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Monday Miscellany

If you're looking for this week's podcast, there isn't one. The Thanksgiving Holiday weekend proved too much. Look for it to resume on December 8th. I would hope to keep it regular from that point forward, though the Christmas weekends could prove tricky. We'll see.

Welcome to Advent, by the way. Here's a nifty summary of the season, if you're curious. I also expect good things from Relevant Radio's new Advent Meditations series, though I've only heard one of them and it was only 60 seconds long. If you don't have the Relevant Radio app, you're missing out.

Or instead of holy things like that, you can kick-off Advent like I am: with Cyber-Monday. The deals really are pretty stunning. Of particular note: The Great Courses' offer: $60 or less for every course. The Great Courses are offered by The Teaching Company.

I gotta believe podcasting has eaten into The Great Courses' profits immensely, but they're two different products. The Great Courses are taught by college professors (I also think the content is reviewed by a panel of experts in the relevant field, but I couldn't verify that within five minutes of Google searching), in precise subject matter areas. I've purchased or rented about two dozen courses, and all except two have been excellent. (Stay away from Jennifer Paxton's "Story of Medieval England"; the content is fine, but her delivery comes off like she's telling stories to toddlers . . . quite unbearable. Also stay away from Bart Ehrman's "New Testament.")

If you want to read a good essay about The Great Courses, click here.

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