Research from my Reading
Click on the Hyperlinks for the Page
Mark Wahlberg, a committed Catholic AND Hollywood film star, is dedicating himself to Faith Based Movies to “Serve the Lord”
Thomas Sowell, one of my favorite intellectuals, is profiled in the article Tragic Optimist. Here is an excerpt from the article telling the story that first motivated Sowell.
In his 2000 memoir A Personal Odyssey, Sowell recounts a parable that was read to him as a young boy and which he never forgot. “One story I found sad at the time, but remembered the rest of my life, was about a dog with a bone who saw his reflection in a stream and thought that the dog he saw had a bigger bone than he did. He opened his mouth to try to get the other dog’s bone—and of course lost his own when it dropped in the water. There would be many occasions in life to remember that story.”1 This set the tone for a life and career committed to closing the gap between image and reality. This is why Sowell’s contributions extend beyond partisan politics. His basic concern is with the dynamism, diversity, and development of living human beings, not inter-temporal sociological abstractions or racial archetypes that can be leveraged for political or moral power.
In The Virtue of Irrelevance the author argues that studying classic reading is more important than “being relevant.”
50 Questions to Ask Yourself (from Inc.)
One of my former undergraduate and graduate professors (who has PhDs in both Greek and Hebrew!) David Turner, writes on speaking truth to power, to Pilate on Good Friday. His background research is fantastic! Dr. Turner has done this kind of work all his life.
Deep Sea Monsters Underwater Photography (NYT) See what I wrote on Social Media this week about what scientists “never knew”
Ever heard of “blackwater photography”? If you’re like me, you had no clue. Scientists who are observing these pictures are doing so, often for the first time. Right now. In 2021. [Find the article link in the first comment below.] I am often reminded how little we humans know of our own world, and how scientific discoveries continue. “Science” is not static. As a Hebraic-Christian thinker I am always reminded of Job’s words; we know only a “fringe” of God’s created world (Job 26.14).
Lester Holt accepted Edward R Murrow Award for Lifetime Journalism (embedded speech in The Hill). What he said about information and knowledge – not to mention journalism – is VERY disturbing. Mr. Holt would *not* do well in my Argumentative Writing course! In his words:
[We need to] call out misinformation permeating the political media ecosystem and separate facts from falsehoods forcefully to combat that trend.
“I think it’s become clearer that fairness is overrated,” Holt said Tuesday as he accepted the Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism. “Before you run off and tweet that headline, let me explain a bit. The idea that we should always give two sides equal weight and merit does not reflect the world we find ourselves in. That the sun sets in the west is a fact. Any contrary view does not deserve our time or attention.”
“Restrictive” Voting in Georgia compared to more “Restrictive” Voting elsewhere (WSJ)
Biden Opens Business to Iran while taking Business Away from Georgia: Nikki Haley (DW)
“What We Thought We Knew” (NYT) EXCERPT:
Evidence is mounting that a tiny subatomic particle called a muon is disobeying the laws of physics as we thought we knew them, scientists announced. “I feel like this tiny wobble may shake the foundations of what we thought we knew,” one scientist said. https://nyti.ms/3mtAyCX
From the Transgender debate comes the story of Keira Bell As a teen, she transitioned to male but came to regret it. Her story is how it felt to enter history in the trans debate.
The Importance of Marriage Quote
“We’ve bought into the idea that marriage is an end state, something to be added to the pinnacle of a list of achievements. But the truth is the opposite: for adult life, marriage isn’t an end state so much as an enabling condition.”
A group to which I belong gives the following reflections: Heterodox Academy Five Year Reflections
3 Major Scientific Discoveries that point to God from The Federalist
Ard Louis, Prof of Theoretical Physics, 6 min vimeo one of the great voices in the science and religion dialogue tells his story. The event today (Friday 9 April 2021), sponsored by the Bradley Study Center, Chesterton House, and Veritas Forum includes Dr. Louis https://lnkd.in/dMRGaBn
“In The Virtue of Irrelevance the author argues that studying classic reading is more important than ‘being relevant.'”
The irony is that the old books are more relevant than any newfangled attempt to be “relevant” is likely to be.