Random

> PBS ran a new Doc Martin episode last night. Great series.

> Despicable Me is not only entertaining animation but also a layered story with a few surprises. I'm enjoying that Christmas present.

> Is North Korea trying to emerge from self-imposed isolation? ~ NY Times

> Here's the magic 150 again:

Put simply, our minds are not designed to allow us to have more than a very limited number of people in our social world. The emotional and psychological investments that a close relationship requires are considerable, and the emotional capital we have available is limited. 

Indeed, no matter what Facebook allows us to do, I have found that most of us can maintain only around 150 meaningful relationships, online and off — what has become known as Dunbar’s number. Yes, you can “friend” 500, 1,000, even 5,000 people with your Facebook page, but all save the core 150 are mere voyeurs looking into your daily life — a fact incorporated into the new social networking site Path, which limits the number of friends you can have to 50. ~ Robin Dunbar, NY Times, Opinion

> Here again is a piece I wrote several years ago, suggesting that we should aim at creating churches that multiply when they get to about 150 people. ~ link

> I'm still chewing on this one -- could be taken in a few different ways: "If [we] are afraid of war, we can never prevent war." -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak ~ BBC

> Water banking makes sense --

Arizona may leave part of its annual share of Colorado River water in Lake Mead next year, taking a calculated gamble that giving up some water now will help it avoid deeper losses later. 

Under a plan now being considered, water officials would pass up billions of gallons that they could take from the river in 2011, hoping to keep the drought-stricken reservoir full enough to avoid triggering automatic cutbacks. Any cutbacks could deny Arizona and Nevada even more water in 2012... ~ AZ Republic

> There are currently five students pre-enrolled in my online PIU church planting class for the spring semester. That means I really do have to get to work and finish up the course outline.