While perhaps not as intuitive as the home-buttoned iPads, Apple’s glowing slate of glass continues to amaze and baffle me. Almost without fail, you can hand an iPad to any person — from a 2-year-old learning to gently touch the Pencil to the glass to a 90-year-old looking for a book to read — and be amazed at the speed at which they can zip around the device.

There’s an element of guilt as a parent, though. We’re told not to put our kids in front of a screen. Ever. Or at least so minimally that they can’t get immersed in anything they’re doing.

But the iPad has so much teaching potential, I’m increasingly tempted to buck the conventional wisdom. I can show my daughter a picture of a puppy, followed by the sound the puppy makes, followed by my drawing of the puppy, followed by her attempt to scratch out that same puppy, and she can be practicing her puppy panting in the process.

The learning potential doesn’t stop there — I spoke to a colleague today about how powerful the iPad can be for post-secondary studies. Load up a textbook/PDF on one side, GoodNotes on the other, and watch a lecture in picture-in-picture mode. The iPad can quickly fulfill a multitude of learning styles and even meet different learning style needs at the same time.

The iPad is a stunningly powerful computer, no matter the age of the hands it’s in.

Aaron Gordon writing for Vice:

The sidelining of the environmental benefits of EVs aligns with the role Hummer and other gigantic SUVs have played in our environmental challenges. The Hummer, in all its militaristic aggressiveness, is the very embodiment of the wasteful excess that contributed to the climate crisis in the first place. Cars are inherently about projecting a self-image, and hundreds of thousands of Americans chose to project one of profound, pathological selfishness. The electrification of the Hummer is not a signal of climate progress. It is a declaration that it’s still OK to be an asshole.

Boy, this article is just oozing with compassion. If I drive a big SUV, I’m a jerk. Good. Great! If I purchased a car, it’s because I’m trying to project a self-image, not because I need four wheels to get to work everyday. It’s -40 Celsius outside with snow blowing across the highway, but according to the masterminds over at Vice, I’m a swear word for choosing a gasoline-powered vehicle instead of a bicycle or something.

This is so tiring.

John Gruber’s linked post (where I found this) has just a little more compassion (but only just a smidge):

I recently rented a Chevy Tahoe because we needed the storage capacity for a day trip. I can’t believe anyone chooses to drive these things daily. It’s like driving a car inside a car, no feel for the road at all.

I drive a Ford F-150. It has the smallest 2.7L EcoBoost engine because I wanted to be as fuel efficient as possible, but these days I’d prefer the larger 3.5L EcoBoost because I’d like to be able to tow more. I have two young girls who are strapped in their car seats safely in the back during snow storms and we carry strollers and other family paraphernalia in the truck box. In the future, my wife and I hope to buy a camper so we can spend more time as a family out in nature during the summer. We want a third child — because children are amazing — which may mean having to get a larger SUV which has the towing capacity, seating capacity, and carrying capacity our family would need.

And I’m a jerk for wanting this?

I’m just so tired of the myopic points of view floating around these days. The world is a very big place, with all sorts of people attempting to make their ways through daily life. Instead of vilifying everyone who does something we don’t initially agree with, why not take a deep breath, look in the mirror, and just carry on.