Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere. Blaise Pascal

Acute observation from my pastor: In Narnia it’s always winter and never Christmas. As I fight my way through the stores listening to the Chrismas elevator music, I’m convinced that in Houston it’s always Christmas and never winter.

Go To Bethlehem and See is an advent blog run by “The Friends and Fellows of the Boar’s Head Tavern.” It looks as if someone is trying to change the focus of the conversation, and I’m looking forward to enjoying the contributions.

George Grant at King’s Meadow, again, focuses my attention on the tragedy of abortion, and one of its unintended (?) effects: “the prevalence of abortion and infanticide targeting girls has caused a critical global gender imbalance–with a disparity of more than 200 million worldwide.” Do feminists who support abortion for any reason, at any time during the pregnancy, also support the genocidal destruction of females around the world?

Donna on True Love. “True Love takes on a much less naive and romantic bent when one looks up the word for ‘true’.”

Cindy Swanson has an email interview with Steve Beard of Thunderstruck.org. Thunderstruck is a linking blog that provides a daily list of links to stories on the web concerning the intersection of faith and culture.

Zach Wendling of In the Agora tries to figure out why people give gifts. Maybe it doesn’t make economic sense at all; maybe it’s just a fun game?

Tim Challies reviews The Jim Elliot Story, the first in a series of animated biographical videos about Christian heroes set for release this year and next. The series is called the Torchlighter video series, and if they’re as well done as Mr. Challies indicates, the videos sound as if they’d be a great homeschooling resource. Available from Vision Video.

Via Worldmag Blog, a Flickr post documenting the updates to Richard Scarry’s books. Apparently, the author approved or did the updates himself, but I still think it’s a shame that all the policemen must become police officers complete with skirts. And the little Indian (native American) mouse in a canoe has lost his feather; now he’s just a plain old mouse, no fun at all.

Kate at The Little Bookroom adds her list of the 100 Best Novels. Anyone, including Kate, want to tell me more about these novels from her list that I haven’t read: Possession, Tam Lin, Bread Alone, In Pursuit of Love, The Deed of Paksenarrion?

I just discovered this Carmelite Catholic blog by Steven Riddle, Flos Carmeli. Good stuff about literature and faith.