An intriguing quote from a Chris Lydon interview with Tim Berners-Lee:

We should live some part of our lives in each of the human orders of magnitude: from the family unit of six to the global population of six billion. Spend a few moments of the day with a consciousness of our individuality, then our closest family circle, our 60-member squad, platoon or company, our 600-member church, our 6000-citizen village in a 60,000-citizen city, in a 600,000 metropolitan area in a 6-million member state; then: our 60-million nation on a 600-million continent, and on to our full species extension.

This is a different spin on keeping life in balance: looking at the different scales we exist in. I suspect for most, like me, it becomes pretty abstract once you get up beyond 600 or 6000.

Dave Winer is collecting RSS subscriptions, the combination of which then becomes an interesting view of what people follow. Given the size of blogdom these days, that also provides a way to find some sources other people know about but you missed. Details at feeds.scripting.com: you can also see what i read (or at least what i try to keep up with).

Salon writes about Howard Ahmanson Jr. (premium content, but you can get a free one-day pass) as "the avenging angel of the religious right". They take the multi-millionaire philanthropist to task for supporting Episopal priests who oppose the church's ordination of the first openly-gay bishop, Eugene Robinson, and funding conservative politicians. I wouldn't expect a positive treatment for Ahmanson from a magazine like Salon, though the excerpts from his answers to their inquiries seem reasonable enough to me. I liked this closing quote best of all:

Reflecting on his prodigious achievements, Ahmanson has every reason to be satisfied. "I may have had 'a plan to change American society' once," he mused. "Now I'm just trying to be faithful with what I have."

More than twenty years ago, when i was fresh out of Occidental College in Los Angeles, and looking for an opportunity to serve the Lord before heading off to the mission field (that still hasn't happened), i spent three years with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in So Cal, combining campus staff ministry at Oxy and CalTech with missions training and mobilization of students. That simply wouldn't have been possible except for the financial support of Ahmanson, an Occidental alumni who provided funding to firmly establish the relationship with IVCF that had begun during my years there as a student.

I only recall meeting him once, at the beginning of that period, and i don't know much about his activities since, or his politics (the focus of the Salon article). But that partnership in the gospel (Phil.1.5) was really the start of InterVarsity's ministry at Occidental, which continues strong up to the present. It was also a rich time of service and growth for me personally. And for that, i want to express my gratitude for Howard Ahmanson Jr.'s faithfulness.