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It’s amazing how often I need to do this. 

John Walkenbach originally shared this post:

If I, living in Tucson, AZ,  wanted to meet a person who lives in Rhode Island, this site tells me the half-way point: Phillipsburg, MO. You can add other locations, and it will tell you the optimal meeting point for the group.

Let’s Meet in the Middle — GeoMidpoint

Finds the ideal restaurant or other point of interest halfway between two or more addresses. Meet your friend or business contact for lunch.

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I find it interesting that when Tim Keller thinks about the institutions necessary for the emergence of evangelicalism he immediately thinks of “a couple of key seminaries laid the groundwork for the movement, and Crusade, InterVarsity, and Navigators raised up the foot soldiers.” College ministry matters.

The Rise of New Calvinism, the Internet, and Two Other Factors

Tim Challies adds an important element to the ongoing discussion: the internet. I put forth two additional factors: making things free and building organizations.Tim Challies adds an important element…

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First, I find it interesting that the guy is not actually an atheist, although I can understand why they chose the title. Second, I found this bit at the end very insightful:
“Q: Can’t you do a project of this scope at a top university like Caltech?

Koch: No. Universities are great at producing individual scientists who are brilliant at pushing new ideas, but the entire scientific endeavor is constructed on the notion of being hyper-competitive and as different as possible from other people. Otherwise, you don’t get a Ph.D. You don’t get tenure. You don’t get grants. You don’t get papers in high profile journals. So it’s very difficult to focus an enormous amount of research in a disciplined way.”

On Reconciling Atheism and Meaning in the Universe

“Romantic reductionist” neuroscientist Christof Koch discusses the search for meaning in the world of science, and the philosophical influence of working with Francis Crick.

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This is unsurprising, as is other research I have seen suggesting that a surprising number of atheists pray. Disbelieving in God goes against our nature.

Underneath it all, do atheists believe things happen for a reason? — Barking up the wrong tree

Barking up the wrong tree. I want to understand why we do what we do and use the answers to be awesome at life. Happiness · Expertise. About. Eric Barker; First visit? Start here. Bakadesuyo.com is pr…

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I find the idea that students start performing better as soon as they find out the results of the lottery fascinating. So much of life is about perspective and expectations.

Freakonomics » Evidence on School Choice

We then examine the impact attending a chosen school has on student test score outcomes. We find substantial test score gains from attending a charter school and some evidence that choosing and attend…

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I’ve long been a China skeptic because of things such as the ghost cities, but I must confess I never really considered the opportunity costs of their actions the way he highlights them here.

From the excellent Yichuan (Lulu) Wang

You all should be following him, or so it would seem to me. Here are excerpts from his post What China Could Be Building: The real risk is not that the housing won’t be used, but that the crash would…