Random

✽ "The earliest known icons of the Apostles Peter and Paul have been discovered in a catacomb under an eight-story modern office building in a working-class neighborhood of Rome, Vatican officials said Tuesday." ~ MSNBC

✽ "Wealthy people who have a modest consumption life style tend to be generous in giving to noble causes..." ~ Australian case study

✽ "James Patton and Craig Moritz of UC Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology surveyed 28 species of mammals living at sites from the San Joaquin Valley across Yosemite to Mono Lake and found that as average annual temperatures warmed by 5 degrees Fahrenheit during the past 90 years, more than half the species had shifted their ranges upward by as much as 1,600 feet... " ~ San Francisco Chronicle

✽ Four Christians were arrested for "disorderly conduct" last Friday after having open and civil discussions about their faith with Muslims at the Arab International Festival in Dearborn, Michigan. ~ Mission Network News

✽ Unfinished Orlando area mansion on the market 'as is' for $75M. What do you think the chances are that they'll get anything near the asking price? ~ AP

✽ "Phoenix grew 1.5% from July 2008 to July 2009, the slowest pace of the decade. The city gained 24,000 people between 2008 and 2009 compared to a gain of nearly 41,000 between 2005 and 2006." ~ WSJ

✽ The Arizona Department of Transportation is reopening five of the 13 rest areas closed last fall. And another four will reopen in the fall. ~ EV Trib

✽ South Africa beats out the US to become #1 destination for asylum seekers ~ http://goo.gl/hpfc

✽ Mexico's Foreign Ministry is on record stating that Arizona's SB 1070:

"violates inalienable human rights." Democrats in Congress applauded Mexican President Felipe Calderón's criticisms of the law in a speech he gave on Capitol Hill last week.

Yet Mexico's Arizona-style law requires local police to check IDs. And Mexican police freely engage in racial profiling and routinely harass Central American migrants, say immigration activists. ~ USA Today

Since the 1070 approach hasn't worked so well in Mexico, why are we trying to imitate them?

✽ This might be a great time to be flying between the Gold Coast in Australia and Guam or Palau. (promo fares) ~ link