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 10-14-13

Grab a bite to eat and get free books, are Navy SEALs quieter than ninjas, what saying "I" frequently says about you, and more in today's roundup of links.

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This is a neat idea. Visitors to the Traveler Restaurant in Union, CT get three free books with their meal. Road trip, anyone?

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"Angelina's a human dynamo"

Universal Pictures has released the above photo of Angelina Jolie and Louis Zamperini. Jolie is directing the film adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand's bestseller Unbroken which is about World War II veteran Zamperini. According to this Daily Mail article, the two have become close friends during the production process. The book was terrific. I hope the movie does Zamperini justice.

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Is a Navy SEAL quieter than a ninja? A six-year old boy, in order to settle an argument with a friend, went right to the source: he wrote to Admiral William McRaven, head of U. S. Special Operations Command.  Admiral McRaven, to his credit, wrote back. His answer?

"I think ninjas are probably quieter than SEALs, but we are better swimmers, and also better with guns and blowing things up."

Indeed.

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Author Malcolm Gladwell reveals in an interview that he has returned to Christian faith. It's an interesting article.

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Tim Challies has young children and has a burden to protect his family from pornography. He lays out the steps he's taken in this very honest post.

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Saying "I" a lot says more about you than you think (and not necessarily in the way you think):

You probably don't think about how often you say the word "I."

You should. Researchers say that your usage of the pronoun says more about you than you may realize.

Surprising new research from the University of Texas suggests that people who often say "I" are less powerful and less sure of themselves than those who limit their use of the word. Frequent "I" users subconsciously believe they are subordinate to the person to whom they are talking.

Pronouns, in general, tell us a lot about what people are paying attention to, says James W. Pennebaker, chair of the psychology department at the University of Texas at Austin and an author on the study. Pronouns signal where someone's internal focus is pointing, says Dr. Pennebaker, who has pioneered this line of research. Often, people using "I" are being self-reflective. But they may also be self-conscious or insecure, in physical or emotional pain, or simply trying to please.

Hat tip: Acculturated