Top 10 Secluded U.S. Beaches

Even hard working servants need a break:

Seeking out sun, surf, and sand is an easy enough task, but is it possible to stir seclusion into the mix, too? Our editors say “shore”! We’ve dug deep into our arsenal of secret sands to present our top picks for secluded U.S. beaches, where quiet coasts invite in-the-know sunbathers to savor their relative solitude. Sure, some of these destinations are fairly remote (some even require off-the-path travel to offshore islets), but some of the most isolated shores are right under beachgoers’ noses, in popular stateside spots like Florida, California, and Hawaii. You’ll just have to plan a visit soon – while these semi-private sands remain undiscovered for the moment, the cat’s officially out of the bag. Top 10 Secluded U.S. Beaches

Productivity tools for iPhone users

The article mentions usefulness for CIOs, but anyone in organizational roles can benefit. They range from several dollars to free.

There are several programs available for Apple’s smartphone that are ideal for the typical CIO who needs to not only be productive while running a company, but also be able to perform basic work functions while away from a computer. 9 iPhone Apps Every CIO Must Have - Enterprise Technology

Winds howl over the deserted moonscape behind Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper paywalls - Boing Boing

This suggests that information continues its relentless march to being free. Combined with trends in music and video, it may be that traditional media channels, once viable revenue producers on their own, may become simply the marketing arms of corporations that make real stuff (e.g., Carlos Slim investing in the NY Times). I understand Noam Chomsky and others may say this is already happening/has already happened, but the media still retained some degree of independent existence. In the future, firms like CBS, NY Times, and others may openly market themselves as service firms providing such services as sophisticated product positioning.

Rupert Murdoch's notorious UK paywalls which went up this month around The Times and Sunday Times's sites, which are apparently ghost-towns, unpeopled even by the print subscribers who get free access. Winds howl over the deserted moonscape behind Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper paywalls - Boing Boing

Brad Greenberg: How Missionaries Lost Their Chariots of Fire and Why They Should Add the Gospel Back to their Good Works - WSJ.com

I’m not sure this is entirely accurate:

The overwhelming majority of American missionaries today are "vacationaries." Joining mission trips of two weeks or less, they serve in locales where Christianity already predominates. Brad Greenberg: How Missionaries Lost Their Chariots of Fire and Why They Should Add the Gospel Back to their Good Works - WSJ.com

People doing short term missions shouldn’t be called missionaries. They’re augmentees to the missionary in the field.

Sin or Ethical Investing: Which Pays Best? | Alrroya

Via Ron Robins of Investing for the Soul:

The year 2008 was a game changing event for investors. It saw the demise of excesses and brought about a new consciousness. This new investor consciousness engages environmental, social, governance and ethical concerns, while governments preach austerity and consider new taxes on our vices. Future investment returns may well favour ethical over sin investing. Sin or Ethical Investing: Which Pays Best? | Alrroya

Useful take on investing over the next few years.

In short, there’s simply not a more congenial spot

For happily-ever-aftering than here in Camelot:

One in three engaged British women admitted that they would choose an overweight friend to be their bridesmaid in order to make them look comparatively slimmer. Insecure brides recruit fat bridesmaids to make themselves look good - Telegraph

Christianity Today Entertainment Blog: Gerard Butler to Play 'Machine Gun Preacher'

When you run out of cheeks to turn, Leonidas is your man:

Machine Gun Preacher, the true story of Sam Childers. Childers, allegedly a Christian preacher, literally lives up to the film's title by carrying a machine gun into Sudan to rescue young children from that nation's war atrocities -- including rape, murder, and forcing them to become child soldiers. Christianity Today Entertainment Blog: Gerard Butler to Play 'Machine Gun Preacher'

Has anyone heard of the events behind the movie or done some background research?

Why Parents Hate Parenting -- New York Magazine

Agree or disagree?

Most people assume that having children will make them happier. Yet a wide variety of academic research shows that parents are not happier than their childless peers, and in many cases are less so. This finding is surprisingly consistent, showing up across a range of disciplines. Why Parents Hate Parenting -- New York Magazine

So, who’s right?

End of men?

Man has been the dominant sex since, well, the dawn of mankind. But for the first time in human history, that is changing—and with shocking speed…As thinking and communicating have come to eclipse physical strength and stamina as the keys to economic success, those societies that take advantage of the talents of all their adults, not just half of them, have pulled away from the rest…With few exceptions, the greater the power of women, the greater the country’s economic success…American parents are beginning to choose to have girls over boys…What if the modern, postindustrial economy is simply more congenial to women than to men? The End of Men - Magazine - The Atlantic

Or a “menaissance”?