Church
Biblical Brethren Fellowship from 2013: When Brethren congregations move from conservative to liberal there are stages or phases they go through. 1. Lack of thorough teaching 2. Practice divorced from policy 3. Matthew 18 replaces church discipline 4. Passive marginalization of conservatives 5. Active opposition of real conservatives 6. Members’
Miscellaneous
The Guardian: The researchers found no evidence that daily multivitamins reduced the risk of death and reported instead a 4% higher mortality risk among users in the initial years of follow-up. The greater risk of death may reflect the harms multivitamins can cause or a trend for people to start
News
BBC: Four Sri Lankan fishermen have died and another two are critically ill after consuming an unknown liquid from bottles they found while at sea, according to local media reports. The sailors were said to be on a fishing trip when they retrieved the bottles around 320 nautical miles from
Books
updated June 29, 2024 A collection of books that I find interesting. Interesting Interesting Books * Love What Lasts: How to Save Your Soul from Mediocrity (Amazon) by Joshua Gibbs * Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (Amazon) by Neil Postman Interesting Church Books * Introverts in
Education
Joshua Gibbs on the Circe Institute blog: Question Four: “What do you think of your church?” This is a far better question than, “Where do you go to church?” As an Orthodox Christian, I would rather hire a Presbyterian who loved his Presbyterian church than an Orthodox Christian who was
Outside Online: About a decade ago, when I first learned about risk management in my college outdoors club, I was taught that assuming the “lightning position” was the best way to protect yourself in a thunderstorm (spoiler alert: it does bugger-all). If you managed to avoid this particular tidbit of
Steinbeck in the May 1967 issue of Popular Science: The dream. Six people in one outfit no matter how shiny and new is too grisly to contemplate. The picture shows a sunny meadow littered with buttercups across which a lovely little stream rushes to find its home in a deep
Books
Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World (Amazon) by Matt Parker Mathematicians aren’t people who find math easy; they’re people who enjoy how hard it is. I’m no mathematician, but I really enjoyed this book. Come for the math, stay for the stories. If
L.A. Times (paywalled). Readwise link: Mennonites are Christians who, like the Amish, believe that admission to heaven depends on dressing modestly, doing good works, embracing pacifism and eschewing many modern conveniences. Kauenhofen’s community — a hamlet known as Las Flores — allowed cars and electricity but banned televisions, computers, the
Spoiler: it’s Duolingo. Wall Street Journal: Just ask James Clark. He managed to extend his 471-day streak this year from the Mount Everest Base Camp trek. He was so exhausted every night of his trip that he could barely think straight, much less speak Spanish. “I didn’t really
Atlas Obscura: In new research, scientists analyzed around 346,000 words from about 5,000 languages and dialects and calculated each language’s average “sonority.” Sonority is a measure that can partially be understood as loudness, though it also includes how resonant a word is. For example, a word with
The New York Times: Researchers first discovered the link between heat and aggression by looking at crime data, finding that there are more murders, assaults and episodes of domestic violence on hot days. The connection applies to nonviolent acts, too: When temperatures rise, people are more likely to engage in