Gonna add to the scrivener recommendations here - really good for scrapbooking chapter ideas, character profiles etc. Currently in the redraft phase and quite enjoying the ability to drag my first draft pages into the notes archive for later reference

It's much easier to take a kid who wants to write because it lets them express themselves and then show them how grammar works in service of that expression, than it is to teach grammar rules to kids who've never been taught literacy as empowerment.

Yeah we teach grammar first when we really should teach it last. It doesn't just get in the way of reading for fun, it creates anxiety in young readers because they think reading and writing is about 'getting it right' not 'communicating ideas'

Except by all evidence so far the tension between Rome and Washington remains - the new Pope opposes the government on race, immigration, justice and compassion.

It may well do though. The culture war is a global justice issue which is causing massive theological distortions (sin of empathy etc). It's absolutely the sort of thing the Pope should respond to.

Sacred doesn't mean 'divorced from the concerns of the world'. Some would argue quite the opposite

For the stuff you'll actually care about, he's openly criticised the administration (Vance specifically, on empathy and immigration). An American Pope standing in opposition to a Christian Nationalist regime is going to be a really interesting dynamic.

Think the battle here is with Google, not apple (and tbh there's very good Google alternatives atm)

Being considered a legend of a parent is worth way more than dignity or a few other old people's sneering giggles. Embrace it all, the louder the better!!

I'm not sure he was though - he aligned with progresives on some issues, but only some, and from a distinctly 'Christian' standpoint. I think there's a line of cynicism here between respecting his contribution to progressive causes and co-opting him.

Even accepting the premise that AI produces useful writing (which no one should), using AI in education is like using a forklift at the gym. The weights do not actually need to be moved from place to place. That is not the work. The work is what happens within you.

I wish - I really wish - that we'd studied language like this rather than masks and bomb shelters when we were taught about WWII.

It's 100% on purpose. This is the man who wanted to call Amazon 'relentless' after the way he wanted to price out smaller retailers. He's a blunt metaphors man.

A tool that promises omniscience, but in practice lets those more powerful than you twist your perceptions according to their own interests. A tool Gandalf (Gandalf!) was afraid to use.

The clue has always been in the name.

Exceptions made for 'Mole's bedtime story' and 'where oh where is kipper's bear', probably because the interactions in those books take him inside the story instead of replacing it.

As a toddler-parent, kids are hard-wired for narrative. It's how they make sense of literally everything. Gimmicks can be fun, but only if there's a good narrative behind them. My kid has some really clever interactive books but will invariably junk them for a 'regular' book with a story he likes.

They've also attributed the American failure to economy+migration and reliance on celebrity. They're trying to follow 'voter concern' without thinking that voter concern is shaped by messaging more than lived reality.