{"id":6073,"date":"2020-06-12T20:07:45","date_gmt":"2020-06-13T04:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=6073"},"modified":"2020-06-12T20:07:46","modified_gmt":"2020-06-13T04:07:46","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-254","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2020\/06\/12\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-254","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 254"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4396\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=2048&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=1680&amp;ssl=1 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"><\/a>\n\n    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&nbsp;way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"simple-list wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/ifstudies.org\/blog\/what-unites-most-graduates-of-selective-colleges-an-intact-family\">What Unites Most Graduates of Selective Colleges? An Intact Family<\/a> (Nicholas Zill &amp; Brad Wilcox, Institute for Family Studies): \u201c\u2026 even after controlling for parent education, family income, and student race and ethnicity, being raised by one\u2019s married birth parents provides an additional boost to one\u2019s chances of getting through Princeton.\u201d<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/providencemag.com\/2020\/06\/what-christians-must-remember-nuclear-weapons-arms-control\/\">What Christians Must Remember about Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control<\/a> (Peter Feaver &amp; William Inboden &amp; Michael Singh, Providence): \u201cBefore embracing calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons, thoughtful Christians must confront two uncomfortable facts. First, we live in a fallen world in which the threats we face are changing, and arguably growing. Second, the envelope of peace and security in which free societies have thrived for the past eight decades is not self-sustaining\u2014one need only view the recent decline of democracies and rise of authoritarian threats from Russia and China. One can detest nuclear weapons and still see their strategic value.\u201d The authors are, respectively, a professor of political science at Duke, a professor of public policy at UT Austin, and a senior fellow at a thinktank.<\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/rodneybrooks.com\/peer-review\/\">Peer Review<\/a> (Rodney Brooks, personal blog): \u201cI came to realize that the editor\u2019s job was real, and it required me to deeply understand the topic of the paper, and the biases of the reviewers, and not to treat the referees as having the right to determine the fate of the paper themselves. As an editor I had to add judgement to the process at many steps along the way, and to strive for the process to improve the papers, but also to let in ideas that were new.\u201d The author is a professor emeritus of robotics at&nbsp;MIT.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jkrowling.com\/opinions\/j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues\/\">JK Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues<\/a> (JK Rowling, personal blog): \u201c\u2026I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode \u2018woman\u2019 as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it.\u201d<\/li><li>More on the NY Times tangle last week and what it reveals about our society&nbsp;<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2020\/6\/10\/21284651\/new-york-times-tom-cotton-media-liberal-conservative-black-lives-matter\">America is changing, and so is the media<\/a> (Ezra Klein, Vox): \u201cThe news media likes to pretend that it simply holds up a mirror to America as it is. We don\u2019t want to be seen as actors crafting the political debate, agents who make decisions that shape the boundaries of the national discourse. We are, of course. We always have&nbsp;been.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/2020\/06\/case-for-liberalism-tom-cotton-new-york-times-james-bennet.html\">The Still-Vital Case for Liberalism in a Radical Age<\/a> (Jonathan Chait, NY Magazine): \u201c\u2026it is an error to jump from the fact that right-wing authoritarian racism is far more important to the conclusion that left-wing illiberalism is completely unimportant. One can oppose different evils, even those evils aligned against each other, without assigning them equal weight.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/maxpolicy.substack.com\/p\/issue-45-why-everybody-hates-the\">Why everyone hates the mainstream media<\/a> (Andrew Potter, Policy for Pandemics): \u201cIt\u2019s not a coincidence that lawyers, journalists, and politicians are routinely ranked as the most disliked professions in the world. It\u2019s because the law is not about justice, politics is not about democracy, and the news is not about information. But in each case, that is what emerges, by harnessing the status-conscious competitive natures of the participants.\u201d The author is a former journalist and editor.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/li><li>Thoughts on race and racism:&nbsp;<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/article\/george-floyd-and-me\/\">George Floyd and Me<\/a> (Shai Linn, Gospel Coalition): \u201cThough I\u2019m deeply grieved, I am not without hope. Personally, I have little confidence in our government or policymakers to change the systemic factors that contributed to the George Floyd situation. But my hope isn\u2019t in the government. My hope is in the&nbsp;Lord.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/frenchpress.thedispatch.com\/p\/american-racism-weve-got-so-very\">American Racism: We\u2019ve Got So Very Far to Go<\/a> (David French, The Dispatch): \u201cIf politically correct progressives are often guilty of over-racializing American public discourse, and they are, politically correct conservatives commit the opposite sin\u2014and they filter out or angrily reject all the information that contradicts their thesis.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2020\/06\/04\/condoleezza-rice-moment-confront-race-america\/?utm_campaign=wp_week_in_ideas&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=newsletter&amp;wpisrc=nl_ideas\">This moment cries out for us to confront race in America<\/a> (Condoleezza Rice, Washington Post): \u201cStill, we simply must acknowledge that society is not color-blind and probably never will be. Progress comes when people treat one another with respect, as if we were color-blind. Unless and until we are honest that race is still an anchor around our country\u2019s neck, that shadow will never be lifted. Our country has a birth defect: Africans and Europeans came to this country together \u2014 but one group was in chains.\u201d She is, of course, a fellow believer and also a Stanford professor who will soon be the director of the Hoover Institution.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/blogs\/kevin-deyoung\/racial-unrest\/\">Our Present Moment: Why Is It So Hard?<\/a> (Kevin DeYoung, Gospel Coalition): \u201cI\u2019m thinking more broadly about why race in this country is so difficult, and in particular difficult even between people of good will, between people in your church of a different color. I\u2019m thinking about people who agree on so many other things. And you sing the same songs and you really love Jesus together. And you read the same Bible, and you really are together for the gospel. So why is it so divisive?\u201d Some really good thoughts in&nbsp;here.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/li><li>On the protests&nbsp;<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/outlook\/2020\/06\/11\/protests-started-out-looking-like-1968-they-turned-into-1964\/\">The protests started out looking like 1968. They turned into 1964.<\/a> (Omar Wasow, Washington Post): \u201cFor a growing international movement trying to draw attention to the long history of racist and brutal policing, nonviolence in the face of police repression is an exceedingly difficult strategy to sustain. Evidence from the 1960s, however \u2014 and perhaps this month, too \u2014 suggests using such tactics to generate media coverage of a pressing social problem can be a powerful tool for building a coalition for social change.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2020\/jun\/08\/we-often-accuse-the-right-of-distorting-science-but-the-left-changed-the-coronavirus-narrative-overnight\">We often accuse the right of distorting science. But the left changed the coronavirus narrative overnight<\/a> (Thomas Chatterton Williams, The Guardian): \u201cTwo weeks ago we shamed people for being in the street; today we shame them for not being in the street.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenewatlantis.com\/publications\/tribalism-comes-for-pandemic-science\">Tribalism Comes for Pandemic Science<\/a> (Yuval Levin, The New Atlantis): \u201cThese public health professionals are simply admitting that their views on the health risks of large gatherings depend on the political valence of those gatherings. Rather than compartmentalize their professional judgment from their political priorities \u2014 explaining the risks of large protests regardless of their political content and then separately and in a different context expressing whatever views they might have about that content \u2014 they openly deny not only the possibility but even the desirability of detached professional advice. This kind of attitude inevitably makes it much harder for the public to assess scientific claims about the pandemic through anything other than a political lens.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gfile.thedispatch.com\/p\/the-growing-chazm-in-seattle\">The Growing CHAZm in Seattle<\/a> (Jonah Goldberg, The Dispatch): \u201cIt took activists less than 24 hours to discover that even their make-believe Duchy of Grand Fenwoke relies on the basic building blocks of any polity. If Seattle\u2019s supine and sausage-spined political leadership allows this experiment to continue, pretty soon you can expect the emergence of currency, taxes, even some kind of charter or constitution. It wouldn\u2019t shock me if they ended up creating rudimentary courts or even a jail.\u201d Goldberg is an expert at the meandering rant.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.city-journal.org\/antifa-seattle-capitol-hill-autonomous-zone\">Anarchy In Seattle<\/a> (Christopher Rufo, City Journal): \u201cThe Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone has set a dangerous precedent: armed left-wing activists have asserted their dominance of the streets and established an alternative political authority over a large section of a neighborhood. They have claimed de facto police power over thousands of residents and dozens of businesses\u2014completely outside of the democratic process. In a matter of days, Antifa-affiliated paramilitaries have created a hardened border, established a rudimentary form of government based on principles of intersectional representation, and forcibly removed unfriendly media from the territory.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/web-exclusives\/2020\/06\/a-dark-cloud-for-democracy\">A Dark Cloud For Democracy<\/a> (Carl Trueman, First Things): \u201c\u2026this does not entirely explain why Minneapolis and not Hong Kong has grabbed the imagination of British youth. After all, Hong Kong is a much more recent part of the British narrative; one can watch the dismantling of Hong Kong\u2019s constitution online and on the television; and an extremely good case can be made that the British government is more responsible for that mess and its potential amelioration than for the chaos in the Minneapolis police department. After all, the British can actually do something about it\u2014as Boris Johnson\u2019s pledge on immigration to the U.K. from Hong Kong indicates. So why Minneapolis, not Hong&nbsp;Kong?\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/if-we-want-better-policing-were-going-to-have-to-spend-more-not-less\/2020\/06\/10\/4205da14-ab5a-11ea-9063-e69bd6520940_story.html\">If we want better policing, we\u2019re going to have to spend more, not less<\/a> (Megan McArdle, Washington Post): \u201cReform is thus more likely to stick if we co-opt the unions rather than trying to break them. Instead of \u2018defund the police,\u2019 what if we offloaded the nonjudicial parts of their work, like dealing with the homeless and the mentally ill, to social workers, and then \u2018stuffed their mouths with gold\u2019 to reform the policing part? We could offer a significant salary boost in exchange for accepting stricter standards and oversight, which wouldn\u2019t just ease the political obstacles, but possibly attract higher-quality candidates to the police force.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/defund-police-reform-poll_n_5ee28787c5b6f4c439ac4a0b\">Most Americans Want Police Reform But Don\u2019t Back \u2018Defund The Police\u2019<\/a> (Ariel Edwards-Levy and Kevin Robillard, Huffington Post): \u201cA near-universal majority of Americans support at least some changes to policing in the United States following the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police, a new HuffPost\/YouGov poll finds. There is majority support for proposals circulating in Congress to ban chokeholds and make it easier to track and charge officers accused of misconduct. But the idea of \u2018defunding the police\u2019 has little support from the public.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/when-police-stop-policing\/\">Police Brutality: The Ferguson Effect<\/a> (Robert Verbruggen, National Review): \u201cThere\u2019s a temptation in some quarters to think this issue is like gay marriage or marijuana legalization, where there\u2019s a turning point in public opinion and a rapid shift in policy and then everyone wonders what the big deal ever was. See, for example, Tim Alberta\u2019s piece in <em>Politico <\/em>today, which bizarrely claims we may be seeing the \u2018last stand\u2019 of law-and-order Republicans and draws those two parallels explicitly. But crime isn\u2019t like that. When the streets become unsafe, public opinion shifts back in favor of the folks who stand between the innocents and the bad&nbsp;guys.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Less Serious Things Which Also Interested\/Amused Glen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"simple-list wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/dilbert.com\/strip\/2020-06-11\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How Truth Is<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Dilbert)<\/span><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.privateislandsonline.com\/search?availability=sale\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Private Islands For Sale Worldwide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 this is real. Brought to my attention by a student.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Magic videos:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WIxrIM3dGuQ\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Magician Florian Sainvet Performs Mind-Bending Magic With CDs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (America\u2019s Got Talent, YouTube): two and a half minutes<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SkC3jjD7f6w\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shin Lim vs Spidey<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (YouTube): ten minutes<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=38e1vtztrwM\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shin Lim vs Alex Magix<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (YouTube): seven minutes<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EvBkkP8oFXw\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shin Lim vs Horret Wu<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (YouTube): twelve minutes<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=n8LBkdRmuR8\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shin Lim vs Takumi Takahashi<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (YouTube): ten and a half minutes<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things Glen Found Interesting A While&nbsp;Ago<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Every week I\u2019ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/code-for-america\/the-problem-with-dull-knives-whats-the-defense-department-got-to-do-with-code-for-america-aefe6fe0bf1f\">The Problem with Dull Knives: What\u2019s the Defense Department got to do with Code for America?<\/a> (Jennifer Pahlka, Medium): \u201cI have a distinct memory of being a kid in the kitchen with my mom, awkwardly and probably dangerously wielding a knife, trying to cut some tough vegetable, and defending my actions by saying the knife was dull anyway. My mom stopped me and said firmly, \u2018Jenny, a dull knife is much more dangerous than a sharp knife. You\u2019re struggling and using much more force than you should, and that knife is going to end up God Knows Where.\u2019 She was right, of course\u2026. But having poor tools [for the military] doesn\u2019t make us fight less; it makes us fight badly.\u201d (some emphasis in the original removed). Highly recommended. <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2018\/06\/08\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-155\">First shared in volume 155<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Why Do You Send This&nbsp;Email?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors \u201cwho understood the times and knew what Israel should do\u201d (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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Disclaimer<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey\u2019s agenda and we are not about the elephant\u2019s agenda \u2014 we are about the Lamb\u2019s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass <a href=\"http:\/\/econlog.econlib.org\/archives\/2011\/06\/the_ideological.html\">the ideological Turing test<\/a> and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say \u201cI agree\u201d or \u201cI disagree\u201d until I can say \u201cI understand\u201d) 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\u2019ll 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.\n\nAlso, remember that I\u2019m not reporting news \u2014 I\u2019m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There\u2019s a lot happening in the world that\u2019s not making an appearance here because I haven\u2019t found stimulating articles written about it.\n\nIf this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/\">here<\/a>. You can also <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/category\/links\">view the archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The less timely stuff is up top this time and there are a lot of magic videos at the bottom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Overwhelmed with the regular news? The less timely stuff is up top this time and there are a lot of magic videos at the bottom.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[131,124,140,189,221,113,207,275,215,172,141],"class_list":["post-6073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-academia","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-culture","tag-family","tag-journalism","tag-lgbtq","tag-military","tag-pandemic","tag-police","tag-racism","tag-sociology"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1zX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6073"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6077,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6073\/revisions\/6077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}