Random

~ Quotable: "Americans are less happy today than they were 30 years ago because they're working so hard at being happy." -- Greg Laurie

~ Tom Cruise's Scientology video -- "We're here to help..." "You can see the look in their eyes..." Intense rambling. Looks like someone put together outtakes of a staged promotional interview. -- Link

~ New baby boom in the US -- and it's not just Hispanic immigrants having all the babies. That's one way to keep Social Security viable for a little while longer. -- Link

~ Two Asian states have the world's freest economies -- Hong Kong and Singapore retained their No. 1 and No. 2 rankings respectively on the annual Index of Economic Freedom for the 14th successive year. Both port cities benefit from low taxes and liberalized trade. Hong Kong, however, saw its score dip slightly due to higher inflation and greater tax revenues. -- Link

~ Don Johnson is excited about Gary Walter, too -- for all the right reasons. -- Link

~ I did an airport run at 1 a.m., this morning to greet Kathy Newell, who is one of our volunteer teachers this semester. Welcome Kathy! -- Link

~ Today (in California time -- the 15th) is our #2 son's 22nd birthday. We had a good skype visit with him this afternoon. Happy birthday, Kent!

~ A kind word about Joel Osteen -- Link (via)

~ From friend Everett Wilson: My novel Real Things, which was in The Partial Observer in 2001, is now in print and is available for sale at Amazon. com. At this time Amazon is the only distributor. The publisher is PO Books, a venture of the Partial Observer. Its designer is Mark Johnson, the editor of the Partial Observer. Publishing data are on the website.