Joe Carter

[Note: Every Friday on First Thoughts we host a discussion about some aspect of pop culture. Today’s theme is childhood fads. Have a suggestion for a topic? Send them to me at jcarter@firstthings.com.] They were the best of fads, they were the worst of fads—all at the same time. The faddish . . . . Continue Reading »

How did Krakens become the hot-new sea monster? You hear about Krakens all the time now (see: Clash of the Titans , Pirates of the Caribbean , Alfred Tennyson poems), yet you never hear much about Leviathan. This is an outrage. With a Kraken you can play with him as with a bird, or put him on a . . . . Continue Reading »

The Denver Post has an illuminating article on the work of Wycliffe Bible Translators : Protestant translators expect to have the Bible — or at least some of it — written in every one of the world’s 6,909 spoken languages. “We’re in the greatest period of acceleration in . . . . Continue Reading »

“You know, a lot of people feel sorry for him, because he’s so tall and awkward,” said Charles Barkley, about his former 76ers teammate Manute Bol, “But I’ll tell you this—if everyone in the world was a Manute Bol, it’s a world I’d want to live in.” In . . . . Continue Reading »

“The Internet was completely funded by porn,” said Greg Fitzsimmons at the twenty-third annual adult entertainment industry awards. He was only half-joking. The pornography industry drove or boosted many of the web’s most useful innovations”live chat, streaming video, online payment systems”as well as the popularity of fast connections. The Internet (in the guise of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is returning the favor by giving the trade its own top-level domain: .XXX… . Continue Reading »

In Germany, immigrants defend the country’s flag while left-wing Germans tear it down : With Germany celebrating as its football team advances through the World Cup, the flag is flying everywhere in the country. But as one German of Lebanese descent has found out, not everyone in the country . . . . Continue Reading »

Since 1982 the English Department at San Jose State University has sponsored the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest , a whimsical literary competition that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels. The contest is named after the Victorian novelist . . . . Continue Reading »

Recent polls show Kenya’s new constitution has the support of nearly 60 percent of the populace. But some of the country’s Christians are a bit wary of where it will lead: Much of the debate has focused on church groups’ opposition to two things. One is the Muslim courts that rule . . . . Continue Reading »

A survey by  Las Vegas Weekly names magician—and outspoken atheist—Penn Jillette to be the top of the list of   “personalities who define Vegas” . In an interview with the magazine, Jillette explain why on his cable television show, he attacks some religious groups . . . . Continue Reading »

When Barack Obama vacated his Senate seat, Rod Blagojevich seriously considered asking Oprah Winfrey to be the replacement : “Nobody would assail this pick,” he says in tapes recorded on Nov. 21, 2008. “It’s huge! [ . . . ] She’s a kingmaker!” Blagojevich says. . . . . Continue Reading »