Blogaround

1. The tragedy of the murdered missionaries (June 12) "So when the State Department tells you to stay the F out, maybe THAT is God speaking to you."

This is a blog post written by someone who grew up as a missionary kid. I relate to some of this because I was very influenced by evangelical missions ideology back in the day- it was a huge factor in my decision to move to China. The thing that strikes me, reading this now, is I'm realizing I've always had the assumption that the best way to help poor people in other countries is to go there yourself. And not as some shallow "poverty tourism" thing, but really give up your whole affluent lifestyle and dedicate yourself to living in their culture, submitting yourself to learning a foreign language, truly internalizing the idea that you're not better than anyone else. That would certainly be the biggest sacrifice on the part of the missionary- and therefore I had the unquestioned assumption that it would do the most good. But, wait, actually that's kinda self-centered, isn't it? The idea that "this is the most difficult thing that *I* can do, therefore it must give *them* the most benefit." Maybe that's completely wrong. Maybe giving up your American lifestyle doesn't necessarily help more than, say, staying in the US and raising money for local people there who know what's what better than you do.

Also in her blog post, the whole part about how the US government issued travel warnings telling US citizens NOT to go to Haiti. Reminds me of when the US government issued travel warnings about China, during the zero-covid times, but I stayed here anyway...

2. Kamala Harris Releases First Presidential Campaign Ad (July 26) Oh I like this.

3. China Makes More Films Accessible for Blind People (July 29) "Audio description — often referred to as 'barrier-free movies' in China — is a separate soundtrack that plays simultaneously during a movie, describing the action as it is happening for blind and visually impaired viewers."

4. Trump tells supporters they ‘won’t have to vote’ again if he wins (July 29) What on EARTH. 

5. Brad Pitt Distantly Related to Barack Obama? (July 24) "The president shares an 18th-century Virginia ancestor with the superstar actor-producer. Edwin Hickman, who died in 1769, connects Obama and Pitt as ninth cousins."

Also from Snopes: Las Vegas Sphere Showed 'Blue Screen of Death'? (July 19) I saw this picture on social media and thought it was real- turns out it is fake. So, don't believe everything you see on the internet.

6. OnlySky relaunches with a focus on the future (July 28) 

7. Stephen Nedoroscik COMES THROUGH on pommel horse in U.S. bronze medal effort | Paris Olympics (July 30) Holy crap this is incredible.

8. This post about "Iron Man 2." (July 30) "It was TENSE AS SHIT, and I get the impression that the people making the movie weren't entirely aware of that?"

9. A Halfhearted Critique of Flag Culture (July 31) "It's not just the attention to or investment in flags, but the centrality of flags as a basis of activity, to the point of putting flags first, community second. These priorities become clear once you've seen people autocratically announcing flag designs for demographics that the designer isn't part of or communities that don't even exist yet (or may never exist)—as if declaring 'the flag' on other people's behalf is some kind of friendly supportive behavior rather than something presumptuous, misleading, and rude."