{"id":6174,"date":"2020-07-24T20:20:17","date_gmt":"2020-07-25T04:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=6174"},"modified":"2020-07-24T20:20:18","modified_gmt":"2020-07-25T04:20:18","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-260","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2020\/07\/24\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-260","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 260"},"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:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2020\/07\/china-xinjiang-province-moral-quandary-for-the-west\/\">China\u2019s Xinjiang Province a Moral Quandary for the West<\/a> (Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review): \u201cThe attempt to place modern slaves in the supply chain of Western luxury goods is an attempt to implicate and morally geld Western nations who would criticize or punish the Chinese Communist Party for its crimes.\u201d<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/uss-university\">USS University<\/a> (Scott Galloway, personal blog): \u201cThere is a dangerous conflation of the discussion about K\u201112 and university reopenings. The two are starkly different. There are strong reasons to reopen K\u201112, and there are stronger reasons to keep universities shuttered.\u201c The author is a business prof at NYU. Recommended by an alumnus.&nbsp;<ul>\n<li>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/archive\/2020\/07\/colleges-are-getting-ready-blame-their-students\/614410\/\">Colleges Are Getting Ready to Blame Their Students<\/a> (Julia Marcus and Jessica Gold, The Atlantic): \u201cStudents will get infected, and universities will rebuke them for it; campuses will close, and students will be blamed for it. Relying on the self-control of young adults, rather than deploying the public-health infrastructure needed to control a disease that spreads easily among people who live, eat, study, and socialize together, is not a safe reopening strategy\u2014and yelling at students for their dangerous behavior won\u2019t help either.\u201d The authors are professors at Harvard and Washington University, respectively.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Vaguely related: <a href=\"https:\/\/polimath.substack.com\/p\/your-states-covid-numbers-in-context\">Your State\u2019s COVID Numbers In Context<\/a> (PoliMath, Substack): \u201cHeadlines are allergic to context and the high-population states get all the attention because they show big numbers (because they are big states). When a smaller state gets any reporting, it is entirely outside any context. In Washington, it was reported that we had 754 new cases and 7 new deaths. Is that a lot? How does that compare to other states?\u201d Very detailed and insightful.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/frenchpress.thedispatch.com\/p\/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-and\">Coronavirus, Conspiracy Theories, and the Ninth Commandment<\/a> (David French, The Dispatch): \u201cChristian teaching about our lives in our workplaces is not primarily about how to obtain a promotion, how to invest our money, or how to start a business. In other words, it\u2019s not about the objectives of economic engagement, though those objectives are important. Instead, the focus is on ministering to colleagues, cultivating faith in adversity, and generally learning how to be salt and light even in sometimes hostile or intimidating environments. [But we don\u2019t do this with politics.]\u201d Recommended by an alumnus, this one was really good.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2020\/07\/16\/8-facts-about-religion-and-government-in-the-united-states\/\">8 facts about religion and government in the United States<\/a> (Dalia Fahmy, Pew Research Center): \u201cWhile the U.S. Constitution does not mention God, every state constitution references either God or the divine. God also appears in the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance and on U.S. currency.\u201d Recommended by a student.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.getreligion.org\/getreligion\/2020\/7\/21\/where-is-the-mainstream-news-coverage-of-current-surge-of-catholic-church-vandalism\">Where is the national news coverage of current surge of vandalism at Catholic churches?<\/a> (Clemente Lisi, GetReligion): \u201cWho\u2019s responsible for this anti-Catholic violence? Is it Muslim terrorists? Neo-Nazis? Left-wing radicals? Are these isolated incidents or part of a coordinated attack? We don\u2019t know because the elite newsrooms with the talent and resources to handle this kind of investigation are missing in action, in this case.\u2026 One has to wonder how these incidents would have been covered had they been mosques? What about public schools? Or say Planned Parenthood facilities?\u201d&nbsp;<ul>\n<li>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crisismagazine.com\/2020\/roman-catholics-the-original-abolitionists\">Roman Catholics: The Original Abolitionists<\/a> (Paul Kengor, Crisis Magazine): \u201cLast weekend, one of Serra\u2019s mission churches in California went up in flames, with the cause of the fire not yet known. In the last few days, a statue of Mary was set on fire in Boston and another was vandalized in Brooklyn (among others). As to what Mary has to do with the modern anti-statue-racism movement is anyone\u2019s guess. Nonetheless, if the issue is (rightly so) a just condemnation of slavery and racism, and if one is genuinely seeking accurate history, then today\u2019s activists ought to look back in admiration at the impressive track record of the Roman Catholic Church.\u201d The author is a professor of political science at Grove City College. The history of the Catholic Church on the issue of slavery is better than the Protestant church.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bellingcat.com\/news\/americas\/2020\/07\/20\/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-battle-of-portland\/\">What You Need To Know About The Battle of Portland<\/a> (Robert Evans, Bellingcat): \u201cI reported on the fighting in Mosul back in 2017, and what happened that night in the streets of Portland was, of course, not nearly as brutal or dangerous as actual combat. Yet it was about as close as you can get without using live ammunition.\u201c A significant qualifier at the end of that sentence, interesting nonetheless.&nbsp;<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2020\/07\/23\/portlands-protests-were-supposed-be-about-black-lives-now-theyre-white-spectacle\/\">Portland\u2019s protests were supposed to be about black lives. Now, they\u2019re white spectacle.<\/a> (E.D. Mondain\u00e9, Washington Post): \u201cWe welcome our white brothers and sisters in this struggle. In fact, we need them. But I must ask them to remain humbly attuned to the opportunity of this moment \u2014 and to reflect on whether any actions they take will truly help establish justice, or whether they are simply for show.\u201d The author is president of the Portland branch of the&nbsp;NAACP.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/world-nation\/story\/2020-07-19\/portland-protest-naked-athena\">Out of Portland tear gas, an apparition emerges, capturing the imagination of protesters<\/a> (Los Angeles Times): \u201cShe emerged as an apparition from clouds of tear gas as federal agents fired pepper balls at angry protesters in the early Saturday darkness. A woman wearing nothing but a black face mask and a stocking cap strode toward a dozen heavily armed agents attired in camouflage fatigues, lined up across a downtown Portland street.\u201d Portland gonna&nbsp;port.<\/li>\n<li>Tangentially Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/07\/17\/opinion\/policing-crime-baltimore.html\">American Crime and the Baltimore Model<\/a> (Bret Stephens, New York Times): \u201cIdealists may hope these changes will eliminate police brutality as communities find better ways to prevent crime than deterrence and force. But on the hunch that human nature hasn\u2019t changed, that isn\u2019t going to happen. Criminals, fearing less, will continue to prey on others. Police, fearing more, will hold back from doing their jobs. Those with means to leave their neighborhoods, will. Those without the means will suffer.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/forward.com\/opinion\/451099\/a-new-intelligentsia-is-pushing-back-against-wokeness\/\">A new intelligentsia is pushing back against wokeness<\/a> (Batya Ungar-Sargon, Forward): \u201cThe anti-woke Black intelligentsia is leading a counter-culture to a woke hegemony and the online culture that popularized it. But their views hew more closely to those of most Black Americans than the new antiracism. Polling has long indicated that white liberals express radically more liberal views on racial and social issues than their Black and Latino neighbors.\u201d Very interesting interviews.&nbsp;<ul>\n<li>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/taibbi.substack.com\/p\/the-left-is-now-the-right\">The Left is Now the Right<\/a> (Matt Taibbi, Substack): \u201cThings we once despised about the right have been amplified a thousand-fold on the flip. Conservatives once tried to legislate what went on in your bedroom; now it\u2019s the left that obsesses over sexual codicils, not just for the bedroom but everywhere. Right-wingers from time to time made headlines campaigning against everything from The Last Temptation of Christ to \u2018Fuck the Police,\u2019 though we laughed at the idea that Ice Cube made cops literally unsafe\u2026 today Matt Yglesias signing a group letter with Noam Chomsky is considered threatening.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ev373c7wSRg\">When Wokes and Racists Actually Agree on Everything<\/a> (Ryan Long Comedy, YouTube) : two minutes of brilliance<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/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:\/\/www.gocomics.com\/pearlsbeforeswine\/2020\/07\/23\">Pandemic Perspective<\/a> (Pearls Before Swine)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/imgur.com\/gallery\/X4EvjxH\">Special omelettes<\/a> (Imgur)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=V-2Oam99Zjw\">Points for Not Cheating On Me<\/a> (Taylor Tomlinson, YouTube): two minutes<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smbc-comics.com\/comic\/bread-and-circuses\">Bread and Circuses<\/a> (SMBC)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/man-who-reads-news-and-social-media-all-day-unsure-why-hes-so-depressed\/\">Man Who Just Reads News And Social Media All Day Unsure Why He\u2019s So Depressed<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/xkcd.com\/2336\/\">Campfire Habitable Zone<\/a> (xkcd)<\/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=\"http:\/\/slatestarcodex.com\/2018\/07\/03\/ssc-journal-club-dissolving-the-fermi-paradox\/\">Dissolving the Fermi Paradox<\/a> (Scott Alexander, Slate Star Codex): \u201cImagine we knew God flipped a coin. If it came up heads, He made 10 billion alien civilization. If it came up tails, He made none besides Earth. Using our one parameter Drake Equation, we determine that on average there should be 5 billion alien civilizations. Since we see zero, that\u2019s quite the paradox, isn\u2019t it? No. In this case the mean is meaningless. It\u2019s not at all surprising that we see zero alien civilizations, it just means the coin must have landed tails. SDO say that relying on the Drake Equation is the same kind of error.\u201d&nbsp; First shared in <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2018\/07\/06\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-159\">volume 159<\/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>From naked protestors in Portland to slavery in China to theological reflections on conspiracy theories.&nbsp;<\/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":"Articles on everything from naked protestors in Portland to slavery in China to theological reflections on conspiracy theories. 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