Links to Your World, Tuesday January 15

Crude Awakenings: This guy says oil will drop below $50 a barrel within the next 3 years and could go to $30 a barrel after that.

R.I.P. Off: The AARP expose of a funeral-industry scandal that’s fleecing thousands of Americans.

According to this USA Today piece, more Americans are focusing on their “inner life,” which “blossoms as its four key components are purposefully cultivated.”

Wow. Before you plot your revenge over someone who offended you, you had better read these stories of some people who really should have reined in their resentments.

This professor was denied tenure at Iowa State over the issue of Intelligent Design. The next time you hear a professor say that he or she supports naturalistic evolution, it may not be out of conviction: it may be that they just want to keep a job.

Forbes magazine found eight lessons CEOs could learn from the pastors who manage the healthiest big churches in America. (HT: MMI)

Nine people who died laughing.

Read about the new website that gives you a platform to share your faith story with others (story; website).

Top 10 Ways to Clean Up Your PC.

A Test to Help You Determine Your Personality Type

Motion shots of the sun.

I’m enjoying reading David O. Taylor’s posts about his upcoming marriage at 35. His latest: Sex with Kyle Miller. Taylor is the arts pastor at Hope Chapel in Austin.

Put aside your “to-do” list for a moment and read Philip Yancey’s suggestions for your “to-be” list.

“Religious Americans are not only much more likely to give money and volunteer their time to religious and secular institutions, they are also more likely to provide aid to family members, return incorrect change, help a homeless person, and donate blood. . . . If secular élites continue to cling to their stereotypes of evangelicals and ignore social science, then they will embrace the very intolerance and anti-intellectualism they accuse religious believers of possessing” (In a review of the Arthur Brooks book, Who Really Cares?)

Have you read the previous posts since last Tuesday? They include the “Song of the Week“ (this week, Peter Mayer’s “Like a Mountain”). Also, comments on “evolution theology,” loopy reactions to Huckabee, advice for leaders on how to help people love God’s church, a report and photo of Austin Toros players training kids in our Hillcrest Hoops basketball program, and a great report of victories at Maggie’s House.