Random

~ Today is Willis Carrier's birthday. Those of us who live in the tropics and other hot places are advocating for an international holiday to recognize the father of modern air conditioning. -- Wikipedia article on the life of Willis Carrier

~ Stan Friedman's article Church in Recovery is the lead piece on the Christian Century website. Stan, you be the man! -- Link

~ There is growing concern about the number of human rights advocates who have been killed or who are missing in the Philippines. Since 2001 there have been 800 such cases. -- Link

~ Kurt Fredrickson is excited about Roger Olson’s new book Reformed and Always Reforming: The Postconservative Approach to Evangelical Theology (Baker Academic, 2007). -- Link

It is a good book (I'm about halfway through it) but those of us who have roots in the broader less-system-dependent forms of evangelicalism (e.g. Fuller Seminary, Evangelical Covenant Church, etc) are probably not going to find anything new or earth-shattering in there, just a new label -- which I'm not terribly excited about. The whole liberal - conservative continuum approach is a part of the problem. Olson is trying to move away from that but when you define yourself as "postconservative" you inadvertently perpetuate the very thing you're trying to avoid. Still, it's a stimulating read.

~ I'm trying to get an invite to GrandCentral -- anyone have an extra? -- Link

~ An African megachurch, which thrives in Ukraine, is reaching into the US, reports the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The political and cultural boundaries continue to blur. -- Link

~ The Mormon dominance of Utah continues to decline. LDS adherents are down to 60.7% of the state's population. -- Link

~ 1 of every 30 people in Britain has attended the Alpha Course -- a part of a greater spiritual awakening in the UK, according to Richard Kew, who recently returned to his native England. It's good to hear optimism in Richard's voice again.

~ A new study demonstrates a correlation between athletic ability and how happy a child is with the number and types of friendships that he or she has. -- Link

Of course you're going to be happy -- everyone wants to be your friend and you get picked first to be on whatever team is playing.

~ Bookmark: Encyclopedia of Grant Writing and Fund Raising -- Link (via)

~ Bookmark: People Raising, Bill Dillon's fundraising blog -- Link

~ Exactly! The reason I'd shy away from using an eBook is that I'd get ink all over the screen when I'm underling and arguing with the book in the margins. The new Amazon Kindle does have a way to add bookmarks and type annotations -- but it seems clunky compared to what I can do with a paper book. Perhaps Kindle 2.0 will allow me to underline and jot notes.

~ Coming soon to a DVD near you -- embedded, unskippable commercials? -- Link

In most cases I'd just skip the whole DVD if I had to put up with that -- unless, perhaps -- and only perhaps -- if the DVD were free to begin with. I put up with a lot of nonsense for the sake of free.