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Maybe it’s just the mass-media professor in me who is used to chanting “technology shapes content.” But, you know, I sort of see a link between the following two stories in those radically different Washington, D.C., daily newspapers.
Stung by charges that the U.S. is being “stingy” with the amount of foreign aid to alleviate the suffering of the thousands of victims of the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean, bellicose bloggers such as Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds have directed readers to a donations page at Amazon and advised them to do their worst.
Bob Carlton of The Corner, cribbing an idea from A Penny For, has generously invited various bloggers to cite their five favorite pieces from 2004.
For those who don’t have much to do in the next week, you might want to take a look at the post-Thanksgiving Christianity Today Online weblog on religion, culture, government, theology and public manners (I am sure I am forgetting something major). Amy Welborn had a nice headline for this: “370! Links!” Just for kicks (and because of massive intimidation) I slapped this baby into a Word file and the basic text of this one blog collection is just a smidgen below 14,000 words. Ted Olsen and Co. have even added a much-needed innovation — yellow highlighter pen-like splashes to point out the really essential stories. It’s the blog within a blog within the blog. It’s kind of an evangelical Zen thing.
The web elves at Christianity Today have compiled what they’re calling the “longest CT Weblog ever.” Well over 400 links on Arlen Specter, Democrats and Religion, Human Rights, and Sports, plus a few dozen other subjects. To call it comprehensive would not do it justice. Go. Read. Marvel at the determination of Olsen and Moll to cover every topic under the sun. Solomon in all his glory did not think to produce a weblog like this.
Do you think anyone out there in “Left Behind” land is going to read any of this story in light of the Book of Revelation? The New York Times has the privacy angle, but not the religion ghost that is in this story.
From the BBC (via Religion News Blog) comes feel-good news about Nigerian 419 scams: a coalition called 419 Eater is fighting back and, in one case, using an elaborate parody of church talk to achieve its goal. (An audio report by BBC Radio 4 is available here.)
In a video game called Waco Resurrection, a player steps into the mind of the would-be messiah David Koresh and gains energy from — well, of course, from Bibles that rain from the sky and spray bullets. The same Bibles can transform federal agents into Branch Davidians.
Just back in the door from Turkey and Greece and I am way, way jet-lagged. But there is always all of that back email to triage.
