The media is becoming a national security threat. The post The Media Goes to Bat for ISIS in Israel appeared first on Frontpage Mag.

In 2017, Jack Gilbert—who teaches microbial science at the University of Chicago—and Rob McKnight published a fascinating book, Dirt Is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child’s Developing Immune System. Gilbert and McKnight challenge a core assumption of every nervous parent: that we must take every step humanly possible to protect our children from any and all forms of contamination. It seems our kids can never use enough hand sanitizer or take enough baths or use enough Clorox wipes. As paradoxical as it seems, they argue, some level of exposure to germs can be a good thing. It can help children develop their immune systems, which will, in turn, protect them when they’re older. They posit that many health problems (including the rising rate of severe allergies) can be linked to a lack of exposure to certain bacteria. Here’s the point: germ-conscious parents may think they’re raising healthy children when they may instead be raising vulnerable children—a vulnerability that will not become apparent until many years later. Germ-conscious parents may think they’re raising healthy children when they may instead be raising vulnerable children. I’m not a scientist, and I can’t tell parents whether they should wash off the pacifier when it falls to the ground. But I do think there’s a parallel lesson in the spiritual world. As nervous Christian parents, we sometimes think our number one job is to make sure our kids are never exposed to any non-Christian thinking. We may be tempted to place them inside a sanitized theological bubble, safe from all forms of intellectual contamination. But, as for germ-conscious parents, this may not be accomplishing what we think. Boost Their Immune Systems This topic has been on my mind since the release of my book Surviving Religion 101: Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College. In all the podcasts I’ve been doing since the book’s release, one question keeps coming up again and again: What can parents (and churches) do to help better prepare their kids for the intellectual challenges of college? What’s interesting is that my book wasn’t written to address that question. It isn’t a guide for parents or churches on how to develop the next generation. Instead, I wrote for students who are already in college (or on the verge of college), regardless of whether their preparation had been good or bad. Even so, all these podcast hosts were still interested in the same question. What can we do to better prepare our children? While there are many answers to that question, I think the lesson of Gilbert’s book can provide an important piece of wisdom. Perhaps Christian parents need to realize that some limited exposure to non-Christian thinking can serve to “boost” their children’s spiritual immune systems—which they’ll need when they’re older. Some limited exposure to non-Christian thinking can serve to ‘boost’ children’s spiritual immune systems. Put differently, parents and churches need to consider ways to introduce their children, at age-appropriate levels, to non-Christian philosophies, arguments, and criticisms, along with a proper Christian response. That way, when these Christian students head off to college, they won’t hear these arguments and think, I’ve never heard that before; why didn’t my parents (or pastor) tell me that? Instead, they can say, Yes, I’ve heard this before, and there are answers to these questions. Precautions and Complexities Of course, this must be done with wisdom and care. No one is suggesting we dump a mountain of critical arguments onto a 12-year-old kid, thinking this will somehow help her. Likewise, Gilbert isn’t arguing that parents should take no precautions whatsoever about exposure to germs. Some pathogens are a real danger and must be avoided (a lesson we learned during COVID-19). Moreover, every Christian parent faces a myriad of complex questions about his or her child’s exposure to a non-Christian world: Can my child watch that movie? Should I let him run in that crowd? Should I send her to that school? These are tough questions. And parents must be careful about the things to which their children are exposed. But, at the same time, let’s not think we succeeded as parents if our child turns 18 and has never heard a single substantive argument against Christianity, nor even met a single non-Christian. We may think we’ve “protected” him, when in fact we may have stunted his spiritual immune system, which he’ll desperately need in the years ahead.

Dogs might be man’s best friend, but another place on the podium must surely go to horses. It is hard to argue that any other animal has helped humanity advance as much as them. For around 5,000 years, horses have helped people move heavier payloads over longer distances in a much shorter time than they […] The post 10 Strange Facts about Humans and Horses You Will Hardly Believe appeared first on Listverse.

The ghosts of grandeur haunt the skeletons of massive structures abandoned across the globe, each telling a tale of faded glory and unfulfilled potential. From colossal hospitals that once echoed with the footsteps of both healers and the ailing to futuristic resorts that never welcomed a single tourist, these giants stand as stark reminders of […] The post 10 Massive Structures That People Abandoned appeared first on Listverse.

As Hades 2 early access rolls on, we’re seeing several other studios put their own spin on its particular brand of top-down roguelike action. Studio Fizbin, previously known for games with simple, satisfying gameplay and socially relevant narratives - I particularly enjoyed the fulfilling Say No More - has brought that design ethos to bear alongside a deeper gameplay focus in the ‘medievalpunk’ world of Reignbreaker. I sat down to try it at Gamescom 2024, and came away ready to play more. Continue reading Reignbreaker is a punchy punk roguelike with a unique weapon system MORE FROM PCGAMESN: New PC games, Best PC games, Free PC games

An interesting counterpart to yesterday’s post: an excavation of a Przeworsk culture cemetery in Kazimierza Wielka, 100 miles northeast of Glinka, has uncovered a warrior grave that contains not just the traditional iron weapons, but also an exceptionally rare Roman bronze urn (situla). Its type dates it to between the 1st century B.C. and the 2nd century A.D. The vessel, classified as an Eggers 18 type, contains the cremated remains of the deceased. It features decorative dolphin-shaped fittings and is intact and in excellent condition. These were expensive imports from the Roman Empire and are exceptionally rare finds in Poland. Only seven have ever been found in the territory settled by the Przeworsk culture, and only four of those were used as cinerary urns. The excavation uncovered weapons next to the urn: a sword, a shield boss and two spearheads. The were ritually bent and burned, consistent with the cremation practices of the Przeworsk culture as seen in the Glinka burials. This Przeworsk cemetery is unusual for containing both cremation burials and whole-body inhumations. Cremations were the standard burial practice for the Przeworsk culture, but in this cemetery inhumations greatly outnumber cremations. Since excavations of the cemetery site began three years ago, archaeologists have unearthed four cremation burials, 23 inhumation burials and 12 quadrangular funerary monuments. The inhumations are all oriented north-south with the heads facing south. The bodies were placed on their sides in a crouched position. The jewelry, clothing fragments and adornments found with the skeletal remains indicate most of the deceased were women. One of the inhumations unearthed in this year’s excavation contained the skeleton of a woman adorned with a double necklace with glass, stone and bronze beads, a belted pendant and bucket-shaped pendants made of bronze and iron. Two identical bronze brooches were also found, one at the sternum and one above the head. The style of the fibulae date the grave to the late 2nd century, the youngest objects discovered in the cemetery. Some of the inhumed deceased had missing upper body bones while the rest of the skeleton was intact. This suggests the bones were deliberately removed in a previously-unknown practice involving the reopening of recent graves after the soft tissues had decayed and the removal of certain bones.

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