Links of the Day, January 11
It's Human Trafficking Awareness Day! Tell someone who doesn't know about the 27 million people trapped in modern slavery. And then do something about it!
Check out these awesome pics to start out your week/day:
And then enjoy this cover from Cathy Nguyen and Andrew Garcia:
News
- Whistler's homeless are being relocated ahead of the Winter Olympics.
- The oldest known Hebrew script has been deciphered. Find out what it says here.
- Colt McCoy shows grace and faith in the face of defeat:
Human trafficking
- China claims to have freed over 10,000 victims of human trafficking in the last year.
Immigration
- A new report comes out: immigration reform will ease economic decline.
Miscellaneous
- NBC's Bryan Williams: why Jon Stewart is good for the news.
- GOOD covers the H&M saga.
- For the Angelenos, the fake freeway sign that became a real public service.
- Oh, the places you'll go ... The NY Times lists 31 places to go in 2010.
- As a fantasy geek myself, I can appreciate this from what's fast becoming one of my favorite blogs, YOMYOMF ("You offend me, you offend my family"): "Fantasy gone wrong."
- Some fascinating facts about sneezing.
- Some secrets about London!
The last weeks of 2009
Last week, I celebrated Christmas with Aaron, Amy and Elijah in Huntington, WV, home of Marshall University ("We Are Marshall") and of Amy's family. It was great spending a few days outside of DC, and with an awesome and wonderfully welcoming family.
To boot, last week ...
- I got to go on a tour of the East Wing of the White House.
- I got to talk with family in Australia, Hong Kong, and California.
- I got to talk with friends in New Zealand, Pennsylvania, Texas, and California. (What up, iChat video conferencing?!)
- I got to watch a truckload of enjoyable movies: Avatar, Invictus, The Blind Side, The Invention of Lying, and Sherlock Holmes.
It was a good week. 
[For Christmas pics, check out my Facebook.]
This week, I'm in snowbound St Louis for Urbana 2009, InterVarsity's triennial missions conference. I'm here with Sojourners, who are co-leading the Poverty and Advocacy track along with World Vision and International Justice Mission. It's the first time in Urbana's history that they're looking at advocacy as a form of mission, and so it's a pretty momentous occasion and an exciting development.
One of the things we're launching this week is the Human Wrong Initiative, which is geared towards combating child slavery in all its forms: prostitution, forced labor, and child-soldiering. Of the 27 million people still in slavery today, about half are women and children.
This is how the world is today. But it is not how the world should be. Nor how the world needs to be. Join us, get involved, let your friends know. Let's stamp out child slavery.
The other thing that's happening (that I'm involved with) is helping Sojourners lead a night of lament for the injustice in the world; that'll take place tomorrow (December 29th). I'll only be speaking for a few minutes, but I'm gonna be laying the groundwork for the couple hundred students in our track to engage with God in this way, so I'd appreciate your prayers!
[Pics to Urbana will follow. ]
Links of the Day, December 15
Apologies for skipping yesterday--we're heading into the holiday season and things are getting BUSY at work!
News
- Some Guantanamo inmates will be moved to a near-empty prison in Illinois, marking a significant step toward shutting down the camp at Guantanamo Bay.
- Televangelist Oral Roberts, loved by some, scorned by others, passed away, aged 91.
- Mike Huckabee is one of several conservatives to praise Barack's Nobel Peace Prize speech. (I find it interesting that so many people are surprised ... must be too busy projecting their own issues onto the President to really hear what he's been saying all this time.)
- David Brooks writes about Obama and Christian realism.
Green
- Hip-hop goes green in California.
- Did you know that the New York Times has a "Learning Network"? Because they do; and here's their page on global warming.
Miscellaneous
- An oil lobby photoshops diversity into its ad.
- Marvel meets Disney:
Links of the Day, November 23
Matt Logue's book, "Empty Los Angeles."
News
- The Senate passes a motion, 60-39, to begin discussing the health care bill.
Sports
- Harvard's Jeremy Lin is pioneering the way for Asian-American basketball players.
Miscellaneous
- Cultural factors limit the recession's impact on Asian-American families.
- Chinese Americans reflect on Barack's visit to China.
- Lost is back February 2, 2010!!
- Stefani Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga, back in the day ...
Pics from trips
Two weekends ago, I was back in California to see family, friends, and U2 (from which I already posted pics and vid).
Then last weekend, I was in Cape Cod, MA to lead worship at the installation service of my mentor, JP. Here are some pics from those trips:
