Random

✽ I slept through the summer solstice, which occurred at 4:28 a.m., Arizona time, this morning. We're supposed to be back up to 110° by Thursday. And happy summer to you, too.

✽ "More preachers hold down day jobs" -- Bob Smietana writes on the growing number of bivocational Southern Baptist ministers ~ The Tennessean

✽ California, the state in which I have cumulatively resided longer than any other, wants to study digital license plates that would produce revenue for the state by showing ads.

The device would mimic a standard license plate when the vehicle is in motion but would switch to digital ads or other messages when it is stopped for more than four seconds, whether in traffic or at a red light. The license plate number would remain visible at all times in some section of the screen. ~ MSNBC (via)

We need to give them some credit for trying AND two bonus points for coloring outside the lines. But I'm pretty sure that once the numbers are crunched (to say nothing of the all the bumpers) California would raise more money if they held state sponsored fruitcake sales.

✽ Sheriff Joe plans to launch his own Web-based TV show. He wants to do an end-run around the established media, which he believes is biased -- and out to get him. My sense, from watching video footage of his speeches and his animated responses to reporters, is that he believes that anyone who questions his perspective or decisions is biased and out to get him. ~ ABC15

✽ Sweden is struggling through a midsummer strawberry crisis. ~ The Local