Random

...Debit cards are replacing the paper money in a new English version of Monopoly. I'm sure that many will see this as progress.

...A new study indicates that multitasking actually hinders the long-term effectiveness of learning. IOW, even though we might learn enough to pass the test we don't fully integrate what we're learning when we're watching TV, chatting with 13 friends, surfing the web, and doing our homework -- all at the same time.

"'What's new is that even if you can learn while distracted, it changes how you learn' -- making the learning 'less efficient and useful,' said Russell A Poldrack, a psychology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles."

...I was on the road Monday so I didn't get everything done that I wanted to do -- including the church website of the week. So here it is -- New Beginnings Moravian Church in Huntersville, North Carolina. Nothing flashy. Fairly deep site. Ordinary Christians living out their faith in an ordinary place. Faithfulness.

...Free BART rides on "Spare the Air" days have meant more work for the police as the riff raff take advantage of the situation.

...I received email from South African Theological Seminary, which is one of the premier distance based theological schools, and they are reporting that the Council on Higher Education has elected to not accredit their proposed doctor of theology degree. In a sense this is good in that it tells you that the SA system has rigorous standards -- even SATS has to struggle to get accreditation for a program. It's disappointing for the school but I'm confident that when they reapply they will be in an even stronger position.

...The California cows aren't happy cows these days -- thousands are dying in the ongoing heat wave. They'd be much happier suffering through a Wisconsin blizzard.

...The Stanislaus County Fair begins on Friday. We're supposed to have a break by then as temps dip back down to a high of 98 degrees.

...I've ended up canceling my free eFax account. It's a great system and a great concept -- but somehow, without me ever publishing or making my fax number public, I've been getting way too many junk faxes. What I think happens is that the junk faxers figure out the block of phone numbers that belong to eFax and then they systematically assault them.

They should be serving life in prison -- in cells next to the spammers.

...Finally, Scot McKnight explains how he does it all.

...We bought our current television set in 1985. Since we're giving it to Kirk for his new apartment we decided to splurge and buy a new one to take with us to Guam. We've ordered a small 20" flat-screen, LCD, HDTV that is on sale at Costco.com. We figured that everything was going to be digital within the next couple of years and that we'd have to spend big bucks buying a digital converter so we spent the extra now. Hopefully this one will last us until 2027.