Random

✽ A new Arizona law requires the POW-MIA flag to fly over every town and city hall, Superior Court building and county office in the state. At what point is appropriate to put the Vietnam War to bed? How many veterans from other wars are going to feel slighted until they get a flag on the pole, too? Are public flag poles the proper venues for making political statements? Just asking. ~ AZ Central

✽ The cost of Chelsea's wedding is estimated to be between $3M and $5M. This is the Clinton economic stimulus plan. ~ BBC

✽ What the average person needs to know about tracking cookies ~ WSJ

✽ Ed Stetzer just uploaded a ton of church planting overview resources. ~ link

✽ Eyjafjallajokull:

The ash cloud that stranded hundreds of thousands of passengers, threatened to blight a summer of air travel and turn 2010 into one long winter has, er, disappeared.

The Icelandic volcano which had been spewing ash into the atmosphere stopped erupting in late May, and this inconvenient natural phenomenon called Eyjafjallajokull has since behaved itself. ~ Independent

✽ The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has denied Governor Brewer's request for an expedited hearing on SB1070. (She probably shouldn't expect much sympathy from the 9th court.) No problem, though. The longer this drags on, the more opportunity for anti-federal -- anti-courts rhetoric on the election trail. This single issue may get her elected. (She currently serves as an appointee.) ~ AZFamily

✽ NIMBY -- Residents in age-restricted Sun City are trying to block the opening of a charter school in their community. ~ ABC 15

✽ "Sell a guinea pig, go to jail." They've got to have something for all the drug cops to do once California legalizes pot. "San Francisco could soon have what is believed to be the country's first ban on the sale of all pets except fish." ~ SF Chronicle

✽ And now... in case you've been sleeping too soundly at night... (via Beth Bilynskyj) --

Random

✽ "Welcome to Bread.Butter.Cheese., a covert grilled cheese dealership operating out of an apartment and making drops in the tiny East Village park on First and First, starting today." ~ link

✽ Arizona's immigration law mirrors that of Italy. ~ TheWorld

✽ Speaking of aliens, Lady Gaga is in town. Dig the shoes. ~ KTAR

✽ "Americans are broke and depressed—and also swilling $3 lattes and waiting in line for iPhones. Welcome to the schizophrenic economy." ~ Businessweek

✽ "Sales of big SUVs surging faster than small cars." The fact is, small is not always practical. ~ USA Today

✽ Who would have predicted? "Twenty-one years ago, Li Lu was a student leader of the Tiananmen Square protests. Now a hedge-fund manager, he is in line to become a successor to Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway Inc." ~ WSJ

✽ Zimbabwe: 'Operation Shut Your Mouth' ~ allAfrica

✽ London has a new rent a bike system. It looks to me like maintenance is going to be a major issue. ~ BBC

✽ "If I want to win a Muslim to Christ, I surely won't do it by burning the Qur'an in public and provoking them to hate us more... The greatest weapon a Christian has is godly love." ~ Angel Nuñez

✽ Canada is recovering well. Of course, they didn't screw things up as royally as their southern cousins. "Canada has regained almost all the jobs it lost since the 2008 downturn." ~ GlobalPost

✽ The North Korean government has publicly humiliated their soccer team over world cup loss. At least no one has been executed -- yet. Sad. ~ Telegraph

Random

✽ Bugs Bunny turns 70 ~ Neatorama

✽ Doctors without Borders is using inflatable tent structures as fully functioning hospitals. Given the constant level of remodeling that goes on in hospitals, is there a compelling reason why we shouldn't consider using temporary structures on a more permanent basis? That is, if we can get the job done in a pleasant environment, why not make a lot more use of inflatables as clinics, church gathering points, schools, government offices, etc. in lieu of stick or block construction? ~ Fast Company

✽ A NY judge says that while saggy pants may be foolish, they are not illegal. Isn't there some kind of public safety law? These guys can barely walk in them. I suppose that puts them in the same category as high heels -- which should probably be banned, too. ~ ABC 15

✽ Americans tend to be partial to white and black clothing. ~ WSJ

✽ Mexico, which itself has an extremely poor record when it comes to the humane treatment of immigrants, is rejoicing at the Arizona judge's temporary injunction against SB 1070. ~ link

✽ Hector Tobar:

...Most Americans back the notion that we should give most illegal immigrants a path to citizenship — a whopping 81% of Americans, according to a CNN poll released Wednesday.

And yet, the same poll shows a majority of Americans — 55%— backed the Arizona immigration law.

It seems to me that Americans are of two minds about the immigration question. They like the immigrants they know personally and are willing to extend this generosity of spirit to many of those who've entered the country illegally. At the same time, they believe the United States is a country of laws and want a system where those laws are respected.

But I'm certain it's only a small minority of Americans that truly believes, as one reader put it to me, that illegal immigrants are an "invading criminal army" bent on destroying America. Unfortunately, that minority put its stamp on SB 1070 — even though stats show crime is actually down in Arizona in recent years and numerous studies show that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the native-born.... ~ LA TIMES

✽ Our latest MasterPiece Church Brushstrokes e-letter is now online.

✽ Zondervan is offering a "free one-year subscription to The City," their church software. "All we ask is a nominal $349 setup fee..." Wow, that may be a bargin for what you get. But in my understanding of the word, $349 more than cancels out the word "free." ~ link

✽ Yes, I agree. A liberal arts college education makes very good sense. ~ link

✽ Amish population boom -- "A new Amish settlement is being created at a rate of once every three weeks." ~ Neatorama

✽ Bizarre fraud -- "Tokyo's 'oldest man' had been dead for 30 years" ~ BBC

Random

✽ Five voices, one car (via)

✽ Why going green doesn't really help the environment or save money -- human nature ~ Washington Post

✽ Liverpool, England, has added two "fire bikes" to its fleet of fire fighting equipment. ~ The Independent

✽ Should the US open its doors to the stateless children born to North Korean mothers in China? ~ Christian Post

✽ The quality of air in China continues to get worse. Is this problem now beyond control? ~ WSJ

✽ Lord, we could use some good news about now. Improvement in Haiti? Drop in drug related crimes? Decline in the number of people needing food stamps? Something to encourage disheartened people.

Well, the judge did throw out the nastiest portions of the SB 1070 -- and that was good news. But that doesn't really solve the many complex underlying issues.

Kita

Someone took this picture of Kita Mokut and goofy me after the Voices of Micronesia concert a few weeks ago. Kita is one of my students. I'm proud of the growth that I am seeing in her. She is from Chuuk but grew up on Guam. I do miss the daily face-to-face interaction with the students -- although I find the online teaching very satisfying.

Random

✽ Georgia gator feeding frenzy

✽ New research: "Underweight children are at three times' greater risk of tooth decay as normal weight children." ~ The Local

✽ "Perceptions of sweetness and saltiness drop by up to 30%" at high altitudes. So, this is why airline food tends to be tasteless? ~ WSJ

✽ France declares war against al-Qaida ~ Yahoo

✽ "The United States used to lead the world in the number of 25- to 34-year-olds with college degrees. Now it ranks 12th among 36 developed nations." ~ NY Times

Random

✽ Is Jamba Juice really feeling that threatened by the new McDonald's smoothies? Hmmm... I'll have to try one.

✽ The headline says, "'The Message of the Cross' Goes Global." The fact is, though, that the message of the cross can't "go" global because it already IS global and has been global from the beginning. Leave it to the publicists to overstate their significance.

✽ Joel and Victoria have moved into a $10.5M mansion. Property taxes alone are $260,000/year. ~ link

✽ "A boat made from thousands of plastic bottles has sailed into Sydney Harbour, completing a four-month voyage that began in San Francisco." ~ BBC

✽ "Young evangelical writer: 'Move on' from evolution-creationism debate." Yep. About time. ~ USA Today

✽ "'House churches' keep worship small, simple, friendly" ~ USA Today

Random

✽ Are they saying that the more education you have the better you're able to cover-up your dementia? ~ BBC News

✽ My father's extended family is from the hills in Tennessee. I'm trying to figure out if we might possibly be related to Basil Marceaux, "The Next Governor of Tennessee." Even though our stock is Scots-Irish, not French, he just comes across as one of us! ~ YouTube

✽ NIMBY -- 4K+ homeless on Oahu -- many living on the beaches. (I wonder how many are Micronesians.) Some people want to buy them all air tickets for the mainland. Funny, many kind mainlanders have had similar ideas, except they were thinking of buying tickets for all our homeless neighbors to send them off on a nice vacation in Hawaii. Get real. ~ KOLD

✽ The Jordan River has become too polluted for baptisms. ~ AFP

✽ Scholars are using computers to translate the "world's 'lost' languages after program deciphers ancient text." ~ Daily Mail

✽ Ten good great ideas from contemporary hymn writer Keith Getty ~ link

✽ The "Right to Information" law is giving hope to impoverished Indians. But it hasn't yet changed the system. ~ NY Times

✽ The Feds could shut down SB 1070 even without a lawsuit. Information is power. ~ AZ Central

✽ Fantasy coffins, made in Ghana -- colorful. Definitely a niche that hasn't yet been explored in the US. ~ BBC News