John Titor

Although there is debate over the exact date it started, on November 02, 2000, a person calling themselves Timetravel_0, and later John Titor, started posting on a public forum that he was a time traveler from the year 2036.
[...]
On March 21, 2001, John Titor told us he would be leaving our time and returning to 2036. After that, he was never heard from again. Speculation and investigation about who John Titor was and why he was online continues to this day.
Although it may be easy to dismiss all this as science fiction, most people who read his posts agree that there is something very haunting about John Titor and what he said. In addition, and open to more debate, he also made a series of predictions and comments that eerily seem to be coming true.

http://www.johntitor.com

Dorodango

"...they become absorbed in forming a sphere, and they put all their energy into polishing the ball until it sparkles. The dorodango soon becomes the child's greatest treasure. "
Japanese Mudballs

What do these words mean to you?

Radio Controlled Centipede Steam Engine
Believe it or not, those words actually go together in that order.

This is the kind of thing you'd expect to come out of a parallel universe.

Beware Panopticon Theology

Over two hundred year ago, Jeremy Bentham invented the Panopticon. It was a prison structure that allowed secret surveilance, in order to minimize the number of guards required. A prisoner would never know if he was being watched by a guard in the central tower, and so they would always maintain good behavior.
The ultimate goal of the Panopticon was to subject prisoners to a percieved omniscience. This 'Godlike' all-seeing-eye and corresponding punishment would keep people in line, but is God like that? I don't think so.
First of all, this kind of constant surveilance is extremely dehumanizing. It's the kind of thing that they would have done to criminals, hundreds of years ago. The idea that someone is always out there watching you and constantly waiting for you to make a mistake so they can hold you responsible makes it impossible to relax, to be fully human. Humans need privacy, and we are smart enough to give each other privacy, God is smart enough too.
Further, this model tends to discourage advancement to higher stages of moral development. Young children often conclude that wrong actions are things they get punished for, as they develop they come to understand that an action might still be wrong, even if no one sees, and even if they are not punished.
The concept that God is always watching and that you will be held acountable is a factor that enables stagnation at this low level of moral reasoning, well into adulthood. People must be inspired to find more elegant ways to discover morality.
Lastly, this completely ignores God's forgiveness and love. God is not a prison guard, and that is not an image that sould be promoted. Panopticon Theology is inherently adversarial, and God is not our adversary.

Radical Islam

A group of Muslims calling itself Al-jabru ("restoration" in Arabic) vows to bring about a return to a period of Islamic global dominance. Inspired by the writings of the ancient teacher al-Khwarizmi, the group is gathering strength by teaching advanced subjects in the madrassas, and even actively translating western technical documents into arabic.
"We call upon all muslims to ijtihad, in this way we shall surpass the west."