Random

~ USA Today: Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to get into Canada, as border agents with better access to American criminal databases are turning people back for offenses ranging from assault to drunken driving to shoplifting -- even non-violent offenses.

We Americans can't really get too upset over this. The Canadians are only playing by the rules that we've established. As I see it, though, we'd all be better served by a completely open border going both directions.

~ Guam as an Asian data hub? New project in the works will make the US regulators happy. -- Link

~ South African Theological Seminary now has information on their new Doctor of Theology (DTh) program posted on their website. I know that I talk about these guys quite a bit but after studying what's going on in distance learning and accessible theological education in a more global context (and I've seen the good, the bad, and the really ugly out there) this school is a leader. They're creative, yet there is academic integrity -- and they're not ripping people off.

~ I learned the word "decoupling" today (for some unknown reason I never took economics in school). 2008 was supposed to be the year that the world economy decoupled from the global economy -- that is, that the global economy was no longer so dependent on (decoupled from) the US economy. However, the economic downturn in the US is affecting global markets making some economists think that this might not really be the year that the global economy attains decoupling. -- Link

Perhaps, though, this isn't what economies do. Perhaps things are becoming more interdependent and less independent. I'm not an economist -- nor have I ever played one on television -- but that's how I'm seeing it.