{"id":6563,"date":"2021-04-30T15:08:51","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T23:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=6563"},"modified":"2021-04-30T15:08:51","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T23:08:51","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-299","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2021\/04\/30\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-299","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 299"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" 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 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>     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<p>This is the 299th installment of these emails. 299 is, I am told, the most pieces into which a simple object (like a cube or a sphere \u2014 something without a weird structure) can be split using 12 straight cuts.&nbsp;<\/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 rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/perell.com\/essay\/why-youre-christian\/\">Why You\u2019re Christian<\/a> (David Perrell, personal blog): \u201c\u2026I\u2019m a tepid non-believer myself.\u2026 [However] I realized that society\u2019s most passionate critics, most of whom claim to be secular, usually have the most Christian values of all. They\u2019ve studied in elite universities, they live in major cities, and they\u2019re proud members of the intelligentsia. Human rights, a centerpiece of their moral outlook, is inconsistent with the rest of their worldview. Though they pride themselves on evidence-based thinking, they\u2019re intellectually bankrupt on the topic of human rights.\u201d<ul><li>Related (at least in my mind): <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/freddiedeboer.substack.com\/p\/what-became-of-atheism-part-one-wearing?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMzIyMjQyLCJwb3N0X2lkIjozNTUzODA0NSwiXyI6IjFrSjdYIiwiaWF0IjoxNjE5NDQzMTE2LCJleHAiOjE2MTk0NDY3MTYsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0yOTU5MzciLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.C05AS5QUb1QcHNWAsUOc7S1l0v3Ep2RtlPheL3PS-8w\">What Became of Atheism, Part One: Wearing the Uniform<\/a> (Freddie deBoer, Substack): \u201c\u2026if God exists then that is the single most important fact in the history of creation and nothing else can take its crown, ever. If a being exists, of whatever nature, who created reality, exists within all of reality, set reality\u2019s physical and moral rules, watches over all of reality, judges all of us on how devout and moral we are, and determines reward and punishment based on that judgement, that clearly is the truth that trumps all other truths. Strange to let it slip out of the debate quietly in the night. But then I suppose that\u2019s culture war; sooner or later the only question that remains is who is on what side of the line, and all the rest dissolves.\u201d<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Justice-related thoughts:<ul><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/frenchpress.thedispatch.com\/p\/the-voice-of-your-brothers-blood\">\u2018The Voice of Your Brother\u2019s Blood Is Crying to Me From the Ground\u2019<\/a> (David French, The Dispatch): \u201c\u2026we can articulate three truths of simple, individual justice. First, a grave wrong creates a moral and spiritual cry for redress. Second, it is the role of government to provide that redress. And third, the government must be impartial, treating \u2018great and small\u2019 alike. All too many Americans are completely unaware of the extent to which the present structures and habits of American law fail to meet those basic obligations, especially when injustice is visited upon the citizen by the&nbsp;state.\u201d<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/04\/24\/opinion\/derek-chauvin-suffering.html?smid=tw-share\">Chauvin Was Convicted. Something Is Still Very Wrong.<\/a> (Elizabeth Bruenig, New York Times): \u201cForgiveness doesn\u2019t feel particularly triumphant. It\u2019s a gift no one wants to be in the position to give; it releases a wrongdoer from moral debt \u2014 for their own good and the common good, not for the sake of the wronged.\u2026 But I want to live in a world where it is possible to forgive and to be forgiven. In fact, I think it\u2019s necessary.\u201d<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.paulgraham.com\/real.html\">The Real Reason to End the Death Penalty<\/a> (Paul Graham, Substack): \u201cBut in practice the debate about the death penalty is not about whether it\u2019s ok to kill murderers. It\u2019s about whether it\u2019s ok to kill innocent people, because at least 4% of people on death row are innocent.\u201d I find this a really interesting line of argument. Clearly we want to have a 100% accuracy rate in all criminal convictions. But is 96% accuracy outrageously intolerable? To the extent that it becomes a persuasive argument against the death penalty isn\u2019t that then also an argument against imprisonment? Or virtually any punishment?<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/article\/2013\/02\/unjust-secular-justice\">Unjust Secular Justice<\/a> (Matthew Schmitz,First Things): \u201cWhile in the colonial era most cases went to trial (and most trials lasted a stunningly short thirty minutes), more and more are now resolved by a plea bargain. Nowhere is our abandonment of colonial ideas of criminal justice more apparent than in no-contest pleas that allow defendants to receive lighter sentences without any admission of guilt.\u201d This is an older book review (2013) but is quite&nbsp;good.<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/gfile.thedispatch.com\/p\/tucker-carlson-tim-scott-policing-reform?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMzIyMjQyLCJwb3N0X2lkIjozNTc0NTE4MSwiXyI6InhXMTh3IiwiaWF0IjoxNjE5Njc3MTgwLCJleHAiOjE2MTk2ODA3ODAsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0xNzgxOSIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.j8JViCmXIRRV6_ZBHo4E0LOpUbw-bTRN3g5wYq62Fv0\">Outrage Overload<\/a> (Jonah Goldberg, The Dispatch): \u201cModern policing\u2014or even policing&nbsp;<em>qua<\/em>&nbsp;policing\u2014owes far less to slave patrolling than NASA owes to Hitler\u2019s rocket program. And yet no one talks about the troubling Nazi roots of modern space exploration, or asks Elon Musk if he\u2019s exorcised the ghost of Werner Von Braun from SpaceX. I have seen this slave patrol thing brought up countless times in interviews, and not once have I seen an interviewer say, \u2018Really?\u2019 never mind, \u2018What the hell are you talking about?\u2019 It\u2019s as batty as any conspiracy theory, and it\u2019s a deliberate attempt to heap innuendo on policing in lieu of making an intelligent argument. And that\u2019s what frustrates me to no end. It\u2019s the job of journalists to call out B.S. when it\u2019s being thrown in their&nbsp;faces.\u201d<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/freddiedeboer.substack.com\/p\/what-became-of-atheism-part-one-wearing?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMzIyMjQyLCJwb3N0X2lkIjozNTUzODA0NSwiXyI6IjFrSjdYIiwiaWF0IjoxNjE5NDQzMTE2LCJleHAiOjE2MTk0NDY3MTYsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0yOTU5MzciLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.C05AS5QUb1QcHNWAsUOc7S1l0v3Ep2RtlPheL3PS-8w\">Where Two or Three Are Gathered<\/a> (William J. Haun&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Daniel L. Chen, Law &amp; Liberty): \u201cOver 40 <em>amicus<\/em> briefs lambasted this embrace of open-ended government surveillance\u2014reflecting an ideological agreement so wide that NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina and Wisconsin Right to Life joined the same brief. On the surface, widespread consensus in favor of associational privacy is surely welcome. But this agreement masks equally widespread, decades-long confusion over how and why the Constitution protects free association.\u201d Quite good, a bit dry. The authors are lawyers with the Becket Fund.<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/22338417\/james-carville-democratic-party-biden-100-days\">\u201cWokeness is a problem and we all know it\u201d<\/a> (Sean Illing interviewing James Carville, Vox): \u201cWe won the White House against a world-historical buffoon. And we came within 42,000 votes of losing. We lost congressional seats. We didn\u2019t pick up state legislatures. So let\u2019s not have an argument about whether or not we\u2019re off-key in our messaging. We are. And we\u2019re off because there\u2019s too much jargon and there\u2019s too much esoterica and it turns people off.\u201d Carville is a legendary Democratic political strategist and he is in full-on old man rant mode&nbsp;here.<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/04\/27\/world\/asia\/India-delhi-covid-cases.html?smid=tw-share\">\u2018This Is a Catastrophe.\u2019 In India, Illness Is Everywhere<\/a>. (Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times): \u201cNew Delhi, India\u2019s sprawling capital of 20 million, is suffering a calamitous surge. A few days ago,&nbsp;the positivity rate hit a staggering 36 percent&nbsp;\u2014 meaning more than one out of three people tested were infected. A month ago, it was less than 3 percent.\u201d&nbsp;<ol><li>Related: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/04\/30\/opinion\/india-covid-crematorium.html?smtyp=cur&amp;smid=tw-nytimes\">\u2018Death Is the Only Truth.\u2019 Watching India\u2019s Funeral Pyres Burn.<\/a> (Aman Sethi, New York Times): \u201cThe Indian government has ordered Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to take down dozens of posts criticizing its handling of the pandemic. But the graphic images of mass cremations have cut through this wall of noise, misinformation and propaganda, capturing what epidemiologists call \u2018excess mortality\u2019 in gruesome detail.\u201d<\/li><\/ol><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/krasnican.substack.com\/p\/columbia-stone\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/krasnican.substack.com\/p\/columbia-stone\">Columbia Stone<\/a> (T.A. Krasnican, Substack): \u201cThis public forgetfulness is the same indifference that in 1938 inspired Adolf Hitler, after issuing orders for his Nazi \u2018death-head formations\u2019 to \u2018send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language,\u2019 to write the famous phrase, \u2018<em>Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?<\/em>\u2019 Public ambivalence about human tragedy emboldened him.\u201d Recommended by a student.<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inquiremore.com\/p\/individualism-is-associated-with\" target=\"_blank\">Individualism is associated with happy countries, but not people<\/a> (Zaid Jilani, Substack): \u201cIn a recently released study, team of researchers studied young adults across four countries \u2014 China, the United States, Russia, and Italy \u2014 starting with the hypothesis that levels of life satisfaction would be higher among individuals who have individualistic values. At the country level, this is indeed what they found. Countries with a higher index of individualistic values had more life satisfaction \u2014 that put America on top, followed by Italy, Russia, and then China. But an entirely different picture emerged when they looked at the individual level. There, they found that individualism had no impact on life satisfaction. Instead, life satisfaction was positively correlated with collectivism, regardless of the wider culture of the country.\u201d My take: Americans are on average happier than the Chinese because of the freedoms which emerge from our individualism, but the happiest individuals in each country are those that freely choose to embrace family and community.&nbsp;<\/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 rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gocomics.com\/pearlsbeforeswine\/2021\/04\/24\">The Road To Hell<\/a> (Pearls Before Swine)<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/All-Scientists-Retire-After-Realizing-The-Science-Is-Now-Settled\/\">All Scientists Forced To Retire After Realizing The Science Is Now Settled<\/a> (Babylon Bee): \u201cOne scientist tried to insist that the science wasn\u2019t settled, but he was labeled as a \u2018science denier\u2019 and kicked off social media.\u201d<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gocomics.com\/nonsequitur\/2021\/04\/24\">Browser History<\/a> (Non Sequitur)<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/johnson-and-johnson-rolls-out-new-no-more-clots-vaccine\/\">Johnson And Johnson Rolls Out New \u2018No More Clots\u2019 Vaccine<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/dilbert.com\/strip\/2021-04-25?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DilbertDailyStrip+%28Dilbert+Daily+Strip%29\">Dilbert Interrupts Women<\/a> (Dilbert)<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/planned-parenthood-distances-themselves-from-margaret-sanger-by-continuing-her-legacy\/\">Planned Parenthood Distances Themselves From Margaret Sanger By Continuing Her Legacy<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/scientist-saying-we-need-to-stop-eating-beef-to-prevent-climate-change-looks-suspiciously-like-a-chick-fil-a-cow-in-a-lab-coat\/\">\u2018We Must Stop Eating Beef To Fight Climate Change,\u2019 Says Scientist Who Looks Suspiciously Like Chick-Fil\u2011A Cow In A Lab Coat<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/imgur.com\/gallery\/o2a23F6\">Masks<\/a> (Imgur)<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eC1BAcOzHyY\">Magnus Carlsen\u2019s Mind-Blowing Memory! World Chess Champion tested<\/a> (YouTube): this is amazing.  Four minutes.<\/li><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/xkcd.com\/2456\/\">Types of Scientific Paper<\/a> (xkcd): this has spawned many derivatives already and is quite funny. I\u2019d love to see one for sermon types.<\/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:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/lifestyle\/food\/no-food-is-healthy-not-even-kale\/2016\/01\/15\/4a5c2d24-ba52-11e5-829c-26ffb874a18d_story.html?tid=pm_pop_b\">No Food Is Healthy. Not Even Kale.<\/a> (Michael Ruhlman, Washington Post): People can be healthy. Food can be nutritious. This is a wonderful essay about how we misuse language to our detriment. If you\u2019re surprised I included this, I believe that our culture has a quasi-religious relationship to health and to food, and I also believe that the use of language is profoundly moral and that our culture is a linguistic mess (to which I know of no finer guide than <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sourcetext.com\/grammarian\/\">The Underground Grammarian<\/a>). (first shared in <a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2016\/01\/22\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-33\">volume 33<\/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>so many entertaining tidbits at the end \u2014 way more than normal<\/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":"Every week I send the students in my ministry stimulating articles to help them think about the world beyond Stanford. You are welcome to check them out.","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":[168,124,204,125,279,191,159,275],"class_list":["post-6563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-america","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-atheism","tag-china","tag-criminal-justice","tag-india","tag-justice","tag-pandemic"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1HR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6563","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=6563"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6569,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6563\/revisions\/6569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}