Archives

Friday’s Center of the Blogosphere

Oct28

A Visit to Saddleback Church

Chosen People Not Choosing Children, about Jewish people having fewer children from Mere Comments.

Mark Horne, pastor, on reading the Bible. He says don’t try so hard to get something out of it. Just read.

Ann Rice (the vampire writer) writes only for the Lord now? From Bookworm Room.

Phil at Brandywine Books sent me to a blog called My Best Gadgets where I found a genuine Radio Toaster. While you’re there, check out the WonderVase and the Hamster Powered Clock.

On a more serious note, does anyone have any more information on the new Kenyan constitution outlawing open-air evangelistic meetings? Here’s what Gerry Charlotte Phelps says. Time to pray?

New Blogs I Found This Week:
A Work in Progresslibrarian, artist, and reader. She has several booklists in her recent posts that I need to check out more closely.
Bartography The blog of Chris Barton who writes biographies for children.
Fortunately, my pastor just set up a blog this week. Unfortunately, it’s at xanga, and I can’t add it to my RSS feed at Bloglines (can I?) Tar-Palantir.

How To Write

Sep27

While I was gone on the Texodus, I received in my email a copy of the book How To Write by Herbert and Jill Meyer. Yes, in my email. I got this ebook for free in return for my review (which I’ll write using the tips in the book just as soon as I get it read), but you can buy it here for only $1.99. What do you have to lose?

I’ll let you know what I think when I’ve finished the book, and you can see for yourself if there’s any improvement in my writing.

Blogging 101

Aug21

LaShawn Barber is giving advice about blogging, and I think it’s good advice. She says,

Everyone and his mother are blogging. To stand out, individual bloggers will need to “niche blog.” That is, pick a topic you know a lot about or want to know more about, find out what’s currently out there, and more importantly, what’s not, and start filling in the gaps.

The problem is that I don’t want to blog that way. Is this a litblog or a homeschooling blog or a political blog (yes, I air my views on that topic sometimes) or a Christian inspirational blog or . . . Well, it’s all of the above and none of the above and more. I know that if someone comes here looking for a book review and finds me blogging about a day in our homeschool or vice-versa, that reader might be less likely to come back. Or what if a young guy who’s interested in a Christian perspective on the news reads one of my mommy posts? Or a movie buff finds my list of 105 Best Movies Ever and comes to Semicolon expecting more of the same, only to find me talking about books, books, and more books.

Well, sorry, guys, but I do this for enjoyment, not for stats or for the money (what money?). So I’ll just keep blogging about whatever suits my fancy and hope that it suits some of you, too. I just don’t fit in a “niche”—so I guess I’ll remain an insignificant little semicolon. However, everybody needs a semicolon every once in a great while.

Blast from the Past

Aug16

What ever happened to . . . Rubik’s Cube? I remember when these were popular, about twenty-five years ago. But according to this firebug, some people are still trying to solve Rubik’s Cube. And he derives a spiritual application:

One of the things you quickly learn is that you can’t move one piece without affecting at least one other piece. And most moves displace at least three pieces. It’s a three-dimensional object lesson about the inevitability of causes and effects, as well as an effective illustration of the principle of 1 Corinthians 12:25-25: any body composed of multiple members is still one body, and whatever effects one member affects the whole body.

I never managed to even get close to solving a Rubik’s Cube. I’ll bet Engineer Husband could do it.