Josh Ginter:

I do not believe, barring the opportunity to meet my Heavenly Father, there is anything greater in life than being a parent. It’s the pinnacle of responsibility — providing and protecting a helpless, innocent, perfect baby, and providing for the little one’s mother, who herself requires a partner to help her with life. It’s the pinnacle of meaning — seeing little versions of yourself learning, growing, and exploring the wide, wonderful world. It’s the pinnacle of self-realization — realizing you sacrificed the child you once were to put on the shoes of an adult who puts their family before themselves.

You cannot experience any of this without being a parent.

There is nothing more challenging or more rewarding than raising children. And for the vast majority of people, there is nothing that they will ever do in their life that has a bigger impact on the world.

➝ Source: thenewsprint.co

From Turning Point USA’s Twitter account:

It is with a heavy heart that we confirm that Charles James Kirk has been murdered by a gunshot that took place during Turning Point USA’s “The American Comeback Tour” campus event at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025.

May he be received into the merciful arms of our loving Savior, who suffered and died for Charlie.

We ask that everyone keep his family and loved ones in your prayers.

David Heinemeier Hansson, on what he thinks we should do in the wake of this:

Continue to show up with our ideals held high while we debate strangers in that noble search for the truth. Where we share our excitement, our enthusiasm, and our love of technology, country, and humanity.

I think that’s what Charlie Kirk did so well. Continued to show up for the debate. Even on hostile territory. Not because he thought he was ever going to convince everyone, but because he knew he’d always reach some with a good argument, a good insight, or at least a different perspective.

You could agree or not. Counter or be quiet. But the earnest exploration of the topics in a live exchange with another human is as fundamental to our civilization as Socrates himself.

Don’t give up, don’t give in. Keep debating.

Josh Ginter, in his weekly Sunday Edition:

I’ve shed some tears. A young father with largely the same list of values was killed for having those values. To be sure, his realm of impact far exceeded mine. He presented those values boldly and often discussed them with less grace than those values deserve. But he and I — and I’m sure millions of other young fathers out there — were not all that different. […]

Kirk didn’t deserve such a death. Kirk posed no harm to anyone. He existed to share the gospel truth with those who were directed to listen. Alas, Kirk’s purpose was fulfilled. He met his Saviour. And God, as He has always done in the past, will use the event for His eternal glory. There has never once been a successful story of shutting down the gospel truth from spreading across the globe. The gospel works best in the valleys.

I wish I had the words to describe how I felt through this. Some kernel of wisdom that I could impart on the world that would help us all better understand how to process this horrific event. I don’t know if that’s something I’m really capable of.

Charlie was a father, a husband, a Christian, and an activist. Like Josh mentions above, I also share many of the same values that he espoused. He was too young and the world is a worse place without him. I hope, in his absence, there are many more that take on the baton of his work and continue to encourage dialog and hearty debate.

The final bit I’ll share, is Charlie’s response when asked how he wanted to be remembered on an episode of The Iced Coffee Hour:

I want to be remembered for courage for my faith. That would be the most important thing. The most important thing is my faith, in my life.

Josh Ginter, while discussing his first impressions of the 16-inch M2 Pro MacBook Pro:

I hadn’t realized how often I move my MacBook between workstations until I threw a 16-inch MacBook Pro into the mix. I take the notebook home every evening with me. I move it between my office and the conference room about once a day. I’ve taken it on a family holiday. This MacBook gets moved around a lot more than I originally thought, and I pay the price each time I pickup this 16-inch beast.

Not only is the 16-inch larger both on a footprint basis and on a weight basis, but it’s also thicker than the 14-inch Pro. Why, I’m unsure. But this notebook is bigger in every dimension and you can sure feel it.

This is what has always steered me away from larger MacBooks — I’ve almost always opted for the smallest Apple notebook available. It doesn’t sound like it would matter that much, but I move around a lot throughout the workday.

I work from my desk, the dining room table, the back deck, the living room couch. And, often, I’ll end up at all of these locations at some point during a given day. I like moving around to help break things up and the different environments help keep me energized. When you’re doing this a few times each day, though, having the lightest and thinnest notebook available makes a big difference.

➝ Source: thenewsprint.co

My MacBook Pro is for work related to my day job while my iPad is for writing on Initial Charge and tinkering with other personal projects.

There are occasions when there’s some crossover — reading internal, work-related communication on my iPad or troubleshooting HTML/CSS on my MacBook Pro, for example. But that’s the exception, not the rule.

➝ Source: thenewsprint.co

Josh Ginter:

Creative professionals don’t have to be the only folks who get to experience new workflows and new methods because of a new computer. So much time and effort is focused on creators and artists.

In real life, there are other real jobs that benefit from new technology too. Plumbers and electricians. Carpenters. Oil rig workers. Farmers. Each benefit from new technology in their own way.

Developers and creators aren’t the only professional computer users.

➝ Source: thenewsprint.co

Josh Ginter:

After all these years, I’m starting to better understand my own honeymoon phases with devices. Sometimes those phases are for a total of three days. Sometimes they last a few weeks. Other times, a few months.

The length of time is generally impacted by the newness of the device. This involves the device’s new features but also the type of device I’m coming from.

He’s trying to be more cognizant of the honeymoon phase with his devices for the purpose of reviews — if you write and publish the review during that honeymoon phase, you’re unlikely to get a true representation of your long-term opinions.

I’m finding that the honeymoon phase for new devices is getting shorter and shorter for me. There are less substantial hardware differences with each upgrade — typically an improved camera, faster chips, better battery life, and other minor upgrades. And while those are all improvements, for sure, they aren’t nearly as game-changing as the upgrades we’d see ten years ago. I’m a lot less excited about getting new devices now.

Readers may have noticed that I haven’t published a review of the iPhone 13 Pro. That’s mostly because the honeymoon phase was so darn short — maybe a couple of days, at most. And I don’t know what I could really say about it — coming from the 11 Pro, the camera’s better, the chips are faster, the battery life is better, I wish it was lighter, and slightly smaller. I don’t know if I really have much to say beyond that.

Maybe Apple Silicon is changing this, but it feels like we’ve reached a bit of a plateau with Apple products and the days of publishing reviews after a few weeks are over for me. Or maybe I just need to increase the time between upgrades.

➝ Source: thenewsprint.co

Josh Ginter:

It’s time we get past whether someone has contracted it, spread it, has opinions about it, died from it, or overcome it with nary but a cough. It’s time we put our political opinions aside. It’s time we accepted the consequences of our decisions. It’s time we let others make their own decisions. It’s time we stopped thinking everyone is inferior for making a decision you wouldn’t make.

It’s time to spread some grace. Live and let live, a little.

Amen.

➝ Source: thenewsprint.co

I’ve settled into Simplenote as my primary note taking app, but truthfully, it’s a bit more complicated than that. I use Ulysses for writing that ends up here on Initial Charge, Day One for journaling, Edit for ephemeral notes, Things for notes associated with specific tasks, Apple Notes for collaborating on notes with my wife, and I use Simplenote for everything else.

There isn’t any one app that does everything I want so I’ve ended up with a handful of apps that all loosely serve the purpose of “note taking”. I can understand why someone would want to find the One App to Rule Them All, but I kind of like having a variety of apps instead. It helps me to focus. And I get to fully configure each of the apps so they’re tailored to what I use them for.

➝ Source: thenewsprint.co