Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:

 
The Vinyl Revival Shows Quality Trumps Efficiency ~ Interesting… seems vinyl records are making a comeback; can’t beat the sound. Newer isn’t always better.
 
Presbyterian Church Votes ‘No’ on Protecting Babies Born Alive During Botched Abortions ~ Not sure what faith Presbyterians profess these days, but it sure ain’t Christianity. As the American Spectator puts it ~ Presbyterians Become the Silly Church.
 

The World Cup “Flopping” Rankings ~
Geoff Foster at the Wall Street Journal takes a strictly empirical look at the phenomenon of phony injury theatrics in World Cup soccer ~

Turning a small foul into a death performance worthy of La Scala can draw cards for opposing players, kill time from the clock or just give one’s winded teammates a breather. What’s interesting about the World Cup is that not all national teams are the same. Some embellish all the time, some hardly at all.

 
Refugee Resettlement Watch ~ A site I just happened upon that’s doing a great job of documenting the illegal immigrant invasion.

 
Drastic action needed to halt world’s worst Ebola outbreak: WHO ~ This has gotten hardly any news coverage… just a couple African countries… no biggie right? Hmmm… ~

The crisis is already the deadliest outbreak since Ebola first emerged in central Africa in 1976, and the number of infections continues to rise (635 infections; 399 deaths) […]
 
Ebola – with a fatality rate of up to 90 percent, no vaccine and no known cure – has not previously occurred in the West Africa region. People there have become frightened of health facilities, blaming them for importing and spreading the virus.

 
The Death And Decay Of Detroit, As Seen From The Streets ~ Sad but fascinating before & after photo-essay, focusing on various residential streets, captures the rapid deterioration of the Motor City.

 
Appeals Court Orders Atheists to Justify Lawsuit Against 9/11 Cross ~ Let’s hope the non-believers jumped the shark on this one ~

“Lawsuits for violations of the Establishment Clause should be limited to circumstances where the government is truly coercing people to engage in religious activity,” said Eric Baxter, a lawyer for the Becket Fund. “The Constitution is not a personal tool for censoring everyone’s beliefs but your own.”

Related: Cross Can Stay – for now, anyway

 
Meet Mitzi Bickers ~ A scandal-plagued Democratic operative worked the black vote for Cochran ~ The plot thickens. But will we ever get to the truth of what happened in the Cochran:McDaniel Mississippi primary farce?