Daily Links 3-14-14

Daily links returns after an unexpected hiatus just in time for the weekend. In today's post: how the internet has changed the church, the Great Depression and Scrabble, advice from barbers, and more.

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The internet turned 25 this week. So here are 25 ways the internet has changed the local church.

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A collection of often misquoted movie quotes.

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Neat History: How one World War II pilot shot down a plane with a handgun.

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If it wasn't for the Great Depression, we wouldn't have Scrabble.

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The basics of tea:

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Four strategies for defeating busyness. I really needed to hear this advice this week.

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Advice on manhood from eight neighborhood barbers.

Daily Links 1-9-14

Good morning! In today's roundup: celebrating the great year of film that was 1939, don't feed the trolls, considering alternative education, why you can't believe everything you hear, and more.

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This marks the 75th anniversary of what is arguably the best year for movies in the history of Hollywood: 1939. Breakpoint is marking the occasion by highlighting a different film from that year each month. The first installment deals with the classic western Stagecoach.

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Revealed:: the reason why you can't believe everything you hear.

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At Acculturated, Mark Tapson encourages us to not feed the trolls:

Recently an anonymous commenter responded to an Acculturated article I had written back in February entitled “Why Have Kids? They Make Life Meaningful.” The commenter stated, among other mean-spirited things, that “I hate kids. Always have. See humanity as a disease.” He (or she, but statistically speaking, it was most likely “he”) finished by saying that “women who birth children are dumb farm animals without exception.” 

I always try to respond to Acculturated comments, which are almost invariably well-considered and -intended, but I didn’t waste time on this one. It was the very definition of trolling: irrational, hateful, and designed only to provoke and/or bully, not to contribute to a meaningful online conversation. Trolls don’t respond to reason; they seek to agitate, not debate. Responding would have served no purpose except to feed the troll’s perverse need to suck me into a time-wasting, enervating black hole from which even the light of reason cannot escape. 

Such a comment may be rare on Acculturated, but the internet at large is hip-deep in trolls waging such (usually) anonymous, virtual guerrilla warfare. Political websites are particularly infested with them. I spend a great deal of time – too much – reading articles online, and have resolved recently not only to be more discriminating about that, but also to liberate myself from the negativity of reading article comments too, partly due to the high concentration of trolls spreading hate and ugliness for the pathetic satisfaction it gives them.

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Glenn Reynolds has some advice for parents: consider alternative schooling. After all, why should parents settle for the one-size-fits-all public school? As a parent of two homeschooled girls, I can attest that choosing to educate our children at home was the best decision we ever made.

No one is more in tune with the deterioration of our public schools than Professor Reynolds. His new book just hit the shelves this week.

Related links: A review of the book. Also an interview with Professor Reynolds.

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Decoding the byzantine system of Netflix's 76,000+ microgenres. Fascinating stuff. (Hat tip: Mental Floss)

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In praise of breakfast. To me, it's still the best meal of the day. Unfortunately, technology has done little to improve it. In fact, the author has it right that breakfast is not what it used to be.

Daily Links 12-26-13

In today's roundup of links: productivity tips from the book of Proverbs, things Christians should stop saying, being careful about what you share on the internet, and more.

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This is interesting: a list of 22 productivity tips from the book of Proverbs. (Hat tip: Aaron Armstrong)

The Book of Proverbs has a lot to say about productivity. Not only does it teach us how we can be more productive, it teaches how we can be more biblically productive. 

Some of these principles you can find in secular productivity literature today. (Indeed, many of the proverbs can be found in secular ancient Near East literature, verbatim.) But seeing them in God-breathed Scripture reminds us to adopt those principles with a God-centered perspective. Other principles in the list don’t get as much ink or pixels in productivity books or blogs. Let us consider how to incorporate those in our mindset and our workflow, so that we can glorify God all the more in the work that we do. 

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A list of five things that Christians should stop saying. I agree with every single one especially #1 and #3.

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A warning to be careful about what we share on the internet:

It can happen to any of us. It does happen to almost all of us. 

We see a story online that shocks us and seems just true enough. 

Normally, we check things out before we share them, but this is so unbelievable we need to get the news out as soon as possible. 

We post it on Facebook or retweet it. Before we know it, others have shared the story.

Only then do we find out the truth – it was fake.

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Some enterprising Arizona State University students have converted retired food trucks into bookmobiles. What a great idea. (Hat tip: Book Riot)

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Why C. S. Lewis still matters fifty years after his death.

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The delightful love letter from Mark Twain to his wife on the occasion of their sixth wedding anniversary.

Daily Links 11-7-13

How the Internet affects your brain, an update in the war on boys, calling vs. career, and more in this morning's roundup of links.

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How the internet is rewiring your brain. This is both fascinating and scary at the same time. (Hat tip: Stephen Mansfield)

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The latest story in the continuing war on boys via Christina Hoff Somners:

Being a boy can be a serious liability in today’s classroom. As a group, boys are noisy, rowdy and hard to manage. Many are messy, disorganized and won’t sit still. Young male rambunctiousness, according to a recent study, leads teachers to underestimate their intellectual and academic abilities. “Girl behavior is the gold standard in schools says psychologist Michael Thompson. “Boys are treated like defective girls.”

These “defective girls” are not faring well academically. Compared with girls, boys earn lower grades, win fewer honors and are less likely to go to college. One education expert has quipped that if current trends continue, the last male will graduate from college in 2068. In today’s knowledge-based economy, success in the classroom has never been more crucial to a young person’s life prospects. Women are adapting; men are not.

Hat tip: Nancy Pearcey

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John Ortberg on calling versus career:

American society does not talk much about calling anymore. It is more likely to think in terms of career. Yet, for many people a career becomes the altar on which they sacrifice their lives. Benjamin Honeycutt, a historian who specializes in the history of work at the University of Iowa, notes that work has become our new religion, where we worship and give our time. As people’s commitment to family, community and faith are shrinking, they begin to look to their careers to provide them with meaning, connectedness, identity and self-esteem.

A calling, which is something I do for God, is replaced by a career, which threatens to become my god. A career is something I choose for myself; a calling is something I receive. A career is something I do for myself; a calling is something I do for God. A career promises status, money or power; a calling generally promises difficulty and even some suffering – and the opportunity to be used by God. A career is about upward mobility; a calling generally leads to downward mobility.

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A cool collection of Scrabble themed gifts.

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A fascinating list of 10 celebrities who also were spies.

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It's not our job to "police" other Christians:

In my experience as a Christian and Preacher, you would think that any disagreements, arguments, or debates I'd have would be with the non-Christian, the atheist, or those from other religions, but not true. It seems anytime I've had a disagreement with someone over Christianity it is always a fundamental or legalistic Christian who feels it's their mission and life's work to be God's police to the world. 

These types of people make it their personal mission in life to prove others wrong, be right, argue, debate, belittle, name-call, and look down on those who do not line up with them whether doctrinally, theologically, denominationally, or other church or faith issues.  It's a mind-set of either you are for me or against me.  You either agree with me or you are a liberal, heretic, sodomite, watered-down, ignorant, stupid, (add you own description here), I've been called a lot.  The sad thing is I don't like to argue(really!), but some folks can't seem to understand that, their whole faith system is made up of proving others wrong, being right, and making a point to "police" Christians.

Daily Links 10-24-13

Duck Dynasty is a biblical sex-saturated reality show, why you should keep a journal, finding libraries in unusual places, and more in today's roundup of links.

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Duck Dynasty is one of the most popular reality shows on television. Part of its appeal is the fact that it shows the Robertson clan as the real down home folks that they are. It's a show that is steeped in family values. It also is a biblically sex-saturated show. That's a good thing.

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Seven reasons for keeping a journal. (Hat tip: Challies)

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Finding libraries in unusual places (even on the back of a donkey!)

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Stories like this one make me feel old: 10 things that are disappearing from elementary schools.

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I definitely need this: how to quit wasting time on the internet.

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I don't need encouragement to read more books but this doesn't hurt either: 7 unconventional reasons you should read more books. (Hat tip: Trevin Wax)

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One father shares about removing his children from the internet. (Hat tip: Challies)

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It's time to emphasize winning with our kids and sports:

My son will play in soccer tournaments today. And I want him to win

I feel like I’m going against the tidal wave of parental niceness to even say such a thing, but it’s true. During this game, I don’t want him to just have fun or play safely. I want his team to win.

And I hope every dad cheering from the sidelines for the other team feels the same way.

I believe we should resist the fashionable tendency to take competition out of sports. 

That’s why, at the beginning of the soccer season, I asked my son: ”What’s more important? Having fun or winning?" He answered: “Having fun?”   

No,” I replied. “Winning. Because if you’re not winning, you’re not having fun.”

What do they teach children in school these days?

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Calling all writers: 41 redundancies you should ditch.

Daily Links 9-24-13

Things you won't find on a playground anymore, how to remove yourself from the internet, the war on men, and more in today's links.

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Here are a list of 11 things you don't see on the playground any more. How did we ever survive our childhood

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Want to delete your internet accounts? Just Delete Me is designed to help you how to remove yourself from the internet.

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Dr. Albert Mohler has a fascinating interview with Dr. Helen Smith about her book Men On Strike. Here's her take on why men are going on strike against college:

I have a chapter in the book called “The College Strike.” And maybe that’s almost beyond what’s happening. Because what’s happening is men are just not making it into college. Right now it’s about 57% women, 43% men, and that’s growing where they think in the next ten  years it could be as many as 60% women going to college. One of the reasons for that is younger men in the elementary school grades often having failing grades, they often don’t do well, a lot of boys can’t read or don’t do well in those areas. And they’re disconnected from schools because schools in some sense over the last forty to fifty years have become places that are much more suitable for girls than they are for boys. And we worry so much about what girls need and how we make that happen. Like if we see that girls are lagging behind in science we immediately say okay we have to do something; we have to find books that girls like to read; we have to find a way to teach girls that will make them want to go into science or make them want to understand math better. But we don’t look at boys and we don’t say okay these boys can’t read; what can we do? And a lot of boys are sitting in schools and they’re told to stay quite. We’ve taken away recess, and Christina Hoff Sommers talks about this in her book The War on Boys, she talks a lot about what young men are facing in this country and how we don’t have any competition in schools. We have done away with dodge ball, we’ve done away with recess, and boys are sort of left sitting there and being handed books written by Toni Morrison or other female writers that sometimes they really can’t connect to. The saddest thing to me is that I’ve talked to boys around the country and one of the things a 14 year old boy said to me was that he wanted to start a boy’s group in his school. And he said that not one male teacher or female teacher in his school in New York City was brave enough to help him start that club. But they just said you know we can’t do that because they didn’t want to have an all-boys club in the school, whereas there are a million all-girls clubs, a Latino club, there’s an African-American club, but they can’t have a boys’ club. And I talk about that some in the book about there was one southern school that did start a men’s law group in a law school. And they were able to successfully do that. So I talk to men in the book about how do you go about reclaiming some of that space. And some of that can be worked out, but some of it is some of the schools they just will not allow that type of thing.

Read the whole thing. Or you can listen to the podcast here.

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Now this looks tasty: how to make your own gourmet bacon. (Hat tip: Fine Dining Lovers)

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Baseball history: film of Babe Ruth's called shot



Hat tip: John Thorn