By Justin D. Long, ed.

No. 119—June 8, 2018

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News & Events

Spirit Child: ritual killings in Ghana – Al Jazeera

Ethiopia’s long political transition is a lesson for others – CFR
… New PM: “Change wasn’t just on the table… it was at the heart of his appeal”

Ethiopia accepts Algiers agreement – Link
… in bid to normalize relations with Eritrea, open economy
… will this impact Gospel access to Eritrea?

Ethiopia lifts nationwide state of emergency – CNN

South Sudan suffering on ‘an almost unimaginable scale’ warns UN relief chief – UN

Congo: Church suspends sacraments as Ebola spreads – RNS

Contaminated Aral Sea Salt causes havoc – TOL
… dust and salt from Aral Sea spread over 100s of kilometers, fears of crop damage

Saudi: Once powerful conservatives silenced by reforms and repression – WPost

Saudis issues first driving licenses to women – BBC

What’s next for Yemen’s tragic war: a Brookings Doha Center policy dialogue – Brookings
… also, a policy dialogue on the 1-year anniversary of the Qatar crisis – Link

Iran: As taboos break down, Iranians party on – NYT
… “despite monopolizing politics… Iran’s conservative leaders have long been in retreat…”
… “laws rarely changed, but flagging public support makes enforcement… complex…”
… Also, largest, most geographically widespread trucker strike in years – Al-Monitor

Afghanistan: conflict keeps half of Afghan students out of school – VOA
… and, government declares a cease-fire with the Taliban – TOLO

Pakistan: military mounts fearsome campaign against its critics prior to the elections – NYT

India’s hidden fertility struggles – Diplomat
… “behind booming pop., another story: declining fertility rates and desperate couples”

Bangladesh: State Department issues increased caution due to rising crime and terrorism – Link

China: Tencent unveils plan to use WeChat ID as passport for travel in China, HK – Bloomberg

China: Unpublished doc reveals sweeping effort to eradicate online political content – Link
… no surprise to most Chinese watchers. But if one type of content can be eradicated…

Does China’s digital police state have echoes in the West? – Economist

China’s ZTE was built to spy and bribe, court documents allege – Sydney Morning Herald
… a front for military intelligence, linked to corruption in 18 countries

China’s new foreign permanent resident ID card – China Briefing
… “aims to ease the life of a foreigner in China, part of a series of larger reforms to attract innovative and entrepreneurial talent”

Japan: “The world is running out of Japanese people. Fast.” – Quartz

Japan’s robot revolution in Senior Care – Diplomat
… “being cared for by robots is becoming the method of choice among elderly residents”

N. Korea: Arrested for praying, released detainee now prays about next steps – Link
A Trump-Kim deal could send China’s trade with North Korea soaring – Link
… if the border is open to trade, it’s open to other things …
… Also: 1 year later at the North Korea-China border, what’s changed? Link

The Inter-Korean Thaw is changing how young South Koreans see the North – Diplomat

USA, Minnesota: East African workers demand safer working conditions at Amazon warehouse – Link

Raw Data / Resources / Collections

Atlas of Religion in China: Social and Geographical Contexts – Brill

Analysis

How African is Northern Africa? Global Voices
… important issue when considering cross-cultural issues, contextualization, etc.

How startups die from their addiction to paid marketing – Andrew Chen

Measuring attitudes toward Muslims and Jews in Western Europe – Pew

Five facts about religion in India – Pew
… 2nd largest group of Muslims, “religiously pluralistic,” but “high levels of restrictions”

China: unlikely confluence of events that led to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests – Link
… and, Tiananmen Square: a “Watershed” for Chinese conversions to Christianity – Link

Blogs

How to get more “super customers” – PDF
… 80% of revenue comes from 20% of your audience.

Immigrants cross cultures to reach fellow immigrants in Vienna – Alabama Baptist

Glamour’s Samantha Barry: building habit trumps social hits – Digiday
… you have to go deeper and add to the conversation

Four reasons why micro-influencers are key – Infographic

How Merriam-Webster got people to care about words – Contently
… the key here is, “how they got people to care” about topic X

The vast world of Islam in 300 recipes – NYT

How to make tough decisions easier – Link
… FOBO (Fear of Better Options) vs MFDs (Mostly Fine Decision)

How to say no to requests without damaging your relationships – Link
… “No, but…”, “No, not right now”, or “Yes, but not me.”

4 harsh truths that will make you a better person – Link
… you are going to die, anything worthwhile takes a long time, never perfectly happy, …

What your startup can learn – First Round
… from astronauts, the Daily Show, and the coach of the Boston Celtics
… long read: lots of good stuff here on cultivating creativity, praising the right kind of successes, and building a culture that critiques.

On the error in the famous marshmallow test (delayed gratification) – Quartz
… having the capacity to hold out for more is important, but…
… why kids have that capacity may be more impactful than the capacity itself

Future, Tech

Half the world’s population is still offline – WEF

Pew: Teens, social media and technology 2018 – Link
… “95% of teens have access to a smartphone; 45% say they are online ‘almost constantly’”
… and: How smartphones are causing kids to experience altered childhoods – Fox

Snapchat publishes new insights into Generation Z – infographic

Go tell it on the iPhone – CT
… “Tech has made in-person conversations harder, but sharing one’s faith easier”
… Does “sharing one’s faith” equate to “making disciples”? -Ed.

Announcements from Apple’s WWDC 2018 – https://www.shellypalmer.com/2018/06/wwdc-18
… if iPhones are widely used in your organization note that many new functions are coming to the platform

Deep Video Portraits – Link
… “a novel approach that enables photo-realistic reanimation of portrait videos using an input video”
… that is, making person A look like they are saying/doing something based on a video of person B
… “we can reenact the full head using interactive user-controlled editing… high-fidelity visual dubbing”

AI researchers developed a privacy filter to fight facial recognition – TNW

How a hacker proved cops used a secret government tracker to find him – Link
… stingray technology. What can be used in one place can be used in another.

Axios: how the robot revolution is changing our lives – Link

Atlantic: why no one answers the telephone anymore – Link

GDPR emails are mostly unnecessary, and in some cases illegal – Guardian

Quotes

“The more difficult the journey, the more satisfying the destination.” ~A. W. Tozer

“Every man takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world.” ~Arthur Schopenhauer

“Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.” ~Shakespeare

“I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine every morning.” ~William Faulkner

“We meet people where they are in order to proclaim the gospel in a way they can understand. But we disciple people out of their preferences and social comforts into Christlike sentness.” ~Caleb Crider

“The more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it has established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.” ~G. K. Chesterton

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