Random

✽ By 2030 the population of the Philippines will equal that of Russia -- assuming they can hold things together that long. ~ link

✽ Cheryl and I spent a couple of days in Flagstaff -- just chillin' and wearing sweatshirts. I noticed that higher taxes must come with the higher elevation. My 79¢ soft drink at Circle K ends up costing 86¢ with tax in Phoenix. In Flagstaff it costs 88¢.

✽ The guy we sat next to this morning in worship in Flagstaff says that he comes late to worship every week -- mossing in as the band is winding down. He's been a part of the church for six years and found Christ there. But he can't handle the music. (I assume it's too loud for him.) I admire his tenacity.

✽ Chicago's famous ShoreBank has closed. It started in 1973 "to prove that money could be lent profitably to poor people in poor neighborhoods." Unfortunately, it has not been able to weather the latest economic storm.

Some of the biggest names in mainstream finance rallied round to try to save it, including Citigroup, JPMorganChase, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. These banks are now part of a consortium that is investing in the ShoreBank operations taken over by the FDIC, which have been renamed the Urban Partnership Bank. ~ Economist

These guys deserve credit for carrying out the experiment -- and kudos to the big names for backing them. A lot has been learned and the vision continues.

✽ "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." ~ Mark Twain