{"id":7499,"date":"2024-08-16T15:33:58","date_gmt":"2024-08-16T22:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7499"},"modified":"2024-08-16T15:33:58","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T22:33:58","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-466","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2024\/08\/16\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-466","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 466"},"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><br><br>    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 volume 466, which is 1234 in base&nbsp;7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalliturgies.net\/p\/following-jesus-in-the-desert-of?utm_source=%2Finbox&amp;utm_medium=reader2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Following Jesus in the Desert of Mental Illness<\/a> (Samuel D. James, Substack): \u201cBryant writes that a breakthrough for him came when he realized that Christ had not committed himself to Bryant\u2019s plans, but to Bryant himself. Once the life that Bryant had planned for himself disintegrated, he was left with deeply painful questions about whether Jesus had stopped loving him. But eventually he realized that Christ wanted something more for Bryant than his own (good) desires. He wanted Christ for him. He wanted dependence on the&nbsp;cross.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thezvi.substack.com\/p\/danger-ai-scientist-danger?utm_source=%2Finbox&amp;utm_medium=reader2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Danger, AI Scientist, Danger<\/a> (Zvi Mowshowitz, Substack): \u201c[Did you hear about] the automated AI Scientist that tried to rewrite its code to get around resource restrictions and launch new instances of itself while downloading bizarre Python libraries? Its name is Sakana AI. (\u9b5a\u2248\u05e1\u05db\u05e0\u05d4). As in, in hebrew, that literally means \u2018danger\u2019, baby.&nbsp;\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Election-related stuff:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thedispatch.com\/newsletter\/gfile\/voting-isnt-a-window-into-the-soul\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Voting Isn\u2019t A Window Into the Soul<\/a> (Jonah Goldberg, The Dispatch): \u201cThe idea that voting is a window into someone\u2019s soul strikes me as almost a theological heresy and a failure of empathetic imagination. It assumes that the person who voted wrong\u2014or right\u2014sees the world the same way you do and that they invest the same moral, philosophical, and political significance in their vote that you do in&nbsp;yours.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/08\/13\/opinion\/ezra-klein-podcast-nate-silver.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nate Silver on Kamala Harris\u2019s Chances and the Mistakes of the \u2018Indigo Blob\u2019<\/a> (Ezra Klein interviewing Nate Silver, New York Times): \u201cWhat you seem to be doing in the book is making an interesting cut in society between people with different forms of risk tolerance and thinking about risk. And you wrote something that caught my eye: \u2018Covid made those risk preferences public, worn on our proverbial sleeves and our literal faces.\u2019 And you go on to say, \u2018People are becoming more bifurcated in their risk tolerance and that this affects everything from who we hang out with to how we&nbsp;vote.\u2019&nbsp;\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An interesting (and kinda long) interview.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Christianity and politics intersecting in various ways:&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/edwardfeser.blogspot.com\/2024\/08\/trump-has-put-social-conservatives-in.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Trump has put social conservatives in a dilemma<\/a> (Ed Feser, personal blog): \u201c\u2026I will set out the relevant moral principles for deciding how to vote when faced with a choice between candidates whose positions on matters related to abortion, marriage, and the like are gravely immoral. Finally, I will discuss how these principles apply to the present case.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Feser is my favorite living philosopher. Written from a Catholic perspective but addressed to a broader audience.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/interactive\/2024\/trump-prophecy-josiah-jeremiah-johnson-alabama\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A pastor said his pro-Trump prophecies came from God. His brother called him a fake<\/a>. (Danielle Paquette, Washington Post): \u201cOn the morning he could no longer stand it, the preacher was sipping coffee at his kitchen table. The house was quiet. The boys weren\u2019t up yet. Josiah Johnson wanted to savor the peace, but his attention drifted to his younger brother, the one he had decided was a false prophet. How many souls, he wondered, was that Christian influencer manipulating on social media right now? Hundreds of thousands followed Jeremiah, who\u2019d helped popularize the far-right belief that God handpicked Donald Trump to lead the United States.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Long, interesting, sad.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/08\/12\/opinion\/right-wing-presbyterian-church-canceled.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">My Old Church\u2019s Fundamentalist Wing Canceled Me<\/a> (David French and Vishakha Darbha, New York Times): \u201cWhat you\u2019re seeing throughout American Christianity now is the fundamentalist wing is really exerting itself. And so what that means is when you encounter somebody who\u2019s a fundamentalist and you say, \u2018I\u2019m not voting for Trump,\u2019 they often don\u2019t look at that as a debatable point for which Christians in good will can disagree. They will look at this and say, \u2018It is the natural and inevitable consequence of applying Christian principles that you will support Donald Trump.\u2019\u2026 What that does is it raises the stakes to this eternal level. And what ends up happening is they just sweep aside all of these scriptures about loving your enemies, being kind to those, blessing those who persecute you. All of that is just swept aside in favor of the burning certainty and ferocity of the culture war.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/08\/11\/us\/promise-keepers-evangelical-christians.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The All-Male Christian Group Seeking a Resurrection in the Trump Era<\/a> (Ruth Graham, New York Times): \u201cEvangelical Christians have been a reliable Republican voting bloc since the 1980s, but they have historically been averse to hearing overtly partisan messages in spiritual settings. That has been shifting in recent years, as some high-profile conservatives, like Mr. Kirk and others at the conference, have characterized political engagement as a pastoral obligation. Some pastors who have leaned into preaching on topics like abortion and gender issues have seen their churches boom in a time of broad declines in attendance.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pretty good article, although I take strong issue with the last sentence. Abortion and gender issues aren\u2019t political simply because there is a partisan divide on them. Christians have been talking about human nature and sexual ethics since before America was a nation and should the Lord tarry we will continue after America is a distant memory.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/08\/14\/magazine\/canada-brain-disease-dementia.html?te=1&amp;nl=the-great-read&amp;emc=edit_ts_20240814\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">They All Got Mysterious Brain Diseases. They\u2019re Fighting to Learn Why<\/a> (Greg Donahue, New York Times)\u201cIn the context of a cluster of atypical cases that had stumped some of the most experienced scientists in Canada, Marrero believed that Jansen had not only overstepped his bounds but had failed to address the situation\u2019s most critical questions: \u2018Why so many young? Why so many in one area? Why so many in one family?\u2019 Many of Marrero\u2019s colleagues in the working group agreed. In a leaked email from last year, one of them referred to Jansen\u2019s findings as a \u2018loophole\u2019 through which the politicians have eagerly leaped to conclude nothing coherent is going&nbsp;on.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recommended by a student.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thedispatch.com\/article\/have-national-abortion-numbers-increased-since-the-dobbs-decision\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Have National Abortion Numbers Increased Since the Dobbs Decision<\/a>? (John McCormack, The Dispatch): \u201cAt first glance, headlines generated by that report might lead the casual reader to assume anti-abortion laws haven\u2019t done anything to achieve their intended purpose of saving lives. But even if the new report is accurate (more on that below), other studies show that there are likely tens of thousands of infants and toddlers alive today because of laws allowed by the <em>Dobbs<\/em> decision.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/czxl849j77ko\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Reservoir of liquid water found deep in Martian rocks <\/a>(Victoria Gill, BBC): \u201cThe Insight probe was only able to record directly from the crust beneath its feet, but the researchers expect that there will be similar reservoirs across the planet. If that is the case, they estimate that there is enough liquid water on Mars to form a layer across the surface that would be more than half a mile deep. However, they point out, the location of this Martian groundwater is not good news for billionaires with Mars colonisation plans who might want to tap into it. \u2018It\u2019s sequestered 10\u201320km deep in the crust,\u2019 explained Prof&nbsp;Manga.\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 simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=D4AISQOBS2E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Malika Andrews handles earthquake like a pro while hosting \u2018NBA Today\u2019<\/a> (YouTube): 24 seconds<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smbc-comics.com\/comic\/altruism-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Altruism<\/a> (SMBC)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gocomics.com\/pearlsbeforeswine\/2024\/08\/15\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Vision Boards<\/a> (Pearls Before Swine)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/08\/10\/us\/harris-walz-apostrophe-possessive.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Is It Harris\u2019 or Harris\u2019s? Add a Walz, and It\u2019s Even Trickier<\/a>. (Remy Tumin, New York Times): \u201cIt all felt a bit, as some social media users described, like apostrophe hell: Would it be Ms. Harris\u2019s and Mr. Walz\u2019s or Ms. Harris\u2019 and Mr. Walz\u2019s? The Harrises and the Walzes? The Harrises\u2019 family home and the Walzes\u2019 family dog? It was enough to see double, made worse by the fact that stylebooks, large news organizations and grammar geeks were all split or contradicted one another.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/08\/10\/opinion\/travel-vacation-world.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">My Travel Tips for Seeing the World\u2019s Best Places<\/a> (Nicholas Kristof, New York Times): \u201cMy editor doesn\u2019t want me to say anything that might encourage readers to try something dangerous, so I won\u2019t suggest that there is nothing like the view while riding on the top of a train in Sudan. (That was in my dissolute youth, and today I definitely disapprove of riding on top of trains.)\u201d<\/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&nbsp;way. This is volume 466, which is 1234 in base&nbsp;7. Things Glen Found Interesting Less Serious Things Which Also Interested\/Amused \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2024\/08\/16\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-466\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThings Glen Found Interesting, Volume 466\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":"","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":[121,219,296,117],"class_list":["post-7499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-abortion","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-mental-health","tag-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1WX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7499","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=7499"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7503,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7499\/revisions\/7503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}