FRIDAY
+ the 13th

+ Dennis Bratcher has a simple introduction to the issues surrounding the interpretation of the Bible and why taking a literal (or plain reading) approach often misses the point of the text.

+ Churches have to adapt to the fluidity of the world or they will die, says Greek Orthodox Church Archbishop Christodoulos. That seems like a no-brainer. The real issue concerns the boundaries of adaptation and the unintended consequences. Sometimes changing form inadvertently changes content.

+ They've been taking blogger down quite a bit this week to make network changes. A few minutes ago a post I made required a word verification to complete the transaction. That seems to be gone for now. But I suspect it's a sign of things to come.

+ The city of Las Vegas is celebrating its 100th birthday this weekend.

+ They found the owner of the finger and things aren't looking good for the woman who said she discovered it in her chili at Wendy's. The fast-food restaurant, attempting to recover from the drop in business caused by the unsuccessful scam, is giving away free frostys this weekend. Lemonade out of lemons.

+ The hurt'in army is trying to make military life more attractive by reducing the time that you're a target to 15 "active" months. I'm not an optimist on that one -- in case you couldn't tell by my tone of voice and the rolling of my eyes.

+ Pick-up a wi-fi signal a mile away using a tin can. Designed by an 18-year-old kid from Florida.

+ For all those upset with the RC church's position on the use of condoms, a great quote from a Mere Comments reader named Kevin Brown (Cleveland, Ohio): The Catholic Church has a "ban" on sex outside of marriage as well as the "ban" on condoms... which, if followed, would stop the spread of AIDS a heck of a lot faster than condom use... so, why would anyone suppose that those spreading AIDS are influenced by the Church's "ban" on condemns, when they obviously aren't influenced by its "ban" on sex outside of marriage?