Random

• More evidence that the American grocery industry has thrown the engine into reverse and is now focusing on developing smaller less-overwhelming stores ~ link

• I've been listening to some great music on the Spirit and Song website. This is a collection best described as contemporary Roman Catholic. There's a lot in there that other Christian traditions could borrow or modify. ~ link

• Ikea is thriving in the weak global economy -- sales reach all time high. This isn't a surprise. They've continued to expand and their niche is the budget-oriented shopper, of which there are many more these days. ~ link

• They're planning to power 90,000 homes in the Netherlands with chicken manure! If the Dutch can do it certainly Guam, which seems to have more free-ranging chickens per capita than anyplace I've lived, could certainly develop that kind of energy. Although somebody would probably have to pen up the chickens and then develop the infra-structure to connect it all to the fragile grid. That would require organization and structure -- which is what we don't have and that's why the chickens run loose everywhere. But more power to the Dutch! ~ link

• Notable: The loss of church as public by Jason Clark in England (via Sivin Kit in Malaysia)