Daily Links 2-28-14

Your weekend roundup of links: cooking with Jane Austen, the cult of the visioneer, perfecting timekeeping, romantic Disney moments, why we sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh inning stretch, and more.

************

You love Jane Austen's novels. You also love to cook. This literary cookbook is just for you.

************

When wading into the fashion wars with your kids it's best to tread lightly.

************

Why Christians should engage with non-Christian art. Good food for thought.

************

How often have you heard it said in a church that "God has given the pastor a specific vision and it's up to us to follow it"? That's a very dangerous line of thinking as Todd Pruitt explains. Background on this issue here.

Hat tip: Challies

************

Another endorsement for The Gospel at Work. 

************

How Omega has perfected the art of timekeeping.

************

The most romantic moments in Disney movies.

************

What you have to do first before you can agree or disagree with someone (from How to Read a Book).

************

Why we sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh inning stretch at baseball games. You can thank Harry Caray and Bill Veeck for this tradition.

************

Do the math: there are plenty of reasons to order the bigger pizza.

Daily Links 11-27-13

Things to do before leaving your church, John Piper on Calvinism, benefits of being a boring guy, managing information overload, and more in today's links.

*****************

Thabiti Anyabwile has a useful article on things to consider before leaving your church. Fact is that most people will at some point leave their church. These are some good things to consider prior to departing.

*****************

James Clear on how we consume information:

How much time do you spend consuming information that you have no intention of taking action on or that you don’t care deeply about? 

For example: the nightly news cycle of local crimes, the endless stream of Facebook and Twitter updates, celebrity gossip, reality TV shows, Buzzfeed articles. The list goes on. 

In this age of information overload, your life can be filled with irrelevant or unnecessary information in an instant.

And here’s the main problem: 

After a while, these information sources start to become normal. Pretty soon, you’re logging onto Facebook because of the fear of missing out on “something.” You turn on the news or check CNN, not because you care about a particular topic, but merely out of habit. You watch tonight’s reality TV show because that’s what you always do on Thursdays at 8pm. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for learning and soaking up new information. After all, education is one of the master keys to the universe. And staying up-to-date on important stories can help shape your worldview and make you a good global citizen. 

But it is becoming dangerously easy to consume low quality information and convince yourself that it’s normal and good, when it isn’t helping you live a better life at all.

***************

Redefining the meaning of being boring. I strive to be boring every day.

***************

Tim Challies reviews John Piper's new book Five Points: Toward a Deeper Experience of God's Grace. It looks like it's a good read.

***************

In what order should you read the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis? Some would argue for chronological order. However, the more sensible plan is to read them in publication order. That's the way we read them as a family and it's the order that makes the most sense.

***************

Answering the big questions: why you wake up before the alarm goes off.

Daily Links 11-15-13

Links for your weekend reading: Unrequited love redeemed, the schedule makers, tea inspired by books, the best careers are not planned, and more.

**************

An essay on unrequited love redeemed. Now that's how to do the proposal.

**************

Putting together Major League Baseball's regular season schedule is no easy task. 30 teams, 162 games apiece. It's a logistical nightmare. The amazing thing is that for more than a quarter century the task has been completed by a husband and wife team using no more than a pencil and paper. Their story is featured here.

**************

Nothing accompanies a good book as well as a hot beverage. If you're a tea drinker and love books you will want to check out this line of teas inspired by classic literature.

***************

The best careers are not planned (Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds):

I was having a discussion with a friend recently about career planning. I told him that I had received some advice about my career plan. I had been told that I need a more defined career plan and need to control where my career is going. Some of the advice was solid. For instance, I was told that I need to identify my weaknesses and find ways to improve them or get the experience required for my dream job. True. But I was also told that I need to work out the details right down to choosing a region and finding organizations in that region for networking. That seemed a bit intense to me. I was assured that I could apply my own personal metrics and essentially control my career path. 

My friend asked me how old the person offering the advice is and I gave the age. My friend grinned and said, "Oh, well that is young enough to think he can control those things." 

I love that answer. 

I love it because we are all told to plan and try to control every aspect of our lives to win the prize of career, money or other desired goal. The problem is that our ability to control really stops at the end of our fingertips. We can only control ourselves (and in some instances that is complicated and difficult).

This article really resonates with me because my current career is not at all what I had planned coming out of college. A lot of folks I have talked to have had the same experience. Rarely do we end up pursuing as a career what we think we will.

**************

Aaron Armstrong continues his series on improving your bible study with a helpful list of technological aids.

**************

Dr. Timothy George offers his perspective in the debate over Strange Fire.

Daily Links 10-5-13

Why C. S. Lewis didn't use a typewriter, George Washington's library, the value of writing letters, and more in today's roundup of links.

*************************

C. S. Lewis did not use a typewriter when he wrote. But the reason why is probably not the reason you think. (Hat tip: John Piper)

*************************

One of the best presidential homes has received a fairly substantial upgrade: George Washington now has his own presidential library at Mount Vernon. Here are some fun facts about the new library.

*************************

Matt Lewis poses an interesting question:

Anyone who has seen the trailer for the new movie Don Jon knows that Jon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), really cares about his porn. Fewer know that his love interest, Barbara (Scarlett Johansson), is likewise addicted to the sappy fairy tales we call romantic comedies.

I like the juxtaposition. Both things can be destructive. But while porn has a bad reputation, those who peddle unrealistic notions about love and marriage and relationships get a pass.

One wonders which of these fantasies have done the most damage to families.

Hat tip: Instapundit

*************************

Meanwhile, a billboard in Nashville is spurring on conversations about pornography:

A billboard in downtown Nashville has many people talking. It's only three words, but the message aims to make a strong point meant to cut down on pornography and sex trafficking.

The sign, which reads 'She's somebody's daughter,' stands above the Hustler store on Church Street.

Nashville songwriter Steve Siler came up with the campaign after he realized several of his friends were addicted to Internet porn and thought it was time for a conversation on the values of our community.

"'Somebody's daughter' is basically our way of asking if pornography would be OK if it were your wife or your sister or your daughter," Siler said. "I think it will make them question and then ask, and sometimes information goes a long way."

Hat tip: Facts and Trends

*************************

A case for reviving the long lost art of writing letters.

*************************

He's 85 and a broadcasting legend yet he works as hard as ever:

Of all the stadiums in all the towns and all the states on the rich final weekend of September in America, please do bring me to a humble dining room without even a view of the field. Bring me to the fifth level of Dodger Stadium, behind the press box, behind the main media dining area, to a room with four little tables done up in blue-and-white, all unoccupied in mid-afternoon save for the one in the back corner.

There, you do find a sight.

There you do find a certain Vincent Scully, seated behind a small swarm of papers and a binder and a highlighter. There you find the reminder, always useful, that even the phenomenally beloved must study. Even a man whose voice can make your ear smile and your day improve must swim amid the nuts and bolts.

He will turn 86 in November. He will start his 65th season as the voice of the Dodgers next April. He lives with the abiding love of a sprawling metropolis. He has gone from Gil Hodges and Duke Snider and Roy Campanella all the way to Yasiel Puig, whom he can cite as "a study all by himself," comparable to none, with "his unbridled joy of playing, his enthusiasm, his recklessness." Yet as another season depletes toward Game 162 and, in this Dodger year, beyond, Vin Scully still totes around a healthy fear of unpreparedness.