Weekend Links 1-26-18

A roundup of interesting stuff that I ran across this week:

I really appreciate Tim Challies' analysis of the Billy Graham Rule and its practical application. As usual, he has taken a very thoughtful approach to a thorny issue.

This is cool: Trash collectors in Turkey use abandoned books to build a library.

That time Edgar Allan Poe pranked New York City and inspired Jules Verne.

This is right on the money: America needs more gentlemen. Thank you Peggy Noonan for writing this column.

This is the first of what promises to be a fascinating series of articles: How should Christians think about "the news"?

Why this guide to "intelligent reading" should be on your to be read list. It's definitely on mine.

"Follow Your Heart" has to be without a doubt the worse advice you can give to someone. Don't believe me? Here are ten great reasons why.

Tweet of the week:

Congrats, Chipper! Enjoyed watching you play way back when. “Anybody who can't get pumped up to play in Durham needs to be kicked in the butt a couple times." #halloffamer #bullcity #durm https://t.co/WQwrSMtEoB pic.twitter.com/bMCls9H66G

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) January 25, 2018

Congratulations to the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2018! Another fun note via Jayson Stark: with Chipper Jones' election to the Hall of Fame, he becomes part of the only foursome of teammates in the Hall of Fame that spent 10 or more years with the same club (the other three are John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, and Greg Maddux).

This speaks to me: 12 bookstores worth traveling for. I love visiting book stores when I go to different places.

What I'm Reading: The Rubber Band and The Red Box by Rex Stout.

I first became intrigued by the Nero Wolfe mysteries watching the A&E series A Nero Wolfe Mystery some time ago. Then last fall I read Fer-de-Lance and The League of Frightened Men (the first two Wolfe novels in the canon) and was immediately impressed by how well the TV series captured the essence of the books. Rex Stout managed to create one of the most interesting detectives in the history of mystery fiction. Each book has been tremendous fun to read so far. I count this series among the many that I am thoroughly enjoying.

Favorite Eats - Sambo's Tavern - Leipsic, Delaware

Earlier this summer, my wife and I made not one but two road trips to Dover, Delaware. My work took me up to Delaware and rather that try to figure out how to manage flying somewhere close (you can't fly into Dover on commercial airlines) we drove - approximately 8 hours each way (when we didn't get stuck in traffic on the Capital Beltway around Washington).

It was our first serious venture into Delaware and provided us with one of the more unique dining experiences we have had in our travels. While we had other places that we enjoyed while we were there the one place that stood out (and warranted a return visit on our second trip) was Sambo's Tavern in Leipsic just outside of Dover.

First, a little background. When we travel we try to eat at local restaurants. Our rule of thumb is to eat where the locals eat. Most of the time we take our recommendations from TripAdvisor or Yelp but sometimes will also ask hotel staff (they usually know the best places to eat).

My wife did some research and found that Sambo's was one of the top rated places to eat in the area. Add to that the fact that it served seafood and was right on the water and we knew it was just the place for us. Our youngest daughter has severe allergies to seafood so we never have it at home.

From the looks of the place you wouldn't necessarily think that it would be a great place for seafood. If you look carefully at the picture on their Facebook page, you will see they are right on the inland waterway. We took it as an encouraging sign that fishing boats were docked right behind the restaurant when we made our initial pilgrimage.
We decided upon fresh steamed crabs for lunch. The only problem is that I knew nothing about how to crack crabs. Thankfully our server gave us lessons on how to manage it. It was a lot of fun and very tasty.

When we went back a few months later we shared crabcakes that were also wonderful. I can't remember I have had seafood that was so very fresh.

If you go, a couple of things to keep in mind. First, Sambo's is primarily a bar. They don't admit anyone under 21 (and it's clearly posted on the front door.).

Second, be sure to bring plenty of cash. They do not accept credit or debit cards.

If you're ever in the Dover area be sure to stop by Sambo's foe some of the best seafood you will every have.

For previous entries in this series, click here.

Daily Links 1-29-14

In today's edition: a road trip any baseball fan would love to take, re-reading The Screwtape Letters, the many ways to educate a child, and more.

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The ideal road trip for any baseball fan would be to visit every ballpark. But imagine visiting all 30 parks in 30 days. Will Leitch figured out how to do it to start out the 2014 season. Looks like a terrific trip to me.

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What do you do when disillusionment sets in? It's bound to happen to everyone at one time or another. Some very practical tips on how to deal with the all too real crises of faith.

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Aaron Armstrong on re-reading The Screwtape Letters:

When I first came to faith, one of the first authors I read was C.S. Lewis. I’d loved Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a child, and had read some of the other books in the series, so when I found out he was a Christian, I was pretty darned excited. 

The thing I noticed about Lewis’ theological work in contrast to his fiction, is it tends to be slow-burn material. The kind of stuff that, if you rush through it, you’ll miss something very important. 

In other words, re-reading is necessary.

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Do you want to be someone or do something? Lessons from the life of John Boyd.

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Rod Dreher: There are many ways to educate a child.

We always wanted to try homeschooling, but when our firstborn became of school age, we put him in kindergarten in Dallas, and then in school, just to see how he would do. Because of his Asperger’s, and the accompanying sensory processing disorder, he couldn’t handle it. So we had to embrace homeschooling because our son needed us to. I say “we,” but really, it was 99 percent Julie. It was she who threw herself into researching Matt’s condition, consulting with experts, and working, through trial and error, to find programs that worked for him. It was, and remains, an extraordinary feat of perseverance and love. More than once I have been grateful for the fact that we live in a time and place in which it is possible to educate our son on our own, and tailor his educational experience to his own strengths and weaknesses. I think about how our boy, the squarest of square pegs, would have done in a previous generation, when this wasn’t available, or how he would be doing if he didn’t have a mom like the one he has, and it’s hard to imagine. It would have broken him, most likely.

I have to say that my daughters are blessed because their mother has been so committed to making sure that they both get a proper education. She has certainly done the lion's share of work in homeschooling our girls. She's certainly the reason that they both have done so well with school.

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Rules of the Road

Our family travels a lot mostly because my business travel usually takes me someplace I can drive to in a day. Since we homeschool we can take trips together which is, of course, a whole lot more fun. Along the way we've developed some guidelines to make our trips more enjoyable.

First, we usually take audiobooks with us on our trips. Most of our trips involve five to six hours in the car each way so it's a good way to pass the time (if we're not listening to satellite radio or just talking). Here is a brief list of some our favorite books.

Another thing we try to do from time to time is get off the interstate. Interstate highways may usually provide the most direct route from place to place but they are not always the most interesting. Sure, it takes longer to get some place if you get off the interstate but I guarantee it's a lot more interesting.

We also try not to rush getting anywhere. That way if we run across something interesting along the way we can stop and take a look.

If we're visiting someplace new we always try to do our homework first. It's always a good idea to figure out what your destination has to offer you that will be of interest. If you don't you'll end up wasting a lot of valuable time figuring out what to do.

Finally, we always try to eat at local dining establishments. The main problem I have with chain restaurants are that they are always the same. Some of our most interesting adventures involved finding good local joints to eat at. Over time, we've developed our favorites so that when we're in a certain place again and again we can go back to our favorite haunts.

Family travel is not as daunting as it may seem if you just plan ahead a little and make it an enjoyable experience for everyone.

Random Thoughts From The Road

Each year I have an opportunity to come to Louisville for a week on business. But there's also almost always a little fun mixed in. Of course, it's as much about the journey as it is the destination.

We came a different way than usual this year driving through West Virginia. It's a beautiful state that is wrongly maligned. The only drawback for travelers is that that there are stetches of highway that have very little to offer travelers to see except lots of scenery.

We made an unplanned stop in Charleston and ended up stumbling upon a treasure. The Capitol Market is a wonderful farmer's market open seven days a week. In addition, they have some incredible indoor shops as well. We picked up sandwiches at Johnnie's Fresh Meat Market that were truly delicious. But the biggest surprise was a Swiss chocolatier (yes, you read that correctly). Holls' Chocolates imports all its chocolate from Switzerland and then fashions all its confections by hand. They are absolutely divine. If you can't get to the store you can always order online.

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The other night we were out at a major sporting goods store shopping for swimsuits. One of the family (I won't embarass them here but they know who they are) forgot their swimsuit. We ended up stumbling on such good deals we bought three. Anyway, when I got to the checkout counter I was a little surprised to see a sign advising shoppers that there were specific limits on how many boxes of ammunition you can buy at one time. Turns out that there has not only been a surge in sales of guns since the November election but now ammo is hard to come by. There's a political statement being made here somewhere.

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Whenever we travel we try to sample local restaurants. In fact, our first night here we didn't waste any time ordering dinner from our favorite pizza joint in Louisville, Wick's Pizza. They have some of the best pizza I've ever tasted.

Sometimes, however, eating out gets old. Since our hotel has a kitchenette, my wife decided to be adventurous and cook dinner for us. This required a trip to the grocery store. While I'm normally frugal when it comes to shopping there is one store that is worth the trip and the price. The Fresh Market is a little more pricey than your average grocery store but it also carries lots of things you can't find anywhere else. If you never visited one be sure to stop in when you get a chance.

Quick Takes 6-13-08

A roundup of random links for your weekend enjoyment......

A look at the 2008 election by the numbers.

According to Marvin Olasky, if Obama wins and the Democrats make big gains in Congress it could be 1933 all over again. That's a very scary prospect.

Jim Geraghty on the character of Barack Obama:

But there’s a pattern emerging here: The Iowa ABC reporter was wrong in presuming Obama had forgotten his flag pin. Voters were at first wrong to think
Obama had seen Wright’s controversial sermons, and then they wrongly and
unfairly judged Wright. Then even if they were proven correct in their assessment of Wright, the press was wrong in “caricaturing” the tone of services at Trinity United. Stephanopoulos was wrong to presume that Obama’s relationship with Ayers was of concern to the voters. Vieira was wrong to accuse Obama of mischaracterizing McCain’s remarks.

No candidate enjoys admitting when he or she is wrong. But one of the ways Obama stood out as more than just a freshman senator when he came to Washington
was his warm humanity, his humility, his willingness to express that “pang of
shame.”

The pang, it seems, is long gone.

If Obama fails to win this election it will not be because of one major issue but all of these minor things added together will be enough for voters to decide that he does not represent the change that they really want.

Meanwhile, LaShawn Barber takes a rare break from her self-imposed moratorium on political blogging to weigh in on the Obama nomination:

I feel no “racial pride” that he’s the first black major party nominee or that he’ll be the first black president of the United States, because values trump race in my world. Anyone who believes it’s OK for “doctors” to crush the heads of infants in the birth canal isn’t getting my vote. If you’re black and pro-life but feel “torn” between racial pride about his nomination and disgust for his pro-death stance, shame on you. Get your priorities straight. (Emphasis original)

I couldn't agree more.

A lot of noise has been made about Senator Jim Webb as a possible running mate for Obama but here are some reasons why that would be an awful pick. Personally, I think former Virginia governor Mark Warner would have been a much better pick. However, since he's almost certain to win the Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Republican John Warner it's not likely he would take the VP nod.

How to combine homeschooling and business travel. We're fortunate that we've been able to do a lot of this as a family. As a result, we have lots of great memories to treasure.

This is long overdue but at the same time it saddens me that it's necessary.

Congratulations to friend of this blog, Tim Ellsworth, whose book God In The Whirlwind about the tornadoes that ripped through the Union University campus has just been published.

Mike Huckabee didn't make the cut as a presidential candidate in 2008 but he does have a new job: political commentator for Fox News.

A plea to save fatherhood.

Hope everyone (especially my fellow Dads) has a terrific Father's Day Weekend.