A few of my favorite links

I don’t have anything too dramatic to post about tonight, so I thought I would just take a few moments to post some links to sites I visit almost every day, in hopes that they will be able to help someone.

If you need virtual flashcards for some task (such as reviewing Mongolian vocabulary), I highly recommend Flashcard Exchange. It’s one of the few sites at which I’ve actually been willing to pay for a membership. But even the free service is worthwhile. What I like about the premium service is that you can use the Leitner study system. This basically means that I can create a card file with a set of new vocabulary words and review it a few times. Four days later, I get an email telling me it’s time to review that set again. Seven days after I review it, I get another email. This is repeated after 12 days, 20 days, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 5 months, 9 months, 16 months, 2 years, 4 years, 6 years and 11 years. If you haven’t learned it after 11 years, you’re on your own. 🙂 I have about 15 files that are up to the 5 month mark, but the past few days have been tough with lots of card files coming due.

Another site that I have visited occasionally in the past but am now visiting daily is YouVersion. This site from LifeChurch.tv keeps rolling out new features, such as the new YouVersion Live. This is an application which allows church services, seminars, etc. to be intensively interactive. I’ve never visited a service where this was used (nor do I have a mobile device), but just looking at some sample services is pretty interesting. I primarily use it for the Bible reading plans. I have QuickVerse, which has plenty of reading plans, too; but I decided to use an online platform this year. I’m trying a plan called Professor Horner’s Bible Reading System. It’s 250 days long and requires you to read 10 chapters a day from 10 different books. It’s pretty intense and I sometimes wonder at its value, but so far I’m keeping up with it and gleaning some good stuff. You can even sign up with a partner to hold you accountable for sticking to your plan.

Let me also take this opportunity to plug a few of my favorite podcasts:
The Dave Ramsey Show
Dilbert Animated Cartoons
Heartland Christian Fellowship Sermons Online (when it’s updated regularly)
Mars Hill Bible Church
The Moth (sometimes has explicit language)
Car Talk
Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me
The Techology Show
This American Life
WNYC’s Radio Lab