The Curiosity Index: Week 2

17 January 2021

Here are things I’ve read, watched and discovered as my curiosity got the better of me this week.

The Week’s Postings

Tuesday: A new family value
Wednesday: How practising gratitude can change your life
Saturday: We aren’t the kind of people we thought we were

From the archives

Six steps to making your church better: “Here’s how the New Testament fleshes out what love looks like in six simple ways.”

Some interesting things (to me)

Seven posts that caught my eye.

Do I feel fine?: I very much appreciate Alan Jacobs and his writing and this last sentence is 100% me. ‘For me, a Christian, everything about this, about what will happen to me when I die, about what will become of this sweet world, hinges on one question. As Auden put it: “Now did He really break the seal / And rise again?” The biggest of all Ifs, for me. But I’m staking my claim on “Yes.”’
“Righteous Lot”? Although we are often criminally bound by the new when it comes to using the internet, there is good stuff to be found by digging amongst the old. Here’s one from 2018 by Andrew Wilson. “It always sounds wrong when you read 2 Peter 2 and find that reference to “righteous Lot.” How on earth can a man who offers his virgin daughters to gang rapists, in lieu of the angelic guests he is unknowingly entertaining, be described as “righteous”? Is Peter commending this behaviour? Are we supposed to see it as an ancient cultural accommodation, perhaps owing to hospitality norms or something? If so, aren’t the implications pretty alarming?”
How should Britain respond to the takeover of Hong Kong? It should be fairly evident that we once again live in an East v West world. The USA and the West have seen off communism in the USSR now has a new challenger that will prove a much stiffer test. The CCP. It looks like we’ve already given up on Hong Kong and that will not bode well for the more challenging target – Taiwan.
How Japan tried to hide a volcano – which sounds like an impossible challenge to me. “The government for some reason thought that a volcanic eruption in the middle of Hokkaido could be interpreted as a bad omen, or undermine confidence in the war effort. So Japan’s newest volcano was kept a secret from everyone but the local inhabitants.”
Preston Bus Station is Jeremy Williams’ building of the week because “In short, Preston Bus Station was a 1960s vision of urban travel. With a few tweaks, there’s no reason why it can’t be a great example of sustainable urban transit in the 2020s too.”
One of the things I can be fairly certain of for 2021 is that this building will not be chosen by Jeremy. Peak opulence, ridiculous and yours for $350 million.
The culture that is Denmark. James Emory White reacts to the A TV Show Built Around an Oversized Male Organ… for Children

Eye-catching stuff

Dakar Rally 2021: Dust, sand and stunning desert vistas – in pictures. Every year you can guarantee that the Dakar rally will give you senstational images. This year is no different.