Exploring Faith, Family, Books, Sports, Society, and Fun
Among the ways that COVID-19 has up-ended our society has been the question of schooling. With the closure of schools in the spring of 2020 and the shift to remote learning followed by the big question about the re-opening of schools in the fall, our society has had to grapple with the best way to educate our children and even what education is for.
On the latest episode, the Betts celebrate Melanie’s birthday and have some home-baked cake; try Nashville Hot Chicken potato chips; discuss the book The Cooking Gene; and talk about God’s invitation and promise of superabundance, plus lots more.
In this week’s episode, Dom and Melanie re-discover buried treasure in forgotten corners of their house and then discuss Sunday’s Gospel on the kingdom of heaven as buried treasure. Plus baby bunnies, exploring Google Earth, pickle tasting, bread pudding, going to the theater virtually, and Italian grandpas on YouTube.
In this week’s episode, the Betts introduce the kids to D&D to great joy; replace their dead dryer but what the installers do causes big problems; embark on a spicy pickle adventure; discuss why the 2016 Ghostbusters doesn’t work and why the Dresden Files do; and then address the weeds and wheat in life.
On this episode, the Betts celebrate a birthday, mourn the death of a dryer, watch a bunch of movies, read a friend’s new book, and discuss unfortunate quarantine-related liturgical abuses.
In this episode, the Betts find Hamilton on Disney+ to be an all new experience despite being fans for four years and seeing it on stage. They also spend a quiet Fourth with Dom’s mom; experience neighborhood fireworks like a warzone; and have a special outdoor Mass at their parish for Independence Day.
In this episode, the Betts go on a scavenger hunt, ponder Fourth of July plans, debate if Massachusetts weather measures up to Texas, cook lobster, figure out how to pronounce Elisha, extol A Bridge Too Far, and talk about Jesus and hospitality for the stranger.
Every week, I edit about a dozen podcast episodes that include a whole bunch of big files. Once the show is posted and scheduled, those files can be moved to archival storage1, which in my case is a Synology DS418 network-attached drive2 that has about 10 terabytes capacity. This was never an onerous job, but just a little tedious because it involved opening the network share, dragging and dropping, then waiting for the large file transfer to finish in order to delete the original files. Of course, tedious, repetitive tasks as perfect for automation.
In this episode, summer is here along with its heat and the Betts are stuck indoors, and this year they don’t even have the option to go out to indoor places like museums. Plus Mass in a non-air-conditioned church with masks on; and fear, judgment, and total disclosure before God.
We have five kids and they have an iPad that they share. We want to limit the amount of time they’re each on the iPad when they get a turn and until now we’ve had an informal process of setting a timer with Alexa or on the microwave or mom or dad’s iPhone or Watch or on the iPad itself. This has sometimes resulted in less than satisfactory outcomes. Recently the number of times they’ve “forgotten” to set a timer has become a little frequent. And the necessity of having to police them has gotten a little much.
Now, if you’re familiar with iOS/iPad OS, you’re probably already saying, “That’s what Screen Time” is for.1 You’d think so, but there’s a flaw in Screen Time in that it only envisions on user per device. If we set a limit on how long, let’s say, game apps could be used, then once the 20 minutes is up, then no other children can have a turn today. so until Apple gives us multiuser support on iPads, we need to look elsewhere.