MercatorNet reviews The Children of Húrin:

For me, Húrin has served the purpose which Christopher Tolkien explains in the preface: that a reader only casually acquainted with the earlier Ages of Middle Earth might become more interested in the people and drama which filled that world. I still can't remember which of the families of Elves is which (and I'm not helped here by the family trees at the back of Hurin which revealed what I've always suspected: that all their names begin with "F"). But I'm drawn in by a story which touches even peripherally on each of the major players in the First Age of Middle Earth. And I'm ready to go back again to the stories of the earlier Ages of Tolkien's world to discover some of the grandeur, to witness some of the "many defeats and many fruitless victories" which Elrond speaks of.

VOM, Iran:

On June 19, 2007, The Voice of the Martyrs confirmed reports that believers in Iran are being detained, interrogated and in one case, imprisoned, because of their faith in Jesus Christ. According to VOM sources, this new wave of persecution is coming against Christians who meet to worship God in the privacy of their homes. VOM sources said, “We have confirmed reports that several believers have been interrogated and one house was stormed by an elite police team that confiscated a computer, several CDs and Christian materials. A Christian was arrested in this attack, and remains in prison.” Pray believers in Iran will remain steadfast in their faith despite this new wave of persecution. Pray for the release of the believer in prison and for protection for all Christians in Iran.

If you're thinking about buying an iPhone, don't read this.

MercatorNet spends a moment examining the ethics of civilian bombing, using this book as a starting point. I've done some reading about Allied tactics toward the end of WWII, and though I was already appalled by war in general, I was doubly appalled by the horrific bestiality of this mass destruction - from Hamburg to Hiroshima.

What? Carbon? Bring it on! We're up against global cooling!

Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe solar cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on Earth. Beginning to plan for adaptation to such a cool period, one which may continue well beyond one 11-year cycle, as did the Little Ice Age, should be a priority for governments. It is global cooling, not warming, that is the major climate threat to the world.

(HT: Instapundit)

Observing the success of flat tax in Estonia. (HT: WORLD Views)

VOM, Uzbekistan:

Imprisoned Pentecostal pastor, Dmitry Shestakov, has been transferred to a harsher labor camp in Navoi, Uzbekistan. The new camp is a longer distance from his wife and three children. In May 2007, Shestakov was sentenced to four years in an open work camp, in Andijan, for "religious activity." Christians in Uzbekistan told Forum 18 News, "The authorities claim he misbehaved in the open work camp and that’s why they ordered his transfer to a harsher camp. We believe this was deliberately set up." Forum 18 News reports that Pastor Shestakov’s transfer comes as authorities prepare administrative trials against members of his congregation in his home town of Andijan in the Fergana Valley in eastern Uzbekistan. Pray for Pastor Shestakov and his family. Ask God to watch over them during this difficult time.

It's... it's... happened?

Yep, print is dead: ironically available in hardcover.

More obituaries -

Rev2.org:

Thousands of individuals rarely pick up books anymore, trading the heavy, physical medium for something accessible everywhere and any time: the Internet. Those without experience on the Internet will protest the day when readers banish books to a dark corner of their rooms, but I, for one, will applaud that day, for it will herald the arrival of a new era; one where people both contribute their literary works and read the works of others with a higher frequency than ever before.

Writer...Interrupted:

I really believe that most writers just want an audience. (We want to pay the bills, too, but we already have day jobs for that.)

My cousin Daniel, who just finished his sophomore year at Cal Poly, left yesterday for a multi-month trip to Kenya to help out at an orphanage. He'll be sharing his experiences here, and I know he'd appreciate your prayers.

Yet more inspiring journalism from Michael Yon:

There is no particular spark, no single bolt of lightning, errant campfire or careless cigarette flicked out a window that caused this conflagration. We walked into a dry, cracked land, where the two arteries of Mesopotamia have long pulsed water and blood through scorched lands into the sea. In a place where everything that is not already desert is tinder, sparks tend to catch fire.

It's happening.

Michael Yon often combines his milblogging with fascinating cultural journalism. His latest dispatch provides a glimpse into the lives of the Bedouin. More good photography too.

LVMI takes on Social Security.

I returned an hour ago from setting up the collectible books for tomorrow's sale. The collectible sales are great: you get to preview the selection the day before, instead of the hour before.

I found a nice copy of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, two more Dostoevsky titles, Chesterton's Father Brown Mystery Stories, and a pristine copy of The Gifts Of The Jews, by Thomas Cahill, author of How The Irish Saved Civilization, which I already have. Also selected a beautifully worn hardback copy of Lloyd C. Douglas's Magnificent Obsession, which I didn't have yet, as well as a short history of weaponry with this intriguing subtitle:

Being a short history of war and weaaponry from earliest times to the present, noting the gratifying progress made by man since his first crude, small-scale efforts to do away with those who disagreed with him.

From National Geographic: The 100 greatest adventure books of all time.

(HT: Instapundit)

Mediocrity and materialism are systematically strangling the Western Christian (and therefore the Western Church), and like the proverbial frog in the frying pan, he doesn't even know it. Dan Edelen is one of the last feeble voices among the faithful who are gasping for air amidst the suffocating lukewarmedness. He always writes good stuff, but this post simply defies adjectives.

Warning: side effects may include goose bumps.

Why do men need so much alteration? The Christian answer - that we have used our free will to become very bad - is so well known that it hardly needs to be stated. But to bring this doctrine into real life in the minds of modern men, and even of modern Christians, is very hard. When the Apostles preached, they could assume even in their Pagan hearers a real consciousness of deserving the Divine anger. The Pagan mysteries existed to allay this consciousness, and the Epicurean philosophy claimed to deliver men from the fear of eternal punishment. It was against this background that the Gospel appeared as good news. It brought news of possible healing to men who knew that they were mortally ill. But all this has changed. Christianity now has to preach the diagnosis - in itself very bad news - before it can win a hearing for the cure.

-C.S. Lewis

WORLD on wedding registries:

I hate wedding registries, mainly because they make no sense. The giving of wedding gifts, presumably, began in the dawn of time when parents and friends realized that newlyweds were poor and had no forks...

Our culture of affluence has grown far beyond forks and tablecloths and hope chests...

Heh, I'd have to agree. I've actually felt this way for a good while.

I'd agree that Lewis and Tolkien wove free-market themes into their books. But this strikes me as a gigantic trivialization.

Victor Davis Hanson is unimpressed with the great European experiment.

Here's a thought-provoking article about community from Dan Edelen's archives. Thanks to Jonathan Marshall for the tip.

When we talk about community in the Church, we simply do not understand what is at stake. As long as I have been a believer, I have seen all kinds of communities, but very little community. Our lack of reliance on God (since we usually have cash to pay for anything that faith would ordinarily cover) translates into a lack of reliance on others within the Body of Faith.

The accelerating evaporation of intelligence and initiative is nothing to take lightly.

Well, maybe sometimes.

1930: Define rhythm.

1960: The movement of music in time, including tempo and meter, is called _______.

1990: The movement of music in time, including tempo and meter, is called:
A. melody
B. harmony
C. rhythm
D. interval

2000: The movement of music in time, commonly called rhythm, makes you feel:
A. I don't understand the question.
B. I think this is an unfair question.
C. I don't know what the word rhythm means.
D. It doesn't matter how I feel, as long as it is my own authentic feeling.

-From The Future Of Christian Higher Education, pgs. 96-97

Feedburner is up and running for the new URL: click on the link in the upper right to keep the crumbs coming.

Like books? Check out Librarything.com. I'm still scoping it out, but it looks to be a pretty nifty site. (Hat tip to Julie Neidlinger)

Here's another cool-looking tool in the same strain: Zotero, for Firefox.

WORLD on summer reading:

It’s June, when America tells itself to read something on the beach. Now, I don’t subscribe to this theory of reading. In An Experiment in Criticism, C.S. Lewis rips into those who read “to pass the time.” The idea of reading on planes and trains and beaches is the kind of reading where we want our mind distracted, rather than altered. The long and short of Lewis’s theory is that a book should be read so that it might change us, might link us up together more like we were before the fall. The whole idea of summer reading, in my experience, runs counter to the idea of literature as change agent. But then again, it’s still reading. And like my friends say about the Harry Potter books, at least they get people reading.

An excellent, excellent article about the cultural abandonment of the magic and merits of manual labor. Not knowing how to use your hands is bad. Period.

And not appreciating knowing how to use your hands is worse.

MercatorNet sends another one sailing out of the park - this time it's about Richard Dawkin's campaign against theism:

Dawkins confuses religion and the use of religion – I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt intellectually and assume he does so deliberately -- in order to promote his thesis that religion is evil. Religion itself is not evil – just as science is not evil – but it can be used for evil purposes, just as science can.

Using religion to convince the 9/11 terrorists to commit mass murder by knocking down the World Trade Towers was a profoundly evil use of religion. Using airplanes to carry out that evil was a profoundly evil use of aeronautical science. However, Dawkins looks only at the evil uses of religion – never the good it effects -- and only the good uses of science – never the harms it does. A balanced ethical approach requires us to recognise both the goods and harms of both religion and science, and to try to stop the evil uses and to promote the good ones of each.

Read the whole thing.

Having children in an anti-children culture:

In an era of sound bites in the battle of ideas, moms and dads are on the frontlines in defending the family in about 15 words or less.

Light book sale this morning, but I found some Dorothy Sayers, George MacDonald, and Albert Schweitzer. Also picked up a historical novel on St. Patrick, an imaginative literature textbook/anthology, and a philosophical work on Money and the Meaning of Life. Oh, and another copy of The Robe: I think I have three now.

Michael Yon has a good grassroots perspective on the intricacies of the Iraq war. His latest dispatch documents the quiet but dramatic arrest of a high-ranking Iraqi coalition official.

"Blink" or "Think": an article about making decisions.

Free markets mean open borders. Absolutely.

(HT: Instapundit)