Welcome to the weekend!  I hope you had a wonderful week, and are settling into a productive and/or relaxing few days.  Here are just a few of the stories, videos, etc. that I found interesting this week…

Let’s start with something that is going to affect everyone: groceries. From Gizmodo: At This Point, Amazon Can Crush a Company Just By Filing for a Trademark. Really interesting just how powerful Amazon is these days. I really love and enjoy Amazon, but I wonder if there will come a point when people resist convenience in order to fight monopoly. That point may never arrive in ‘Merica, but its an interesting thought nonetheless…

Sean Spicer resigned as White House Press Secretary. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will take the podium full time – congrats (I think?) Sarah!  Sarah is someone I have worked with in the past and admire for her hard work, and I wish her the best of luck.

Fuel for the Imagination: I found this story buried in the bowels of the Wall Street Journal: Elon Musk Teases a New York-to-D.C. Hyperloop. What’s so interesting is the speed at which he is talking about getting from NYC to D.C.:

In a message Thursday on his official Twitter account, Mr. Musk said he had “Just received verbal govt approval” to build a “Hyperloop” along the East Coast that could deliver people from New York to Washington in 29 minutes. Amtrak’s Acela Express travels between New York and Washington in slightly less than three hours.

To give you an idea of just how fast that is, depending on what road you take, the trip is between 226 and 243 miles according to google maps (an average car ride of 4-4.5 hours). Musk is talking about a speed of 12.8miles per minute or 768 miles per hour – Mauk 1 (the speed of sound) is 767 miles per hour!  

I’m unsure where these numbers are coming from, and why they differ so much from the video that Musk’s Boring Company released a few months back.  Maybe there’s a mistake…maybe…

Food for Thought: From Jon Bloom…Passive Christianity Is Dead Christianity.  This one is full of goodness. Excerpt:

Our pesky behaviors — they’re our worst betrayers. They keep leaking to the press what’s going on behind the closed doors of our hearts and undermining all the hard work our press-secretary tongues do trying to manage public perception.

Controversy: There’s been a lot of angst over the comments from Eugene Peterson that he would be okay officiating a gay wedding. This is a guy who many looked up to as a great Christian writer. I have never personally read any of his books, but a few of them are on my list for later in the year. Russell Moore asks the question, ‘Should We Still Read Eugene Peterson?‘ (h/t Aaron B.)

Strangely Edifying: Every Book of the Bible in One Word

Philosophy: Susan Wise Bauer, writing for Comment Magazine has some interesting point to make in this long-ish article, A FORM OF GODLINESS: Why civil religion won’t save us from religious nationalism or radical secularism.

Great Video: Cruise Ship Construction & Christening in 4K by MK timelapse (h/t to Marc W. for posting this one). 

For you golf fans, it’s British Open weekend. The official site can be found here. As of this writing, Matt Kuchar and Jordan Spieth are tied for the lead.

Keep an Eye on these items: First, Courts Rule E-Cigarettes Should Be Regulated Like Tobacco Products. Second, Why the Post Office Gives Amazon Special Delivery. 

Lastly, this is an interesting look at what happens when a Wal-Mart leaves a small poor community in West Virginia: What happened when Walmart left. Much demonized by the left, these stores actually provided a lot for their communities. But when they leave, the people in the community almost don’t know what to do.  Some turn to fast food for many of their meals, but others are starting to grow their own food in order to live more healthy lives. Just an interesting phenomenon to behold and consider.

That’s it!  I know that I haven’t posted a book update in a while, but I’m in the final days of a seminary semester, so soon enough I’ll be buzzing through books again, posting recommendations, and ideas. If you have some book recommendations for me, please send them along!

Have a great weekend!

PJW