Blogaround

1. Michael Card - Chorus Of Faith - Here's a song from Michael Card, a Christian singer from the 80's. "He loves us with passion, without regrets, he cannot love more and will not love less."

2. Discarded toys are creating an e-waste disaster. Here’s how to stop it. (November 22) People are always giving my kid low-quality toys with pointless electronics in them. Turns out that these things shouldn't just be thrown out in the regular trash because they are "e-waste"- but wow I can't imagine, as a parent, actually having to do the task of figuring out how to throw them out "correctly" and doing it. That just sounds exhausting, and why should I have to do that, it's not my fault people keep giving my kid crappy toys. I would say the only actually workable solution is for the manufacturers to take the responsibility for how to recycle them.

3. A Mother’s Worst Nightmare (June 29, via) [content note: it's about the government taking babies away from their parents] "Federal law has put thousands of women on anti-addiction medications like Suboxone into an impossible bind: Give up your treatment or risk losing your child."

4. The Remarkable Biden Economy (November 27) "Biden has been an excellent president, particularly in his stewardship of the economy."

5. Take heart, it looks like China could send new pandas to the US (November 17, via)

6. ChatGPT generates fake data set to support scientific hypothesis (November 22, via) "'It seems like it’s quite easy to create data sets that are at least superficially plausible. So, to an untrained eye, this certainly looks like a real data set,' says Jack Wilkinson, a biostatistician at the University of Manchester, UK."

7. I Came Out as Intersex in Front of the Texas Legislature (September 15, via) "Does that mean that, because of my genotypic XY chromosomes, I’ve been using the wrong bathroom my whole life? No. It means who cares what bathroom I use?"

Blogaround

1. My 2023 Reader Survey is still open- go take it if you haven't done it yet. (Survey will be open until June 19.)

2. Only ONE Person Has Solved This Puzzle... (May 12) 2-hours-13-minutes sudoku solve video. My favorite part was, at 1 hour and 30 minutes in, with only 2 digits placed in the puzzle, Simon says, "Maybe this is why people have found this difficult, because they get to this point and then get stuck."

3. Optimum tic-tac-toe (May 26) "[Chat GPT] very strongly prefers to place its marks in the corners, longwindedly explaining how its corner move is a superior strategy, all while I win game after game by placing my marks in the center rows and columns."

4. Journal Club: Why is absent/low sexual desire a mental disorder? (May 24) "The author criticizes the classification of absent/low desire as a mental disorder from three primary angles: first that it doesn’t make sense to have a different diagnostic setup depending on whether someone identifies as asexual; second, that this diagnosis is disproportionately assigned to women, reflecting sexist values; finally, the distress criterion is insufficient."

5. Rare all-white panda spotted in SW China's Sichuan Province (May 27)

6. China's first homegrown large passenger jet took its maiden flight after 16 years in the making — check it out (May 29) Great!

7. Shanghai Metro on the right track after 30 years (May 28) "Meanwhile, the overall length of the city's Metro network, has increased to 831 kilometers, becoming the largest metro system among all the cities in the world, according to Shanghai's Metro operator, Shanghai Shentong Metro Group." The Shanghai metro system has been operating for 30 years. I can confirm, yes, subways in China are very nice. (My photos here and here.)

Sixth Tone also has a series of articles on the 30th anniversary of the construction of the Shanghai subway system:
Shanghai, in Motion (May 28) "'Compared with walking on the street, we feel safer and more relieved after entering the metro station. There, everything is standardized and traceable,' he said, adding that the better tactile paving in stations and along the platform edges is a crucial accessibility feature, particularly for the visually impaired."
Beyond the Midnight Hour (May 29) "Maintenance crews take over to keep the Shanghai Metro running like clockwork for the 10 million passengers who ride it every day."
Building Shanghai’s Deepest Station (May 30) "With the deepest foundation piles reaching as far as 48 meters underground, Chen and his team had no choice but to build the new station at a record depth of 36 meters so that incoming trains could make it to the station after diving under the piles. For safety and energy consumption reasons, official regulations limit subway inclination to a maximum gradient of 3%."

8. Pentecost, Resurrection, and the Chasm of History (May 25) "In terms of early sources, the only vague candidate for such a mass appearance is the Pentecost scene in Acts 2, which as we know it today is not explicitly cited as a Resurrection appearance. But as I will suggest, that is what it was originally."

9. Return of the Jedi (1983) - Ace Mini-Review (May 25) "This leads to an ending that, in its own understated way, is remarkably ace-friendly.  Cinematic and storytelling conventions tell us that the hero’s happy ending should include heterosexual marriage.  And yet Luke, the quintessential hero, ends his story single and without a romantic prospect in sight."

10. China sends first civilian astronaut to space as Shenzhou-16 blasts off (May 29) "It is China’s fifth manned mission to the space station since 2021." Cool!

Blogaround

1. This xkcd comic about credit card rewards. Because this is exactly how I think...

2. Chinese eagerly await return of panda from US zoo (April 11) "But in recent times, Memphis Zoo has been grilled by Chinese netizens over accusations that Ya Ya and Le Le had been mistreated during their stay."

3. World Book Day: A Bookstore for the Blind (April 23) "China is home to 17 million visually impaired people, who often face barriers entering the workforce and even colleges due to a lack of braille exam papers. China only has one braille press, and there were 959 braille libraries nationwide as of 2017, but many people aren’t aware of them."

Also from Sixth Tone: Holiday Hustle: In China, Most Resent Trading Weekends for Time Off (April 25) "Since 1999, the government has created longer vacations by swapping working days with weekends preceding and following the holiday." Yeah, we get 1 day off for May 1 (Labor Day), but they moved the weekends around to make it 5 days in a row.

One criticism I have for Sixth Tone's article- it says "China’s public holiday system, which allows employees to trade weekends for longer holidays" which makes it sound like we have a choice. Lol, no, we don't have a choice. This is the work schedule set by the government. Sunday, April 23 and Saturday, May 6 are work days. If you don't want to work on those weekend days, you have to use your own vacation days for that.

4. Community Memory and the Search for Unassailable Abuse (April 23) "This pressure to turn our worst and most painful experiences into argument fodder is part of what I aimed to highlight in The Glossary & The Gristmill — a post about how our own community is contributing, in part, to why it feels like certain stories can’t be told. When community dynamics dictate that argument fodder is the top priority, that creates inhibitions against sharing our stories."

5. Preston Sprinkle’s strange interview with Sheila Gregoire and Rebecca Lindenbach (April 13) "In one of the creepiest moments of the podcast, Sprinkle told of an experience he had at a local coffee shop." 

Also, Preston Sprinkle hasn't heard of Brio magazine. It was a magazine for teen girls, published by Focus on the Family, which promoted a lot of "purity" teaching. I read it all the time in high school. To be fair, though, Sprinkle's work is more along the lines of "how to pretend to be an ally to LGBTQ people", rather than "here are the reasons women and girls in the church have internalized sexual shame."

6. Mattel unveils a Barbie with Down syndrome (April 25) "'Our goal is to enable all children to see themselves in Barbie, while also encouraging children to play with dolls who do not look like themselves. Doll play outside of a child's own lived experience can teach understanding and build a greater sense of empathy, leading to a more accepting world,' McKnight said."

7. Ex-officer who fatally shot Breonna Taylor hired as a deputy (April 25)

8. The kingdom of heaven is like: Lizzo brings drag queens on stage at her Knoxville show to protest law (April 23)

9. Dragon catches on fire during Disneyland’s ‘Fantasmic’ show (April 23) Wow!

10. Tucker Carlson departs Fox News, pushed out by Rupert Murdoch (April 24)

11. Ranking the Pain of Stinging Insects, From ‘Spicy’ to ‘Shockingly Electric’ (April 24, via) [content note: article has a few images of bugs] This is about Justin Schmidt, a scientist who went around getting stung by various insects (over 1000 times) so he could compare them all objectively. 

Blogaround

Two pandas. Image source.

1. the complicated misery of #metoo (posted February 5) [content note: description of sexual assault] "It was her job to stop it, and not his job to care."

2. How John Piper’s Church Handles Domestic Violence Will Make You Cringe (posted March 1) "Until evangelical churches like Bethlehem Baptist can rethinking their priorities and start valuing people over marriage, this cycle will repeat, and the hemming and hawing over whether an abuse victim can divorce, or (God forbid) remarry will continue."

3. From Original Sin to Flattering Mirror: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History (posted January 14) "A movement that had challenged the very fabric of US politics and society was turned into one that demonstrated how great and expansive the country was—a story of individual bravery, natural evolution, and the long march to 'a more perfect union.'"

4. A frightened child in Chicago and an immigration policy unbecoming of America (posted February 28) "I don’t know what kind of country handcuffs a mother who fears for her life and hauls her young daughter more than 2,000 miles away."

5. Love-struck hero or creepy harasser? Suddenly we’re seeing our favorite rom-coms in a new light. (posted February 27) "This film is rated #MeToo, for a man making three sexual innuendos on a sales conference call, and for a woman laughing them off because she didn’t want to lose the account."

6. Fawkes' Original Owner | Harry Potter Theory (posted March 1)

7. Billy Graham is dead (posted February 22) "So did Billy Graham “reach” his own son? Is Franklin Graham a convert of his father’s gospel?"

And also: I will be your father figure, put your tiny hand in mine "But — and here’s where the paradox comes in — at the same time as all of these pieces rightly assert that Billy Graham personally defined and embodied the meaning and substance of evangelicalism, they also all take pains to explain that white evangelicalism in 21st-century America has very little in common with Billy Graham."

And: It's always the other way around "I’ve read and studied several dozen books by earnest Christian writers earnestly arguing that our political views must derive from our religious or “biblical” convictions, and not the other way around. That is what all of those authors and all of those books purport to do themselves (even as they all “arrive” at different political conclusions, all of which seem suspiciously like the political preferences of the authors)."

8. Concerned Women for America’s Bizarre “Esther Moment” Rhetoric (posted March 6) "If evangelicals are anyone in that story, they’re Haman." Oooooh burn.

9. Stalking for Love (posted February 28) [content note: stalking portrayed as romantic] "There's an undercurrent of coercion running through these scenes, because they set up situations where the woman in question will appear callous or heartless if she rejects the guy again after he's gone through all the trouble of pulling off his elaborate stunt."

Blogaround

Image source.

1. This Awesome Comic Shows Why Gender Transition Isn’t a Race (posted September 18)

2. How to understand ‘biblical inerrantists’ (posted September 24) "So they’re desperately hoping that a perfect text will cast out all fear."

3. Pope Francis Presides over a Church Still Fighting to Keep Accused Sex Abusers from Going to Trial (posted September 26) "the Catholic church is involved in lobbying against laws that would extend the statute of limitations, allowing victims of sexual abuse that occurred decades ago to find justice."

4. I am crucified: chronic illness in Christian culture (posted September 23) "most regular people don’t think that crucifying yourself is an ideal."

5. Bill Nye tells pro-life advocates ‘You literally don’t know what you’re talking about’ (posted September 26)

6. Man Can’t Believe Obama Would Use Tragedy To Push Anti-Tragedy Agenda (posted October 2) From the Onion.

7. Don’t die for Christ; Let Christ die for you (posted October 2) "I regret giving much of my life away to Christ."

Blogaround

Image source.

1. The Gospel in an Age of Public Shame (posted February 23) "The opposite of Western shame is self-esteem—I feel good about myself ... The opposite of Eastern shame is honor—others thinking highly of me."

2. The Power Team, or how evangelicals accidentally lie to kids (posted February 27) "But every Christian leader I ever knew came down incredibly hard on us children for the sin of 'lying by omission', and from where I’m sitting, neglecting to mention that the Power Team needed knee reconstructions looks a lot like lying by omission."

YOU GUYS, the Power Team came to my church in the 90s and I totally went and saw them. Big scary guys.

3. Fewer Women Run Big Companies Than Men Named John (posted March 2)

4. Wild Panda Population Up Dramatically in China, Government Says (posted March 2)

5. This incredibly helpful dog.

6. Not That There's Anything Wrong with That: Seinfeld, Satire, and Self-Deprecation (posted February 27?) "When they contact their lawyer, Jackie Chiles, he exclaims, 'You don’t have to help anybody. That’s what this country is all about!'"

7. The Myth Of The Absent Black Father (posted January 2014) "...the CDC found that black dads are more involved with their kids on a daily basis than dads from other racial groups."

8. Have We Made the Bible into an Idol? (posted March 5) "The only religious worldview that makes the Bible the last and only word, is that of a God who is no longer living."

9. Folding fractions (posted March 2) How to fold a piece of paper into thirds. And any other fraction.

10. China Blocks Web Access to ‘Under the Dome’ Documentary on Pollution (posted March 6) This documentary on China's air pollution went viral on the Chinese internet this week. Now it's been deleted from all the Chinese video hosting sites. You can still watch it on youtube (there are even English subtitles).

11. 10 ways white people are more racist than they realize (posted March 5) "Another study found that emergency room personnel are less likely to give African American and Latino/Hispanic children pain medication, even when they are experiencing severe abdominal pain."

12. Ferguson Police Routinely Violate Rights of Blacks, Justice Dept. Finds (posted March 3) "Those findings reinforce what the city’s black residents have been saying publicly since the shooting in August, that the criminal justice system in Ferguson works differently for blacks and whites."

13. Consent explained perfectly in cups of tea (posted March 8) "If they are unconscious, don't make them tea. Unconscious people don't want tea and can't answer the question 'do you want tea' because they are unconscious."

14. How I Became An Atheist Who Wanted To Save Christians From Hell (posted March 4) "I hate how it often seems to give Christians tunnel vision when it comes to friends they care about, prompting Christians who love their non Christian friends to see these friends as in danger of hellfire instead of seeing them as the beautifully awesome incarnations of humanity they are."

Blogaround

Image source.

1. Jesus Is Not Our Zoloft: Reflections on Mental Health and the Church (posted March 31) "Jesus will not supernaturally make your mental health better or easier to manage. What makes your mental health better or easier to manage is everything Jesus cannot do: psychotherapy, medication, and supportive care .... Sure, a support group at your church may help you manage your bipolar disorder. But that’s your support group providing supportive care, not Jesus. Thank Jesus if you want for being the reason your church exists in the first place, but don’t pretend Jesus gives you the supportive care himself."

2. #IfTheyGunnedMeDown Shows How Black People Are Portrayed in Mainstream Media (posted August 11) "#iftheygunnedmedown which picture would they use?"

3. World's first surviving panda triplets are 'very healthy' (posted August 13) So cute! Thank you, baby pandas, for filling the world with cuteness. See also this article from the Chinese side of the internet.

4. America Is Not For Black People (posted August 12) "By all accounts, Brown was One Of The Good Ones. But laying all this out, explaining all the ways in which he didn't deserve to die like a dog in the street, is in itself disgraceful. Arguing whether Brown was a good kid or not is functionally arguing over whether he specifically deserved to die, a way of acknowledging that some black men ought to be executed."

5. On Race, the Benefit of the Doubt, and Complicity (posted August 15) "Surely I had heard him wrong. I’ve been doing this all my life—giving people the benefit of the doubt, imagining that racism is largely a thing of the past, not nearly as bad as they say."

6. SWAT Wedding Photos Shot in Chongqing Go Viral (posted July 27) Awesome!