What I'm reading, writing, and thinking about.
After being disappointed in Foundations by Asimov, a friend and reader of the site here suggested the Ringworld series by Larry Niven. I’m nearly done with book #1 and, so far, it’s much better than Foundations. The pace is better and the story is more cohesive. There are some calculations (mostly distance, since they’re in space) that are tough to follow listening to the audiobook but, other than that, it’s enjoyable.
I started reading this one because the Foundation series by Asimov is considered seminal. Even Elon Musk recommends the series.
I’ve not been impressed with it. Maybe the problem is with me? I don’t know. It seems to bounce around too much, moving forward in time too quickly without adequate detail to keep up. I won’t be continuing in the series.
Serving on an 11-person transition team has given me opportunity to revisit work I’d done years ago to better understand the two biblical church offices: Elder and Deacon. This book on Deacons is well done, simple to understand, and quite comprehensive. I’d recommend it to anyone wanting a true-to-Scripture evaluation of the office of Deacon.
The WWII battles fought in North Africa don’t get much attention, but are arguably the most important of the entire war. Why? They opened up the pathway to Italy for the Allies.
From Goodreads:
Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson provides the definitive history of the war in North Africa. The liberation of Europe and the destruction of the Third Reich is an epic story of courage and calamity, of miscalculation and enduring triumph. “An Army at Dawn” begins on the eve of Operation TORCH, the daring amphibious invasion of Morocco and Algeria.
Our church is nearly one year into a pastoral transition. Our senior pastor of 33 years retired last August. The process has been both exciting and unsettling.
Serving on an 11-person transition team has given me opportunity to revisit work I’d done years ago to better understand the two biblical church offices: Elder and Deacon. This book on Deacons is well done, simple to understand, and quite comprehensive. I’d recommend it to anyone wanting a true-to-Scripture evaluation of the office of Deacon.
We have learned that money is a tool with five characteristics and that it serves three functions. Thiers’ Law states that, under normal market conditions without price controls, good money drives out bad money. Most societies globally, however, do not have completely free markets without price controls.
Interest rates are the most fundamental price control: they determine the price of capital. Every service or commodity is priced in money; fixing the cost of money (interest rates) impacts the price of every other good or service. Governments control the cost of capital. In this, they have an incredible power.
Let’s look at why governments grab and seek to maintain this power, how they have exercised it in the past, and what the future could look like.