On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my way.
Things Glen Found Interesting
- The Christian in a Therapeutic Age (Ian Harber, Mere Orthodoxy): “What are ways that Christians can live, witness, and navigate the complexities of a therapeutic culture? I believe there are at least three. 1) Occupy a different existential space, 2) Embody a different story, and 3) Cultivate a different quality of life.… The therapeutic culture is trying to solve real ailments. We’re more fractured, isolated, and devoid of meaning-making roles and institutions than ever before. The digital age has raptured us from our bodies and communities and drained us of the very things that make us human. But the good truth for our time—and all eternity—is that the God-human, Jesus, has made a way for us to recover our humanity”
- Researchers turn mouse scalp transparent to image brain development (Stanford News): “Now, by simply rubbing a solution into a juvenile mouse’s scalp, researchers at Stanford can make the skin transparent to all visible light, allowing them to image the developing connections in a living mouse’s brain. And because the technique is reversible and non-invasive, the researchers can return to the same animal over days and weeks.”
- Chi Alpha alumnus and Stanford professor Guosong Hong at it again!
- Robin Westman and the Rise of American Nihilism (Peter Savodnik, The Free Press): “All that finger-pointing obscures a deeper point: Westman seems to have been driven by an all-consuming, destructive force, a nihilism—the conviction that life is meaningless; that words like truth, justice and God are empty slogans; that everything must be razed. Nihilism is not some obscure academic notion. It stretches back to the 19th century—early Russian radicals were called nihilists—and it has waxed and waned across the past 150 years. Today, you can feel the nihilist impulse coursing through America, which has been mostly stripped of its faith and a shared national culture and has seen once-great institutions—universities, corporations, churches, nonprofit organizations, the media, the military—become engulfed in scandal and politicization.”
- They Became Symbols for Gazan Starvation. But All 12 Suffer from Other Health Problems. (Olivia Reingold and Tanya Lukyanova, The Free Press): “Uncovering this missing context didn’t require in-depth, on-the-ground reporting—or months of investigative work. It took minutes, and required nothing more than a computer with a stable internet connection. We simply ran the story subjects’ names through Google Translate to get the Arabic spelling, then searched those names in Arabic-language media. Even a quick scan of the results revealed that many of these children suffer from muscle atrophy, head injuries, or other serious medical conditions that help explain their emaciated appearance.”
- A follow-up: Journalists Against Journalism (The Free Press): “Journalistic outlets love to boast about ‘impact,’ and this story has had more than its share.… In a normal time, this is the kind of work that would be praised by our peers for getting to ground truth. But we don’t live in normal times. And that is not how some of our colleagues in the news media saw things.… You’ll notice one important aspect about the uproar: No one is disputing the facts in our piece.”
- Two on China (or more specifically, the Chinese Communist Party):
- How China Influences Elections in America’s Biggest City (Michael Forsythe, Jay Root, Bianca Pallaro & David A. Fahrenthold, New York Times): “In New York City, social clubs backed by China undermined a congressional candidate who once challenged the regime on Chinese television. They helped unseat a state senator for attending a banquet with the president of Taiwan. And they condemned a City Council candidate on social media for supporting Hong Kong democracy. In the past few years, these organizations have quietly foiled the careers of politicians who opposed China’s authoritarian government while backing others who supported policies of the country’s ruling Communist Party.”
- I’m a Stanford student. A Chinese agent tried to recruit me as a spy (Elsa Johnson, The Times): “After that I started screenshotting our conversations. I was beginning to suspect that Charles might be working for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and he could be trying to recruit me as a spy. I know it sounds paranoid, but I had heard of other Stanford students receiving communications like this out of the blue — especially those studying science, tech, engineering or mathematics.…. Thanks to American universities’ open-door policy, Chinese academics are allowed to collaborate with our smartest researchers and scientists, and take our advancements in AI, robotics, weaponry and nuclear technology back home. This is not an exaggeration — it’s the conclusion of a report on the CCP published last September by the House select committee on the CCP.”
- The Wrong Definition of Love (David Brooks, New York Times): “In [our therapy-driven] culture people are naturally going to define love as the feeling they get when somebody satisfies their craving for positive and tender attention, not as something they selflessly give to another. In other, less self-oriented cultures, and in other times, love was seen as something closer to self-abnegation than to self-comfort. It was seen as a force so powerful that it could overcome our natural selfishness.”
- As Stanford lays off workers, 18 employees made $1 million or more (Top 25 listed) (Braden Cartwright, Palo Alto Daily Post): “At a time when Stanford is firing employees to save money, newly released IRS documents show the university paid 18 employees $1 million or more in the previous fiscal year. Stanford announced in July that it was laying off 363 employees this fall as part of a $140 million budget cut caused by reduced federal research funding and a higher endowment tax.”
Less Serious Things Which Also Interested/Amused Glen
- Catastrophe (Pearls Before Swine)
- There’s a Simple Trick to Unshrink Your Clothes, Thanks to Science (Nisa Salim, ScienceAlert): “If a favourite garment has shrunk in the wash, you can try to rescue it with this simple method. Gently soak the item in lukewarm water mixed with hair conditioner or baby shampoo (approximately one tablespoon per litre). Then, carefully stretch the fabric back into shape and dry it flat or under gentle tension – for example, by pegging the garment to a drying rack.”
- Reading this article is like reading one of those recipe blogs that goes on and on before it gets to the point, but the final bit is interesting.
- Genera (SMBC)
- Man Fulfills The Great Commission By Occasionally Wearing Novelty Christian T‑Shirt In Public (Babylon Bee)
- Bill Belichick’s Girlfriend, 24, Wants to Trademark ‘Gold Digger’ (Amber Lewis, The Daily Beast): “Jordon Hudson wants to make some gold from the gold-digging accusations levied at her amid her relationship with Bill Belichick, who is estimated to be worth $70 million. The former cheerleader, 24, filed a trademark application this week through the company she manages, TCE Rights Management, to cash in on her ‘gold digger’ epithet. If her bid is successful, she will launch her own trademarked jewelry and key chains line, People reports.”
- Seeing infrared: scientists create contact lenses that grant ‘super-vision’ (Ian Sample, The Guardian): “In previous work, the research team gave mice near-infrared vision by injecting upconversion nanoparticles under the retina, the light-sensitive membrane at the back of the eye. But noting that this ‘may not be readily accepted by humans,’ they searched for a less invasive strategy. Writing in the journal Cell, the scientists describe how they made soft contact lenses seeded with upconversion nanoparticles. When worn, people could see Morse code-like signals flashed from an infrared LED and tell what direction infrared light came from. Their infrared vision improved when they closed their eyes, because eyelids block visible light more than infrared, so there was less visible light to interfere.”
- The article is a few months old. Wild times.
Why Do You Send This Email?
In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.
Disclaimer
Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent. Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it. If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.