Weekend Links 5-1-20

Hard to believe we have already reached the first of May. This year certainly has flown by. Here are a few things of interest I found this week.

What do Alfred Hitchcock and Quentin Tarantino have in common? For one thing, they could have both directed James Bond films. Here's the story of films from the long-running franchise that didn't get made.  If you're new to the franchise and not sure where to begin these seven films are a good place to start.

The story of the enduring appeal of Scooby-Doo. We just introduced this series to our daughters not long ago and they immediately became fans.

Kansas City is famous for its barbecue. Now it has a vending machine to provide your late night barbecue fix. 

The Ironbridge Bookshop is one my favorite book stores. Even though I have never visited I have spoken to the owner, Meg Prince, a number of times. She's helped me expand my Penguin collection which you can see on my Instagram feed. Meg's story is an interesting one as she became a bookseller as a teenager and has been working hard to make her shop a success. She's also a delight to work with.

While we are in the midst of the coronavirus crisis it may seem like all the answers are obvious. The truth is that they aren't. .That pretty much applies anytime we are in the fog of a crisis.

Aficionados of yard sales will tell you the fun is in the unexpected things that you will find while shopping. It's safe to say that these shoppers had no idea they would find these items while perusing yard sales. 

Fake news is a commonly used term these days. However, the idea of reporters sometimes fabricating stories is not new. Here's the true tale of one false newspaper report that nearly derailed one of the most infamous murder cases in American history. 

Steve Dalkowski, who passed away last week, was known in baseball circles as the hardest thrower to ever pitch. He was even the inspiration for Nuke Laloosh in Bull Durham. Despite the fact he never pitched in the major leagues (he blew out his pitching arm while in the minor leagues) he was still known by many to be a pitcher like no other. The problem is the lack of documentary evidence besides those who actually saw him pitch. But if you listen to the eyewitnesses it's hard to dispute that he truly was the fastest pitcher ever. 

Daily Links 1-16-14

In today's edition: Radio goes Radical, a story that will make you feel good, Alfred Hitchcock and the Holocaust, and more.

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This is good news: Moody Radio has announced that it will be hosting Radical with David Platt on its stations this spring. I'm glad to see that he is going to be getting a wider audience.

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A mom's open letter on the internet to a stranger went viral and for good reason:

A heartfelt open letter from a mother thanking a 'kind stranger' for entertaining her autistic daughter during a two-and-half-hour flight has been read more than 51,000 times with many deeming it a 'touching' and 'beautiful' story. 

Shanell Mouland, 36, from New Brunswick, Canada, uploaded a note to her blog Go Team Kate last Thursday detailing how the mystery passenger engaged her three-year-old Kate in conversation instead of ignoring her. 

'Thank you for not making me repeat those awful apologetic sentences that I so often say in public,' she wrote. 'Thank you for entertaining Kate so much that she had her most successful plane ride, yet. And, thank you for putting your papers away and playing turtles with our girl.'

Be sure to read the whole thing. It is a heartwarming story and a good reminder that in a situation like that its better to extend kindness to a stranger rather than being wrapped up in our own little world.

Hat tip: Powerline

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Chevy's new ad for the Malibu celebrates Dads as the "richest guys on earth".

Right on the money. Kudos to Chevrolet for running this ad.

Hat tip: LifeNews

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The headline on this news story is a little misleading as the film in question is not entirely Alfred Hitchcock's documentary though the famed director did some work on the original project. Reportedly he was quite traumatized by what he saw. Now comes word that the fully restored version of the film will be released later this year. As difficult as it is to watch a film like this we need to not shy away from the evil that was at the heart of Nazi Germany. We must know fully the atrocities of the past so that we don't allow such terrible things to happen again.

Hat tip: Open Culture

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Quote of the day:

Daily Links 11-29-13

Remembering The Princess Bride, a kid's reading room that is worthy of envy, a search for lost Marines, and more in today's roundup of links.

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Inconceivable! Cary Elwes is writing a book about his experiences while making The Princess Bride. This will be going on my list of books to read.

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Speaking of reading, check out this kids' reading room. Or to be more precise, a reading net.

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A plea to prospective college students:

Consider this: those three or more years at university occur at a seminal time of life under peculiarly trying circumstances. For many, this will be the first time away from home, away from the protection of parents and the shepherding of the pastors they have always known. They will go into a stimulating, demanding environment with a host of new enticements, fresh temptations, different companions, peculiar challenges, and unexpected opportunities. For many, the regular and immediate outward restraints of knowing and being known, of parental government and pastoral oversight, will be removed for a prolonged period of time. And all this at a time when the character is only just being formed, when physically, mentally, emotionally and very often spiritually, there is a degree of uncertainty and instability and often immaturity alongside rapid development. The previous anchor points of life are necessarily (and not necessarily unhealthily) being altered, and the soul may drop its anchors in better places, worse places, or simply be cast adrift. And into this potentially fruitful, potentially devastating environment goes the student, and he or she often does so without any notion of where they will find Christian care, compassion, example and instruction over the long haul. Could it be that one of the reasons why we see so many professing Christians falling away or losing their way during their university years is that they have headed off to their colleges and courses without first determining where and how they will obtain their spiritual sustenance? 

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Alfred Hitchcock once directed a film that appeared to have been made with continuous shots. In fact, there are ten hidden edits in Rope as explained in this post.

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One man's quest to find the lost Marines of Tarawa. Over the course of three days of battle during World War II, the U. S. Marines lost approximately 1100 men on this tiny pacific island. To date, only about half of those killed have been found and their bodies returned home.

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This is a skill that nearly everyone needs to learn: how to say no gracefully.

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Daily Links 10-23-13

In today's roundup of interesting things from the internet: an abandoned library, strengthening your writing, a how-to of the day, and more.

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Has texting destroyed proper spelling? I hope not.

I never took the home study course, but the texts and tweets and emails I send today are full of plz and thx and u and w and &, and that's true as well for most of the messages I get. I write coupla and wanna and lmk. i'm also -- the horror -- a lower case kind of guy. Many people rail against this as a degradation of language and a vandalizing of culture. I'm not one of them. I think it's efficient, occasionally ingenious, unpretentious and fun.

But I have my limits. Articles, resumes, professional work -- standard English only, please. In domains like that, I'm a hawk on spelling, grammar and punctuation. If you don't know the difference between your and you're, its and it's, affect and effect, I'm rigidly intolerant. I let myself get away with murdering the English language in an email, but for a job applicant I treat it like a capital crime.

The prescriptive case for standard English has always made sense to me. Good grammar, proper punctuation and correct spelling improve communication. Not only do they clarify the sending and receiving of messages, they clarify the thinking that goes into those messages. Plus there's a cultural argument: Language is constitutive of identity, and if the rules of language erode, the identity erodes.

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This is just......sad.(Hat tip: Book Riot)

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Settling the debate on who designed the famous shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Well, sort of.

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10 words you should cut from your writing.  This list probably could be longer but it's a good start.


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How-to of the day: a primer on darts. While this is only a guide to playing one particular variation of darts it's still a handy guide.

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Having a messy desk isn't such a bad thing after all. Makes me feel better about the condition of my own desk. (Hat tip: Blogging Theologically)

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The (flawed) logic of the second glance. And it's not just a guy thing.

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The power of the word no:

Learning how to say no is one of the most useful skills you can develop I found, especially when it comes to living a more productive and healthy life.

Saying no to unnecessary commitments can give you the time you need to recover and rejuvenate. Saying no to daily distractions can give you the space you need to focus on what is important to you. And saying no to temptation can help you stay on track and achieve your health goals. In fact not being able to say no, is one of the most biggest downfalls that successful entrepreneurs claim as their own key mistakes.

Daily Links 10-15-13

The sound of Hitchcock, the effect of pornography on the brain, dealing with critics, how to make your own candy corn and more in today's roundup of links.

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When most people think of Alfred Hitchcock's films, they think about his visual style. But he also thought a lot about how a picture should sound in order to build suspense and drama in his films.

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New research shows the effect that pornography has on the brain:

As William M. Struthers of Wheaton College explains, “Men seem to be wired in such a way that pornography hijacks the proper functioning of their brains and has a long-lasting effect on their thoughts and lives.”

Struthers is a psychologist with a background in neuroscience and a teaching concentration in the biological bases of human behavior. In Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain, Struthers presents key insights from neuroscience that go a long way toward explaining why pornography is such a temptation for the male mind.

“The simplest explanation for why men view pornography (or solicit prostitutes) is that they are driven to seek out sexual intimacy,” he explains. The urge for sexual intimacy is God-given and essential to the male, he acknowledges, but it is easily misdirected. Men are tempted to seek “a shortcut to sexual pleasure via pornography,” and now find this shortcut easily accessed.

In a fallen world, pornography becomes more than a distraction and a distortion of God’s intention for human sexuality. It comes as an addictive poison.

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Thanks to Alton Brown you can make your own candy corn.

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A handy guide for home maintenance. There are a lot of great tips in this list and several things I had never even considered that I needed to do.

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Dealing with critics is always difficult. Here are some helpful tips on how to do it.

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25 great quotes on leadership.

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Some recommended books for would-be writers.

Weekend Links 9-28-13

A little nostalgia, Alfred Hitchcock, some odd Disney facts, and more fun stuff for your weekend reading pleasure.


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If you are of a certain age, you likely had a Trapper Keeper while you were in school. Here's a wonderful history of our favorite school accessory.

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All of Alfred Hitchcock's cameo appearances in one video:




Source

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An assortment of odd Disney movie facts.

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Grammar rules: how to use a comma without looking like an idiot. (Hat tip: Neatorama)

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Five curious cases of international borders.

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Going the extra mile: A woman loses her wedding ring. A Panera Bread store manager finds the ring in their parking lot.  Key quote:‘This is Panera. This is what we do, we build relationships so our guests can come back."
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Ten baseball songs you probably have never heard (at least I had never heard of any of them).

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A guide to reading the Federalist Papers (hint: you don't have to read them all)