Random

~ Happy days are here again! Gasoline dropped from $3.499 to $3.399 at the Shell and 76 stations. Mobil will probably follow suit tomorrow. There are only three choices for gas on Guam and they're all usually the same price. Well, actually, there are additional providers on the military bases -- with cheaper fuel. But most of us have to buy from Mobil, 76, or Shell. Would someone please send competition!

~ There is a lot more Filipino in the Chamorro bloodline than most realize, according to a Philippine historian. Some locals from prominent Chamorro families who had thought their heritage was more directly Spanish seem unhappy about the revelation.

~ I watched a fascinating VBS.TV documentary on scopolamine, a chemical that makes people very open to suggestion. The documentary has a lot of crass language and the setting in the underworld of Colombia isn't pretty. But it's reality -- so many hopeless people.

~ Also worth watching is the Hans Rosling statistical presentation on world health, globalization, dry Swedish humor, etc. Sivin Kit has a link. Again, fascinating is an appropriate descriptor.

~ The NFL will be streaming games live over the Internet. Not cheap. But for some reason price seems to be no object for football fans.

~ You can now embed Google maps. So, for example, you can put a map to your house in the email that you're sending out to invite everyone for BBQ -- unless you live on Guam, which hasn't yet been mapped -- by Google or anyone. (I challenge you to find a real up-to-date accurate street level map of Guam.)

~ Quotable: "As you know, Wesley’s full embrace of both forgiveness and radical personal transformation sent both Lutherans and Calvinists through the roof. On the cross, Jesus didn’t just do something about our guilt; Jesus defeated the kingdom of Satan and established the Kingdom of God; Jesus recreated the world and us, making us into a new people who had a fresh start in life. What Lutherans and Calvinists thought wrong was Wesley’s extravagant assertion that something radical was done not only for us but also is being done in us to sever our desires from their evil affections and to infuse us with robust craving to live a life of love toward God and neighbor." -- William Willimon