that didn’t work or today’s overwhelming information that would require a genius with a lot of free time to sort out the trash from the treasure. Somewhere, in all this information, are some pretty good and intelligent answers and our world needs some help right now.
Using computer language, I think I would type in www.Bible.God. I know I would be told that there is a book with 2,000-plus years of information that is as relevant today as on the day it was written. I would be shown how to read this book, who wrote it, when it was written, to whom it was written, and why it was written. Most likely, it might be suggested that I refer to the Decalogue, the Beatitudes, Paul and Jesus.
I also know that when I finish my research, most of my questions will be answered and I will have a clear set of directions on dealing with just about everything the world throws my way. The problem may be, “Will the world listen? Is the world open to God’s direction?” I pray that everyone does the research and comes to the same conclusion. Time just may be running out.
The good news is that God will have the last word and He will take care of His people.
The library is open, folks. Anyone want to check out a good book, or should I say, the Good Book?
Be that as it may, a recent text book declares that we are all victims of GNI or Galloping New Ignorance. People believe that if something is electronic, on the Internet, or televised, it has to be accurate, true and gospel. The fact is that any of us, realizing of course that computers are demonic and brain scrambling, can turn on a computer, type in WWW, and after a site guess can get an article by a professor, a fifth grader, or someone’s momma who decided to submit an intelligent report or some aimless rambling for the entire world to read. That means, if we are not critical, careful or alert, we could get anything from pure guesswork or opinion to some pretty good and useful information.
Since my classes will all have the wonderful privilege of visiting the brand spanking new addition to the Henderson Library, it is important that each student becomes aware of the possibilities as well as the pit falls of research.
Here is one of my famous and pithy stories which might be an apology,a metaphor, a simile, or perhaps and anchovy. Bill and I went camping. Bill decided to take a bathroom break and was unfortunately bitten on the bum by a snake. I call the doctor and he asks, “What kind of snake was it? I can’t give you any advice without knowing more detail. The wrong kind of information can be dangerous.” And so I find the snake and am ready to make my report. “It is a snake because it is long bodied, legless and has fangs. It has the marks of a coral snake. It bit Bill on the bum. What do I do?” And the doctor replies, at least this is the way he would have most likely replied 50 years ago, “Apply a tourniquet to keep the poison from spreading. Use your knife and cut an “x” on each of the fang marks and suck out the poison and get him to the hospital as soon as possible.” I run back to Bill who asks, “What did the doctor say?” “Bill, he said you are going to die.”
While many of my students fail to get this hilarious humor, the begin to realize that research must be in depth, accurate, and exact or it is nothing more than guess work, speculation or subjectivity.
Hopefully, after our library tour, each of 300 students will appreciate the extraordinary library that can be used to his or her advantage and help that student to achieve academic excellence and personal growth.
God has given us an inquisitive mind and a capable ability to live and work in complex and constantly changing world. The problem is that so often we use yesterday’s information that didn’t work or today’s overwhelming information that would require a genius with a lot of free time to sort out the trash from the treasure. Somewhere, in all this information, are some pretty good and intelligent answers and our world needs some help right now.
Using computer language, I think I would type in www.Bible.God. I know I would be told that there is a book with 2,000-plus years of information that is as relevant today as on the day it was written. I would be shown how to read this book, who wrote it, when it was written, to whom it was written, and why it was written. Most likely, it might be suggested that I refer to the Decalogue, the Beatitudes, Paul and Jesus.
I also know that when I finish my research, most of my questions will be answered and I will have a clear set of directions on dealing with just about everything the world throws my way. The problem may be, “Will the world listen? Is the world open to God’s direction?” I pray that everyone does the research and comes to the same conclusion. Time just may be running out.
The good news is that God will have the last word and He will take care of His people.
The library is open, folks. Anyone want to check out a good book, or should I say, the Good Book?