{"id":7167,"date":"2023-03-31T15:28:58","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T22:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7167"},"modified":"2023-03-31T15:28:58","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T22:28:58","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-396","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2023\/03\/31\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-396","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 396"},"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>396 is <a href=\"https:\/\/oeis.org\/wiki\/Annotated_version_of_%22What%27s_Special_About_This_Number%3F%22_(Part_0)\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/oeis.org\/wiki\/Annotated_version_of_%22What%27s_Special_About_This_Number%3F%22_(Part_0)\">apparently<\/a> the number of 3x3 sliding puzzle positions that require exactly 11 moves to solve starting with a hole in the center. I have not verified that&nbsp;claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/03\/26\/opinion\/christianity-global-demographics.html?unlocked_article_code=ZuJ1HjYP2zuy2LzBKTmU4cpuyzl_4N94cNL5dBCNui-MbqO7cESJlRCu076b04wSNqL4tJ8LRe96TTMTtog4QpQuvLxfhBnFzhZapOmYFZcXCIDbjTCSFtESHAWaG5mTv8MBgVInDl6oMH14CBoeIgesvHbkmA5t1WsH9g5RVDSZqEyPvQMee7jtwk74U6Us4SdRuEDn_F1Uu2G0t-osGvPe_of7njQLQ4lM45Vp1NnFAI9Cw7bxZb7kLT-h2Bp7vCRWHS_w8tqSfjywT6RkilTi_f8G5B15_BvKPQnmOaSkfdyGqHjtbUxKVGcFvOdES_8K5m0_QXnIANxGQG540M7QlrD6Yv-GCPU&amp;smid=url-share\" target=\"_blank\">The Global Transformation of Christianity Is Here<\/a> (Tish Harrison Warren, The New York Times): \u201cMultiple scholars point to Western Europe as an example of what\u2019s to come in the United States. Today, the three largest Protestant churches in Paris are Afro-Caribbean evangelical megachurches of a charismatic or Pentecostal bent. A study last year examined Chinese churches in Britain that were experiencing exponential growth, sometimes doubling or tripling in size in a few years. Last April, the Italian Chinese Theological Seminary opened in Rome to train Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking pastors. Some of the largest megachurches in metro London are led by Africans, including Kingsway International Christian Center, which is led by a Nigerian, Matthew Ashimolowo, and is most likely the largest church in Europe.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I have unlocked this&nbsp;one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The school shooting in Nashville was the defining news event of the week. This story is a tragedy featuring three hot-button topics: trans issues, Christian persecution, and guns. A lot more is going to come out about this and people on the left and the right are going to lose their minds trying to spin it. If you see something that thoughtfully explores one or more of these elements let me know. Here are some reflections on it that I have found interesting so&nbsp;far.&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/news\/2023\/march\/covenant-school-mass-shooting-nashville.html\" target=\"_blank\">Presbyterian School Mourns 6 Dead in Nashville Shooting<\/a> (Daniel Silliman and Kate Shellnutt, Christianity Today): \u201cAt Woodmont Baptist, not long after they heard the sirens whir by, pastors and staff read reports of a shooting at Covenant. When they saw on Twitter that their church was named as the reunification site, they didn\u2019t question it\u2014they just put on their nametags, met police in the parking lot, and prepared to open their doors to buses of surviving children and parents desperate to see their kids safe and sound, senior pastor Nathan Parker told CT. The children gathered in the fellowship hall, where the student minister handed out coloring sheets and began processing the shooting with&nbsp;them.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/03\/27\/us\/nashville-shooting-covenant-school.html\" target=\"_blank\">Heavily Armed Assailant Kills Six at Christian School<\/a> (Emily Cochrane, Ben Shpigel, Michael Levenson and Jesus Jim\u00e9nez, New York Times): \u201cChief Drake said that the assailant was \u2018at one point a student\u2019 at the school.\u2026 There was confusion about the gender identity of the assailant in the immediate aftermath of the attack. Chief Drake said the shooter identified as transgender. Officials used \u201cshe\u201d and \u201cher\u201d to refer to the shooter, but, according to a social media post and a LinkedIn profile, the shooter appeared to identify as male in recent months.\u2026 Chief Drake said it was too early to discuss a possible motive for the shooting, though he confirmed that the attack was targeted.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.getreligion.org\/getreligion\/2023\/3\/29\/heeding-the-nashville-shooters-own-voice-do-journalists-want-the-manifesto-released\" target=\"_blank\">Heeding the Nashville shooter\u2019s own voice: Do journalists want the \u2018manifesto\u2019 released<\/a>? (Terry Mattingly, GetReligion): \u201cUnder normal circumstances, journalists would be doing everything that they can to answer the \u2018why\u2019 question in this case, including calling for the release of Hale\u2019s manifesto text and other materials linked to the attack. But these are not normal circumstances.\u2026 Unless I have missed something, the AP coverage \u2014 the news material that will appear in most local newspapers \u2014 have made zero references to the shooter\u2019s own social-media materials. Under normal circumstances, these online sources are one of the first places that reporters raised in the Internet era go for insights into this kind of&nbsp;story.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/newcriterion.com\/blogs\/dispatch\/at-a-loss-for-words\" target=\"_blank\">At a loss for words<\/a> (Joshua Katz, The New Criterion): \u201cI am sorry, therefore, that <em>The<\/em><em>New York Times<\/em>, in its above-the-fold front-page story yesterday, names the shooter before the victims.\u2026 Until we know more about the killer, it would be unwise to speak of her motives, though it is obviously noteworthy that a standard database of mass shootings in the United States since 1966 does not record a single female shooter at a K\u201312 school. (Bizarrely, the main article in the <em>Times<\/em> ignores this fact, instead stating that the shooting was \u2018unusual\u2019 because Covenant is a private elementary school rather than a public high school.)\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Author sound familiar? Katz was a professor at Princeton and is now a fellow at AEI and he\u2019s been mentioned in these weekly roundups before.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/03\/29\/opinion\/nashville-shooting-prayer.html?unlocked_article_code=BMfk-aKo4--LO0BVdjX3Twki-0QSEQxWROftx7bP_LURUM6Kb8V8QFLWjX-cuJc8DNZfA02x3MhcXozzslp1teiop4ACH0xeMshbRrwQawKmylAyPQLR_pNMQm5A4yqovrOJbVGYQ7Y07bgFJPq9cGLWGymj6BcyrnK2CWnCcDfY04HPcHDI77y4zT7c8A_MhjJtJJ5_L1eXlhw7ekeJEZjacJugpFgN_imsntEjKyRdCAxcUQBaUQwApIkLVeww1c1O2QgZ70kEaqKjoQnHhijkjXUuXEKpZKLkpINHtO0o82ktjZxe_1O8hOXIxI575L7A9fqcXHWr-VgzZ-epG3RM4w&amp;smid=url-share\" target=\"_blank\">In the Face of Tragedy, Petitioning God Is an Act of Faith<\/a> (David French, New York Times): \u201cIt is a terrible sign of our polarized times that the very concept of prayer in the midst of tragedy has itself become contentious. \u2018Spare us your prayers,\u2019 some will say. \u2018We demand action.\u2019 But what if people need prayer? What if grieving neighbors are <em>desperate<\/em> for prayer?\u2026 For the faithful believer, prayer isn\u2019t a substitute for action, it\u2019s a prerequisite for action. It grounds us before we move to serve others. It grounds us before we speak in the public square.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I\u2019ve unlocked the paywall on this one. Well worth your&nbsp;time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/roddreher.substack.com\/p\/nashvilles-satanic-theophany?utm_source=%2Finbox&amp;utm_medium=reader2\" target=\"_blank\">Nashville\u2019s Satanic Theophany<\/a> (Rod Dreher, Substack): \u201cListen to me: this has been the strategy of LGBT advocates for more than twenty years now: convince the normies that if they don\u2019t give the activists what they want, that they will have blood on their hands. At the turn of the century, activists convinced schools that in order to combat bullying \u2014 a worthy endeavor \u2014 they had to teach gay ideology. You might have thought, \u2018Really? Why isn\u2019t it enough to teach that bullying is wrong, and to punish bullies?\u2019 The question itself reveals the real motivation behind the campaign.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dreher recently moved entirely to Substack.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Not about the shooting at all, but relevant to thinking about issues surrounding transgender ideology. <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.city-journal.org\/understanding-the-sex-binary\" target=\"_blank\">Understanding the Sex Binary<\/a> (Colin Wright, City Journal): \u201cWhen biologists claim that \u2018sex is binary,\u2019 they mean something straightforward: <em>there are only two sexes<\/em>. This statement is true because an individual\u2019s sex is defined by the type of gamete (sperm or ova) their primary reproductive organs (i.e., gonads) are organized, through development, to produce. Males have primary reproductive organs organized around the production of sperm; females, ova. Because there is no third gamete type, there are only two sexes that a person can be. Sex is therefore binary.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Also not about this shooting but concerning guns in general, the most informative thing I\u2019ve seen is this debate between two pastors on guns that I shared back in <a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2016\/05\/06\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-48\">volume 48<\/a> (you have to click through to see it since it\u2019s multiple links). Many more related articles I\u2019ve shared through the years can be found at <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/tag\/guns\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/tag\/guns\">https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/tag\/guns<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alexmurrell.co.uk\/articles\/the-age-of-average\" target=\"_blank\">The age of average<\/a> (Alex Murrell, personal blog): \u201cThe interiors of our homes, coffee shops and restaurants all look the same. The buildings where we live and work all look the same. The cars we drive, their colours and their logos all look the same. The way we look and the way we dress all looks the same. Our movies, books and video games all look the same. And the brands we buy, their adverts, identities and taglines all look the same. But it doesn\u2019t end there. In the age of average, homogeneity can be found in an almost indefinite number of domains. The Instagram pictures we post, the tweets we read, the TV we watch, the app icons we click, the skylines we see, the websites we visit and the illustrations which adorn them all look the same. The list goes on, and on, and&nbsp;on.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Highly recommended. The accompanying photos are striking.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2023\/04\/03\/how-christian-is-christian-nationalism\" target=\"_blank\">How Christian Is Christian Nationalism?<\/a> (Kelefa Sanneh, The New Yorker): \u201cIf America was once better than it is now, why did our Christian forebears allow it to get worse? In answering this question, Wolfe sometimes sounds more like a critic of the faith than a defender of it.\u2026 Wolfe thinks that there is something \u2018weird\u2019 about the way in which the U.S. and other Western nations reject ethnic chauvinism\u2014officially, anyway\u2014in favor of an \u2018ideology of universality.\u2019 But this weird universality is part of what sets Christianity apart from most other creeds.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An insightful article in the New Yorker. The author is the son of a famous theologian.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thefp.com\/p\/hollywoods-great-awakening?utm_source=%2Finbox&amp;utm_medium=reader2\" target=\"_blank\">Hollywood\u2019s Great Awakening<\/a> (Olivia Reingold, The Free Press): \u201cMade by Christian production house Kingdom Story Company and backed by mega distributor Lionsgate, [Jesus Revolution] earned back its $15 million budget the weekend it opened, when critics predicted it would gross closer to $6 or $7 million. That\u2019s a triumphant performance compared to the weekend debuts of recent blockbusters, like <em>65<\/em>, a sci-fi flick with a $91 million budget that made just $12.3 million, and M. Night Shyamalan\u2019s thriller <em>Knock at the Cabin<\/em>, which brought in $14.1 million. Since its release on February 24, <em>Jesus Revolution<\/em> has grossed $49 million in ticket sales\u2014besting many of this year\u2019s Oscar nominees combined at U.S. box offices.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some AI-related perspectives&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/marginalrevolution.com\/marginalrevolution\/2023\/03\/existential-risk-and-the-turn-in-human-history.html\" target=\"_blank\">Existential risk, AI, and the inevitable turn in human history<\/a> (Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution): \u201cI am reminded of the advent of the printing press, after Gutenberg. Of course the press brought an immense amount of good, enabling the scientific and industrial revolutions, among many other benefits. But it also created writings by Lenin, Hitler, and Mao\u2019s Red Book. It is a moot point whether you can \u2018blame\u2019 those on the printing press, nonetheless the press brought (in combination with some other innovations) a remarkable amount of true, moving history. How about the Wars of Religion and the bloody 17th century to boot? Still, if you were redoing world history you would take the printing press in a heartbeat. Who needs poverty, squalor, and recurrences of Ghenghis Khan-like figures?\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/thezvi.substack.com\/p\/response-to-tyler-cowens-existential?utm_source=%2Finbox&amp;utm_medium=reader2\" target=\"_blank\">Response to Tyler Cowen\u2019s Existential risk, AI, and the inevitable turn in human history<\/a> (Zvi Mowshowitz, Substack): \u201cIf you create something with superior intelligence, that operates at faster speed, that can make copies of itself, what happens <em>by default? <\/em>That new source of intelligence will rapidly gain control of the future. It is <em>very, very difficult <\/em>to prevent this from happening even under ideal circumstances.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A rebuttal to the Cowen&nbsp;piece.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/marginalrevolution.com\/marginalrevolution\/2023\/03\/thursday-assorted-links-398.html\">Cowen defends his views<\/a> (Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution): he is defending his views against a Scott Alexander piece which I didn\u2019t find as interesting as the Mowshowitz piece I linked above. The rejoinder is broad enough to be useful on its&nbsp;own.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is interesting to think about AI risk as a Christian who believes in demons which seem to be smarter than humans and who are described several times in the Bible as running significant parts of this&nbsp;world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skeptic.com\/reading_room\/free-will-is-real\/\" target=\"_blank\">Free Will Is Real<\/a> (Stuart T. Doyle, Skeptic): \u201cHere I will try to convince you that free will is real and not an illusion. I\u2019ll argue that far from being exemplars of rationality and skepticism, the main arguments against free will make unjustifiable logical leaps and are na\u00efve in the light of cutting-edge scientific findings.Throughout the philosophical literature, resolving the question of whether or not we have free will has often revolved around two criteria for free will: (1) We must be the true sources of our own actions. (2) We must have the ability to do otherwise. I argue that humans meet both criteria through two concepts: scale and undecidability.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/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=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/YourCalvinist\/status\/1639252677530996738\" target=\"_blank\">If The Princess Bride Characters Were Churches<\/a> (Twitter video)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/xkcd.com\/2755\/\" target=\"_blank\">Effect Size<\/a> (xckd)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lzXD4A0V4c4\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon\u2019s Alexa Is A Man<\/a> (Dry Bar Comedy, YouTube): one minute<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/astralcodexten.substack.com\/p\/turing-test?utm_source=%2Finbox&amp;utm_medium=reader2\" target=\"_blank\">Turing Test<\/a> (Scott Alexander, Astral Codex Ten): \u201cThe year is 2028, and this is Turing Test!, the game show that separates man from machine! Our star tonight is Dr. Andrea Mann, a generative linguist at University of California, Berkeley. She\u2019ll face five hidden contestants, code-named Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Spirit. One will be a human telling the truth about their humanity. One will be a human pretending to be an AI. One will be an AI telling the truth about their artificiality. One will be an AI pretending to be human. And one will be a total wild card. Dr. Mann, you have one hour, starting now.<em>\u201d<\/em> This is a fun&nbsp;read.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/xkcd.com\/2756\/\" target=\"_blank\">Qualifications<\/a> (xkcd)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7aEqxAxwRuw&amp;\" target=\"_blank\">The Biggest Problem With Dating A Religious Person<\/a> (Dry Bar Comedy, YouTube): five minutes. Uneven but quite funny at&nbsp;times.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KOOP7-qeA5U\" target=\"_blank\">Can Pregnant Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt Do The Splits<\/a>? (Would I Lie To You?, YouTube): five minutes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sIgaqKAaUoM\" target=\"_blank\">3 Lies to Escape a Southern Goodbye<\/a> (Matt Mitchell, YouTube): three and a half minutes<\/li>\n<\/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 rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicscientists.org\/idea\/on-what-atheists-say-there-is\" target=\"_blank\">On What Atheists Say There Is<\/a> (M. Anthony Mills, Society of Catholic Scientists): \u201cAccording to the atheist, the theist\u2019s error is believing in one too many things. Yet, for the theist, the disagreement is not about the existence of one particular thing, but \u2018about everything,\u2019 as MacIntyre puts it.\u201d The beginning and end are excellent. The middle muddles unless you have very precise philosophical interests. The author has a Ph.D. in philosophy. From <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2020\/11\/06\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-275\" target=\"_blank\">volume 275<\/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:\/\/theglendavis.substack.com\/\">here<\/a>. You can also <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/category\/links\">view the archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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. 396 is apparently the number of 3x3 sliding puzzle positions that require exactly 11 moves to solve starting with \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2023\/03\/31\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-396\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThings Glen Found Interesting, Volume 396\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/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":"Lamentable news this week, along with several topics that are merely intellectually interesting.","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":[219,140,195,161,114,160,113],"class_list":["post-7167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-culture","tag-gender","tag-global-christianity","tag-hollywood","tag-how-the-church-is-perceived","tag-lgbtq"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1RB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7167","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=7167"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7170,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7167\/revisions\/7170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}