Weekend Links 4-10-20

Unfortunately this week's links are not as bountiful as previous weeks. I blame the pandemic dominating the news. Hope you enjoy this brief selection of links.

This is probably the most intriguing headline of the week: Do We Want to Go Back to Normal? Lots of interesting things to think about here and whether we want things to go back to the way they were before the pandemic started. I don't think there is any doubt that things will change dramatically in the coming months. Exactly what will change and to what extent remains to be seen.

Audible is making a number of audiobooks available for free right now.

Strange, but true: Ludwig Bemelmans, beloved author of Madeline, once shot a man. 

In 1995, Major League Baseball was recovering from a work stoppage that caused the cancellation of the World Series the previous year. Fortunately they had Cal Ripken, Jr. who helped saved the sport.

The Washington Nationals won their first World Series last year. They came a long way from that inaugural season in the nation's capital.

Leave it Dave Barry to give us something to laugh about during these trying times.

Finally, this made me chuckle especially since I am spending a lot of my free time playing Animal Crossing:

Well now. I've started this thing called #AnimalCrossing – I'm very much taken by the voices of hosts Timmy & Tommy, but am so far somewhat perplexed by the POINT of it all. Is it, in this sense, a metaphor for life itself? I hope not, for I may have pitched my tent ill-advisedly

— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) April 4, 2020

Weekend Links 1-19-18

A random collection of links for your weekend enjoyment:

Tim Challies wrestles with what the church should do in response to pastors who commit sexual sins. In the same post he deals with the prospect of Oprah Winfrey running for President.

Is listening to an audio book the same as reading a physical book? Here's an interesting perspective on that issue. (hat tip: Susan Wise Bauer) I don't usually listen to audio books unless I'm taking a lengthy road trip. However, I find them nearly as fulfilling as reading physical books.

Legendary broadcaster Keith Jackson passed away last week. It's fascinating that he almost wrote an autobiography. This quote was particularly interesting and a good word for broadcasters everywhere:

“There are times I turn on an athletic contest that I’m quite sure my profession has died. … If he wants to go into show business, he should go back to vaudeville and get his own stage. Amplify, clarify, punctuate. Don’t intrude. I live by that. I do not in any sense at any time try to intrude on what’s happening. I merely define it.”

Which is exactly why he was one of the best.

Another one of the best is being honored for his legendary career: longtime University of North Carolina play-by-play announcer Woody Durham is being inducted in to National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame. I had the privilege of working alongside him while at UNC. He is truly a class act.

Religious freedom is a hotly debated topic these days. So it's critical to understand what the separation of church and state truly means under the Constitution.

Odd story of the week: A new BBC documentary reveals that the Crown Jewels were hidden in a biscuit tin at Windsor Castle during World War II. The most interesting aspect of the story is the fact that Queen Elizabeth didn't know until she was told by the documentary presenter. 

Brad Meltzer is one of my favorite writers. He's one of the best at writing thrillers. But he also has a series of children's books called Ordinary People Change the World. His newest installment will profile Neil Armstrong.

Recommended reading: Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon by Jeffrey Kluger

In the summer of 1968, the Apollo moon program was in shambles. Reeling from the Apollo 1 fire just eighteen months earlier that took the lives of three astronauts and in race for space dominance against the Soviet Union, NASA makes the daring decision to make the first manned trip to the moon by the end of the year. Jeffrey Kluger (who also co-wrote Apollo 13 with astronaut Jim Lovell) tells the amazing story of not only the three astronauts but hundreds of engineers and controllers that worked tirelessly to make the Apollo 8 mission (and ultimately the moon landing the next year) a success. A fantastic read.

Daily Links 3-7-14

Here are a few links to help start your weekend off right: the importance of inerrancy, reading with your eyes shut, more on buying your way onto the bestseller list, and more.

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Dr. Albert Mohler discusses a new book on inerrancy in an enlightening interview. Here's his take on the importance of inerrancy for a robust pulpit ministry:

It makes all the difference in the world. It may not appear at first that it necessarily would, because there are a lot of preachers in this day and age who reject the inerrancy of Scripture and still feel like they have something to say. No doubt, they still have something to say, but that’s really not the issue. The issue is: what are we able to tell people the text of Scripture is and what is its demand upon us? The question is not whether the preacher has something to say, but whether God is going to say something through the preacher and through his Word. And, if the preacher has any question whatsoever about the truth status of the Word of God, it will inevitably shift to the preaching. The shift from “I’m going to preach the Word” to “I’m going to find something in this witness worthy of my attention and preaching.”

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The SAT is about to go through some pretty dramatic changes. The big news is that the essay requirement will disappear. Also the fact that they are willing to partner with Khan Academy to provide free prep materials is pretty big news, too.

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Reading with your eyes shut: a collection of audiobooks for kids. I would also add the following titles to this list: A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (read by Tim Curry), The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer (read by Nathaniel Parker) and Framed by Frank Cottrel Boyce (read by Jason Hughes).

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Good news for bloggers: Getty Images is allowing their library of photographs to be used for free.

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This is interesting: why highly successful people crave mistakes.

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As if I didn't have enough things on the Internet to waste my time on: a website that allows you to virtually play the best golf courses in the world for free.



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Homeschooling for higher education: a proposal that makes a whole lot of sense (Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds)

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A review of the new Roku streaming stick. I don't know how well this works but I love my Roku.

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Following up on yesterday's story, five reasons that it's wrong to buy your way onto the bestseller list. Some good food for thought here.

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Growing up in North Carolina as a Tar Heel fan and as a student at UNC, Dean Smith was a hero to Tar Heels everywhere. His basketball teams were a joy to watch for many reasons. Sadly, Coach Smith is battling dementia. This article at ESPN provides some insight into what life is like these days for the man folks called Coach.

Five Favorite Audiobooks

Author's note: I'm on the road this week with my family and so blogging will be light. The following is a post that I originally wrote in 2008. Looking back over it I would have to say these are still our favorite audiobooks.

One of the ways we pass the time on our long roadtrips (besides the XM radio) is listening to audiobooks. These are our favorites:

Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce
A quirky and charming story inspired by a newspaper clipping the author ran across in a scrapbook. During World War II, paintings from Britain's National Gallery were stored in a slate mine for safekeeping. Boyce imagines what the impact that art would have on the citizens of a small town with absolutely hilarious results. This is one we never get tired of listening to and many of our own family's inside jokes have come from this book. It's a winner.

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
Kipling's stories are timeless in and of themselves. But their even better when read aloud. Although several editions exist, our favorite is performed by famed British actor Geoffrey Palmer. He brings a perfect performance to these wonderful stories.

Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, Peter and the Secret of Rundoon by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
The first three installments of the "prequels" to Peter Pan are sheer fun and adventure. Both Pearson and Barry show themselves fully capable of handling the task of writing adventure novels that are geared towards kids. All three are performed by the wonderful Jim Dale who uses a variety of different voices to bring the characters to life. These are especially well-suited for longer road trips.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
These are wonderful books to read aloud as a family. Like many other classic tales, numerous versions of the Chronicles have been made with different narrators. However, the Focus on the Family Radio Theater production (linked above) is by far the best. This is an unabridged dramatization of all seven books and the production is absolutely top-notch. Each installment is also introduced by Lewis' stepson Douglas Gresham who provides some wonderful insights into the writing of each of the volumes. Each time we listen to the books we discover something new and wonderful about the land of Narnia.

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
This thirteen-volume saga of the Bauderlaire children has something for both kids and parents alike. The books are both tragic and comic at the same time and like many other good audiobooks remain entertaining over repeated listening. Almost all of the books are narrated by Tim Curry (except for the third, fourth and fifth books which are narrated by the author). Curry's performance is absolutely wonderful and like other great audiobook performers knows how to create unique characters with his voice. Just to hear him bring the oft-coughing Mr. Poe to life is worth the listen.