Performancing has an introduction to Using Mindmaps: 5 Steps to Letting Your Blog Posts Write Themselves. The article is about writing blog posts, but you can use mindmaps to organize your thoughts about anything. I used a mindmap to get my thoughts organized when I initially started working on my dissertation. It’s helpful, because you can diagram the relationship between different ideas without forcing them into a linear sequence. For a good introduction to mindmaps, see the wikipedia article. I am using the open source program Freemind to create my mind maps.  If you’ve ever been frustrated with having to force your thoughts into a linear outline, you might give it a try.  Unfortunately, when you write the paper you eventually do need to put your thoughts into a linear sequence, but at least you can be freed from that constraint during the planning phase.

Next Gener.Asian Church has an set of pictures on Chinese vs. German Culture , done by a Chinese-born German designer. Since I am part German and work in a Chinese church, I found these especially interesting.

A news story on As Obama Talks Religion, Questions Surround His Controversial Pastor gives some insight in to Obama’s theology. It’s good to know where he is coming from, not that most of the other candidates don’t have their own problems in this area.

The operator of the Christian bookstore in Gaza City was found dead with a bullet hole in his head. Pray for the tiny Christian community there as they face increased persecution from Hamas.

Today’s wikiHow tell you How to Quit Facebook. If you think that you might be addicted to Facebook, this article gives you tips for regaining control of our time.