The Dawn Treader

Donald Miller always offers an insightful perspective.  The "love as a commodity" section of his interview in Out of Ur is spot on, imo.

An interesting meme at Guardian Unlimited: The 1 % rule.  Does this supplant the 80-20 rule?  The creators of content wield enormous influence in this equation.  Be part of the one percent.  Start a blog.

Is Da Vinci mania finally fading?

James Webb and George Allen had their first debate in the race for Virginia's senate seat.  Allen won. Webb paused an uncomfortable moment. "I'm not sure I know where Craney Island is," he conceded. "Why don't you tell me."   "Craney Island's in Virginia," Allen replied.

Time to plot a fresh data point in the design -vs- chance debate.  Introducing the newest instance of specified complexity in the cell : 30 million nucleosomes.  Drs. Segal and Widom analyzed the sequence at some 200 sites in the yeast genome where nucleosomes are known to bind, and discovered that there is indeed a hidden pattern.  Hidden pattern?  The practitioners are catching on.  The Kuhnian shift is well underway. (HT: The Cultural Report)

Interesting bon voyage essay by a Brit secularist on why religious leaders need a seat at the table in the national conversation.  She smacks down a cherished myth of the secularist left.  She also acknowledges a vacuum of meaning and purpose in the wake of secularist regimes.  She notes that Britain, the most secularist nation on the planet, is shifting from secularism to religion because of its diverse immigrants.  Indeed, one of the missionary families we support reaches out to the Hindu and Muslim population of southeast Asians who live in London.  It is an enormous population.  I don't agree with everything this erstwhile columnist writes, but it is an interesting read.

Anti-superstition legislation?  How would you define magic?

A case for liberal evangelicalism?

Meet Dr. Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.

He is director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI).  So what is he doing playing the piano, singing hymns, and talking to college kids about religion?