{"id":7328,"date":"2023-12-01T20:07:55","date_gmt":"2023-12-02T04:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7328"},"modified":"2023-12-01T20:07:55","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T04:07:55","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-430","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2023\/12\/01\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-430","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 430"},"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 way. That\u2019s especially true this week: I skipped last week because of Thanksgiving, and I still feel behind on my reading.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is volume 430, a sphenic number. That means it is the product of three primes, namely 2 \u00b7 5 \u00b7&nbsp;43.<\/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\">\n<li>Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman recently mentioned that he believes in God. Here\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Z7GVf8nD7SQ\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Z7GVf8nD7SQ\">13 minute video<\/a> of him explaining why (YouTube) or you can just watch this <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hubermanrules\/status\/1726960403585110207\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hubermanrules\/status\/1726960403585110207\">two minute excerpt<\/a> which contains the essence of his point (Twitter)<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hubermanrules\/status\/1726960403585110207\" target=\"_blank\">.<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>For the record, I\u2019ve never met Huberman and do not know what his specific religious beliefs are. I just find it interesting that a prominent public intellectual affiliated with Stanford is a believer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/18\/opinion\/teenagers-mental-health-treatment.html\" target=\"_blank\">This Is Not the Way to Help Depressed Teenagers<\/a> (Darbe Saxbe, New York Times): \u201c[Programs designed to help young people instead] made their mental-health problems <em>worse<\/em>. Understanding why these efforts backfired can shed light on how society can \u2014 and can\u2019t \u2014 help teenagers who are suffering from depression and anxiety.\u2026 Teenagers, who are still developing their identities, are especially prone to take psychological labels to heart. Instead of \u2018I am nervous about X,\u2019 a teenager might say, \u2018I can\u2019t do X because I have anxiety\u2019 \u2014 a reframing that research shows undermines resilience by encouraging people to view everyday challenges as insurmountable.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The author is a psychology prof at&nbsp;USC.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/opinion\/2023\/11\/25\/23973024\/religion-isnt-sexually-repressive-data\" target=\"_blank\">Religion isn\u2019t sexually repressive. Just read the data.<\/a> (Stephen Cranney, Deseret News): \u201c\u2026contrary to widely held belief, religious people report better sex lives, and married religious couples have more frequent and better sex than others (non-married religious people, intuitively, have less sex). These results were supported by one study that found religious British people reported more satisfying sex lives. A separate BYU study, published by Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, found similar results for married couples in the U.S. while another found that highly religious people had higher sexual \u2018passion\u2019 than more moderately religious people (nonreligious people also reflected higher \u2018passion\u2019 levels).\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This sentence made me chuckle: \u201cIt may well be that the most sexually active campuses in the U.S. aren\u2019t the famous party schools, but rather the more religiously conservative schools with more married students.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The author is a sociologist and a demographer with appointments at Baylor\u2019s Institute for the Study of Religion and at the Catholic University of America<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/ottawacitizen.com\/feature\/solomon-friedman-is-on-a-mission-to-save-pornhub\/wcm\/99312fc4-0a4a-4bf6-9937-f1c1d8bb8527\/amp\/\" target=\"_blank\">Solomon Friedman is on a mission to save Pornhub<\/a> (Andrew Duffy, Ottowa Citzen): \u201cSolomon Friedman is not someone readily defined: He\u2019s a defence lawyer and an organ donor; a firearms advocate and an ordained rabbi; an investor, philanthropist, and pornography magnate. If the 37-year-old father of three is not the most interesting man in Ottawa, then the licensed pilot and part-time law professor is certainly one of the busiest.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This is actually insane.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crossway.org\/articles\/why-i-no-longer-support-the-death-penalty\/\" target=\"_blank\">Why I No Longer Support the Death Penalty<\/a> (Matthew T. Martens, Crossway): \u201c8,790 people have been sentenced to death in the United States since 1973. One hundred and eighty-four of those men and women were exonerated as of the end of 2022.11 They were innocent of the crimes of which they were convicted and sentenced to die. In other words, we <em>know<\/em> that at least 2 percent of people sentenced to death since 1973 were wrongly condemned. Even if we have identified all of those wrongly convicted and the error rate is \u2018only\u2019 2 percent, that is an error rate higher than I am willing to tolerate.\u2026 I am unwilling to wager another man\u2019s life. I would not wager my own under those conditions.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The author has recently written a book about a Christian perspective on criminal justice. He is a defender of the death penalty as a concept yet opposed to it as practiced in America today.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tomshardware.com\/news\/chinese-company-uses-ai-to-optimize-linux-kernel\" target=\"_blank\">TikTok parent company used AI to optimize Linux kernel, boosting performance and efficiency<\/a> (Matthew Connatser, Tom\u2019s Hardware): \u201cThe general gist of the presentation: ByteDance used AI to make the Linux kernel (the core of the operating system) much more efficient and performant across all kinds of hardware.\u2026 AI optimizations were able to reduce memory usage by 30% \u2014 and that was using existing Linux tools, just more efficiently. Network latency was also improved by up to 12% with AI that has prior knowledge (which wouldn\u2019t be hard to obtain on a computer used regularly).\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/clearlyreformed.org\/on-culture-war-doug-wilson-and-the-moscow-mood\/\" target=\"_blank\">On Culture War, Doug Wilson, and the Moscow Mood<\/a> (Kevin DeYoung, personal blog): \u201cMy concerns are not so much with one or two conclusions that Christians may reach if Wilson becomes their intellectual mentor. My bigger concern is with the long-term spiritual effects of admiring and imitating the Moscow mood. For the mood that attracts people to Moscow is too often incompatible with Christian virtue, inconsiderate of other Christians, and ultimately inconsistent with the stated aims of Wilson\u2019s Christendom project.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Broadly correct, although I think DeYoung overstates his case a few times. Wilson does present the gospel more than DeYoung acknowledges and that is one of his appeals. Still, as I said, broadly correct.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/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=\"simple-list wp-block-list\">\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NqabT21d8VM\" target=\"_blank\">Something weird happens when you keep squeezing <\/a>(Vox): eleven fascinating minutes about the physics of immense pressure. This is a really well-done video.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smbc-comics.com\/comic\/gold-3\" target=\"_blank\">Gold<\/a> (SMBC) \u2014 a stunningly obvious point that never occurred to me as kid watching similar commercials<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/satan-announces-early-retirement-thanks-to-tiktok\/\" target=\"_blank\">Satan Announces Early Retirement Thanks To TikTok<\/a> (Babylon Bee): \u201cAttendees at the press conference gasped and cried out, although sources claim it is unclear if they were upset that the devil would be retiring or if it was because they were being burned in an eternal fire that could not be quenched.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/baptist-church-posts-disclaimer-that-any-lyric-about-lifting-up-your-hands-is-strictly-a-metaphor\/\" target=\"_blank\">Baptist Pastor Gives Disclaimer That Any Lyric About Lifting Up Your Hands Is Strictly A Metaphor<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smbc-comics.com\/comic\/entropy-3\" target=\"_blank\">Entropy<\/a> (SMBC)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\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 way. That\u2019s especially true this week: I skipped last week because of Thanksgiving, and I still feel behind on \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2023\/12\/01\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-430\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThings Glen Found Interesting, Volume 430\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":"The most interesting stuff I've read\/watched over the last two weeks. Enjoy!","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":[124,219,279,120,136,183,163],"class_list":["post-7328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-criminal-justice","tag-famous-christians","tag-pornography","tag-psychology","tag-sex"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1Uc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7328","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=7328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7329,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7328\/revisions\/7329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}