MIT researchers have developed a $100 Linux based laptop that a foundation is expecting to get into the hands of up to 15 million children in Brazil, China, Egypt, Thailand, and South Africa by 2007. The machines' AC adapter doubles as a carrying strap and it can be powered by a hand crank when there's no electricity. The slim, lunchbox-sized computer is water resistant and has a display that can shift between full color and black and white operation. This is an incredibly creative initiative that is great news for impoverished children (and I suspect that a few others will benefit, too).
WHAT TURLOCK REALLY NEEDS...is an Indian restaurant. That's what I was thinking to myself yesterday as Cheryl and I were driving to Merced for lunch at one of the two Indian restaurants we frequent there. We've got lots of great Mexican, Assyrian, Chinese, and even Greek food. But in spite of the fact that there are so many Indians in our midst, there aren't any Indian restaurants in Turlock.
You guys are holding out on us.
O yeah, while I have the attention of you entrepreneurs -- we haven't had a Thai restaurant for a few years, either.
THE RICHEST PEOPLE
Nina Munk has an article in the NY Times about the release of the Forbes 400 richest people in America. She zooms in on Brad M Kelley, who has up to this point flown under the radar -- hard to do when you're the 258th richest person in the country with a fortune of $1.3 billion. Among the interesting things about him is that he gives a lot away to conservation causes and he never went to college.
Someone did some research comparing the Forbes lists of 1985 and 2005.
- self-made fortunes: 1985 -- 165 / 2005 -- 255
- women: 1985 -- 78 / 2005 -- 49
- immigrants: 1985 -- 14 / 2005 -- 25
- no college degrees: 1985 -- 125 / 2005 -- 129
- Harvard or Yale undergrad degree: 1985 -- 37 / 2005 -- 25
- MBA: 1985 -- 26 / 2005 -- 62
- manufacturing: 1985 -- 103 / 2005 -- 22
- California resident: 1985 -- 49 / 2005 -- 96
- average net worth in 2005 US dollars: 1985 -- $600 million / 2005 -- $2.81 billion
RECONNECTING WITH ROME
The Traditional Anglican Communion is inching closer to establishing a communal relationship with the Roman Catholic Church. With all of the other news in the Anglican family of churches this group often gets overlooked. But it is probably the one to watch if you are interested in ecumenical relations. Most of the Protestant groups which talk about eventual reconciliation with Rome are driven by distant pipe dreams. I think that this group will actually pull it off -- and in the not too distant future. Their website is a little sad but don't let that fool you.
YAHOO MAIL ISSUES
I've been running most of my email through Gmail for archiving purposes and a first round of spam filtering. Then it goes through yahoolmail for additional spam filtering. After that I do a pop download to my computer. The problem is that sometime this week yahoo must have changed some setting and it started filtering about half of my important mail into the spam ("bulk") folder. I was able to retrieve it all -- but it was not convenient.
So I wrote to yahoo tech support explaining the situation. A day later they emailed me some stock response about how to turn on the spam filter -- which had nothing to do with my issue. But that's alright. I fixed the problem myself. I just took yahoo out of the loop and have been doing a pop download directly from Gmail. And I'm not getting much spam either. Gmail seems to be getting most of it weeded out.
ENGINEERING SHORTAGE
Companies are scrambling to find enough new engineers to meet their needs. One engineering student washout pinpoints what he sees as the cause of the shortage.
ORGANIC GARDENING ON SKYSCRAPERS
Apparently it pays.
BUSY, BUSY, SALE TIME
Wednesday mornings are normally somewhat quiet at Cornerstone. However, this morning the place is crawling with workers getting ready for the big sale on Saturday. Each October the church sponsors a community yard sale -- where people from the area can come set-up in the parking lot to sell their stuff -- at no charge. There are 50 people signed-up for this Saturday's sale.
Since Covenant Village (local retirement community) is under big-time construction we also invited them to bring their annual craft faire -- which is what all the current activity is about. They're setting up in the Fellowship Center and I'm sure will be busy in there the rest of the week.
Our purpose in hosting all of this is to bring together people from the community and to meet and greet as many as possible. We don't make any money on this thing -- but then again, it doesn't cost us much other than a little time and wear and tear. It will be fun.
IF I WERE IN CHICAGOLAND...
this Saturday, I would be attending the Eastern Orthodox - Evangelical dialogue at Northern Seminary in Lombard.
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