I grew up in the country of Pakistan, with goats as a normal part of life.  No, we never had our own, but neighbors did.  Flocks of goats wandering the fields, eating anything they could get their teeth on to, were just part of the landscape.

And now we have Google, arguably the poster child for modern corporate technology, using… goats… to maintain part of the landscape at Google’s corporate headquarters in Mountainview, CA. Read more »

Right outside my backdoor is a light fixture.  Hasn’t worked for a number of years, doesn’t seem to feel like a priority to fix it right now.  Just as well – a pair of robins have decided this is a great spot to raise their children.  Sheltered from the rain, relatively protected from predators.  The only real disadvantage seems to be these pesky humans who will keep coming in and out of the door below. Read more »

Students at Bethel University plant a tree

“Renewal” is the name of a relatively new student organization whose vision is to get students to “answer God’s call for renewal” of his creation.  Anna Jayne Joyner and Ben Lowe, both recent grads and therefore almost still students themselves, serve as coordinators.

Anna Jayne (“AJ” to her friends, I hear) just sent out this very encouraging report:

Read more »

walk into a bar…

Actually, they walked onto a plane…

Flickr CC License

Not long ago I flew from Madison WI to Hartford CT for a speaking tour, and returned by the same route 10 days later. Two flights each direction (Madison to Detroit, Detroit to Hartford) yielded a total of four seatmates, the aforementioned engineer, priest, airline pilot and salesman, and four very interesting conversations.

Read more »