July 24 Thoughts to Ponder

Lives of medical professionals

This is a very thoughtful piece on the kinds of life and death dramas those in medicine see far more than the rest of us:

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/doctors-live-on-the-brink-of-death

Eric Metaxas

This one is interesting. Byron Borger of all people gave a very positive review of Metaxas's most recent book, but there are lots of criticisms of it. (And I am concerned because Metaxas appears to have gotten a lot of his sourcing from, of all people, David Barton!) A few pertinent posts:

http://religionnews.com/2016/07/13/how-eric-metaxas-manipulates-the-past-to-serve-his-political-agenda/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2016/07/22/eric-metaxas-used-david-bartons-work-to-help-him-write-his-new-book-if-you-can-keep-it/

 The Sabbath and Rest

This was an especially good Our Daily Bread devotional last week, a great reminder for us all to consider whether we are allowing our lives to become too hectic:

http://odb.org/2016/07/22/human-race/

Civil Rights

Just when you think every attrocity of the "old days" has been reported, another episode like this is reported.

http://gpbnews.org/post/girls-leesburg-stockade

Why Don't Schools Teach More Morals and Ethics?

Good question; here is a fascinating discussion of that topic. Actually, "'Teaching character education in schools is actually unavoidable … [E]verything the school chooses to do or not do in terms of curriculum choices' influences the culture of a school and the character of its students, Steve Ellenwood, the director of Boston University’s Center for Character and Social Responsibility (CCSR), wrote in an email."

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/07/students-broken-moral-compasses/492866/?utm_source=atlfb

Time, Scientists, and Philosophy

Here's an article I am going to have to spend a lot more time pondering, but it did raise some fascinating thoughts, such as "if we are in a totally non-directed, Godless place, where did the concept of time even come from?"

The last few lines: "Future events exist, she said, they just don’t exist now. 'The block universe is not a changing picture,' she said.'It’s a picture of change.' Things happen when they happen. 'This is a moment—and I know everybody here is going to hate this—but physics could do with some philosophy,' she said. 'There’s a long history of discussion about the truth-values of future contingent statements—and it really has nothing to do with the experience of time.' And for those who wanted to read more? 'I recommend Aristotle,' she said."

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/07/the-debate-over-times-place-in-the-universe/492464/?utm_source=atlfb


Note the information here on the effect of social isolation on heat wave death potential:

http://www.citylab.com/navigator/2016/07/how-to-survive-a-heat-wave/493049/?utm_source=SFFB

And, as usual, presidential politics

I have the following four tabs open and waiting for more review and possible commenting:

"Hillary Clinton and Grace" - Certainly not the way I usually think of this word:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/07/hillary-clinton-and-the-reclamation-of-grace/493400/?utm_source=atlfb

This is an excellent picture of Obama as a human being, at a time when we are seeing so many political "leaders" on all parts of the political spectrum illustrating the opposite character traits:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/15/opinion/with-obama-the-personal-is-presidential.html?WT.mc_id=2016-JULY-FB-MC8-AUD_DEV-0701-0731&WT.mc_ev=click&ad-keywords=AUDDEVGate&_r=0

A thoughtful article on the two Vice President candidates, both Catholic but with quite different views on, especially, abortion:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-catholic-paths-of-pence-and-kaine-1469748243


What does the Democratic party stand for now?
 Interesting question and intriguing answer(s)

https://newrepublic.com/article/135659/democratic-party-stand-now-good-question?utm_source=New+Republic&utm_campaign=23f70cdda3-Daily_Newsletter_7_29_167_29_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c4ad0aba7e-23f70cdda3-59499965


Political Correctness, the "right" way

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/july-web-only/wrong-way-to-fight-political-correctness.html


The Zumbro River and DMC

Interesting article from the Star Tribune, one that ignores the flood plane work that was done after heavy flooding in the 60s/70s:

http://m.startribune.com/rochester-s-zumbro-river-in-the-spotlight-as-city-remakes-itself/388754451/?section=local