Random

• There were a couple of requests for my sermon on Psalm 96 from last Sunday. So I went ahead and put it online -- manuscript format. ~ link

• Bill Gates has formed a new company ~ link

• The price of gas on Guam fell 10¢ over night -- and then another 5¢ this afternoon -- seems unprecedented. We're at $3.899/gal.

• Attendance in the Church of England's Diocese of London has risen 2%. About 20% of the church-goers are under the age of 16. ~ link

• Sweden, which is experiencing a very necessary wave of immigration (negative birthrate means fewer workers -- fewer taxpayers -- fewer taxpayers means fewer social benefits...) but they're not terribly excited about ethnic diversity anymore. I can remember how much grief the Swedes were giving Americans in the 70's (and even into the 90's) over our racism and numerous ethnic conflicts. But that was before they started accepting immigrants. The whole getting along thing is a lot harder when you have to do it yourself. This, of course, has lots of applications for us armchair pundits in the blogosphere.

• The wealthy nations are figuring out that they need to bail-out the economies of the poorer nations as well. It's in their own best interests. The idea that any nation or economy can act alone is from a bygone era. ~ link

• I noticed this morning that Gmail now has a new emoticons application. At the risk of making my ecommuniques appear like they've come from some other more frivolous email program I tried a few of them out. They're cute -- perhaps okay for occasional use -- but they could pretty quickly get annoying. ~ link

• We're doing the Alpha Course retreat this weekend. It should be good -- although I'd like a few days off. In time...