I had never heard of William Bennett- at least I don’t think I had. The ironic thing about this is that Bennett has been a vital part of some of our Country’s most defined intersections. More than once the man has been considered as a running mate in presidential elections, and has been called upon to assist those presidents in varying capacities from campaigning to cabinet appointment. So it was interesting to me, a sometimes history buff, to follow Mr. Bennett’s fairly balanced account and unique perspective of our Nation’s, and world’s, history from 1988 through 2008.

I was born in 1980. Suffice it to say that I literally grew up during these two decades. I can say that I remember all, if not nearly all, of the history vividly described. A Century Turns is more than one man’s perspective on the events during a score of years bookending two centuries. It’s a journey through my life. As he lays out the major events that shaped, and shook, our culture and world, Bennett had me journeying to the point in my life where the memories were conceived.
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Nice.
[Image: Brad]

I was just over at ChurchCrunch reading through the open thread comments about how Google’s latest addition to Gmail, Buzz, is or isn’t the stuff for ministry.

While I’m still withholding the jury on this one while I let it sink in and really take some time to check it out, a lot of people have already written it off. Calling Buzz “noise“, “more noise“, and “the coolest new technology that I won’t be using.“.

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In honor of my first guest post on ChurchCreate I’m giving away a one year subscription to Collide Magazine!
I love Collide for a couple reasons:
1- They get it.
2- They get it.

Collide does more than just be relevant- the articles are authentic, because the people writing them are living it! If you haven’t checked out Collide yet- do it now. Well, maybe not now- but in a bit after you enter to win a one year subscription!

How to enter the hook-up opportunity after the jump!
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Product Manager Peter Deng explains the ins and outs of the redesign, as well as the reasoning behind it. Spoiler alert- it’s for a better UI (user interface) experience.
Here’s the video from Mashable‘s Ben Parr:

More features after the jump!
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The release of the new homepage for Facebook has begun recently, and if yours hasn’t shifted yet, don’t worry, it will. Facebook has simplified the homepage to make it more user friendly. The same information is there, just in less space- something needed with the popularity of netbooks.

1. New requests, messages, and notifications are grouped together by the logo (clicking on the logo will take you to the home page as well). If you’re wondering what I’m talking about- they’re the shadowed icons to the right of the logo.

2. News Feed: The News Feed now includes the ability to update your status, as well as Top News (the most popular happenings among your friends, be it comments, becoming a fan, or joining a group) and Most Recent (what’s happening now- the live update). Formerly these were were labeled View News Feed and View Live Feed respectively.

3. Account drop-down. This is where all the buttons that used to be on the top bar went to. Edit Friends, Account Settings, Privacy Settings, Application Settings, Credits Balance, Help Center, and Logout now live here.

4. Bookmarks. If you didn’t even know these existed before, don’t worry too much about it (they used to be on the bottom left, opposite the chat box).

5. Friends Online. This is a new feature. The friends that will show up here are the ones you interact with the most on Facebook- be it messages, chat or wall posts- the rest of your online friends are viewable in chat.

6. Chat. Almost the same as before- the drag and drop feature has been removed, so you’ll just have to add friends to lists by typing.

Like it, love it, hate it?

I’ve watched some, I think, good movies over the past week. (No, that’s not where I’ve been. Well, it kinda is. But not entirely.)

First up was Surrogates, which I already talked about. The next was Gamer, a movie I don’t recommend because of the amount if nudity in it, although the storyline was decent. And tonight I watched the “horror comedy” Zombieland starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin. It’s in a similar vain as Shawn of the Dead, but more apocalyptic.

It’s ironic that all three deal with the apparent and possible end of mankind. And you know what- I have a secret: I love it.
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I found out about FullApologies.com from Vayner Media‘s “19 of this Week’s Best Links”.

I wasn’t ready for it. I don’t think you’ll be either.

The site features the basic synopsis of those that have killed people due to being drunk while driving, and their video apology to (apparently) the family of those they are responsible for killing.

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Today I Twittered this:

I don’t watch the news because people are paid to report it.

And my friend Collin asked me this:

Just out of curiosity where do you get your news?

I was going to quickly answer him, but, as the three of you that are actually reading this may already know, I’m not like that. Ask me what time it is, and I’ll tell you how to build a clock.

Collin, here is the answer to your question my friend:

OK- so this is going to sound weird outside of context. Twitter.

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Yesterday was MLKJr. Day. Did you notice?

Perhaps you did, but only when you walked to your mailbox and found nothing; or put your trash out in the morning, only to return home that evening with it not picked up; or when you went to the bank and nearly dislocated your arm trying to open the locked door. Don’t feel badly- I’m with you, the mail didn’t come yesterday for me either. So what do I, we, do in light of our “bliss”?

I’ve talked about my upbringing before (read it, it’s good). And I’d have to say that I’m still there. Every day.

Yesterday I read a post about MLK that came from a different angle. (Read that one too- so you have some context for my next sentence.)

And I think again. For, well- ever, I’ve seen MLKJr. Day as just an African American “thing”. And now I realize it’s more than just that.

Sweet. What about you?
~NickShoe