Weekend Links 1-31-20

Each Friday I feature links to articles of interest that I have found. Here is this week's edition for your weekend reading enjoyment.


The weekend is coming up which means it's more than likely you will have brunch at some point over the next couple of days. Have you ever thought about the origin of the term brunch? This article will help. 

So you want to read more books? Here are some ways to make that happen. Some of these suggestions to similar to ones that I offered in a recent post. Related: How to read 100 books in a year.

Here's a potential money saving tip: a new browser extension will let you know when new books are ready for checkout at your local library. 

Prohibition seems like ancient history. Did you ever stop to think why there is no anti-alcohol movement? 

I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from writing but it's likely you don't have a book in you.

Our family watches a number of Korean dramas so naturally we were interested in seeing the movie Parasite while it was still in the theater. It's an extremely well made film and hopefully will win a number of Oscars. While it is not necessarily an entertaining film it is certainly thought provoking. We have been discussing it off and on for days after seeing it. This review explains why the film resonates so deeply with the audience. Related: a profile of the film's director Bong Joon Ho. Also don't miss this: The Oscars need Parasite more than Parasite needs the Oscars.

This is certainly the funniest thing I read this week. I think it's because it is so spot on: Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village.

Personality tests such as the Enneagram are all the rage these days but they don't excuse your sin. 

New research suggests procrastination is about managing your emotions not your time. Interesting stuff.

Another new study suggests skipping the easy tasks and tackling the hard stuff first. I've always heard the opposite is true that it's better to tackle easy tasks first to build momentum to handle the harder tasks. I think I will have to put this into practice to see if it works.

I appreciate the honesty in this column: things I wish I had done differently when I homeschooled. (Hat tip Susan Wise Bauer) Both of these perspectives highlight one of the unique joys of homeschooling: there is no right or wrong way to do it. You can tailor your homeschooling experience to you and your child's needs.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. At the time many pledged a catastrophe such as the Holocaust would never happen again. Sadly, political conditions are such that many worry that it will.

Sunday the Super Bowl will be played in Miami. Dave Barry has some helpful tips for fans visiting Miami for the game. 

And finally, my favorite tweet of the week:

I bought this @designingannie print - inspired by a scene in my book Framed - as a present for someone but now I can’t bear to give it away. Such a thrill
When someone responds to your work with work if their own. Also it’s lovely pic.twitter.com/goa1yaRkUi

— Frank Cottrell-Boyce (@frankcottrell_b) January 29, 2020

Full disclosure: @designingannie is my oldest daughter. As you can imagine, I am a very proud father.

Daily Links 2-18-14

In today's edition: missing the point of Let It Go, the real Monuments Men, World War II propaganda, you will never be ready for marriage, and more.

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Let It Go is the wildly popular song from Disney's Frozen. Trevin Wax wonders (correctly) whether we are missing the point of the song.

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A preview for the movie Unbroken. It looks really good. If you haven't read the book you really should.

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15 helpful uses for vinegar. It has all kinds of uses I never would have thought of.

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The story of the real Monuments Men. Needless to say it's a lot different from the Hollywood version.

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Private Snafu - World War II propaganda cartoons created by Dr. Seuss, Mel Blanc and Frank Capra.

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You will never be ready for marriage. I certainly wasn't.

If there’s one thing about life that I wish everyone would consider — particularly my peers, and those younger than me — it’s that you’ll never do the big things if you’re waiting until you’re ready to do them.

You’ll never be ready.

You. Will. Never. Be. Ready.

You can’t possibly understand the reality of marriage — the joy, the commitment, the love, the anger, the pain, the hope, the fulfillment, the excitements, the banalities, the journey, the sacrifices, the rewards, the journey — until you’re in it. Same can be said for parenthood, only more so.

How many people have been scared away from the altar because of this phantom notion of “readiness”? How many marriages destroyed because, confused and struggling, one or both partners suddenly decided that they were “never ready” to be married?

Look, I wouldn’t presume to give marital “advice.” In my life I’ve met a few people really qualified for that job, and I’m not one of them. But I come across this “divorce is high because people aren’t ready for marriage” shtick quite a bit. Predictably, it’s mostly unmarried folks who say these things. And it only results in more and more people my age hesitating to break out of the cocoon of adolescence and get going with their lives.

We commonly view living together as a logical step before marriage, but it isn’t. It’s something some people do, but it isn’t a step to marriage. Your marriage is defined by the commitment you make to the other person — not by the bathroom or mortgage you share. Living with someone is not a “warm up” for marriage or a “try out” period, precisely because it lacks the essential, definitive characteristic of that permanent commitment. You can’t comfortably transition into an eternal vow. You make it, and then it’s made.

Period.

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Why writers make the worst procrastinators.

Daily Links 2-17-14

Good morning. Here is an assortment of links to start your week off on the right foot. In today's edition: bringing chivalry back, how to stop procrastinating, considering New Calvinism, and more.

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8 acts of chivalry to bring back. This is some good advice and it surprises me how little these types of things are put to practice. Men need to learn how to behave like gentlemen. I guarantee that women will thank us for it.

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Why Charles M. Schulz's comic strip was called Peanuts. The fascinating thing is that Schulz did not come up with the name and never really liked it.

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This is a book that looks interesting: The New Calvinism Considered.

They call it the New Calvinism. It is a relatively new movement that has discovered some old theology and brought it into the mainstream. It is a movement titled after its theology, but one formed around its leaders—it can hardly be discussed without reference to John Piper and Al Mohler and Matt Chandler and so many others. It is a fascinating movement that encompasses myself and so many others. 

The New Calvinism is the subject of Jeremy Walker’s new book The New Calvinism Considered: A Personal and Pastoral Assessment. Behind that rather austere title is a very accessible book that does exactly what the title claims: it shines a spotlight on this theological movement and considers where it has come from, what it has accomplished and where it may be going in the future.

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11 features no longer seen in cars. I can still remember when some of those things were available (not telling which ones since that would date me).

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How to use the two minute rule to stop procrastinating and get things done. My problem is finding things I can accomplish in two minutes.

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Daily Links 11-1-13

Happy Friday! Here's a super-sized roundup of links for your weekend reading pleasure. The Right Stuff 30 years later, benefits of procrastination, separation of church and state, marriage and religious freedom, and much, much more.

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Last week, Dr. Albert Mohler addressed the students and faculty at Brigham Young University on the critical issue of marriage and religious freedom. An excerpt:

The moral revolution we are now witnessing on the issue of homosexuality is without precedent in human history in terms of its scale and velocity. We are not looking at a span of centuries, or even the length of one century. This revolution is taking place within a single human generation. 

I would argue that no moral revolution on this scale has ever been experienced by a society that remained intact, even as no moral revolution of this velocity has yet been experienced. We can now see more clearly where this revolution began. It is virtually impossible to see where it ends. 

But, for the first time in the experience of most Americans, the moral revolution revolving around marriage, the family, and human sexuality is now clearly becoming a religious liberty issue. The rights of parents to raise their children according to their most basic and fundamental theological and moral convictions are now at stake. Courts have ruled in some jurisdictions that parents cannot even “opt out” their children from sex education driven by moral revisionism. Legislatures in California and New Jersey have made it illegal for mental health professionals to tell minors that there is anything wrong with homosexual sexuality, orientation, or relationships. Parents are put on notice. How long will it be before the moral authority of the secular state is employed to allow children to “divorce” their parents? How long before the logic of sexual revolution and sexual self-expression leads to parents being told what they must allow and facilitate with their own children when it comes to sex, gender, and sexual orientation? The logic of moral change by legal coercion is already fully on display in many modern legal debates. How long will a respect for parental rights and religious liberty hold back the flooding river of this moral revolution?

Read the whole thing.

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A 95 year old World War II veteran who was a POW of the Burma Railway (made famous in The Bridge on the River Kwai) has come forward to tell his story. This is a fascinating account and I'm glad he decided to write a book. I hope it will be available here in the U. S.

Procrastination is a bad thing - or is it? Perhaps it doesn't necessarily need a cure.

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Seven obstacles to enjoying Sabbath rest. By the way, I disagree with the premise that it's not a mandate for Christians. I believe that the creation account from Genesis 1 as well as the Ten Commandments makes it clear that it is mandated.

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A historical examination of why we separate church and state (Hat tip: Acton Institute Power Blog)

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It's been thirty years since The Right Stuff first appeared on movie screens. Here's a look back at the film that helped Hollywood shake its "Vietnam Syndrome".

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The first automated library in the U. S. has opened in Norman, Oklahoma. It's kind of a Redbox for books. While on one hand this seems like a neat idea, I am not sure that I'm comfortable with the idea of not being able to browse for books.

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In defense of Disney princesses:

Disney movies aren’t telling girls that they should limit their aspirations to becoming princesses (although young women sometimes do become one, so be ready); they are teaching them to adopt the values of Disney princesses: kindness (Snow White), compassion (Ariel), intelligence (Belle), humility (Cinderella), courage (Merida), and determination (Tiana), among others. These are worthy attributes for boys as well as girls, but the point is that Disney isn’t steering girls toward being future trophy wives – it’s promoting values that make you a decent person, regardless of your career or lack thereof.

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It's Friday. Trevin Wax has some advice on what you should be saying at the end of the work week.

I'm writing this post on a Friday. It's been a frantic week, with a higher-than-usual number of meetings to attend, decisions to make, content to create, and people needing a response.

When I leave my office this afternoon, I will be leaving behind an inbox full of emails awaiting response.

There are editorial tasks I hoped to cross off my list this week. Unfortunately, they have risen in defiance of my careful agenda and have chosen to stubbornly persist into next week's to-do list.

hen I leave, I'll have my laptop bag strapped on my shoulders, but it's all the stuff I carry around in my mind that will weigh me down. The blogs to write, curriculum to edit, writers to enlist, the teams I lead, the contacts I need to make...

And like I do every week, I will whisper to myself as I walk out the door: And God saw that it was good.