<![CDATA[They say that those who don't know their history are bound to repeat it. And there's a less well-known but corollary idea, that people who create realistic fictional content end up pulling their ideas from recent events. But every once in a while, both ideas converge: a piece of speculative fiction, drawn from elements of…

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<![CDATA[ Editor’s Note: This is the text of a sermon for the good people of Kaleo Covenant Church on August 14th, 2016. I didn’t intend for it to be a blog post, but a few people on Facebook might be encouraged by it, so here we go.   We’re in the middle of August. Labor…

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<![CDATA[So in the last five to ten years, as hip-hop culture has continued the march from being simply popular from becoming a downright universal lingua franca — and if you think I'm overstating that at all, consider that right now, at this second, The Roots are now the house band on The Tonight Show —…

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<![CDATA[ While vacationing in December, I stumbled upon an engrossing book with a gloriously inflated title (even longer than the title of this post): Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What It Says About Us), by Tom Vanderbilt. It’s a fascinating read, because it manages to synthesize mountains of research into understandable…

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<![CDATA[If you’re tired of giving the regular answer, and someone asks you what Christmas is about, you can tell them that sometimes it’s about football. (And not the Charlie-Brown-and-Lucy kind either.) Some people refer to Christianity as a backward religion, but I prefer to think of it more as an upside-down kingdom. Obviously, I’m not…

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<![CDATA[ (My apologies to a commenter at Eugene Cho’s Beauty and Depravity, from whom I so judiciously ganked the term “snowpacalypse” … considering all the hysterics from Seattlites and Portlanders who aren’t used to a ton of snow, it just seemed perfect.) First, I offer a passage from the latest edition of Experiencing God, a…

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<![CDATA[ (By the way, this isn’t just one of those generic open letters aimed at anyone who fits the description. There is an actual young Republican that I tried to engage recently in conversation surrounding these issues, but his lack of response to my questions and continued rhetoric on his blog afterward have caused me…

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<![CDATA[I try not to let this blog get too political because I don’t want to be known as a stooge for either the left or right (masthead notwithstanding). Mostly, I just like to get people thinking. So here are a bunch of pieces I’ve read lately that have really got me thinking. William Saletan of…

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<![CDATA[There are several reasons why I went back and forth about whether or not I would even do this review. It was getting to the point where I was arguing with myself about it: Come on… you haven’t posted anything in forever. No… it’s late and I have more important things to do. Okay, but…

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