Daily Links 2-27-14

In today's edition: why dads matter, fun food facts, solving a Toy Story mystery, and more.

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The Atlantic discovers that dads really do matter. The statistics are tough to ignore. Kids who grow up in families where both mom and dad are at home are likely to be more successful than kids that grow up in single parent homes.

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Raymond Chandler's timeless advice for writing a detective novel. 

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Just for fun: a steampunk TARDIS and Dalek.

via Neatorama

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Unraveling the mystery surrounding the identity of Andy's mom in Toy Story.

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[Source: Today I Found Out]

Daily Links 12-3-13

In today's links: married men and porn, honoring WWII era  spies, traditions designed to make you buy stuff, and more.

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Matt Walsh has some tough things to say to married guys who look at porn:

I know a guy who cheats on his wife. He cheats on her every day. He cheats on her multiple times a day. He’s a husband and a father and a serial adulterer.

I shouldn’t know this fact about him, but it came up in conversation a few days ago. We were talking about the divorce rate; both of us gave our theories as to why the statistics are so high. I mentioned in my diagnosis a few studies that show pornography to be a root cause in over 50 percent of divorces annually.

He laughed. “People don’t get divorced over porn.” He went on to explain that porn isn’t a “big deal” to most people. It’s not “like it’s cheating or something.” He told me that he looks at it multiple times daily. His wife, he insisted, might be a little peeved if she knew the extent of it, but only because women overreact about “that kind of thing.”

What kind of thing? Their husbands spending all day obsessively plunging through the darkest regions of the internet for graphic sexual images of rape, abuse, perversion, exploitation and other forms of filthy depravity previously unknown to mankind?

Yeah. That kind of thing. No reason why any wife should be too upset about that, apparently.

Listen guys, I know this is an uncomfortable conversation. But it’s time we man up and get real about pornography. First things first: if you’re married and you look at porn, you are cheating. Period. From a Christian perspective, this can’t be debated. Christ laid it out very clearly: if you lust after another woman, you have committed adultery. When we look at porn we are choosing to succumb to that lust; we are indulging it, fertilizing it, giving it respite in our minds. We are diving into it headfirst and soaking in it like a sponge. We are lessening ourselves, betraying our wives and participating in the violent exploitation of women (and girls). Or minds and our bodies belong to the Lord and to our wives; pornography, therefore, intrudes on their domain. If we look at porn, we are adulterers. We are adulterers in all the worst ways.

Hat tip: Acculturated

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This is cool:

Dunluce Castle near our home in N. Ireland, which inspired Cair Pravel in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. pic.twitter.com/t5b0jV23Z4
— Keith & Kristyn Getty (@gettymusic) November 25, 2013

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Honoring the men and women who were spies during World War II:

The men and women who spied on Germany and Japan for the U.S. during World War II parachuted behind enemy lines, led guerrilla raids, invented special equipment such as scuba gear and established a counterintelligence network that endured into the Cold War. 

Nearly 70 years after its agents played a key role in defeating the Axis powers, the spy organization that later became the Central Intelligence Agency is being proposed to receive the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress, the Congressional Gold Medal. Legislation introduced last week by Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Rep. Robert E. Latta, R-Ohio, would collectively award the medal to the members of the Office of Strategic Services, known as the OSS. 

Along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, it's the highest award the U.S. gives a civilian. Congressional Gold Medals also have been awarded in recent years to other groups of World War veterans, including Native American "code talkers" and the Tuskegee Airmen.

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Which kind of Doctor Who fan are you?

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You probably don't realize it (I didn't) but these traditions were developed to get you to buy stuff.

Daily Links 10-11-13

Recovering the lost Doctor Who, the Civil War in color, how to accumulate frequent flyer miles without flying, how many spaces follow a period, and much more in today's links.

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Over 100 previously lost episodes of Doctor Who have been discovered in Ethiopia:

A group of dedicated Doctor Who fans tracked down at least 100 long-lost episodes of the show gathering dust more than 3,000 miles away in Ethiopia.

It was feared the BBC ­programmes from the 1960s – featuring the first two doctors William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton – had vanished for all time after the Beeb flogged off a load of old footage.

But after months of ­detective work the tapes have been unearthed at the Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency.

A television insider said: “It is a triumph and fans ­everywhere will be thrilled."

“This is a really big deal for the BBC and is set to make them millions from the sale of the DVDs.”

Ya think?

Hat tip: Neatorama

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Two professional colorists, a Briton and a Dane have created a remarkable collection of color civil war photographs:

General Ulysses S. Grant

General Robert E. Lee

There are many more photographs and the full story in this article. (Hat tip Power Line)

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Settling the important questions: one period or two at the end of a sentence?

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This is interesting: how to accumulate frequent flyer miles without boarding a plane.

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Stop worshipping, it's time for "Special Music":

Special music to me is a big “everyone stop worshiping, it’s time for the special music” part of the service.  Question: Intimate worship to the creator of the universe isn’t special enough for you?  ”Ok, lame worship is over, now it’s time for the SPECIAL music!” (“special” said in a very sarcastic voice of course)

My biggest problem with special music isn’t the title though (they could call it “super happy fun exciting time” for all I care), it’s that people come to church to experience God! Or maybe they didn’t and they don’t even know that an experience with God is what they need.  Either way, people are hurt and broken and an experience with God is what they need.

We have one or two hours to present God (most likely less if your church is still doing “special music”) and give people an opportunity to experience him.  AND WE’RE WASTING IT WITH “SPECIAL MUSIC?”  People need God! They don’t need to sit and hear Jim and sister Karen perform the bluegrass song they wrote.  People can get mediocre performances anywhere in the world.  What are we as a church giving them that they can’t get in the world?

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The true story of the Nobel Winners who foiled Hitler.

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Manuscript pages of Great Expectations.

Is This a Sign for a Shower?

Yes, at first glance I thought it was a Dalek, too.

Via Powerline.

Friday Tweet Roundup 8-16-13

It's Friday and time for another roundup of links of interest that I tweeted about this week. Be sure to follow me on Twitter for the latest.

26 problems only introverts would understand. Yes, this post speaks to me.

Some good tips on writing and speaking for introverts.

Who knew that churches had spies? They found out some interesting things in looking over churches.

Seven expectations of every church member. If more churches set these expectations of their members they would be a lot healthier.

How the temperance movement almost killed root beer.

Lou Gehrig was called the Pride of the Yankees. By contrast Alex Rodriguez can be called the Disgrace of the Yankees.

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice marks its 200th anniversary. Austen addiction is alive and well. 

Film and fashion collide: The suits of James Bond.

Today marks the beginning of a Michigan man's quest to visit all 30 major league parks in 30 days to raise money for leukemia and lymphoma research. His website is here if you want to support him.

Disney songwriting legends Richard Sherman and Alan Menken reflect on their careers.

Here's a great list of books to read with your child before they are 12 years old.

Did you hear the one about the time a cat was sent through pneumatic tubes? It's a true story

Then there were the time(s) Disney animators plagiarized themselves.

Attention Whovians: you can use Google Maps to view inside the TARDIS.

One thing you never, ever do is run on Yasiel Puig. This throw is insane. What's more amazing is the play at third isn't even close.

That's it. Have a great weekend.

Exterminate!