News Roundup 3

I agree with this in so many ways:
"As a twentysomething, I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don't want cool as much as we want real."
But at the same time, I have mixed feelings about church in general. Something nice and basic, not fire and brimstone or hyper cool, with the ability to actually participate in what church should be all about - instead of politics, e.g.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111704575355311122648100.html

This is definitely a guy to keep an eye on:

"The fragmented details of Jang Song Taek's career have led North Korea analysts to construct two conflicting narratives: Either Jang can be trusted or he cannot. ...

"no one else has been given more trust: put in a position in which he could serve as a mentor to Kim Jong Eun or attempt to seize power for himself once Kim Jong Il passes from the scene, at a time when North Korea's starving population increasingly doubts whether the Kim way is the best way. ...

"Jang is one of only three North Koreans (including the leader's youngest son and his sister) who can talk to Kim Jong Il directly."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/15/AR2010081503356_2.html?sid=ST2010081503399

Too bad I can't read Korean. Still, translated summaries prove interesting:

"The first message was posted to the account on Aug. 12 and declared (in Korean) "The Web site 'Our Nation' is on Twitter."

"It was followed by three messages pointing to important documents: a 1997 essay written by defacto leader Kim Jong Il on reunification, the North-South Joint Declaration of June 15, 2000, and the declaration issued after the North-South summit of Oct. 4, 2007. Subsequent updates have pointed to recent news articles."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100815/tc_afp/nkoreapoliticsinternettwitteryoutube

Asus tablet with Android? Awesome idea! However, high prices and open source doesn't really compute in my head ... we've already got the Mac version of a tablet, let's move on to something a little more disruptive, such as lower prices.
http://mobile.venturebeat.com/2010/08/13/asus-plans-for-android-tablet-in-march-announces-eee-pad-tablet-pricing/