Here are some things to ponder while you drink a cup of coffee (or tea):

“How to discern which candidate (to vote for)…” This image (WWBD) came to me by email from a Christian friend with a sense of humor.

Looking for a new business opportunity as the world economy tanks? Try selling bottled tap water (the legal way). Quick quote: “I think consumers will embrace us,” Mr. Zucker says, noting that although 40 percent of bottled water comes from the faucet, few companies admit as much.”

This is interesting. Last week a university student told me he is studying the Islamic banking system for keys to the future of banking. That seemed backward to me until I saw this article in the Washington Post on the same subject.

What is your religious worldview? Take this (unscientific) quiz and find out.

Or read this article with more implications for the world food crisis. Did you know our current model of agriculture relies heavily on cheap fossil fuels? We may be in for bigger changes than we’ve yet imagined.

If you’re drinking a venti (a very, very large cup of coffee) maybe it’s time to read Rolling Stone’s article about the short life of David Foster Wallace (who has been called the greatest author of his generation).

Need a touching story to gently push you out to vote for Obama? How about the time 20 years ago when he helped a lost and desperate stranger from Norway?

Need something more substantial? Got another venti in hand? Try Andrew Sullivan’s closing essay on the election. (Someday Sullivan will be credited with having a significant role in the outcome of this election.)

Okay, forget the election and read this update about disabled children in Cambodia from “Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor.”

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Another vistor...

Yeah, a terrible title for another photo every visitor takes

Temple walls and a receding pathway

Light streams in from above at the center of one of the temples

One of the giant faces of Buddha at the Bayon

Temple workers and an image of Buddha

The statue of Vishnu that was enshrined at Angkor Wat

Images of Buddha were defaced after an ancient Hindu revival

A photo that everyone has to take before they leave

Here are nine of my favorite photos from Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. I’m not going to hash out the details (or even attempt to remember the names of all the temples); I’ll just let you enjoy the images (with brief captions). The history of the temples and the civilization that built them is too much for a simple blog post, but you can get a taste here.

I spent about 8 hours visiting 6 or 8 temples with a driver and a guide. It rained for about 6 hours. That meant carrying an umbrella with my heavy camera bad on my shoulder (and camera in hand). Oh, and struggling into a yellow rain pancho made from somone a foot shorter than I am. Interesting. If I ever go back, it won’t be in the rainy season. (The next day was all blue sky and cool breeze — witnessed from the bus back to Phnom Penh.)

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I don’t mean to turn this into a video blog, but this is also too good to pass up. Hope you enjoy it.

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You’ll like this. If you’re as old as me, or close, then you may even be moved.

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Just found this at Compassion in Politics:

Every cultural good begins with 3 people. Occasionally 2, never 1. Google began with 2 guys – when they added a third to their creating circle, that was when the idea began to move and explode.

He adds that as the circle of three grows to 12 and 120 (I wouldn’t stress the numbers), the potential for impact multiplies.

This encourages me. I may be passionate for love to be revealed in the world, but I’m powerless on my own. Add an authentic partner or two, though, and the possibility for impact grows dramatically. As the circle expands beyond my control, if I’m willing to allow it, then there is a chance for spontaneous expansion.

An authentic partner, in my opinion, is someone moving forward under the strength of his or her own vision and passion, as opposed to someone dragged along or merely joining for the ride.)

The key, I think, is to act on my passion with openness, trust, and a spirit of adventure.

1) Act on my passion. Do something. People who take action attract interesting people. Leaders are drawn to people of action (leaders are drawn to leaders).

2) Do it with openness and trust. Don’t try to control the results. Communicate and empower, but resist the temptation to create a structure to contain the results. People who act this way gather and release people with like passion who move outward in increasingly varied and complex patterns. Controlling leaders create structure and rules because they don’t trust others to “do it right.” They limit the results to the size of structure they can control (and often profit from), and they limit the potential of everyone who buys into their systems.

3) Have a spirit of adventure. To me this is the essence of Love — knowing God as perfect grace — that we are free to live with a spirit of adventure. We can see the world without fear, with limitless possibilities, and charge forward with nothing to prove or protect.

(Photo is an image of the creative and expanding Flickrverse.)

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