Curated content for Christians
I’ve got a slightly abbreviated version of A La Carte today (after a long day away from home yesterday). Enjoy! The Human Brain – CNET declares the brain truly awesome. “A typical, healthy one houses some 200 billion nerve cells, which are connected to one another via hundreds of trillions of synapses. Each synapse functions…
It’s a sad day today, the day of Aileen’s grandmother’s funeral. For our children this is their first real close-to-home experience with death and loss. And it marks the end of a generation–Aileen’s grandmother was the last of our grandparents. So do pray for us if you think of it. On to today’s links… Amazon…
This is the most normal of weeks in Canada, yet it’s one of the most special weeks in the United States. I think Canadians are always a little bit surprised at the fuss Americans make about Thanksgiving. For us it’s quite a minor holiday; for Americans it’s one of the biggest days on the calendar.…
The other day I noticed that a box of granola bars, the kind we always buy, mentioned that they now have fewer calories. I thought that was cool. But then I compared the new box to the old and saw how they had lowered the calories–they had simply made the granola bars 10% smaller. I…
This airport security situation continues to fascinate me. After I wrote my article yesterday someone asked, “If you were traveling with your family, would you have your children go through the body scanner or would you have the TSA pat them down?” And to be honest, I just don’t know. I hate the very idea…
Yesterday Apple made their earth-shaking announcement: the Beatles are now available in iTunes. And the world reacted with a collective yawn. I would imagine most iTunes users have some level of respect for the Beatles, but at the same time, I can’t help but think that the iTunes demographic tends to be far more interested…
The headlines this morning declare that Prince William is engaged to be married. It’s amazing to think how far the royalty has fallen since his father got engaged and married–an event that was celebrated the world over, not just because of its paparazzi value, but because people were genuinely interested and genuinely excited. I get…
One of my favorite Aussies of all-time has arrived in Toronto for a couple of months. He’s a reader of this site who, a couple of years ago, sent an email saying, “I’m coming to Toronto. Can we meet up when I’m in town?” We met for lunch and hit it off. He ended up…
Matt Drudge and others have been writing a lot about the TSA’s new search procedures–procedures that seem designed on driving all of us through the full-body scanners (since, if you opt-out, you’ll be subjected to an invasive full-body pat down). I got patted down like this last time I went through security and it really…
Back when I began writing my book my youngest daughter (who is 4) was simply not sleeping well. She would wake us up almost every night, crying that she was scared. Aileen and I were constantly braindead through this time, half-comatose from lack of sleep. And then one day she said, “Daddy, I’m going to…
Let me give you a really quick book update. The Next Story is just about complete; the publisher has accepted the bulk of the text, leaving me with just a few short application sections to complete, along with a conclusion. I am hoping to have all that done by this week or next. So we’re…
It’s Tuesday, and Tuesdays are a strangely busy day for me. So without further ado, let’s get to today’s A La Carte links: T4G via Hip Hop – I don’t know that anyone could have predicted the Calvinist resurgence we’ve seen in recent years. And even if someone could have predicted it, I don’t know…
I used to be a bit obsessed with the NFL. Sundays were a day for church…but also a day to take in 2 or 3 football games. Then one day I got rid of cable (at least in part because it meant I couldn’t watch football). It surprised me how quickly I stopped caring about…
A question I receive a lot is this one: do you prefer the Kindle or the iPad for electronic reading. That’s a tough question because I flip back and forth. In general, though, I find that I prefer the Kindle. I think it’s because the Kindle’s e-ink technology represents a kind of halfway point between…
Yesterday at around noon Mark Driscoll used Twitter to link to one of my book reviews. A whole lot of his 80,000 Twitter followers immediately clicked the link, quickly brlnging my site to a grinding halt. Here’s what the load looked like: It was somewhere near the top of that spike that my web host…
Thanks to all of those who sent emails or Facebook reminders to me, telling me that I had to get out and vote yesterday. I chose not to do so since, being Canadian, I don’t think my efforts in that regard would have been appreciated. Long Story Short – I’m hearing good things about Long…
I’ve crossed from Canada into the United States a couple of times in the past three weeks. And I tell you, it’s getting tougher and tougher to get across. Last time I got the intense search–full-body pat-down, suitcases searched, bags sniffed for explosives. The funny thing was, this all happened in the Toronto airport but…
I mentioned something like this a few days ago, but let me say again: it’s really remarkable to me how Halloween has gone from the realm of the amateur to the realm of the professional and from the realm of the child to the realm of the adult. As I took my kids around the…
I have nothing (absolutely nothing!) to say today. So let’s get straight to the links. Underrepresented at Capetown – I missed this article when it was posted last week. Andy Crouch reports on the conspicuous absence of megachurch pastors at the Lausanne Congress. “For megapastors, platform time is the price of participation. Entrepreneurial pastors live…
That was rather an unexpected start to the World Series, wasn’t it? When Cliff Lee faces Tim Lincecum you’re hardly expecting a slugfest. And yet that’s exactly what it turned into. I don’t much care who wins this series, but I’m hoping it can at least remain close enough to be interesting. Is Music Warping…