Snippets of News From Around the World (31/8)

The Story Behind Stockholm Syndrome - Most people associate Stockholm Syndrome, a situation in which people being held captive feel sympathy toward their captors, with Patty Hearst and her ordeal with the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974. But the term Stockholm Syndrome was actually coined a year before in—you guessed it—Sweden.


Why your brain may work like a dictionary - Does your brain work like a dictionary? A mathematical analysis of the connections between definitions of English words has uncovered hidden structures that may resemble the way words and their meanings are represented in our heads.

11 Untranslatable Words From Other Cultures - Somehow narrowing it down to just a handful, we've illustrated 11 of these wonderful, untranslatable, if slightly elusive, words. We will definitely be trying to incorporate a few of them into our everyday conversations, and hope that you enjoy recognizing a feeling or two of your own among them.


The New Coffee Is Made for Your Skin - "Coffee and energy drinks can give you a quick boost, but they come with a ton of issues, and can cause you to crash." That, according to the pitch from Harvard undergrad Ben Yu and venture capitalist Deven Soni, is why we need Sprayable Energy—a caffeine product that the user absorbs through their skin. Creators Yu and Soni recommend that one spray it "in the same places you would a fragrance (like your neck)."


An underground photography mission - One of the tunnel workers, Abu Mohammed, offered to let me see his tunnel. At the entrance, his colleagues were sleeping and having a rest after some hard work while the other shifts were working underground. Abu Mohammed decided to accompany me to help me while I was photographing inside the tunnel. I was surprised and a bit frightened to see a 20 meter-deep hole, and wasn’t so happy about going down into the dark. Abu Mohammed encouraged me, saying that you descend on a rope operated by an electric generator, assuring me that the rope was strong enough to carry heavy construction materials. I tied my cameras around my body and the adventure began.

Snippets of News From Around the World (30/8)

What happens when you mash up 3D printing and Amazon’s same-day delivery? - But a handful of smaller companies are convinced there’s a way to get products to consumers just as quickly, with greater satisfaction and at a fraction of the overall cost. The future, these companies argue, is in on-demand 3D printing. 


15 Surreal Landscapes Made from Food - Some pictures that make up really nice sceneries. 


Fukushima Leak's 'Level 3' Rating: What It Means - Workers for Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the plant, discovered on August 19 that 300 tons (nearly 72,000 gallons) of highly radioactive water apparently had escaped from a holding tank into the ground over the previous month. The water had been used to cool one of Fukushima's damaged reactors, in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that caused one of the worst nuclear accidents in history.


The Curse of Being a Sole Survivor - On January 26, 1972, a Yugoslavian passenger plane flying 33,000 feet above then-Czechoslovakia exploded, ripped apart, and plummeted into the ground, killing 27 of the 28 passengers and crew. Vesna Vulovic, a flight attendant, was the only one to survive the crash. Vulovic holds the Guinness World Record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute, a feat that is still essentially unexplained........ In the 1960s psychologists began talking about “survivor’s guilt”—guilt that someone feels when they live while others in similar situations die. Holocaust survivors are some of the most common sufferers of this condition.


This Cat Has The World Record For Longest Fur - This isn't your typical cat. Meet Colonel Meow, age two, Himalayan-Persian crossbreed.

Kindle Deal - The Love of Wisdom: A Christian Introduction to Philosophy ($2.99) + Philosophy: A Student's Guide ($2.99)

Do you like me sometimes like to read a really hard and difficult book? Just to give my mind a mental exercise? This should be a good start.


Philosophy is defined as the love of wisdom, and college students will certainly admire this Bible-informed introductory level textbook’s fun approach to an often heady subject. The Love of Wisdom is made distinct in its engaging style that includes humor and copious popular culture illustrations to heighten reader interest and clarify important concepts. The book even addresses two key topics often omitted by other texts: political philosophy and aesthetics (beauty and the arts). Students and teachers can also make great use of the study questions for each chapter, a glossary of terms, and further reading suggestions


The Love of Wisdom: A Christian Introduction to Philosophy




Here's another similar deal:

Philosophy: A Student's Guide (Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition) ($2.99)



Philosophy pervades every sphere of life from the defense of the gospel to the formulation of Christian doctrine to the daily decisions we make.


In this work, distinguished professor David Naugle gives us a firm understanding of the basic issues, thinkers, and sub-disciplines in the field of philosophy as well as an invitation to engage with the contemporary challenges therein. He discusses the importance of prolegomena (assumptions and methods) and the vocation of Christian philosophers. Naugle also outlines the differences between the Hebrew and Greek mindsets and provides biblical perspectives through an Augustinian approach. Above all, Naugle teaches us how to philosophize in light of God and the gospel.

Philosophy: A Student's Guide (Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition)

Kindle Deal - Wisdom & Wonder: Common Grace in Science & Art ($0.99)

This is a great insightful book from Abraham Kuyper.

Abraham Kuyper is a remarkable man.

Here's a summary of his life:
Abraham Kuijper (29 October 1837 – 8 November 1920), generally known as Abraham Kuyper, was a Dutch politician, journalist, statesman and theologian. He founded the Anti-Revolutionary Party and was prime minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905.

Kuyper's theological and political views are linked. His orthodox Protestant beliefs heavily influenced his anti-revolutionary politics.

Theological views
Theologically Kuyper has also been very influential. He opposed the liberal tendencies within the Dutch Reformed Church. This eventually led to secession and the foundation of Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. He developed so-called Neo-Calvinism, which goes beyond conventional Calvinism on a number of issues. Furthermore, Kuyper made a significant contribution to the formulation of the principle of common grace in the context of a Reformed world-view.

Most important has been Kuyper's view on the role of God in everyday life. He believed that God continually influenced the life of believers, and daily events could show his workings. Kuyper famously said, "Oh, no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'" God continually re-creates the universe through acts of grace. God's acts are necessary to ensure the continued existence of creation. Without his direct activity creation would self-destruct."

Wisdom & Wonder: Common Grace in Science & Art ($0.99) (FREE)

Kindle Deal - Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy ($1.99)

This is a deal not to be missed.

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

Who is Bonhoeffer? you might ask.

Here's the quick intro from Wikipedia.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi and founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have become widely influential, and many have labelled his book The Cost of Discipleship a modern classic.

Apart from his theological writings, Bonhoeffer became known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship. He strongly opposed Hitler's euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of the Jews. He was also involved in plans by members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and executed by hanging in April 1945 while imprisoned at a Nazi concentration camp, just 23 days before the German surrender.

What are you waiting for? Get this book!

The Life of A. W. Pink - An excerpt

From Life of Arthur W Pink (Revised and Enlarged Edition)

Although it was written about 70 years ago, it still strikes us as a question we ought to often ask ourselves.

"Today it is true almost everywhere that we are far more concerned about the results of the gospel than we are about the purity of it! We are more concerned in the blessing of man than we are about the glory of Christ! Is not that true? Is it not true than the first great question asked everywhere today is, What are the 'results'? What is the fruitage? How many people have been saved in your church last year? I am not saying that the question has no importance, but I do say that, if that is the first question that is asked, it only shows what a low level we are living on! The first question we ought to ask is, How scripturally is the gospel being preached in your church? Is the preacher magnifying Christ? Is the preacher emphasizing the absolute sufficiency of his finished work? Does the preacher make it plain that God does not ask the sinner to do anything, that Christ has done it all for him? Ah, my friends, when the preachers today are tested by that, there are mighty few of them that will survive the test. How many there are today who tell the poor sinner that he has got to give his heart to God! Well, you say, isn't that right? Isn't that true? Must not the sinner give his heart to the Lord if he is going to be saved? Oh, the tragedy that such a question has to be asked! We talk about progress and advancing; why, we need indoctrinating in the ABC of Christianity, and the ABC of Christianity is the gospel! No, my friends, no sinner was ever saved by giving his heart to God. We are not saved by giving, we are saved by God's giving...." (p. 99-100)

For free shipping internationally: Life of Arthur W Pink (Revised and Enlarged Edition)

Kindle Deal - Walking from East to West: God in the Shadows

Who hasn't heard of Ravi Zacharias?

But do you know the story of his life?

Taken from Wikipedia:
Frederick Antony Ravi Kumar Zacharias (born 1946) is an Indian-born, Canadian-American Christian apologist. A defender of traditional evangelicalism, Zacharias is the author of numerous Christian books, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner Can Man Live Without God? and bestsellers Light in the Shadow of Jihad and The Grand Weaver. He is the founder and chairman of the board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, host of the radio programs Let My People Think and Just Thinking, and visiting professor at Wycliffe Hall of Oxford, where he teaches apologetics and evangelism. Zacharias studied as a visiting scholar at Cambridge University and held the chair in Evangelism and Contemporary Thought at Alliance Theological Seminary from 1981 to 1984. Commentator Chuck Colson referred to Zacharias as "the great apologist of our time."

For an interesting read, you can get this kindle book at  bargain for $1.99! Walking from East to West: God in the Shadows ($1.99)

I'm sure to get this book and get a good read out of it. Will give an review on this book once I'm through it. In the meantime, if you like to read along with me, do get the book!


Excerpt: 

Ravi Zacharias was born in India and has literally moved from the East to the West and the West to the East and repeated the cycle again and again to answer skeptics' questions about whether God is alive, who Jesus is, what is truth, and whether we can really find absolutes. Ravi has spoken of his own journey only in bits and pieces in his other books and talks. It is a journey that has led him beyond his family and culture into a revelation that replaced pantheism with monotheism, and into a relationship with a God the vast majority of his people do not worship. From this new understanding birthed in him by the founder of Christianity, Ravi has gone forward to teach as one of our generation's great apologists.

A life lived in Christ is the greatest argument of all for the living God. Ravi urges the reader to look at the lives that have turned the hearts of people into movements for Christ. In the first three centuries of the church, the Apostles and followers like Polycarp and Tertullian and Origen demonstrated with their lives the truth of the resurrected Christ. A whole line of witnesses from every generation succeeded these who walked in the footsteps of Jesus, with names like Augustine, Catherine of Sienna, Bernard of Clairvaux, Luther, and Wesley leading the procession.
But history begins on an individual level.

Ravi shows readers his life, in its successes and failures, in its existence in the East and in the West, and in his attempts to bring the truth of Christ to those in any culture who don't know him. The Hebrew poet has said that a life rich in experiences is a life from which others can learn.
This book is about Ravi's journey, from meaninglessness to the abundant joy of Christ, from East to West and back again, in the all-consuming passion of letting the world know about true freedom, and in whom that freedom is found.

Kindle Deal - Undaunted - The early life of Josh McDowell ($2.99)

Who doesn't know Josh McDowell?

He has written many apologetic books that have answered many questions raised by Christians and non-Christians around the world. It has been a great source of tremendous help for myself too.

But have you ever wondered, why he is such a staunch defender of the faith? Then read his own life testimony to find out.

A trailer for you to enjoy :)

For those who are interested in getting the mobi version, Undaunted: One Man's Real-Life Journey from Unspeakable Memories to Unbelievable Grace

Kindle Deal - The Cross of Jesus ($1.99)

One rapid deal that'll be gone soon, on 5th Aug. So get it before it's gone.



Cross of Jesus, The: What His Words from Calvary Mean for Us

In The Cross of Jesus, Warren Wiersbe turns his attention to the central message of the Christian faith. Looking from Jesus' perspective, Wiersbe contemplates how Christ approached the cross, why he died, and what his words mean to us.

So if you want to have a deeper understand on how Jesus viewed his cross, do let this book!

Kindle Deal - Pillar New Testament Commentary (Romans)

Hey Guys decide not just to give reviews but also book deals along the way.

Here's one great deal.


Colin Kruse's commentary on the book of Romans is a great deal for only $2.99 be sure NOT to miss this.