Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Evils of Twitter and Facebook

Interacting online is bad, bad, bad. It is impersonal, and you only do it because you are shallow and like to avoid real life-to-life interaction.
In fact, in the past two months I’ve heard this at least a dozen times from conference speakers and pastors, or I’ve read it in books, magazines or blog posts. It seems to be a belief people are increasingly adopting.

Great article in Collide Magazine.

Little Is Left Today of the Cold War's Most Famous Monument

As the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall looms, some locals wonder if they could have taken better care of one of the world's best-known monuments. Less than a quarter of the Wall is under historical protection and you can find more pieces of it overseas than in Germany.

On their first visit to Berlin a group of young Irish tourists decide to check out the East Side Gallery. They travel to where tourist maps tell them the gallery is and spend the next hour wandering along what appears to be a busy highway flanked by a graffiti-covered wall. "Where's this so-called gallery?" they curse, before giving up and heading back into the center of Berlin for more productive sightseeing.

There's some embarrassment later on when they find out that the big concrete wall they were walking alongside is actually one of the most important monuments of the 20th century, symbol of the Cold War and global shorthand for, firstly, political oppression and then, peaceful revolution. Yes, the Berlin Wall.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

ChildFund Board Member Presents 'Kids Over There – Why Should I Care'

"A 19-year-old woman attending the University of Virginia is taking a year to do volunteer work at the U.N. before starting medical school with a plan to devote her live to global health. A young woman in Afghanistan had to flee her country for safety reasons and is one of 3 million displaced Afghans.

What do they have in common?"

To learn the answer, click here.

Active Kids Fall Asleep Faster

"As parents watch their children swimming or playing tag, they often comment happily to each other about how well their kids will sleep that night. Now there's scientific data to back up that playground chatter.

A new study shows that active kids fall asleep faster. The study also shows that the longer it takes to fall asleep, the shorter the total sleep time. This is important because bad sleep patterns in children have been associated with poorer school performance and an increased risk of being obese or overweight."

Click here to read more about this study.