What kind of twitterer are you? (HT: TT)

 News: 

1. Rape in Congo, and Lynne Hybels is working on the problem.

2. Bono: “These new steps — and those 36 words — remind the world that America is not just a country but an idea, a great idea about opportunity for all and responsibility to your fellow man.” And… “Americans are like singers — we just a little bit, kind of like to be loved. The British want to be admired; the Russians, feared; the French, envied. (The Irish, we just want to be listened to.) But the idea of America, from the very start, was supposed to be contagious enough to sweep up and enthrall the world.”

3. Forgiveness as a national policy … As We Forgive review with Frederica. (The book was exceptional.)

4. What’s coming in technology.

5. Patrik Jonsson: “Louisiana justice of the peace Keith Bardwell’s refused to marry a white woman and a black man reportedly because he believed that children of an interracial marriage would suffer socially. That view was once common in the United States, and might have had some basis decades ago when such marriages were taboo and multiracial families were sometimes ostracized. But today, not only are mixed-race children widely accepted but some research suggests they might even have some social advantages.” I don’t know why there wasn’t a public outcry over this judge’s decision.

6. Have you seen the Fall colors in New England?

7. The war on terrorism, the Taliban, and opium trade … we need more reports like this.

8. Discovery of an ancient amphitheater near Ostia antica.

9. California and cannabis.

10.

 Sports:

Everybody say a prayer for the baseball team to the left … 

The future of the WNBA.

The Minnesota Vikings are winning too many games too soon too easily. It concerns me. The Bears are not scoring when they are in the Red Zone. That concerns me. But baseball remains so much superior of a sport.

Faye Vincent, former Commish on the umpire problem: “To attract the kind of young people any business would want, Major League Baseball should establish a thoroughly professional training system for umpires — and ensure that every official it hires is up to the job.”

What kind of twitterer are you? (HT: TT)

 News: 

1. Rape in Congo, and Lynne Hybels is working on the problem.

2. Bono: “These new steps — and those 36 words — remind the world that America is not just a country but an idea, a great idea about opportunity for all and responsibility to your fellow man.” And… “Americans are like singers — we just a little bit, kind of like to be loved. The British want to be admired; the Russians, feared; the French, envied. (The Irish, we just want to be listened to.) But the idea of America, from the very start, was supposed to be contagious enough to sweep up and enthrall the world.”

3. Forgiveness as a national policy … As We Forgive review with Frederica. (The book was exceptional.)

4. What’s coming in technology.

5. Patrik Jonsson: “Louisiana justice of the peace Keith Bardwell’s refused to marry a white woman and a black man reportedly because he believed that children of an interracial marriage would suffer socially. That view was once common in the United States, and might have had some basis decades ago when such marriages were taboo and multiracial families were sometimes ostracized. But today, not only are mixed-race children widely accepted but some research suggests they might even have some social advantages.” I don’t know why there wasn’t a public outcry over this judge’s decision.

6. Have you seen the Fall colors in New England?

7. The war on terrorism, the Taliban, and opium trade … we need more reports like this.

8. Discovery of an ancient amphitheater near Ostia antica.

9. California and cannabis.

10.

 Sports:

Everybody say a prayer for the baseball team to the left … 

The future of the WNBA.

The Minnesota Vikings are winning too many games too soon too easily. It concerns me. The Bears are not scoring when they are in the Red Zone. That concerns me. But baseball remains so much superior of a sport.

Faye Vincent, former Commish on the umpire problem: “To attract the kind of young people any business would want, Major League Baseball should establish a thoroughly professional training system for umpires — and ensure that every official it hires is up to the job.”

Very true (mark this).

“Today, immodesty is as ubiquitous as advertising, and for the same reasons. To scoop up just a few examples of self-indulgent expression from the past few days, there is Joe Wilson using the House floor as his own private “Crossfire”; there is Kanye West grabbing the microphone from Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards to give us his opinion that the wrong person won; there is Michael Jordan’s egomaniacal and self-indulgent Hall of Fame speech. Baseball and football games are now so routinely interrupted by self-celebration, you don’t even notice it anymore.
This isn’t the death of civilization. It’s just the culture in which we live. And from this vantage point, a display of mass modesty, like the kind represented on the V-J Day “Command Performance,” comes as something of a refreshing shock, a glimpse into another world. It’s funny how the nation’s mood was at its most humble when its actual achievements were at their most extraordinary.

3. Obama’s health care reform and the young adults who voted for him.

5. Dana Milbank: “There’s no question that Democrats were justified in rebuking Wilson for his disgraceful outburst, which was a clear violation of House rules, not to mention all standards of civility. But that doesn’t mean it was a good idea to rebuke Wilson. Last week, Democrats were on the high ground: Even Republicans were scolding the lawmaker, while the majority party talked about health care. But in bringing a House resolution to punish Wilson, Democrats wound up making him a hero and turning the matter into a party-line brawl.”

Good one from Mrs. Neff.

The future car is an iCar!

Lots of future education in the church will be from sites like this — and the series by Hurtado looks incredibly interesting to me.

Do you believe in hell? Pastors and the soft sell on hell.

Religion and social media, as well as Ten Commandments for Social Media — by Jana Riess. Religion and church signs. Religion and the future of mainline denominations. Religion and emergent – Tony knows this stuff.

Karen’s next book — she’s got good titles and wonderful stories.

Mark is always good and wise. Jeanne Stevens posts wisdom about courage.

Church “visitors.” (HT: TS)
Back yard visitors.
Those visiting doubts.

Brett on Christians and alcohol. Dan on missional.

Lesson is: don’t bark at dogs, esp police dogs.

Good tips for bloggers. Wisdom about what not to blog about.
 
My problem with … those who evaluate why one church is doing well and another one not so well? The problem I have is that this article is absolutely absent of any theological analysis. I’m sorry, but in reading this essay there is no analysis of gospel theology, of Christian life vision, of prayer, of anything but … one group has a more up-to-date form of (social media) communication. I doubt, brother, this is what explains what you think is the difference.

The best (chain) brew? Come to Chicago and try some Intelligentsia! (Well, it’s not a chain, but there’s a few stores and they are in my little chain.) But Starbucks is masking itself in the form of other coffee shops.

This accident happened directly in front of our home Tuesday AM about 6:20. Everyone was OK, but it sure didn’t look like that would be case when I first saw it.

1. Maira Kalman‘s back — with a wonderful post on inventions.
2. The Washington Post’s “On Faith” page has a good discussion of perspectives of how to determine what marriage is.
3. I’m for this — but don’t know how long it should last. Any suggestions?
4. Cars fitted so blind persons can drive — how cool is that! (HT: RJS)
5. Thievery, as can be seen from this story, can wear a person out.
6. From NYTimes: “And in terms of health, it’s not better to have married and lost than
never to have married at all. Middle-age people who never married have
fewer chronic health problems than those who were divorced or widowed.”
7. 52 zoos in 52 weeks, plus 55 animal parks, and all on a budget!
8. Birthers, give it up! On a related topic: Saletan on the anti-contraception crowd.
9. Thomas Sowell: “Let’s go back to square one. The universe was not made to our
specifications. Nor were human beings. So there is nothing surprising
in the fact that we are dissatisfied with many things at many times.
The big question is whether we are prepared to follow any politician
who claims to be able to “solve” our “problem.””
10. Lest we forget … let us keep these folks in our prayers and within view.
11. Who benefits most from affirmative action? White women.
12. And American benefits not at all from the invective propagated by too many … nice article.

Sports:

“Dating to the 2006 British Open, Woods has won 21 of 39 starts on the PGA Tour.”

At 97, the guy gets his first hole-in-one!