40 years ago today, Apollo 11 launched from the Kennedy Space Center to make its journey to the Moon. It marked the beginning of a journey that was the culmination of hundreds of thousands of peoples’ work and passion. I wish I was alive to see the launch and landing. It’s amazing to me that the missions to the Moon still evoke awe and wonder in us. It seems we could use a worldwide jolt of awe and wonder now. Check out this site: We Choose the Moon. It recreates the Apollo 11 mission in real time. Very cool.

In my sermon this week I mentioned the presidential election. As I typed up the manuscript I wondered, at what point will the spell check tools in our word processors and web browsers recognize the names “Barack” and “Obama” and stop telling us these are misspellings? Do you think the next generations of Word, Firefox, etc. will automatically have those names in their dictionaries?

Stumbling across perhaps the greatest ruling from an NFL penalty. It came from referee Ben Dreith in a 1986 game between the Jets and Bills. I don’t remember ever seeing it before. Enjoy the creativity and eloquence.

From the World AIDS Day website facts page:

Internationally, 40 million people live with HIV worldwide and with only 8% of people with the virus in developing countries having access to treatment there were 3 million deaths in 2005. However, unprecedented top-level agreements since 2000, (UNGASS, Africa Commission, G8) and the roll out of treatment to 1.3 million people in developing countries have been important steps forward.

An AP story reports: “GM Offers Gas-price Cap for SUV Buyers.”

Aiming to capitalize on consumer angst about the high cost of gasoline, General Motors Corp. on Tuesday said it would cap pump prices at $1.99 for customers in California and Florida who buy certain vehicles by July 5….

[M]any of the eligible vehicles are serious gas guzzlers….

Each month for one year, GM will give drivers a credit on a prepaid card based on their estimated fuel usage. Fuel usage will be calculated by the miles they drive, as recorded by OnStar, and the vehicle’s fuel economy rating.

GM will credit drivers the difference between the average price per gallon in their state and the $1.99 cap. The credits can be used through December 2007. Consumers wouldn’t get any credits if gas prices fall below $1.99.

Does this make any sense? GM wants to pay people to consume more gas rather than offer incentives for vehicles that are more fuel effecient. Basically customers are being paid to hurt the environment and increase our dependence upon foreign oil so that GM can report good earnings. It is especially odd considering the other news GM recently released: “GM to Make Fuel-Saving Changes: The automaker will offer a new V-6, a hybrid system, more ethanol models and redesigned transmissions.” It’s like one step forward and one step back.

Kristen Gilneau of the Associated Press reports, “Va. Laptop Sale Turns Into a Stampede.”

A rush to purchase $50 used laptops turned into a violent stampede Tuesday, with people getting thrown to the pavement, beaten with a folding chair and nearly driven over. One woman went so far as to wet herself rather than surrender her place in line….

An estimated 5,500 people turned out at the Richmond International Raceway in hopes of getting their hands on one of the 4-year-old Apple iBooks. The Henrico County school system was selling 1,000 of the computers to county residents. New iBooks cost between $999 and $1,299….

People threw themselves forward, screaming and pushing each other. A little girl’s stroller was crushed in the stampede. Witnesses said an elderly man was thrown to the pavement, and someone in a car tried to drive his way through the crowd.

Company to Sell Trips Around the Moon.

The price tag is a mere $100 million, but they won’t be sending people until 2008 or 2009, so you have time to save if you need to. You can read more about the trip here.

Rob Walling just returned from a trip to Ghana with his wife Sherry. He has an interesting post about seeing first-hand the digital divide between Western and developing nations. As our economy in the US and the worldwide economy becomes even more dependent upon the rapid exchange of information, how are developing nations going to keep up? This becomes even more concerning when we consider that many of these nations have never fully encountered the Industrial Revolution of the 19th c., let alone the current Information, Digital, or Technological Revolution. Is the gap between developed and developing nations becoming too wide? Granted, I have more hope for the Digital Revolution to reach other nations since it is somewhat easier to establish the infrastructure for digital products rather than industrial products. For example, consider how much easier it would be to build cell phone towers for a nation rather than laying thousands of miles of land lines.